Brian Wise

A Seattle theater troupe is defending Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado over charges that the operetta perpetuates racial caricatures.

Lorin Maazel, a former child prodigy who became one of the most powerful, brilliant and enigmatic conductors of the late 20^th century, died on Sunday in Castleton, Virginia. He was 84.

It’s not unusual for an opera singer to start out by dabbling in rock music or show tunes. But for the young soprano Cecilia Violetta López, the entrée to singing was Mexican mariachi music.

WQXR's Elliott Forrest spoke with Patrick Summers of the Houston Grand Opera, who is conducting this production, about the work's belated New York premiere.

Outdoor summer concerts present many hazards: relentless mosquitoes, noisy airplanes, chatty audiences, and stages baked by the afternoon sun. In this podcast, hear stories from the trenches.

Nine months after New York City Opera filed for bankruptcy and canceled its season, the company's board says that it has received five proposals to restart the shuttered organization.

A recently discovered letter from Gustav Mahler’s close confidante and sometime lover Natalie Bauer-Lechner spills many new details on the composer’s complicated love life – and names names.

The Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly has withdrawn from his performances over the next two months after breaking his right arm in a fall.

Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles appears to be on course to stemming a problem that is a familiar irritant to many New York concertgoers: subway noise.

We're halfway into 2014 and opera has already worked its way into three of the year's biggest athletic events. In this podcast, two opera-watchers tell us what they think is driving t...

During the ceremonial opening of the European Parliament on Tuesday, lawmakers from Britain's Euroskeptic, anti-immigration party staged an unusual protest as an orchestra played.

The beer industry has previously offered such melodious brews as Rheingold, Amadeus Blanche and Falstaff Beer. Next month comes a series inspired by Gustav Holst's The Planets.

After 6,033 performances, 219 solo appearances and 34 years, Glenn Dicterow took his final bows with the orchestra on Saturday night.

The conductor Julius Rudel, who ran New York City Opera during its golden age, from 1957 to 1979, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 93.

The Metropolitan Opera's decision last week to drop its HD and radio broadcasts of The Death of Klinghoffer continues to draw strong responses.

Cue the inevitable viola jokes. The rare 1719 Stradivarius viola that was expected to sell for more than $45 million in a private sale failed to attract a buyer on Tuesday.

The long-neglected Naumburg Bandshell has undergone a cosmetic cleaning, and the structure's gold leaf inscription, below the edge of the stage, has been given a fresh gilding.

Residents of the Upper West Side, Park Slope and the Maplewood, NJ donated the most instruments during WQXR’s spring Instrument Drive.

A noted American scientist claims that he was beaten up by a pair of "audience vigilantes" for expressing too much enthusiasm during a performance last year of Handel's Messiah.

The Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri has been released from her contract with Opera Australia after an anti-gay rant on her Facebook page provoked an angry backlash.