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Yuja Wang, 'You Come Here Often?'
Hear the powerhouse pianist barrel through a rambunctious bonbon written for her by Michael Tilson Thomas.
(9 March)
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The lessons of Wayne Shorter, engine of imagination
Shorter's biographer, Michelle Mercer, recalls the many "isms" and lessons she learned from her time working with the legendary composer and saxophonist on his biography, Footprints.
(7 March)
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Does 'Tár' tell us anything about Mahler's 5th Symphony?
The music that haunts the Oscar-nominated film is a calling card for conductor Rafael Payare.
(7 March)
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NASA puts the sounds of the universe into a new album
NASA's Sonification Project is a collaborative effort to turn data collected from the outer reaches of the universe into sounds. Their album, Universal Harmonies, is out March 10.
(6 March)
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Missy Mazzoli is a symphonic composer with a photographer's eye
On her new album, Dark with Excessive Bright, the vibrant, young composer coaxes unusual sounds from a symphony orchestra.
(3 March)
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Jessie Montgomery, composing from a place of self-honor
Watch Lara Downes' conversation with the composer-in-residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra about balancing her roots, her craft and the shifting field of classical music.
(1 March)
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N.Y. Philharmonic chief looks to Gustavo 'Dudamel era' after historic appointment
New York philharmonic president and CEO Deborah Borda discusses the decisionmaking process behind bringing the superstar conductor to the Big Apple.
(21 February)
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From Beyoncé to Debussy, Yannick Nézet-Séguin shares music that inspires him
What do great conductors listen to when they're not on the podium? Nézet-Séguin made a playlist, specifically for Fresh Air, of music that inspires him (plus one of his cats' favorite songs).
(21 February)
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Prodigious fiddler Mark O'Connor celebrates 50 years of music with memoir
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Mark O'Connor about his memoir, Crossing Bridges, on his journey from multi-instrumentalist child prodigy to solo artist composing and performing on world stages.
(15 February)
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From Beyoncé to Debussy, Yannick Nézet-Séguin shares music that inspires him
What do great conductors listen to when they're not on the podium? Nézet-Séguin made a playlist, specifically for Fresh Air, of music that inspires him (plus one of his cats' favorite songs).
(15 February)
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N.Y. Philharmonic chief looks to Gustavo 'Dudamel era' after historic appointment
New York philharmonic president and CEO Deborah Borda discusses the decisionmaking process behind bringing the superstar conductor to the Big Apple.
(9 February)
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Gustavo Dudamel's new musical home is the New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic announced Tuesday afternoon that the charismatic 42-year-old conductor will be taking on the music director designate post at the start of the 2025-26 concert season.
(8 February)
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Kalia Vandever, 'Temper the Wound'
Hear a meditative trombone improvisation, inspired by dreams, and powered by spiraling loops and gentle melodies.
(3 February)
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Jazz singer Samara Joy embraces the past while making music for the future
Watch Lara Downes' conversation with the 23-year-old, Grammy-nominated sensation about balancing the demands of a surging career and the women artists who paved the way.
(2 February)
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Lara Downes' season 3 of 'Amplify' launches with a theme of renaissance
NPR's Leila Fadel talks to pianist Lara Downes about her interview series Amplify, which examines how Black artists today might find themselves in a new cultural renaissance.
(2 February)
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Forensic musicologists race to rescue works lost after the Holocaust
The Exilarte Center in Vienna is the world's leading research institution devoted to preserving the work of composers such as Walter Arlen and others, who were exiled or killed during the Holocaust.
(30 January)
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As Ryuichi Sakamoto returns with '12,' fellow artists recall his impact
The composer has been lauded for decades over his deeply affective music; director Alejandro González Iñárritu, composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and more join us to explain why.
(27 January)
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For Missy Mazzoli, composing is the hard work of making life easier
The composer of Breaking the Waves speaks candidly about equity in her field, the importance of role models and the unglamorous side of writing music every day.
(26 January)
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Marc-André Hamelin: Tiny Desk Concert
Watch the pianist, who's been called "a performer of near-superhuman prowess," play a smart set that spans six centuries.
(12 January)
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Who says opera needs a grand stage? This festival is all about intimate productions
The PROTOTYPE festival, now in its 10th year, presents new operas and music-theater works in smaller settings. "We were trying to create a black box opera movement," says co-founder Beth Morrison.
(11 January)
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Lisel, 'One At A Time'
The singer makes four simple words into an Escher-esque puzzle built on loops and layers of her voice.
(6 January)
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This man's recordings spent years under a recliner — they've now found a new home
More than a century ago, a Met librarian made some of the first live music recordings. Now, (with an assist from NPR) 16 of the Mapleson Cylinders are joining the New York Public Library collection.
(5 January)
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Lyrics from 'One by One,' written by Connie Converse, will stay with you
We asked NPR Music's classical producer Tom Huizenga: Was there one lyric from 2022 that stayed with you all year? He chose a line from the song "One by One," recorded by Julia Bullock.
(28 December)
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Former music students accuse two Juilliard teachers of sexual misconduct
Three people have accused two teachers at the world-renowned music school — composers Robert Beaser and the late Christopher Rouse — of sexual misconduct dating back to the 1990s and 2000s.
(20 December)
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More than 500 musicians demand accountability after Juilliard misconduct allegations
After VAN magazine published accusations against Robert Beaser, a former head of The Juilliard School's composition department, hundreds of composers, educators and presenters are demanding change.
(20 December)
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The fantasia of Angelo Badalamenti, veil-piercing composer
Among other things Badalamenti's music, soft and bizarre and surging, was an emotional compass for the uncanny creations of director David Lynch.
(20 December)
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More than 500 musicians demand accountability after Juilliard misconduct allegations
After VAN magazine published accusations against Robert Beaser, a former head of The Juilliard School's composition department, hundreds of composers, educators and presenters are demanding change.
(19 December)
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The 100 Best Songs Of 2022 (60-41)
We ranked a list of 100 songs that reflects the sprawling, energetic messiness of 2022. Start listening.
(16 December)
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Former music students accuse two Juilliard teachers of sexual misconduct
Three people have accused two teachers at the world-renowned music school — composers Robert Beaser and the late Christopher Rouse — of sexual misconduct dating back to the 1990s and 2000s.
(13 December)
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The 50 Best Albums Of 2022
We ranked our 50 favorite records of the year, from hip-hop to classical and everything in between.
(12 December)
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The 50 Best Albums of 2022
We ranked our 50 favorite records of the year, from hip-hop to classical and everything in between.
(12 December)
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With a bold debut album, Julia Bullock curates an unconventional career
The velvet-voiced soprano with a career on the rise chooses her projects, and the music on her debut solo album, with consummate intention.
(9 December)
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The 10 Best Classical Albums of 2022
Discover a broad spectrum of this year's most compelling classical music, from booby-trapped string quartets and chilled-out piano to full-throttle percussion, electric guitars and high-flying vocals.
(8 December)
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Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason celebrates his eclectic inspirations
Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason speaks with NPR's Rachel Martin about growing up in a house filled with music, playing at Harry and Meghan's royal wedding and performing some of his favorite pieces.
(7 December)
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Nate Chinen's Favorite Music of 2022
Nate Chinen, editorial director for WRTI, shares some of his favorite music of the year.
(7 December)
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Three superstar divas power opera 'The Hours' - coming to movie theaters everywhere.
Kelli O'Hara, Renée Fleming, and Joyce DiDonato star in a new opera based on Michael Cunningham's book.
(6 December)
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Ukrainians sing 'Carol of the Bells' at Carnegie Hall, 100 years after its U.S. debut
A Ukrainian chorus first performed Shchedryk in the U.S. in 1922. A century later, during another fight for freedom, Ukrainian singers performed the folk song at the site of its North American debut.
(6 December)
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A rare recording of a musical by an 18-year-old Stephen Sondheim surfaces
Broadway-legend-in-training Stephen Sondheim was a college sophomore in 1948 when his musical Phinney's Rainbow was produced — and recorded — at Williams College in Massachusetts.
(5 December)
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The unplanned, unstoppable career of composer Tania León
Failure was not an option when Léon arrived in New York, a determined 24-year-old pianist from Cuba. At nearly 80, she says some things haven't changed.
(2 December)
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Ned Rorem, major American composer and diarist, has died at age 99
The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and diarist died Friday at age 99. Although he won the Pulitzer for an orchestral work, he was most celebrated for his huge body of art songs — over 500 in all.
(18 November)
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In the devastation of climate change, Daniel Bachman captures what's left behind
In field recordings and fingerstyle guitar, Bachman's diaristic Almanac Behind documents cataclysmic weather as it becomes a larger part of our lives.
(17 November)
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Tiny Desk Concert
Watch the rising young cellist transform a Bob Marley classic, explore brand new preludes and unspool a weepy Welsh ballad.
(15 November)
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When she left Ukraine, an opera singer made room for a most precious possession
She and her daughter carried one small suitcase for toiletries, clothes and shoes. But she made sure she had room for a few items with deep sentimental value.
(7 November)
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What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening and viewing
Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Bono's memoir, the Philly Orchestra playing Dancing On My Own, and Tove Lo's Dirt Femme.
(5 November)
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Evgueni Galperine, 'Loplop im Wald'
If you could hire a composer to score your dreams, Evgueni Galperine just might be your man.
(3 November)
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The Crossing: Tiny Desk Concert
Hear what's been called "America's most astonishing choir" sing brand new music by Shara Nova that looks at how we handle difficult emotions.
(24 October)
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A Far Cry & Shara Nova, 'We are as paper'
Hear vocalist and composer Shara Nova in a mesmerizing moment from a new song cycle, The Blue Hour, written by five celebrated women.
(18 October)
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Our biggest orchestras are finally playing more music by women. What took so long?
As the new concert season gets underway, composers and orchestra administrators say they are feeling a shift in whose music gets heard.
(17 October)
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Celebrating the 150th birthday of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams
Collecting traditional tunes from all over the British Isles, Vaughan Williams famously produced gently modal folksong fantasies evoking England's "green and pleasant land."
(12 October)
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Stripped to the bones: Why a new NYC concert hall sounds so much better
The new David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center, home of the New York Philharmonic, opens this week. And while the outside is the same, everything inside has changed.
(11 October)
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Conductor Marin Alsop on her upcoming performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City
NPR's Scott Simon speaks to conductor Marin Alsop about her upcoming performances with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
(11 October)
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How Italian opera influenced Mexican ranchera
The influence can be traced back to the 1800s when opera companies and their star singers traveled from Italy to perform across the country.
(11 October)
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Revisiting San Juan Hill, the neighborhood destroyed to make way for Lincoln Center
In New York City, the area dominated by Lincoln Center was formerly home to Black and Puerto Rican communities. Etienne Charles' new musical work addresses that difficult past.
(7 October)
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Steve Reich, 'Runner'
New to the music of Steve Reich? His latest recording, featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic, may be his most approachable.
(5 October)
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Where are the Black musicians in the country's largest orchestras?
In 2014, a study found that only 1.4% of orchestra musicians were Black. In 2022, it's hard to know if that number is better or worse.
(30 September)
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Lizzo played James Madison's crystal flute onstage in D.C., proving history rocks
The Library of Congress had invited Lizzo to check out its flute collection during her tour stop. On Tuesday, she played a few notes on the historic instrument, twerked and declared history cool.
(29 September)
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A composer's meditation on the moment, blown up to immersive proportions
Seven months after it debuted at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Tyshawn Sorey relaunches his work Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) on a monumental new scale in New York's Park Avenue Armory.
(28 September)
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Pianist Chad Lawson seeks to heal in new album
Pianist and composer Chad Lawson releases a double album recorded at Abbey Road, joined on some tracks by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, violinist Esther Yoo and cellist/composer Peter Gregson.
(23 September)
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Julia Bullock, 'One by One'
Hear the acclaimed classical singer put an exquisite twist on a deep cut from the troubled singer-songwriter Connie Converse.
(21 September)
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The hidden world of an opera prompter
One of the world's greatest living composers, John Adams, has a new opera, and the prompter keeps Anthony and Cleopatra from flying off the rails.
(21 September)
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Big risks and adventurous friends: How composer Julia Wolfe became a renegade
The Pulitzer-winning, MacArthur "genius" co-founder of Bang on a Can looks for the grit in music, whether she's writing a string quartet or one of her history-based oratorios.
(15 September)
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Randall Goosby: Tiny Desk Concert
The young rising violin star not only makes his instrument sing, he offers music by composers of color.
(6 September)
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Renowned classical pianist and conductor Lars Vogt has died at 51
Vogt died "surrounded by his family after a battle with cancer," according to a statement from his representatives.
(6 September)
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Sean Shibe, a shape-shifting artist, redefines the idea of a classical guitarist
The Scottish guitarist defies expectations, ditching his traditional nylon-strung instrument for a Fender Stratocaster to play a startling range of music – from Meredith Monk to Chick Corea.
(29 August)
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Battle Trance, 'Green of Winter I'
A wind-powered, tour-de-force from the tenor sax quartet.
(26 August)
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Home is never far for the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, even when touring in the U.S.
The ensemble of top Ukrainian musicians, including recent refugees, is wrapping up a whirlwind tour with performances in New York City and Washington, D.C.
(20 August)
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Classical musicians with ties to Plácido Domingo arrested in Buenos Aires
Musicians who have been publicly linked to Plácido Domingo and other major artists have been arrested in connection to an alleged Argentine crime ring, or are still wanted by police.
(20 August)
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A group of musical ambassadors is completing a tour of Europe and the U.S.
After performing across Europe, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, an ad hoc ensemble of musicians from Ukraine, complete their tour with stops in New York and Washington.
(19 August)
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Plácido Domingo linked to criminal ring in Argentina, prosecutors say
Media in Argentina have broadcast audio recordings of police wiretaps that prosecutors say includes the voice of the famed singer making plans for a sexual encounter arranged by the crime ring.
(18 August)
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A new label revives forgotten female composers' music
The new record label La Boîte à Pépites is dedicated to raising the profile of female composers whose works have been neglected.
(17 August)
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Abdul Wadud, expressive cellist who blazed a trail in improvised music, dies at 75
Although much of his work was as a sideman, Wadud was one of the most important jazz musicians of the 1970s, '80s and '90s.
(15 August)
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Interpreting the music of Julius Eastman, Wild Up honors the composer's vastness
The feat the Los Angeles group Wild Up achieves in interpreting the music of Julius Eastman is the refusal to attempt impersonation — the musicians make him their muse without fetishizing him.
(4 August)
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Attacca Quartet / Caroline Shaw, 'First Essay (Nimrod)'
The versatile Attacca Quartet offers a funhouse of musical trap doors in a piece by the Pulitzer-winning composer Caroline Shaw.
(4 August)
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Kaija Saariaho, a composer with ears wide open
From sexist professors and low self-esteem to worldwide acclaim, the Finnish composer talks about her path to success and her relentless pursuit of sound.
(21 July)
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Johnny Gandelsman, 'O'
Hear one of the intrepid violinist's 22 commissioned works, focusing on the harrowing year that was 2020.
(21 July)
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Mivos Quartet: Tiny Desk Concert
The Mivos Quartet offers a new, colorful piece by Henry Threadgill and music by Robert Honstein inspired by the shimmering light at the Arctic Circle.
(19 July)
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Remembering Richard Taruskin, a writer who made you care about 1,000 years of music
Hear the towering – and polarizing – author in conversation about his 4,000-page book, The Oxford History of Western Music.
(14 July)
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Piano performances terrify me, but I can stomach playing in the background
I'm into piano, but it's also my frenemy. When I get frustrated with something I'm trying to learn, we stop talking for months. But then I hear a pop song and my brain leaps to how I would play it.
(12 July)
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Caterina Barbieri's rapturous electronica was forged in deep solitude
The Italian composer Caterina Barbieri's euphoric new album Spirit Exit was made in pandemic isolation but longs for "the outside world," in all of its imperfections and wonder.
(11 July)
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Kali Malone, 'Living Torch II'
On Kali Malone's "Living Torch II," distortion and feedback reshape mourning into triumph.
(8 July)
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Essential Voices USA: Tiny Desk Concert
Watch a world premiere performance of choral songs built on texts from important Washington women, from Kamala Harris and Condoleezza Rice to Eleanor Roosevelt, Elena Kagan and Abigail Adams.
(1 July)
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NPR Music's 36 Favorite Albums of 2022 (So Far)
The best albums from the first half of the year include sprawling offerings from Big Thief and Bad Bunny, works of fiery introspection from Kendrick Lamar and S.G. Goodman and an abundance in between.
(28 June)
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Hatis Noit, 'Aura'
With only her voice as an instrument, the Japanese singer conjures a world of sound and color, with operatic élan.
(28 June)
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Street Symphony plays in harmony with Skid Row's 'sacred spaces'
Vijay Gupta was a 19-year-old violin prodigy when he joined the LA Philharmonic. Now he runs Street Symphony, an organization bringing music to clinics, jails and homeless shelters on Skid Row.
(27 June)
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NPR Music's 36 Favorite Songs of 2022 (So Far)
The songs we love from the first half of the year span a wide emotional and musical range, from wild percussive romps to raw pleas for empathy to Beyoncé's command to leave it all on the dance floor.
(27 June)
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J'Nai Bridges: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
The Grammy Award-winning opera singer performs a classical, jazz and gospel influenced set.
(27 June)
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An Arab American singer reframes music about the Crusades
A new project conceived by Lebanese American tenor Karim Sulayman recasts baroque music that by turns demonizes and exoticizes Arabs and Muslims.
(20 June)
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'Requiem for the Enslaved' holds a major university's truths up to the light
Georgetown University owes its survival to slavery. A new album by Carlos Simon, an assistant professor at the school, unflinchingly confronts that legacy.
(17 June)
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Songs to believe in: A Juneteenth playlist
This Juneteenth, pianist Lara Downes remembers the freedom that has been hard fought and hard won.
(16 June)
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David Lang, 'again (after ecclesiastes)'
In music of translucent constancy, the Pulitzer-winning composer finds philosophical questions — and comfort — in the Old Testament.
(14 June)
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The theme to 'Jurassic Park' hasn't aged a day
John Williams' score was, true to form, unforgettable — as Jeff Goldblum remembers in an interview with NPR.
(11 June)
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Kyiv opera house reopens after 3 months
Ukraine's National Opera was built to celebrate Russian opera at the height of the imperial era. Performances were suspended after the war began but have recently re-started.
(10 June)
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The debut of 'Omar,' a thoroughly American opera
Composers Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels have brought a true story to the opera stage: the life of Omar Ibn Said, a Senegalese Muslim scholar who was enslaved and brought to the Carolinas.
(7 June)
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Composer and performer Ingram Marshall dies at age 80
Visionary musician Ingram Marshall has died at the age of 80; a leading figure of the West Coast avant-garde music scene, Marshall forged unusual connections between minimalism and electronic music.
(3 June)
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Composer John Williams and cellist Yo-Yo Ma bring together 'A Gathering of Friends'
On a new album, the classical stars revisit the concerto Williams composed specifically for Ma, as well as some of Williams' most affecting film scores.
(25 May)
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Composer John Williams and cellist Yo-Yo Ma bring together 'A Gathering of Friends'
On a new album, the classical stars revisit the concerto Williams composed specifically for Ma, as well as some of Williams' most affecting film scores.
(25 May)
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Wild Up, 'Stay On It'
The Los Angeles-based band refurbishes an enigmatic, but entrancing piece by the late Julius Eastman, whose music is enjoying a well-deserved resurgence.
(18 May)
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Mary Halvorson, 'Belladonna'
On the guitarist's first string quartet composition, she comes with a dramatic precision.
(13 May)
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Third Coast Percussion's borderless music finds inspiration in fleet-footed beats
On a new album, the most accessible so far, the Grammy-winning group reaches out to an EDM wizard, a famous film score composer and Philip Glass.
(13 May)
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ARC Ensemble: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
Musicians from Canada's Royal Conservatory in Toronto introduce the spirited and overlooked music of Ukrainian composer Dmitri Klebanov.
(11 May)
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