Stories

Refuge from Silence: COT, Refugee Orchestra Return to Live Stage

A collaborative performance with Chicago Opera Theater, the Refugee Orchestra Project, and conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya seeks to express the importance of refugee populations in American music and around the world.

Stephen Raskauskas | May 11, 2017

Yo-Yo Ma, Civic Musicians to Present Benefit ‘Concert for Peace’ at St. Sabina Church

Stephen Raskauskas | May 9, 2017

Pulitzer-Winning Librettist Mark Campbell Explains How to Write an Opera

Angelica Lasala | May 9, 2017

Ravinia Announces 2-Year Bernstein Celebration, Curated by Conductor Marin Alsop

Playlist: WFMT Selects Classical Music to Help You Spring into Spring

Keegan Morris | March 26, 2019

You made it; the frigid, blustery days of winter have finally passed, and spring is here! Here is some music that captures the season's irrepressible spirit.

VIDEO | Award-winning Russian Renaissance shares music for balalaika, domra, and accordion in a WFMT Facebook Live

Keegan Morris | March 23, 2019

On Saturday, March 23, 2019, WFMT hosted Russian Renaissance in a Facebook Live from Wheaton College’s Edman Chapel. The versatile quartet, which won the $100,000 Grand Prize at the 2017 M-Prize competition at the University of Michigan, shared music by Zequinha de Abreu, Monti, and Tchaikovsky arranged for balalaika, domra, and accordion. Enjoy their performance below!

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This Waltz Once Attributed to Strauss Is Actually by Indigenous Mexican Composer Juventino Rosas

Stephen Raskauskas | May 5, 2017

Perhaps the next time you hear a waltz, you'll think Mexico City instead of Vienna.

How Lydia Mendoza, the First Queen of Tejano Music, Crossed Borders and Shaped a Tradition

Angelica Lasala | May 5, 2017

Decades before fans called Selena Quintanilla-Pérez the Queen of Tejano music, singer and 12-string guitarist Lydia Mendoza held the crown as Tejano music’s first female icon. Born in 1916 to parents who migrated to Texas during the Mexican Revolution, Mendoza began her music career in a family band that performed on street corners and in open-air markets to make ends ...

The Women of Nordic Affect Share What Makes the Music of Iceland Some of the Coolest Stuff on Earth

Dennis Moore | May 5, 2017

Learn about what makes Iceland's music scene so unique from the only group that's performed with both Björk and The English Concert.

Through the Night with Peter van de Graaff