Stories

Video: Expressive, Dynamic Music for Cello & Piano Played by Jean Hatmaker & Michael Finlay

Cellist Jean Hatmaker is a founding member of the Kontras Quartet and the principal cellist of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra. She teamed up with pianist Michael Finlay to play music by Brahms and Coleridge-Taylor.

Stephen Raskauskas | May 1, 2017

Hearing These Merry Lads Sing “Now Is the Month of Maying” Is the Best Way to Start Your Month

Angelica Lasala | April 27, 2017

Watch This Talented Chicken Peck Out Puccini

Stephen Raskauskas | April 27, 2017

KAIA Kids Around the World: The Music of Mexico

Recalling Gian Carlo Menotti

Larry Johnson | June 27, 2019

In the early 1990s, the famed composer and librettist Gian Carlo Menotti came to Chicago as the guest for a black-tie event for Chicago Opera Theater. Larry Johnson recounts a rare opportunity to spend time with a world-famous musician and composer.

Digital Pina Bausch Archive Announced

Candice Agree | June 27, 2019

Pina Bausch studied with Antony Tudor, José Limón, Alfredo Corvino, and Paul Taylor, before joining the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company and the New American Ballet.

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Video: You’ll Go Bananas for This DIY Keyboard

Angelica Lasala | April 25, 2017

You don’t need an expensive piano sitting in your living room to impress your friends and family when they come to visit. Instead, wow them with a keyboard you made yourself. Stian Eikeland, a “developer, hacker, techno-foodie, diver, hobby-photographer” from Bergen, Norway, found a way to turn bananas into a fully functioning touch-sensor keyboard. The banana keyboard’s hardware consists of ...

Playlist: 10 Shakespeare-Inspired Operas You Should Know

Stephen Raskauskas | April 21, 2017

If “Music oft hath such a charm / To make bad good, and good provoke to harm,” perhaps these 10 Shakespeare-inspired operas will charm you.

“Difficult, But Worth It”: Singers Share Their Secrets to Memorizing Opera Scores by Philip Glass