Stories

Locked out stagehands protest outside Metropolitan Opera

Locked out stagehands of the Metropolitan Opera protested the company amid a crowd of about 1,000 that rallied outside Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, criticizing the company for constructing sets for three of next season’s new productions at nonunion shops.

Stephen Raskauskas | December 1, 2016

The Single Most Important Piece of Advice Cellist Yo-Yo Ma Has for Young Musicians Today

Stephen Raskauskas | November 30, 2016

CSO Announces Program Change, Dutoit to Conduct U.S. Premiere of Newly-Discovered Stravinsky Work, “Funeral Song”

Associated Press | November 29, 2016

Mahler manuscript sells for record $5.6 million in London

Catastrophic fire engulfs Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

Associated Press | April 15, 2019

PARIS (AP) — A massive fire engulfed the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of the French capital Monday, toppling its spire and sending thick plumes of smoke high into the blue sky as tourists and Parisians watched in horror from the streets below. A spokesman said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral would likely come down, ...

Pet Project: Musician Creates a Playlist for Shelter Animals

Associated Press | April 11, 2019

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s music director has gone to the dogs. And the cats.

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This Black MIDI Version of “Let It Go” Is More Terrifyingly Difficult Than Any Liszt Piece

Stephen Raskauskas | November 22, 2016

You’ve likely heard the song “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen at least once since it was released in 2013. Not only did “Let It Go” win Best Original Song at the 2014 Academy Awards and Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2015 Grammy Awards, it’s also been recorded in dozens of languages from Cantonese to Croatian. Even ...

Watch WFMT Listener Favorite, Pianist Vera Gornostaeva, Play 12 Chopin Mazurkas

Stephen Raskauskas | November 16, 2016

One of Russia’s greatest pianists, Vera Gornostaeva, was virtually unknown outside of her native country for most of her career. She taught at the Moscow Conservatory, earned the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, had a popular television program, Open Piano, and trained dozens of prize-winning pianists. Yet for most of her life, she was never permitted to ...

How Choreographer Martha Graham Named Aaron Copland’s American Classic, “Appalachian Spring”

Stephen Raskauskas | November 14, 2016

Martha Graham Dance Company's Lloyd Mayor and Mariya Dashkina Maddux in "Appalachian Spring." (Hibbard Nash Photography) When you think of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, do you think of iconic American landscapes? Would it surprise you to know that one of America’s most iconic musical works got its name after it was composed? Appalachian Spring, though perhaps known best as an orchestral suite, was ...

The New York Philharmonic This Week