Johnson, the incoming director of the Chicago Phil, reflects that he “can’t stress enough how important it is to champion those voices that haven’t been heard.”

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.

Many have their Juneteenth parades and celebrations all ready to go, but if you’re on the hunt for some plans, consider attending one of these six unique events.

“Whenever people buy a ticket to a concert, they’re committing to a shared experience…” composer, violinist, and educator Jessie Montgomery reflects.

Religious leaders, musical guests, spoken word artists, and politicians gathered for a concert in Houston, the hometown of George Floyd, to commemorate the anniversary of his death.

“I had to think about the Roaring Twenties and music like Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, and so on, that Ida B. Wells [would have been] hearing.”

A Verdi and bel canto expert, Lyric’s new music director Enrique Mazzola will open the season with Verdi’s Macbeth and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, while also conducting contemporary opera Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli later in the season.

Riccardo Muti has appointed Jessie Montgomery as the Mead Composer-in-Residence. Montgomery will succeed the CSO’s current composer-in-residence, Missy Mazzoli, in July of this year.

It’s been a strange, difficult year for the music world, which is all the more reason to celebrate musical excellence.

From Duke Ellington to Tamar-kali, these 12 composers have shaped what movies and TV sound like.

A new music museum in Nashville is telling an important and often overlooked story about the roots of American popular music.

Black people have used music and singing to tell the story of hope amid pain, promise amid peril, and immovable faith amid adversity. This playlist celebrates the uniqueness of Black thought and spirituality through the years.

News outlets report the National Museum of African American Music will host a socially distanced ribbon cutting on Jan. 18 when it formally opens.

In the first of our WFMT Staff Spotlight series, we share a playlist from Tim Russell, the Vice President of Community Engagement at WFMT and WTTW.

IPO concertmaster Azusa Tashiro feels that music is vital as “something to rely on, something that warms [your] heart.”

Among the canceled 2021 productions are Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro; and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, as well as a concert tribute to music director Sir Andrew Davis, who concludes his 20-year tenure at the end of this season.

The Metropolitan Opera will skip an entire season for the first time in its nearly 140-year history and intends to return from the pandemic layoff next September.

The virtual sphere won’t replace the live stage, but it can add a second, more accessible one, with great room for creative growth and the viral potential of easily shareable, iconic images.

To coincide with exciting new additions to the WTTW slate, WFMT has compiled a playlist celebrating the pinnacles of Black and Latino artistry in vocal music.

Lyric Opera of Chicago’s season opens this weekend in truly unprecedented fashion: with a virtual gala.

The childhood home of iconic musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone will be indefinitely preserved in North Carolina.

Chicago Opera Theater has revised its 2020-21 season with digital livestreams and additional performances.

The Grammy-winning ensemble performed music by Devonté Hynes from their new album, Fields.

Join us on WFMT’s Facebook Page Thursday at 7:30 pm for a free livestream with Third Coast Percussion, Devonté Hynes, and a video featuring choreography by Rena Butler.

Our picture of the past is often incomplete: though long on the frontlines in the fight for racial justice, women’s stories have often been left out of history. Here are nine conversations with women to enrich our understanding.