‘Closets Are For Clothes’: Celebrating Pride Month through Musical Coming Out Stories

“I wanted to encourage young emerging LGBTQ+ composers to write pieces that tell their story in an authentic way… This concert series is both a celebration of how far we have come and how far we still have to go.”

Playlist: Sergio and Clarice, Music Runs in the Family for this Father-Daughter Duo

The father, Sergio, is a guitarist, composer, arranger, educator, and the daughter, Clarice, is a bold and highly innovative vocalist, composer, orchestrator, videographer, and mentor.

Where Are the Women Composers? How Classical Music is Faring in the Fight for Gender Equality

Over the span of just 9 months, Philadelphia Orchestra went from being one of the least representative orchestras of women composers to being the most.

Video: Legendary Guitarist, Composer Juan Falú Will Make Your Day

A musical treat even more delicious than an alfajor.

WIU professor a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music

CHICAGO (AP) — A music composition professor in Illinois has learned he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music . Western Illinois University notes that finalists aren’t known until after a winner is announced. A Friday statement from the school says one of its professors, James Romig, found out he’d been up for the award after Los Angeles composer Ellen Reid was …

‘I Like to Take on Projects That Terrify Me’: Jake Heggie on Adapting ‘Moby-Dick’ into an Opera

Moby-Dick is a Great American Novel, no doubt. But that fact doesn’t make Herman Melville’s 600+ page opus any less intimidating.

Why Composer and Chicago Children’s Choir Alum Ted Hearne Embraces Politics in His Art

The Chicago-born artist attributes his interest in politics and social justice to his many years singing in the Chicago Children’s Choir.

Students Commemorate Matthew Shepard, LGBTQ Hate Crime Victim, Through Song

More than two decades after a tragedy catalyzed a generation of LGBTQ activists, Matthew Shepard’s story is being shared with a new generation through music.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Dominick Argento dead at 91

Known for composing in styles ranging from melody to dissonance, he earned the Pulitzer in 1975 for From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, a composition for voice and piano.

Joffrey’s ‘Anna Karenina’ Features Its First-Ever Commissioned Full-Length Orchestral Score. Here’s What It Sounds Like.

“I believe that Karenina is a magical moment of looking at our beautiful art form and taking it a step forward,” says Ashley Wheater, Joffrey Ballet’s artistic director. One of the cornerstones of the production is 35-year-old composer Ilya Demutsky’s brand new, full-length orchestral score, the first such commission in Joffrey’s 62-year history.

Finding James Baldwin: Chicago’s Renée Baker Composes Opera Inspired By the Great Writer

Renée Baker’s interest in Baldwin began when she first heard recordings of his voice. “The person that I’d only accessed from books became quite real once I was able to actually hear and listen to him speak.” She notes.

‘My dream is for Chicago to be at the forefront of new opera’: Meet Ashley Magnus, COT’s New General Director

“Right now, we’re in a golden era of American opera”

Video | Soprano Tamara Wilson Sings Music Inspired by Female Astronauts

With pianist Justina Lee, Wilson shared a selection from Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Weightless Dreams, a song cycle composed for Wilson based on the writings and experiences of women astronauts.

Playlist: WFMT Selects Classical Music to Help You Brave the Winter

Winter can be grueling, but music can warm and soothe. Here’s the music that helps WFMT get through the season.

Grant Park Music Festival Announces 2019 Season

The eighty-fifth annual season opens June 12 and will run through August 17, with most performances taking place at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.

Playlist: 10 Latvian Composers You Should Know

Andris Nelsons, Mariss Jansons, Kristine Opolais: when we think of classical music in Latvia, most are either conductors or musicians. But Latvia also has an abundance of composers whose works you will want to hear.

Nico Muhly scores with second commission from Met

NEW YORK (AP) — Ten years ago at age 27, Nico Muhly became the youngest composer ever to have a piece commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. “It was completely terrifying,” Muhly said of the offer from Met general manager Peter Gelb to write “Two Boys” for America’s leading opera house. As with any commission he gets, he said, “It’s not …

Playlist: 10 Czech Composers You Should Know (Who Aren’t Dvořák)

When it comes to Czech composers, most are familiar only with Antonín Dvořák. Here are ten more Czech composers that we think you should know!

Playlist: Corky Siegel at 75 — The Future Is an Unopened Present

Corky Siegel is one of the world’s great blues harmonica players. He is also a composer, pianist, singer, bandleader, teacher, and author whose curiosity about classical music and American blues has inspired much of his distinguished half-century career.

Meet Missy Mazzoli, the CSO’s New Composer-in-Residence

Missy Mazzoli is a composer who is inspired by “weird stories,” and that’s a good thing. Her fascination with “humans who support, undermine, and love each other” has paved the way for opportunities in nearly every realm of the music industry. She is one of two women composers commissioned to write an opera for the Metropolitan Opera in New York …

Video | Violinist Jennifer Koh on Creating a Diverse, Thriving Future for Classical Music

Violinist Jennifer Koh visited WFMT for a Facebook live broadcast and shared two contrasting works — the “Sarabande” from Bach’s Violin Partita No.2 in D minor and “Kinski Paganini,” by Missy Mazzoli. She also spoke about the importance of ensuring that there is diversity in future generations of classical artists. “One of the things that’s important to me,” Koh shared, “is to bring voice to people who didn’t have that voice before.”

Hear the Symphony Mohammed Fairouz Composed as a Response to the 9/11 Attacks

When composer Mohammed Fairouz isn’t busy writing symphonies or operas, he’s likely writing about international politics for the Huffington Post, On Being, or Foreign Policy.

Video: Mezzo-Soprano J’Nai Bridges Performs Live in the WFMT Studios

Mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges is known for her interpretations of classic and contemporary works, and she shared both with us live in the WFMT studios – including a world premiere!

Spears, Smith to write ‘Castor and Patience’ for Cincinnati

CINCINNATI (AP) — Composer Gregory Spears and U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith have been commissioned by the Cincinnati Opera to write Castor and Patience, a story of black cousins in the American South who disagree about the future of land they inherited. The company said Tuesday that the work will premiere at the Corbett Theater in July 2020. Smith’s …

Hear the Album Inspired by the Incredible Life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

With the Supreme Court very much in the news these days, a Chicago label has released a musical tribute illuminating the personal and professional life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is marking 25 years on the high court.