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.

On February 10, some of the biggest names in the music industry convened at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles. R&B and soul singer Alicia Keys hosted the ceremony, as winners were announced in 30 fields and 84 categories. Here are the nominees and winners for the classical music categories.

“There’s an element within this work that I think people can take away on a personal level,” said Janet Chen, ProMusica’s executive director.

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 …

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 …

Chicago Opera Theater today announced its 2018/19 season composed of three new-to-Chicago works, continuing the company’s commitment to presenting new and rarely performed operas.

COT presents a world-premiere opera, Elizabeth Cree, by the team of composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, who together created the Pulitzer-winning opera Silent Night.

Thompson Street Opera Company presents the Chicago premiere of Uncle Alex, an opera that tackles the complexities of immigration in America, Saturday, January 27, 2018 at Adler University. The performance is part of Faulty Systems, an event that invites speakers and artists from all disciplines to speak about civic engagement, social justice, and activism through art. Uncle Alex, with music …

Whether you’re new to opera or consider yourself a connoisseur, there’s something for everyone to enjoy this fall in Chicago. Here are four operas we are excited to see in the coming months.

Mark Campbell has written the words to over fifteen operas to date, making him one of the most active librettists alive. When Campbell visited the Windy City, he spoke about his work and explained, “how do you write an opera?”

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.

Anyone who’s ever tried to sing or play an instrument knows that hard work and practice are essential to make a performance successful. But performing music from memory presents another challenge. The repetitions Glass uses make memorizing his music particularly difficult.

Chicago Opera Theater announced its 2017-18 season: three operas, including a world-premiere co-production with Opera Philadelphia, to be staged at the newly-renovated Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building.

“Music and worship started out together…” composer and conductor Victoria Bond explains. “In Jewish worship, prayers are not spoken, they are sung.”

National Opera Week 2016 is from October 28 to November 6. Why not celebrate by experiencing the Chicago premiere of a contemporary opera? You can see not one, not two, but three new-to-Chicago operas.

At 79 years old, Philip Glass has composed 27 operas. Yet, only a handful have been performed in Chicago, though the composer spent formative years in the Windy City as a student.

Pulitzer-winning composer Paul Moravec: “A supernatural story makes total sense for an opera…”

Growing up, composer Jonathan Berger reflects, “there was an enormous amount of talk in my house about what really constitutes patriotism, what is a right war and a wrong war…”

Opera has always been important to composer Rufus Wainwright, though many know him as the man behind the piano crooning confessional songs.

“I’ve been working towards this my whole career,” Lopez said excitedly as he observed summer technical rehearsals for Bel Canto.