Kennedy Center Honors fetes new inductees, including Queen Latifah, Billy Crystal and Dionne Warwick

Opera singer Renée Fleming and music star Barry Gibb were also honored at the Sunday night black-tie gala.

Music of the Baroque Pays Tribute to Its Past, Chicago in Windy City Program

“I’ve been with this group now for over 20 years. It is glorious.”

Grammy 2024 Nominees Announced

The 2024 Grammy nominations were announced on November 10, 2023.

The last new Beatles song, ‘Now And Then,’ will be released next week

The song was written and recorded in sketch form by the late John Lennon in the late 1970s. McCartney, Starr and the late George Harrison worked on it in the 1990s but were stymied by technical limitations.

Lidiya Yankovskaya to Depart COT at End of Season

As one of the very few women music directors of a major US opera company, Yankovskaya is respected for her leadership, artistic vision, as well as her inventive programming.

Philadelphia Orchestra and musicians agree to 3-year labor deal with 15.8% salary increase

The deal eliminates a lower rate of overtime for playing movies and calls for two days of rest after most Sunday concerts.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians get 3% annual raises in 3-year labor contract

Music director emeritus for life Riccardo Muti will lead the CSO season-opening concert September 21 at Orchestra Hall.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, musicians union agree to 3-year contract

CSO musicians struck for two days in September 2012 and for seven weeks March and April of 2019.

Anthony Freud to retire as head of Lyric Opera of Chicago at end of 2023-24 season

Freud turns 66 in October and intends to return to Britain after the season.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra will return with heavy metal holiday tour, ‘The Ghosts of Christmas Eve’

The heavy metal, classical music, theater production, pyrotechnics, and laser lightshow hybrid will stop in Chicago in late December.

Composer Bernstein’s children defend Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose after ‘Maestro’ is criticized

To some, Cooper’s nose in the trailer seemed like the kind of outsized caricature that has been a regular feature of Jewish portrayals throughout film history.

Renata Scotto, soprano of uncommon intensity, dies at 89

Scotto became a successful director after her singing career.

Opera singer David Daniels and his husband plead guilty to sexual assault

Both were sentenced to eight years’ probation and required to register as sex offenders.

Tony Bennett, masterful stylist of American musical standards, dies at 96

Bennett’s early career peaked in the 1960s as he topped the charts with “San Francisco” and became the first male pop solo performer to headline at Carnegie Hall, releasing a live album of the 1962 concert.

André Watts, Groundbreaking Concert Pianist, Dies at 77

In 1963, Watts made his national television debut performing Liszt’s First Piano Concerto with Leonard Bernstein and the NY Phil.

Grammys CEO on new AI guidelines: Music that contains AI-created elements is eligible. ‘Period.’

“What’s not going to happen is we are not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI portion.”

Riccardo Muti becomes Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director emeritus for life

The announcement was made on the stage of Orchestra Hall on Friday night after a performance of Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis,” the start of Muti’s final subscription weekend as music director.

Tony-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ creator, dies at 99

Harnick was born and raised in Chicago and earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the Northwestern University School of Music after serving in the army during World War II.

The Beatles are releasing their ‘final’ record. AI helped make it possible

Says Paul McCartney, “We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI so then we could mix the record as you would do. It gives you some sort of leeway.”

Grammys add new categories, including for pop dance recording and African music performance

More change is afoot at the Grammys. The Recording Academy announced Tuesday that three new categories will be added to the awards show in 2024.

Midori Named Artistic Director of Ravinia’s Piano & Strings Training Program

Midori will succeed Miriam Fried, who’s led the program for the past 30 years.

Tony Awards telecast makes inclusive history and puts on quite a show despite Hollywood strike

Tony Awards history was made when J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell became the first nonbinary people to win Tonys for acting.

Lin-Manuel Miranda launches R.I.S.E. Network to improve diversity on Broadway

A 2021 report on diversity in Broadway teams showed that 100% of general managers and 94% of the producers were white. White actors were cast in 80% of the lead roles in musicals and 90% of the lead roles in plays.

Astrud Gilberto, singer of ‘The Girl from Ipanema,’ dead at 83

“Why should anybody assume that just because an artist chooses not to give interviews, he/she is a recluse?” she said in 2002.

Prominent Finnish Composer Kaija Saariaho Has Died, Aged 70

Saariaho’s compositions melded live performance and electronics, winning recognition and securing commissions from numerous leading organizations.

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