A collaborative performance with Chicago Opera Theater, the Refugee Orchestra Project, and conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya seeks to express the importance of refugee populations in American music and around the world.

“For centuries, millennia, we humans have looked at the stars and wondered about our place in the universe and what’s beyond. That’s what I wanted to dig into,” reflects musician-composer-producer Caroline Shaw on her latest work, The Listeners.

Baez is this year’s recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize, an award that recognizes artists who speak out for the less fortunate.

Today is Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the US. Contrary to some misconceptions, the June 19 holiday does not mark the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued on January 1, 1863. In fact, the holiday marks a more somber occasion: the date in 1865 when Union soldiers brought news of their victory — and …

This Sunday June 7, WFMT will present a full day of classical music from the perspectives of Black composers, instrumentalists, singers, and conductors. Some of the day’s highlights include performances of music by Valerie Coleman and Paquito D’Rivera by Imani Winds, music by Michael Abels performed by two artists from Chicago’s South Side: Demarre McGill, flute, and Anthony McGill, clarinet …