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Classical Music

Women’s History Music Moment: Mary Davenport-Engberg

By NWPB Music March 10, 2021

Courtesy of University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, JWS17383

Mary Cornwall was born in a covered wagon in 1881, as her parents made their way from California to the Washington Territory. The family settled in Spokane, and young Mary impressed her music teachers right from the start. When her mother died, the Davenport family adopted her and moved to Bellingham.Read More

Women’s History Music Moment: Marion and Emilie Frances Bauer

By NWPB Music March 9, 2021

Once upon a time in Walla Walla—it was the late 1880s—a little girl named Marion sat on a piano bench, watching and learning music skills from her older sister, Emilie Frances. Seventeen years apart in age, the Bauer sisters would eventually move to New York City, where each in her own way would help shape American music history. Their first music teacher was their Read More

Women’s History Music Moment: Sarah Ioannides

By NWPB Music March 9, 2021

Symphony Tacoma’s Sarah Ioannides is making history. Her Arrival in Tacoma in 2014 as the orchestra’s first woman music director brought Symphony Tacoma into what its calling “the era of Sarah.” Her energetic work on and off the podium has powered Symphony Tacoma into partnerships and performances expanding access to students and audiences beyond the historic Pantages Read More

With Her Recording Series ‘Rising Sun,’ Lara Downes Re-Centers Black Composers

By NPR News March 9, 2021

Lara Downes. Her recent album, Phenomenal Women, featured recordings of compositions by Black female composers whose legacies have been overlooked by the classical establishment. CREDIT: Max Barrett/Courtesy of the artist

Lara Downes will release a mini-album every month, for as long as she can keep it up, to highlight overlooked and forgotten compositions by Black artists in the classical music tradition. In honor of Women's History Month, its latest entry focuses on some overlooked and under-appreciated bodies of work by women composers and performers.Read More

Gustavo Dudamel And L.A. Philharmonic Reunite For Socially Distanced Virtual Concert Series

By NPR News March 5, 2021

Gustavo Dudamel during a press conferece on Sept. 30, 2009 in LA, around the time he was named the music director of the LA Philharmonic. Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

The concerts the LA Phil recorded last summer and fall are featured on the Sound/Stage series, which streams on its website. The first season opened with an episode called "Love in the Time of COVID," complete with overhead shots of the lonely Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles, and a reading of a Pablo Neruda poem.Read More

New Music Mix: Margo Price, The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Hand Habits, More

By NPR News January 27, 2021

Clockwise from upper left: Margo Price, Anna Fox Rochinski, Miss Grit, Anna B Savage, Daníel Bjarnason, Hand Habits Courtesy of the artists

From Hand Habits to a violin concerto that includes whistling, this week's All Songs Considered has some surprises along the way. Hand Habits is the music of Meg Duffy. On their new EP dirt, we hear the climactic tune "4th of July," filled with Meg's intriguing guitar. It was also the guitar that attracted me to Miss Grit, the music of Korean American Margaret Sohn. She Read More

Distinct Dissonance And Piano Tones Mark Max Richter’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By NPR News January 25, 2021

These half-dozen short pieces can offer two very different modes of experience. Shot in artful black and white, their simplicity and beauty invite us into a world as we once knew it, where fresh air wafts through open doors and dogs peacefully snooze (canine cameos by Evie and Haku) in the late summer sunshine in southern England.Read More

When The Giants Of Indian Classical Music Collided With Psychedelic San Francisco

By NPR News January 23, 2021

Tabla player Zakir Hussain (left) accompanies sarod player Ali Akbar Khan and his wife and collaborator Mary Khan. Courtesy of the Owsley Stanley Foundation

Since his first American concert, Zakir Hussain has become perhaps the most famous tabla player in the world. He now lives in California, and he says it was this performance 50 years ago that showed him that Indian classical music could be played in the West in its purest form. "It really set the tone of how I would present myself to my fellow musicians — whoever I was Read More

NPR’s Classical Music Editor Previews 2 Albums You’ll Want To Hear

By NPR News January 13, 2021

Baritone Will Liverman's upcoming album is devoted to Black composers past and present. CREDIT: Cedille records

In 2021, I'm looking forward to, fingers crossed, live music. I really miss the roar of a symphony orchestra in concert or a soaring soprano on the opera stage. But artists are still making albums, even in lockdown, like British composer Max Richter. His upcoming album is a follow-up to last year's Voices. This new one is Voices, Part 2 which will be released in April.Read More

Music And Mayhem: A Diary Of Classical Albums For A Troubled 2020

By NWPB News January 3, 2021

The dance of death, an ancient image that inspired Thomas Adès to compose his Totentanz. CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons

While streams dominated this chaotic, sorrowful year, musicians continued to lay down official statements in the form of albums. And as the pandemic exploded, the economy cracked, the protests thundered and politics grew even more partisan, the arresting albums listed below became the soundtrack to my 2020 – the best in troubled times. In the order they were released are Read More

Pianist Claude Bolling, Creator Of Popular Jazz/Classical Suites, Has Died

By NPR News January 1, 2021

A shot of jazz pianist Claude Bolling and friends, taken on a beach in Cannes, France in 1969. CREDIT: AFP via Getty Images

Americans knew Bolling best for a recording project with noted French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal which contained Bolling's sparkling "Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano." The album, which was released by CBS in 1975, remained on Billboard's classical charts for an astonishing 530 consecutive weeks.Read More

Cello Plus Piano Equals Jan Vogler, Alessio Bax And Beethoven For A Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By NPR News December 28, 2020

For this Tiny Desk (home) concert, we pay a visit to the doctor's office. Actually, the venue is called Rare Violins of New York and it's something of a second home to cellist Jan Vogler, who pops in frequently to have the experts give his 1708 Stradivarius cello a thorough checkup.Read More

Borromeo String Quartet Marks Beethoven’s 250th Year With A Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By NPR News December 20, 2020

The humorous side of Beethoven's personality seeps into his music, such as the false stops and musical giggles that fuel his two-minute-long Presto from the Quartet Op. 130, which opens this performance. For contrast, the Borromeos follow with a serious movement from later on in the same piece, the prayerful Cavatina, which Beethoven said even got him choked up.Read More

In His 250th Year, Beethoven’s Legacy Is One Of Life, Liberty And Pursuit Of Enlightenment

By NPR News December 18, 2020

Ludwig van Beethoven charted a powerful new course in music. His ideas may have been rooted in the work of European predecessors Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Josef Haydn, but the iconic German composer became who he was with the help of some familiar American values: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That phrase, from the Declaration of Independence, is right out Read More

All Songs Considered Says: Consider Celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Birthday

By NPR News December 15, 2020

There's far more to this enduring figure than the famous Fifth Symphony. And to find out, we've invited writer Jan Swafford to join us for an all-Beethoven "take-over" edition of All Songs Considered to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth.Read More

Composer John Luther Adams On The Arctic Sounds That Shaped His Work

By NPR News December 12, 2020

The Pulitzer winner has released his first memoir, "Silences So Deep: Music, Solitude, Alaska." It's a personal account of Adams' formative decades making art in the Artic. Read More

Soprano Julia Bullock Is A Classical Music ‘Agent Of Change’ And A Tiny Desk (Home) Performer

By NPR News December 6, 2020

From her home in Germany, the provocative American soprano delivers songs of introspection and freedom from Franz Schubert's mountaintop epiphany to Billy Taylor's wish for equality and justice.Read More

‘Tripping With Nils Frahm:’ Four Sweaty Nights Captured Onscreen With The Neo Classical Composer

By NPR News December 4, 2020

Neo classical composer Nils Frahm on stage playing piano

The new concert film, shot in 2018, shows one of the stars of the electronic and indie classical worlds in his element: a homebrewed nest of traditional and modern instruments working together.Read More

Provocation And Follow-Through: ‘Transformative’ Soprano Julia Bullock Talks With Lara Downes

By NPR News November 30, 2020

The thoughtful soprano believes that art is good at questioning, challenging and provoking. But the real question, she says, is: "What happens after the provocation?"Read More

Owen Pallett Layers Instruments, Voice And His Own Story For An NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By NPR News November 28, 2020

The talented Canadian composer and songwriter creates an ensemble in their bedroom for our Tiny Desk quarantine series.Read More

A Tense New Classical Work Bottles The Feeling Of A Police Stop

By NPR News November 26, 2020

Anthony McGill performs You Have the Right to Remain Silent with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Courtesy of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Pulitzer-winning composer Anthony Davis based You Have The Right To Remain Silent, released this week as a virtual performance, on his own experience with police.Read More

Musicians Turn To New Software To Play Together Online

By Marcie Sillman November 22, 2020

The members of New York-based brass quartet The Westerlies are rehearsing together thousands of miles apart, thanks to Audio Movers. Courtesy of the artist

Since the pandemic started, musicians have been trying to find ways to play together in real time online. Two platforms — Audio Movers and Jack Trip — offer promise.Read More

StoryCorps Northwest: A Grandmother And Granddaughter Share Why They Protest

By Sueann Ramella November 18, 2020

Grandmother with young adult granddaughter talk about protesting.

Lewiston resident Lilienne Shore Kilgore-Brown actively takes part in protests now. So did her grandmother Susan Kilgore in the 1970s. On StoryCorps Northwest, Susan tells Lilienne what she was protesting and what she learned from those experiences.Read More

Beethoven Birthday Supper: Recipes For The Composer’s Favorite Food

By Gigi Yellen November 5, 2020

What would Beethoven do when he was hungry? He’d have mac and cheese! The Viennese version, of course: Kaesespaetzle, or "cheese noodles;" tiny dumplings topped with crispy onions. For Ludwig’s 250th anniversary year, may we suggest he spice things up with a pepper and a sprig of rosemary? How about some Cougar Gold instead of that Parmigiano-Reggiano? Keep reading Read More

StoryCorps Northwest: Seeing Internment Camp And Housing Discrimination Changed Her Politics

By Sueann Ramella November 4, 2020

Daughter Nancy Mahoney with her mother, Colleen.

When she was young, Lewiston resident Colleen Mahoney lived near the Minidoka Japanese Internment camp. That experience, plus witnessing housing discrimination in Utah, shaped her politics and community advocacy.Read More

Program Notes For “The Monster”

By Gigi Yellen October 30, 2020

This new work, composed by Duncan Neilson, tells the story of Frankenstein's monster from the perspective of the creature himself, with text extracted from Mary Shelly's classic novel. Listen to a special presentation of "The Monster," Saturday, October 31, at 8:00 PM.Read More

Meet The 20-Something Seattle Cellist Bringing Classical Music To The Masses Through Social Media

By NWPB News October 25, 2020

Seattle Symphony cellist Nathan Chan, shown here in a still image from a video cover of the song "Down" on his YouTube channel, uses social media channels to connect with younger audiences and share his musical insights. CREDIT: Nathan Chan/YouTube/Screenshot by NWPB

Nathan Chan talks about his pandemic pick-me-ups, Yo-Yo Ma and TikTok. Before he could read, let alone read sheet music, theSeattle Symphony cellist had already conducted an orchestra through Mozart’s Variations. At 3 years old, Chan directed the San Jose Chamber Orchestra — and had to stand on a chair to see over the podium.Read More

Simone Dinnerstein: ‘A Character Of Quiet’ For Troubled Times

By Steve Reeder October 15, 2020

The gifted American pianist Simone Dinnerstein has always taken a thoughtful--even bold--approach to her art. Now, Dinnerstein has emerged from a pandemic-induced period of reflection with an impressive new recording, “A Character of Quiet,” which combines etudes by Philip Glass with Franz Schubert’s last sonata. She and her longtime producer laid down the tracks over two Read More

New York Philharmonic Cancels Its Entire 2020-21 Season, Due To Coronavirus

By NPR News October 13, 2020

The New York Philharmonic and its music director, Jaap van Zweden. Chris Lee/Courtesy of the New York Philharmonic

This is the first time that the New York Philharmonic has been forced to cancel its entire concert season. No previously scheduled concerts will happen before June 2021.Read More

Master Singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian, A Voice Of Iran, Dies At Age 80

By NPR News October 8, 2020

Mohammad Reza Shajarian, onstage in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2008. The singer died Thursday in Tehran. CREDIT: Heinz Ruckemann/UPI /Landov

With a voice by turns soaring and haunting, Shajarian was considered one of his nation's treasures — and then ran afoul of the regime. He died Thursday in Tehran at age 80.Read More

Women Conductors Are The Rule, Not The Exception, At A New Classical Event

By NPR News October 4, 2020

Chinese conductor Jiajing Lai performs in the first edition of La Maestra, an international competition for women conductors, held at the Philharmonie de Paris this September. CREDIT: Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images

La Maestra, held in Paris this September, is the first fully realized competition solely for women conductors — an effort to help balance a male-dominated field.Read More

MUSIC REVIEW: Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass, Rebooted For The 21st Century

By NPR News September 29, 2020

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider's Mass for the Endangered is a prayer for the wildlife on our planet. CREDIT: Anja Schutz/Courtesy of the artist

When young composers explore old musical formulas, exciting things can happen. Mass for the Endangered is a contemporary twist on an ancient tradition. Read More

Superstar Pianist Lang Lang Records ‘Goldberg Variations’

By NPR News September 25, 2020

Pianist Lang Lang attends the release ceremony of his latest recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Goldberg Variations" on Sept. 4, 2020 in Beijing, China. CREDIT: Beijing Youth Daily/VCG via Getty Images

In his version of “Goldberg Variations,” Gould adapted the sounds of ancient period instruments, harpsichord and organ, to modern piano playing. Lang Lang says this inspired him to learn how to play the harpsichord, studying with Andreas Staier in Cologne, Germany.Read More

Whistleblowers Allege Culture Of Secrecy, Protection Of Powerful At Singers’ Union

By NPR News September 19, 2020

A 1939 portrait of opera singer Lawrence Tibbett, the co-founder and first president of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). Fairfax Media/Getty Images

They point to a real estate deal that could drain two-thirds of the American Guild of Musical Artists' financial reserves and a secretive, failed deal with disgraced opera star Plácido Domingo.Read More

MUSIC REVIEW: The Met Opera’s Live Streaming Series Sticks To Old Trappings

By NPR News September 6, 2020

While a valiant endeavor, the Metropolitan Opera's new series of steaming concerts can't seem to shake off opera's fusty, aristocratic traditions. Read More

Vox Virtual, An International Music Festival, Is About To Launch

By NPR News August 22, 2020

Isaac Cates and Ordained is one of two US a cappella groups performing at Vox Virtual. Clarence Lomax/Vox Virtual Festival

Vocal ensembles that normally would be touring the summer festival circuit have organized a virtual concert series. Groups hail from 10 different countries including the U.S., Zimbabwe and France.Read More

Remembering Julian Bream, The Classical Guitar Giant With The Soul Of A Jazz Player

By NPR News August 18, 2020

English guitarist and lutenist Julian Bream. CREDIT: Evening Standard/Getty Images

Guitarist Julian Bream, who died Friday at the age of 87, was as important to the history of classical guitar as Andres Segovia.Read More

Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson Sits At The Steinway For A Beautiful Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

By NPR News August 17, 2020

Víkingur Ólafsson plays a Tiny Desk (home) concert.

Watch the rising young pianist, in a final performance from his Berlin home, make the case for two seemingly disparate French composers born nearly 200 years apart.Read More

Meet The Medical Professionals Playing Classical Music Together Online

By NPR News August 10, 2020

"I got a lot of emails after we posted our first video," says violinist Dr. Erica Hardy. She says the orchestra's virtual performances are a way to give back to the community. Screenshot by NPR

The National Virtual Medical Orchestra brings together health care workers and gives them a creative outlet during the pandemic.Read More

Leon Fleisher, The Pianist Who Reinvented Himself, Dies At 92

By NPR News August 2, 2020

Pianist Leon Fleisher eventually resumed playing with both hands after an injury sidelined him at age 36. CREDIT: Chris Hartlove/Provided by the artist

The beloved pianist was a young lion of his generation until a hand injury forced him to rethink his relationship to music.Read More

Classical Music Tries To Reckon With Racism — On Social Media

By NPR News August 1, 2020

Pianist Yuja Wang (pictured), violinist Leonidas Kavakos and several prominent academics have been accused this week of making anti-Black comments. Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images

Pianist Yuja Wang, violinist Leonidas Kavakos and several prominent academics have been accused this week of making anti-Black comments. Ensuing debates have been playing out on Twitter and Instagram.Read More

Yo-Yo Ma: Goats, Rodeos And The Power Of Music In A Time Of Needing Comfort

By NPR News June 16, 2020

The musicians on Not Our First Goat Rodeo, from left to right: Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Stuart Duncan and Edgar Meyer. Josh Goleman/Courtesy of the artist

Hear the cellist talk about the purpose of music in the face of racial tension and health crises, plus his new album, Not Our First Goat Rodeo, which reunites him with old bluegrass buddies. Read More

A New Library Of Congress Project Commissions Music Of The Pandemic

By NPR News June 14, 2020

Allison Loggins-Hull and Nathalie Joachim are two of the artists featured in the Library of Congress' Boccaccio Project, a collection of songs inspired by the coronavirus pandemic. CREDIT: Erin Patrice O'Brien/Courtesy of the artist

The Library of Congress is debuting 10 works of new music about the COVID-19 pandemic. The project takes inspiration from Giovanni Boccaccio, a writer who collected stories about the Black Death.Read More

Clarinetist Anthony McGill Kneels, Pleads And Plays For Justice

By NPR News June 12, 2020

New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill coined the hashtag #TakeTwoKnees as part of a social media effort to protest police violence.

With the help of a few "wrong" notes, the principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic turned "America the Beautiful" into a solemn protest of police violence.Read More

Before COVID-19, There Was Harpsichord. And Mahan Esfahani’s Tiny Desk Concert

By NPR News May 3, 2020

Mahan Esfahani plays a Tiny Desk Concert. CREDIT: Kisha Ravi/NPR

The harpsichord is alive and well. Watch Mahan Esfahani give the first solo harpsichord recital at the Tiny Desk, playing music that spans over 250 years.Read More

Prominent Cellist Lynn Harrell Dies At Age 76

By NPR News April 30, 2020

The Grammy-winning American cellist had a wide-ranging career that spanned Bach to new music written by Augusta Read Thomas. His colleagues also treasured him as a generous musical collaborator.Read More

‘This Is Why We Play’: Amid Pandemic, Philadelphia Orchestra Livestreams Beethoven

By NPR News March 19, 2020

"This was one of the most memorable [performances]," conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin says of the Philadelphia Orchestra's March 12 concert, played to empty hall. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra has shuttered its doors in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin reflects on their final performance — streamed for people at home.Read More

Revisiting Beethoven’s Beloved, Radical Symphonies For His 250th Birthday

By NPR News February 25, 2020

Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique are performing all nine of Beethoven's symphonies in a series of concerts celebrating the composer's 250th birthday.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts all nine symphonies this year. He spoke about the surprisingly political side of Beethoven's music with All Things Considered. Read More

Celebrate Beethoven’s 250th In The Northwest

By Anjuli Dodhia February 6, 2020

2020 marks the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven, and the world is saluting him with festivals, concerts and exhibitions all year long. Vienna and his birthplace - Bonn - are at the center of the festivities, but the Northwest is also celebrating the great composer, humanist, visionary and nature lover. Here are a few concerts you can look forward to in 2020.Read More

Remembering Peter Serkin, The Searching Pianist

By NPR News February 3, 2020

Pianist Peter Serkin, in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2012. CREDIT: Stu Rosner/Boston Symphony Orchestra

A thoughtful musician from a distinguished family, Peter Serkin interpreted the classics and expanded the repertoire by commissioning new works. He died Saturday, Feb. 1, at his home in Red Hook, N.Y. at age 72.Read More