The first woman composer to win an Oscar for best original score is releasing her first album of music not written for a film or stage production. Read More
In Our Daily Breather, we ask writers and artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Violinist Jennifer Koh recommends seeking out a source of carefree joy. Read More
Santana had a brush with major success as a member of the band Malo, and made significant contributions to the breadth of Latin popular music.Read More
Drummer Alvester Garnett joined MacArthur "genius" violinist Regina Carter's band in 1998. It was purely professional at first, but it soon grew into a romantic relationship; the couple married in 2004. "She's the boss two-times over," Garnett says half-jokingly.Read More
Grammy-winning fiddler Augustin Hadelich brings one of the finest violins in the world to the Tiny Desk.Read More
In Our Daily Breather, we ask artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Pianist Jonathan Biss is focusing on being grateful.Read More
Little Richard was an explosive performer who inspired generations of musicians from Otis Redding to The Beatles to David Bowie. He died Saturday morning.Read More
The lauded trumpeter was attending eighth grade in Oakland when he saw a certain pillar of the avant-garde play live. Some 25 years later, the connection between then and now is stronger than ever.Read More
Once part of Digable Planets, Butler continues to be a hip-hop innovator. He stays connected to new music through his son Jazz, who records as Lil Tracy.Read More
The Central Park Five is an operatic narrative retelling the true story about the five African-American and Latino teenagers wrongly convicted of raping and assaulting a white woman in 1989.Read More
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
On April 30, the global jazz community will celebrate International Jazz Day with an expert panel and a global concert featuring pianist Lang Lang, bassist Marcus Miller and more.Read More
On this episode of Alt.Latino, we pull an interview from the archives with the great Cuban percussionist. From Havana nightlife in the 1940s to the pulsing streets of New York just after World War II, he reminisces about the seminal recordings and jam sessions that took place. Read More
"It's sort of eerie when suddenly it's coming to life," Keith Richards said of "Living In a Ghost Town," which they wrote in one world and completed in another.Read More
Entertainment companies Live Nation and AEG have modified their refund policies for postponed events. Getting money back would depend on whether a concert or a game has a firm rescheduled date.Read More
Director Christine Swanson's new film is about the celebrated Detroit gospel group, The Clark Sisters. She talks to host Rachel Martin about being adamant about casting women who could actually sing.Read More
We learn all kinds of interesting things when we're at loose ends during a pandemic lockdown. Did you know that Baltimore Symphony Orchetsra Music Director Marin Alsop co-founded a swing band?Read More
Watch the superstar pianist at home in Shanghai, China, play a soothing Chopin Nocturne and Bach you can dance to.Read More
Ravi Shankar took Indian classical music to world stages and introduced the sitar to Western audiences. His influence can still be felt today, 100 years after his birth.Read More
Alt.Latino host Felix Contreras offers a playlist of music that's comforting him and his listeners amid the coronavirus pandemic.Read More
In Our Daily Breather, we ask writers and artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Nicholas Cords is finding solace in a thankful musical sentiment from Beethoven.Read More
The music of this quintessential Nashville songwriter and lifelong independent spirit makes room for the wide range of emotions that careen through people as they stumble and dance through life.Read More
Each a virtuoso in their own right, longtime friends and Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn team up for a tradition-blending debut album of folk music.Read More
High school musicals are canceled around the country over coronavirus concerns. Broadway star Laura Benanti asked disappointed high school singers for the next best thing: performance videos.Read More
Soul singer Allen Stone demonstrated a commitment to the Tiny Desk that we rarely, if ever, see.Read More
The patriarch of the famous musical Marsalis family, Ellis Marsalis was not only a performer but a teacher, a mentor and a coach.Read More
Stefon Harris has been attracting the attention of jazz fans since he released his 1998 debut, but he's less interested in praise than helping his listeners empathize with the world around them.Read More
"Dolly hopes this series of stories will provide comfort and reassurance to coping kids and families during the shelter-in-place mandates," the Imagination Library said.Read More
Known early on for his avant-garde works, the composer's challenging music nevertheless found fans far beyond traditional classical music circles.Read More
On his new album, the rising pianist once called "Iceland's Glenn Gould" offers a dialogue between two radical French composers born nearly 200 years apart.Read More
Yo-Yo Ma has brought joy to listeners for decades with his virtuosic musicianship. Now, he is using his music to offer some comfort to a global audience in the midst of a pandemic that has sparked widespread anxiety and pain.Read More
The Cameroonian musician who became an international star with his song "Soul Makossa" died Tuesday at age 86 in Paris. His music helped fuel disco — and songs by Michael Jackson and Rihanna.Read More
In a time of striving to keep ourselves and our environments pathogen-free, Our Daily Breather seeks guidance on the health of the psyche. Tom Huizenga has been turning to a calming piano performance.Read More
!["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](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200312_vh-3-c9a7692284640349eb2b64a6172278c5386f8bb3-1140x620.jpg)
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
Bigger artists may count on fan support and labels to carry them through canceled tours, but working musicians — from orchestra members and wedding singers to indie rappers — are looking elsewhere.Read More
Watch the award-winning pianist play a hit by Chopin, a premiere by Thomas Adès and a cherished song by Gershwin dressed in a virtuosic arrangement.Read More
The English composer's supernova hit continues to obscure his jaunty, folk inflected St. Paul's Suite.Read More
Pullman and Yakima County declare emergencies. And events with more than 250 people are prohibited in Washington's King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. That's among many updates this week to the expanding COVID-19 outbreak in the Northwest.Read More
An innovative member of the classic John Coltrane Quartet, few musicians have ever exerted as much influence as a sideman, but Tyner also had a long and consequential career leading bands of his own.Read More
Dixie Chicks has never left our consciousness, but it's been quite a long time since they've released an album.Read More
Thomas Adès' Concerto for Piano and Orchestra riffs on the old classics while speaking in the distinctive voice of a 21st century master composer. Read More
It's not as mean as it might sound (though it does involve a little electrocution) and the results can be both beautiful and, well, eye-opening.Read More
Doctors wanted to ensure they didn't compromise parts of the brain necessary for playing the violin, so they asked their musician patient to play for them mid-operation. Read More
The Washington Post's Philip Kennicott suffered his mother's harsh words and actions throughout childhood. His book is partly a need to acknowledge her "sadness and anger and unaccountable rages."Read More
At 25, she mixes the bluesy melisma of Nina Simone and the deep register of Sarah Vaughan — two of her influences — with songwriting as devastating as her delivery.Read More
The NY Philharmonic has commissioned 19 women to create new works to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment. It's called Project 19.Read More
The Atlanta-based band came to NPR in a van packed with a bodhrán (Irish drum), an ngoni (West African harp) a huge gourd, a cello, a baritone guitar and more.Read More
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
The eclectic composer joins members of the ACME ensemble for some of his most affecting music, which moves the audience to tears.Read More
The Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet is known for their advocacy of contemporary music and for their acclaimed performances of complete quartet cycles by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Carter, and Shostakovich. From their home at Indiana University, Bloomington, they visited Moscow, Idaho in January 2020 for a week of concerts, outreach events and master classes.Read More
