Classical News

Wednesday night President Obama and the first lady hosted an event in the East Room of the White House celebrating classical music.

WHAT is it about the singing sons of farmers? Last month Wales' finest Bryn Terfel charmed a packed Philharmonic - including his retired sheep farmer dad - with a programme of sea songs, German lieder and twinkly-eyed banter.

It could be one of the most disturbing images in classical music since Charlotte Moorman played the cello in the nude and brought out the New York City vice squad.

Murder at Fort Hood. Shootings in Orlando, Fla. Enough, enough. Can an orchestra concert ease the pain, distract us from tragedy? The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra certainly tried with its Pops concert Friday at Bass Hall, featuring the von Trapp Children, a quartet of youngsters who re-created the happy harmonies of the 1965 Rodgers and ...

Richard Wagner's great-grandson, Gottfried Wagner, on Friday protested the choice of music at festivities 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which includes a composition by his "anti-semitic" great-grandfather. Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim is leading Monday's performance at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, which is to include A ...

Let's face it: in the day and age of iPods and endless radio station options, it's a challenge to get children to listen to or appreciate classical music.

The Russian man-mountain is boxing's only known classical fan. Which piece should he choose to accompany his entrance to the ring? Beast from the east ... and fan of Chopin: Nikolai Valuev.

FOR the past week, various ensembles in Glasgow have been celebrating the music of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, a man once labelled the enfant terrible of contemporary music, but now, at the ripe old age of 75, a British institution and Master of the Queen's Music to boot.

San Francisco Symphony: Semyon Bychkov conducts the orchestra in an all-Rachmaninoff program, including "The Bells," a choral work based on Poe's poem, and the Second Symphony.

Classical music day at the White House Our presidents typically don't have a lot of interest in classical music.

IT has been a whirlwind week for young chorister Jacquelyne Hill after her winning performance was aired on radio.

Angela Lansbury, the legendary actress, will receive the first Stephen Sondheim Award from Signature Theatre, the company will announce Thursday.

The honor reunites two old friends, as well as artistic talents who are acknowledged innovators in their disciplines and have each forged careers that cover 50 years of theater and music history.

'Angela Lansbury's first appearance on the musical stage was in a show called 'Anyone Can Whistle,' for which I wrote the score. That appearance was a gift to the musical theater, although perhaps not such a gift to her, since the show only ran for nine performances,' Sondheim said in a statement, referring to his 1964 musical. 'I am thrilled that Signature Theatre is helping me make it up to her by giving her the first Stephen Sondheim Award.'

Conservative Christian group Focus on the Family donated just over $115,000 to the fight against gay marriage in Maine.

HELSINKI: Malaysia will start to promote its diverse arts and culture as a niche tourism product for fine arts lovers beginning next year.

Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero can't quite explain her improvisational talents, though she does offer this: "I hear a ' I dona TMt think," she says.

Grizzly Bear and London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, review This year's indie darlings reach new heights with the LSO Rating: * * * * * Posterboys for a certain strain of ambitious, symphonic pop: Grizzly Bear 'Does this feel as fancy for you as it does for us?' asked bassist Chris Taylor as he looked out across the auditorium of the ...

With two concerts and a series of workshops for young musicians, the White House put a big spotlight on classical music Wednesday and sent a strong message that it's not just for stuffed shirts.

We all know about the power of the Internet to promote democracy, unite the world and maybe one day eliminate war, world hunger and the need for singles bars.

Slowly but surely, contemporary music is infiltrating the Wigmore Hall programmes.

New Zealand International Arts Festival The New Zealand International Arts Festival has launched its programme for 2010.