Davóne Tines Bowie Verschuuren/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Classical Classical music performances and features from NPR news, NPR cultural programs, and NPR Music stations.
Classical
Steve Reich in New York City in 2005. During the coronavirus crisis, the composer has been is Los Angeles, working on a new piece. Jeffrey Herman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Rachel Portman was the first woman to win an Academy Award for best original score. Her latest album ask the river is her first not written for a film or stage production. Benjamin Ealovega/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Violinist Jennifer Koh. Juergen Frank/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
An undated shot of the bucolic Tanglewood grounds and the Koussevitzky Music Shed. Courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra hide caption
Jonathan Biss Benjamin Ealovega/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Augustin Hadelich plays a Tiny Desk concert. Kisha Ravi/NPR/NPR hide caption
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's mercurial music, with its sparkle and unpredictability, was a departure from the style of his father, Johann Sebastian. De Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images hide caption
Composer and pianist Anthony Davis, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
An undated portrait of the cellist Lynn Harrell. Harrell died Monday at age 76. Christian Steiner/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Mahan Esfahani plays a Tiny Desk Concert. Kisha Ravi/NPR/NPR hide caption
NPR's Scott Simon spoke with Marin Alsop about the end of her tenure as musical director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and a less heralded part of her career: her 1980s swing band. Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Marin Alsop On Her Swing Orchestra And Stepping Down From The Baltimore Symphony
Lang Lang plays Tiny Desk Home concert. NPR/NPR hide caption
In the wake of pandemics and large-scale crises, composers have responded in a broad variety of ways over the centuries. Wellcome Library, London/Wikimedia Commons hide caption
Richard Teitelbaum, photographed performing at the BIMHUIS in Amsterdam on Oct. 18, 1991. Frans Schellekens/Redferns hide caption
Italian star Andrea Bocelli will livestream an Easter concert from the empty halls of Milan's Duomo cathedral on Sunday. Gerard Julien/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, at the opening of a music center named after him in southeastern Poland in 2013. Janek Skarzynsky/AFP / Getty Images hide caption
Krzysztof Penderecki, Boundary-Breaking Polish Composer, Dies At 86
Opera singer Plácido Domingo, shown here speaking in Spain last July, said earlier this month that he tested positive for the coronavirus. Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images hide caption
Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson says he thinks of the composers on his new album, Debussy – Rameau, as "painters in sound." Ari Magg/Deutsche Grammophon hide caption
Countertenor David Daniels, performing at New York's Carnegie Hall in 2013. Hiroyuki Ito/Getty Images hide caption
Vikingur Ólafsson performs a piece by Rameau. YouTube hide caption