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Yola's simple, radical act of walking through her life

Classical California KDFC

April 25, 2025 • The big-voiced, unapologetically frank singer-songwriter refuses to be boxed in by genres, and finds joy in the full expression of self.

Composer Jennifer Higdon during rehearsal at the OK Mozart Festival in Oklahoma. Her music receives over 250 performances each year. OK Mozart Festival/OK Mozart Festival hide caption

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OK Mozart Festival/OK Mozart Festival

Jennifer Higdon won't apologize for writing accessible music

April 25, 2025 • As one of the most-performed living composers, the Pulitzer winner insists that her music communicate to everyone — from farmers to children to the classical music intelligentsia.

Composer Carlos Simon carries his ancestors with him

Classical California KDFC

March 25, 2025 • The rising composer talks about the influence of the church on his music and the premiere of his Good News Mass at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Nickolai Hammar/NPR

Tarriona 'Tank' Ball unleashes the radical power of joy

Classical California KDFC

January 30, 2025 • The Tank and the Bangas frontwoman talks about the strength and versatility of her words — alone and within her music.

The album Revolución Diamantina, with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is devoted to the music of Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz. Cover art by Raul Urias/Platoon hide caption

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Cover art by Raul Urias/Platoon

Review

Best Music of 2024

The 10 Best Classical Albums of 2024

December 9, 2024 • Discover a wide range of this year's most compelling classical music, from symphonic thrill rides and soaring voices to delicate baroque suites, ambient adventures and one groove-laden masterwork.

Olivier Latry rests his arms on the refurbished organ at Notre Dame Cathedral.

Olivier Latry, Notre Dame's longest-serving organist, poses beside the refurbished instrument, ready for the reopening ceremonies after the destructive fire in 2019. Philippe Guyonnet/Notre Dame Cathedral hide caption

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Philippe Guyonnet/Notre Dame Cathedral

Music

Notre Dame organist returns for the cathedral's grand reopening

December 7, 2024 • Olivier Latry is Notre Dame Cathedral's longest-serving organist. Just days before the church's gala reopening, after the destructive fire in 2019, he talks about the refurbished instrument — it holds 8,000 pipes — and its role in the church.

NOTRE DAME'S ORGANIST

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Jon Batiste traces the blues back to Beethoven and beyond

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Jon Batiste traces the blues back to Beethoven and beyond

Classical California KDFC

December 5, 2024 • The Grammy winner and former Late Show bandleader unravels the crisscrossing threads of musical lineage from Beethoven's own personal blues to the musical art form that undergirds Batiste's Louisiana roots.

American composer Terry Riley performs in London in 2018. His groundbreaking work In C helped launch the musical movement called minimalism 60 years ago. Robin Little/Getty Images hide caption

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Robin Little/Getty Images

Music News

'In C' Forever: The eternal evolution of Terry Riley's minimalist masterpiece

November 3, 2024 • Riley's pioneering piece, which premiered 60 years ago, leaves many decisions up to the performers. It helped launch the movement known as minimalism, but In C itself has also survived and changed.

60th anniversary of the debut of Terry Riley's 'In C'

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Opera star Denyce Graves’ global compassion in red, white and blue

Classical California KDFC

October 31, 2024 • Whether she’s singing in the world’s great opera houses, the White House or in prisons, the celebrated mezzo-soprano and U.S. Global Music Ambassador understands how music can move people.

An undated photograph of composer Charles Ives (1874-1954). Pianist Jeremy Denk says "The crusty American composer had no shortage of utopian visions." Bettman/Bettman/Getty Images hide caption

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Bettman/Bettman/Getty Images

Review

Music Reviews

Charles Ives’ vision of America still strikes an unsettling chord

October 18, 2024 • To mark the 150th anniversary of the maverick American composer’s birth, pianist Jeremy Denk releases an Ives tribute album that educates, delights and confounds.

Classical Review: Ives Denk

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Gabriela Ortiz is occupying the Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall this season. Marta Arteaga hide caption

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Marta Arteaga

The Composer Interview

The borderless music of Gabriela Ortiz

October 7, 2024 • At last, the ambitious composer finds herself in the spotlight, with a Carnegie Hall residency and a sparkling new album featuring Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

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Words, sounds and the art of listening with Aja Monet

Classical California KDFC

September 27, 2024 • The self-described “surreal blues poet” savors the significance of words and the noisy poetry of city life.

Singers on stage with background projections in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's opera 'The Listeners.'

Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's opera The Listeners premiered Wednesday night in Philadelphia. Steven Pisano/Courtesy of Opera Philadelphia hide caption

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Steven Pisano/Courtesy of Opera Philadelphia

Music

A mysterious hum and a charismatic leader stoke chaos in Missy Mazzoli's opera

WRTI

September 27, 2024 • In The Listeners, a seductive cult leader and an unexplainable noise divides an innocent community and warps reality. Mazzoli's opera receives its U.S. premiere in Philadelphia.

The Listeners Opera U.S. Premiere

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Conductor Jonathon Heyward is breaking barriers

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Conductor Jonathon Heyward is breaking barriers

Classical California KDFC

August 29, 2024 • As music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Heyward is the youngest to lead a major American orchestra and the first Black music director in the organization’s 107-year history.

Isata Kanneh-Mason's new album features music by brother and sister Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn. Karolina Wielocha/Decca Classics hide caption

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Karolina Wielocha/Decca Classics

Music

A sibling spark fuels Isata Kanneh-Mason's 'Mendelssohn' album

August 9, 2024 • The rising young pianist, from a family of seven musical siblings, offers dynamic music by brother and sister Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.

A sibling spark fuels Isata Kanneh-Mason’s 'Mendelssohn' album

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Meredith Monk, in her signature pigtails, remains vigorously curious and still performs in her own works at age 81.

Now in her 80s, the New York interdisciplinary artist Meredith Monk remains best known for her extended vocal technique, a concept she found her way to in the 1960s. Christine Alicino hide caption

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Christine Alicino

The Composer Interview

'The voice is my river': Meredith Monk reflects on 6 decades of music-making

August 1, 2024 • The revered interdisciplinary artist, now in her 80s, remains vigorous and regards the joy of curiosity as the key to staying young.

Nickolai Hammar/NPR/NPR

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Conductor Thomas Wilkins asks orchestras to 'jump off a cliff' with him

Classical California KDFC

July 30, 2024 • The principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra radiates an empathetic, Yoda-like wisdom when it comes to conjuring beautiful sounds from both pros and students.

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NPR

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Countertenor John Holiday isn't trying to make you love him

Classical California KDFC

June 27, 2024 • The versatile singer, who emphasizes self-acceptance, says his mission is to be a bridge from the classical community to pop, jazz and R&B. And if you’re not a fan, that’s okay.

Lara Downes and Brittney Spencer. Nickolai Hammar hide caption

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Nickolai Hammar

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Brittney Spencer brings her culture to country music

Classical California KDFC

May 30, 2024 • The rising young singer-songwriter, who tours with Willie Nelson and sings on Beyoncé's latest album, is making a name for herself in a new era of more inclusive country music.

Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov fled his hometown of Kyiv for Berlin in early 2022. Dmitri Matveyev/Naxos hide caption

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Dmitri Matveyev/Naxos

Review

Music Reviews

What's past is present for Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov

May 10, 2024 • The 86-year-old Kyiv native, living in exile in Berlin, has a new album of symphonic works that explores the idea of reminiscence.

What's past is present for Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov

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Mystery manifests on Pratt's albums as the texture of dreams. But Here in the Pitch, her best album, feels completely lucid. Samuel Hess hide caption

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Samuel Hess

Classical California KUSC

April 25, 2024 • The acclaimed singer and actor explains how the arts have that rare ability to change minds, give hope and connect people.