Queens-born and New York-educated JoAnn Falletta has been appointed the new principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland. The appointment marks the first time that the ensemble will be led by an American, or by a woman.

Carnegie Hall becomes part-laboratory, part-pep rally when seven orchestras -- and many of their fans -- arrive this month for the inaugural Spring for Music festival. View photos from the festival, which is being broadcast on WQXR.

Anne Akiko Meyers and Sarah Chang are two of today's most in-demand violin soloists. Yuja Wang is a fast-rising piano virtuoso. For this Mother's Day, they shared their own reflections on the holiday.

The Georgian-born violinist Lisa Batiashvili is a fast-rising international star, but also the mother of two young children: a six-year-old daughter and two-year-old son. On this Mother's Day, she reveals the difficult balance between career and parenting.

The Metropolitan Opera has announced that James Levine is pulling out of Thursday night's performance of Die Walküre, due to illness. He'll be replaced by Derrick Inouye, who has conducted other performances at the Met including Tosca and Don Pasquale.

The Kronos Quartet, a leading ensemble spotted at both Carnegie Hall and Le Poisson Rouge this season, have nabbed both the Avery Fisher Prize and the Polar Prize for 2011. Founder David Harrington spoke with us about it.

The 2011 Tony Award nominations were announced today from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Tell us who you think will take home the awards in the musical categories.

As WQXR examines the future of American orchestras in a special Greene Space event on May 3 (webcast live on WQXR.org), please take our poll on what orchestras need to provide audiences.

The Met’s 45-ton set piece for its new Ring cycle, which opened the current season with a new production of Das Rheingold and now commands the stage in the cycle’s second opera, Die Walküre, continues to present unexpected challenges to performers.

For our live audio streams of Carnegie Hall’s Spring for Music concerts running Friday, May 6 through Thursday, May 14, WQXR is working in collaboration with the consulting, design and engineering firm Arup to bring innovative 3D sound live to the WQXR.org audience.

Carl Stalling composed one new cartoon score every week for twenty-two years at Warner Brothers. This Saturday, we hear his composition for "To Itch His Own," in which Angelo the Flea terrorizes unsuspecting dogs.

In a dramatic easing of tensions between New York City Opera and members of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union has drawn back from earlier plans to strike on April 30.

Prince William and Kate Middleton today revealed the music that will accompany them as they march down the aisle in Westminster Abbey in London. It includes pieces by Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton and Benjamin Britten.

On Friday, May 6, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will open Spring for Music, a seven-part festival of North American orchestras at Carnegie Hall with its program, The New Brandenburgs. Composer Melinda Wagner talks about her piece based on the Fourth Brandenburg.

On a recent spring afternoon in the WQXR cafe, Arabella Steinbacher tore through Ysaye's Obsession. Next, she turned her attention to Kreisler’s brooding yet dramatic Recitative and Scherzo. Then it really got interesting.

Peter Lieberson, a late-blooming composer who rose to prominence with a series of major song cycles, concertos and orchestral works, died Friday while visiting Israel. He was 64.

Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain is a pop culture staple. Its place in cartoon history was cemented in 1940 with Walt Disney's 1940 film Fantasia.

He feels for the middle-class, he’s all about the Tea Party, and he may run for president. But Donald Trump gives pause when it comes to classical music.

A pair of University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers found students voice strong objection to outright shoplifting, but are less certain when it comes to illegal downloads. Tell us what you think.