"This Art Deco theater is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places in Paris to attend a performance," writes Fred Plotkin. And it is a good thing that it was not destroyed during a famous 1913 riot.

When Venezuela's flagship orchestra comes to Carnegie Hall, many of its 200 musicians will have traveled from lives of desperate poverty, crime and violence.

In anticipation of a new film version of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables starring Hugh Jackman, we explore three operatic settings of the French writer's novels.

Dave Brubeck, who died Wednesday at age 91, wrote large-scale symphonic and choral works that expanded music's possibilities.

Most of the works of the great bel canto composers — Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti — are seldom performed because few singers are ever up to the task, writes Fred Plotkin. But one such rarity arrives in New York Wednesday night.

Le Poisson Rouge has named Tito Muñoz, a Queens-born conductor, as the music director of Ensemble LPR, a flexible new in-house orchestra.

Whether you’re naughty or nice, choosing presents for yourself or for others, our holiday picks will please even the most discerning opera lovers. Be sure to check out WQXR's Gift Guide too.

As the holidays approach, let us help you find that perfect present for the classical music fans on your list.

Christmas album art has its own unique tradition. There are the decorated trees, the fuzzy sweaters and the evocative winter scenes. And then there are the rest.

"When, about ten months ago, I began my Montsalvatge immersion, my approach was to listen to any music I could find," notes Fred Plotkin. "Then, recently, it came to my attention that an exemplary biography has just been published."

The Philadelphia Orchestra said Thursday that it is pulling its scheduled premiere of Osvaldo Golijov's Violin Concerto in January after the composer announced that it would not be ready in time.

Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic said Thursday they plan to radically overhaul the 50-year-old concert hall.

Most opera lovers are familiar with Tatyana in Eugene Onegin and Lisa in The Queen of Spades, but Tchaikovsky also wrote some fabulous music for several other heroines.

David Lang, the composer and co-founder of the organization Bang on a Can, has been named the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall for the 2013-2014 season.

Last month, two newly-reconstructed Beethoven works were given world premieres within weeks of one another. But can these fragmentary thoughts bring genuine insights?

Opera fans can be woefully sloppy, writes Fred Plotkin, taking their seats with rumpled coats and multiple shopping bags in tow. Theaters make matters worse by not providing adequate coat check facilities.

The actress and soprano Audra McDonald is moving to the role of host for the PBS series “Live From Lincoln Center.” She will fill a position that has been vacant since another soprano, Beverly Sills, died in 2007.

A new 600-page history of opera is a "bracingly intelligent postmortem" that "inspires a good deal of hope about a supposedly lifeless corpus," writes Marion Lignana Rosenberg.

New Yorkers have no shortage of opportunities to celebrate the holidays with festive music. Here is a guide to some of the noteworthy Christmas-related concerts.

Rivera originated some of theater's most memorable roles, including Anita in 1957's "West Side Story," and is currently starring in the ensemble musical "The Mystery Of Edwin Drood."