This Friday at 8pm, WQXR offers a live broadcast from Carnegie Hall: Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic playing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.

It was that very piece that inspired the 12-year-old Rattle to become a conductor in the first place. Whether the orchestra’s 2010 live recording - or this Saturday’s live broadcast - achieve similar affect on others remains to be seen. Regardless, the developing relationship and choices of the Berlin Phil and its conductor/artistic director continue to captivate the classical music world.

Myung-whun Chung, the prominent South Korean conductor, met with officials from North Korea in Beijing to discuss a joint orchestra performance in Pyongyang, local media reported Monday.

About one to two percent of professional musicians will develop focal dystonia, potentially ruining their careers. Yet its precise cause remains unknown.

Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema's poster boy, takes Los Angeles Philharmonic to his homeland. The visit comes fresh from winning a Grammy.

In recent years a small but surprising cottage industry has emerged of recordings focused on calming, entertaining and uplifting pets. But do they actually work?

Charles Anthony, a character singer who set the record for most appearances at the Metropolitan Opera - 2,928 - during a career that spanned from 1954 to 2010, died Wednesday. He was 82.

What do you do for a couple who is getting a divorce? A happily married violinist and percussionist in New York came up with an unlikely concept album.

The Emerson String Quartet, one of the most respected string quartets of its era, has lost a member for the first time in 34 years.

Leif Ove Andsnes is now on the north side of age 40 and is 25 years into a busy concert career but he’s not setting out to buy a Porsche or stage a midlife crisis yet.

The Detroit symphony has set what it believes is a record for the most viewers of a live, online performance by a U.S. symphonic group.

Joyce DiDonato, Gustavo Dudamel, John Adams and Eric Whitacre are among the 2012 Grammy winners.

"When I hear recordings by pianist Rudolf Firkušny, whose was born on February 11, 1912, the word that comes to mind every time is 'warmth,'" writes Jeff Spurgeon.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra officials insist it's not "American Idol" meets Mozart.

The famously floppy-haired maestro of Los Angeles-via-Venezuela made his debut on Sesame Street this week. See this and videos of other classical guests on the show.

Tuesday marked the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Find out about the musical connections to the famed writer.

Almost two decades ago, composer and Cambridge professor Robin Holloway set about to recompose Bach’s Goldberg Variations. If a healthy dose of skepticism is in order, rightly so.

For the first time, 21st-century audiences are able to hear the voice of Otto von Bismarck, one of the 19th century's most important figures.

Bach, Beethoven, Rossini, Verdi and Philip Glass were among the composers to appear in the commercial lineup during Super Bowl XLVI. Watch all of the ads here and tell us your favorite.

The Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona's opera house, has become the latest victim of the economic crisis hitting Spain as it announced it will close for two months in a bid to cut costs.