Fifth House Ensemble (5HE) wants everyone to just play. This is the focus on the group’s recent projects, which explore different ways to produce music, as well as how we send that music out into the world and how the audiences experience it.

“We spend so much time perfecting skills, getting things right, and getting ahead that we forget to connect with our own creative impulses on a daily basis,” said Melissa Ngan, executive director and founding member of 5HE. “It's this space that produces innovation, human connection, and a true sense of self.”

Classical music lovers can still enjoy acclaimed pianist Daniil Trifonov’s Carnegie Hall performance on February 9, despite the event being sold out. Medici.TV will bring the brilliant performance live via webcast, free of charge, to the worldwide audience.

The Baroque period was a time of extraordinary innovation. Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński is adding a whole new dimension to this old music to make it sound so new. The singer showcased his talents on January 31 at Carnegie Hall.

Even when he wanted to run away, life brought cellist Dale Henderson back to music.

“One of the many things I heard as a student and didn’t think too much about was ‘you can’t hid with the cello’,” he said. “But then learned through experience was 100% true. No matter who you are on the outside, when you’re playing your inner self will show through. You’re totally exposed.”

Instead of following the typical classical music handbook, conductor Andrew Gourlay decided to write his own. As Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León (OSCyL) in Spain, Andrew and the OSCyL announced this fall it launched its own recording label. Now, a few months later, the organization released its first recording, Rachmaninov: The Isle of the Dead / Symphony No. 2.

“For the first recording on our new label, we wanted to show what the orchestra can do, and what better way than with major symphonic repertoire?” Andrew said.

Young Singaporean conductor Kahchun Wong will make his New York Philharmonic debut on February 6, leading the orchestra’s Lunar New Year Concert, becoming just the second-ever conductor to be asked to lead this annual event.

The only thing violinist Kristin Lee wants people to remember about her is her honesty in expressing her love for music. Her goal every time she steps on the stage or curates a program is that it comes off genuinely and that she can be as transparent as possible.

Award-winning pianist Seong-Jin Cho knows how to attract a crowd, which is what he has been doing ever since he stepped into the spotlight when he captured first prize at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

Rachmaninoff’s deeply Romantic symphony envelops the listener while the spirit of Beethoven hovers nearby as pianist Yefim Bronfman performs with the New York Philharmonic, led by Maestro Jaap van Zweden.

During the middle of a bleak January, David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center was filled with sweeping melodies, lush orchestrations, inspired lyrical passages, and dramatic emotions.

It’s impossible to be a good artist and not to draw from life. Every time American soprano Leah Crocetto performs, there is an aspect of herself in the performance.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s ‘method acting’ a la Stanislavsky, but rather it’s just a part of it. I am who and what I am, and that bleeds into every performance,” she said.

Conductor Shiyeon Sung found her passion for classical music at a young age, through starting piano at 4 years old and her mother’s love for the same music. Though she thrived as a pianist and won many youth competitions, she developed a problem with her arm and had to stop playing for a while.

Pianist Karim Said moved to the UK from his native Jordan at age 11 without his family to study music. It is through this independence and the structure of Purcell School that have influenced his music-making.

German pianist Frank Dupree can be described with one word: versatility. He doesn’t think in stereotypes and has experimented with a variety of musical genres and instruments.

“Why isn’t it possible that one person plays a Beethoven Piano Sonata and improvises over a song by Duke Ellington in the same concert? I say it is! It’s all about making music,” said Frank, winner of the 2018 Opus Klassik Award for Piano Concerto Recording of the Year (20th/21st century).

It is the weekend of premieres in New York City. Pulitzer prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe created an immersive visual and musical event, which will premiere Thursday through Saturday with the New York Philharmonic as part of New York Stories: Threads of Our City. On Sunday, ECHOensemble will premiere One after two years of organic, physical research and exploration, which will include dancers and musicians.

French-Canadian pianist Andree-Ann Deschenes specializes in familiarly danceable yet traditionally influenced classical music from Latin American countries. So it makes sense that she would be drawn to Jayme Ovalle, a lesser-known Brazilian composer.

Baritone Holger Falk thinks an authentic artistic expression is always connected to real life. “The work and the transformation I do and have in my ‘real life’ always allow and enforce different artistic possibilities,” he said.

For Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik, family and history play a center role in his life. Arriving at age 5 as a refugee from the USSR, the hardship, work, and success that went along with it continually inspires his work.

“Exploring my cultural heritage and background has compelled me to move in unexpected directions as an artist,” he said.

Flemish composer and musician Wim Henderickx trusts his intuition. It is through this intuition he has become successful at his craft, with releasing albums, collaborating with different musical groups, and creating beautiful works of art. He is also a professor at Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp and at the Conservatoire in Amsterdam.

Despite her young age, success follows accordionist Hanzhi Wang. She is the first accordionist to join the roster of Young Concert Artists in its 57-year history, making her debut in New York this past fall. If that wasn’t enough, the record label Naxos releases its first-ever solo accordion album, Hanzhi’s On the Path to H.C. Andersen.

French Canadian pianist Alexandra Stréliski is inspired by emotions, people, and the experiences she lived. “I cannot make a distinction between that and the way I write,” she said. This is why her work touched many emotions to those her listen to her work, recently via Jean-Marc Vallée’s films Dallas Buyers Club (2013) and Demolition (2016), as well as the trailer of the acclaimed HBO series Big Little Lies (2017).