Abigail Rollins’ first year as Executive Director of Berkshire Opera Festival has not gone as expected. The company initially pivoted their Mainstage Don Giovanni to a concert version of the work and now finally to a digital performance featuring the original cast but different music entirely. Despite these tumultuous times, Rollins and the BOF team have prioritized supporting their artists.

Grammy-winning composer Richard Danielpour has been commissioned by Oregon Bach Festival to compose a set of fifteen miniatures for celebrated pianist Simone Dinnerstein to be premiered on Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 2 PM PST.

April, 2020: It’s a few weeks into quarantine, and the music students are getting restless. While most other college programs continued virtually after the sweeping March shutdown, conservatories cut their semesters short and canceled all remaining rehearsals and performances, citing the infeasibility of conducting them online. I felt as though I had been unceremoniously plucked from my life of rehearsing string quartets and memorizing concertos and thrust into a vacuum. Mere weeks from the end of my graduate degree, my already-uncertain future was now on indefinite hold, and it seemed like my life in music would never look the way I expected.

Legendary mezzo-soprano Frederica “Flicka” von Stade returned to the stage on July 30 and August 1 for Classical Tahoe’s adapted 2020 season to sing works by Offenbach, Mahler, and Heggie for an intimate 25-person audience. Classical Tahoe ensemble members include principal New York City Metropolitan Opera Orchestra musicians Nathan Hughes (oboe) and Milan Milisavljević (viola). Frederica von Stade joins Classical Post to discuss this moving experience, which young opera singers have the most star power, what she’s been watching on Netflix and more.

Anderson & Roe Piano Duo discuss Musical Mixology, their upcoming Virtual Piano Extravaganza in collaboration with Portland Piano International, and share a special cocktail recipe for our 21+ readers to enjoy.

Leeds Competition winner Eric Lu replaced pianist/composer Michael Brown at 92Y’s opening concert of its streamed summer series coined Time and Other Travel – wishing Michael a speedy recovery.

A remarkable aspect about Ted Hearne, Saul Williams and Patricia McGregor’s 80-minute staged oratorio, Place, is that it holds so many stories and opens the door to numerous conversations. Writings about this work could be centered around how the performers in Place faced the effects of gentrification in their own lives, converting the work into a video piece during COVID-19, how Hearne composed the music, I could go on. But one aspect which gripped me is the collaborative process between Saul Williams and Ted Hearne in creating a libretto for Place. I spoke with Saul Williams and Ted Hearne separately about Place and this collaborative process and have created this piece in the spirit of that dialogue, allowing the reader to alternate between the perspectives of Williams and Hearne.

“Sad, moody, happy, funny or none of it,“ Lambert, German songwriter and musician describes the freedom to be “everything at the same time.” Releasing lovely works for several years, eliciting tranquility, many who know and love the music “see the visual part as the perfect description,“ despite some contradictions as darkness and loneliness are portrayed in accompanied videos such as one of our favorites “Sweet Apocalypse.” We were lucky enough to have a few questions answered by Lambert and look forward to following and listening closely as the Lambiverse evolves.

Virgil Boutellis-Taft’s playing throughout his debut orchestral album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Incantation, is brilliant, effusive and gripping. He glides above the orchestra while maintaining a core to the tone and unfolding gorgeous intricate phrases. But it is the depth of his relationship with the material, unique combination of works and history behind why he programmed this CD the way that he did that make this album exceptional. History had silenced Virgil Boutellis-Taft’s family violin. Through Incantation, the violin sings again in an unfurling of seemingly contradictory emotions which are all centered around melancholy.

David Lang’s concert-length work for treble vocal quartet love fail tells universal stories. They are about trust, interconnectivity, disappointment and of course love. Before speaking to Quince Ensemble about their recent recording of love fail, I had a hunch that there would be some overlap between the subject matter and their experience of working on this as an ensemble. The subject matter of interconnectedness, communication, compassion, faith and love are mirrored in Quince’s experience of bringing love fail to life. Quince Ensemble, composed of Kayleigh Butcher, Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, Liz Pearse, and Carrie Henneman Shaw, joins Classical Post to discuss.

Unsurprisingly, the first months of the much-anticipated “Beethoven 250” year have already seen several new releases of the string quartets. One standout is the Tetzlaff Quartet’s contribution, which highlights two major works (Op. 132 and Op. 130, with the “Grosse Fuge”) and—as we have come to expect from this formidable group through a patiently growing discography of thoughtful performances—features probing readings that take the artists out of the spotlight, foreground the music’s dynamism, and let these idiosyncratic, philosophical masterpieces stand front and center.

New Music Gathering, an annual three-day conference dedicated to the performance, production, promotion, support and creation of new concert music, has gone digital for the June 2020 conference. Two of its five organizers, composers Mary Kouyoumdjian and Angélica Negrón, join CP to discuss moving to an online format, making space within the community and balancing their own creative practices with their commitment to NMG.

Renowned soprano Karen Slack joins Classical Post to discuss her new series Konversations, building her career, how roles should be cast with ears instead of eyes, how fewer Black women have international careers these days and more.

Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi is one of classical music’s most streamed artists. His music draws from rock, jazz, American minimalism and from his teachers, avant-garde European composers Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) and Luciano Berio (1925-2003).

The Grammy Award-winning Oregon Bach Festival announces a commemorative Radio Festival, featuring a lineup of historic recordings from some of the world’s top classical musicians, and the rare opportunity for audiences to enjoy previously archived LIVE and studio recordings throughout the past five decades.

Classical music venues are wondering how to make it through to the other side of COVID-19. National Sawdust’s Managing Director Brian Berkopec joins Classical Post to discuss National Sawdust plans on emerging as a leader in their field.

How do artists work within the parameters of the pandemic and how can organizations support artists in this moment of crisis? These are the questions that composer and National Sawdust’s artistic director, Paola Prestini, is asking. Prestini joined Classical Post for an interview on May 19 to discuss.

The Taiwan Philharmonic has begun performances for live audiences with cautionary measures in place under the leadership of Executive Director Lydia Kuo. Kuo joins Classical Post to discuss reopening, adjusting the orchestra seating layout, remaining financially stable, American orchestras and more.

ChamberQUEER may have cancelled their second annual in-person festival, but they have launched a virtual one! ChamberQUEERantine will feature half-hour Facebook Live performances from June 5-20 every night at 7 PM EDT on their page. Artists performing include Claire Chase, Conrad Tao, Adam Tendler, Spectrum Ensemble and many more. ChamberQUEER was founded in 2018 by Julia Biber, Danielle Buonaiuto, Brian Mummert, and Andrew Yee, with a mission to program queer artists and composers. Julia Biber and Brian Mummert join Classical Post to discuss the necessity of space for queer musicians, capturing the fun of Pride Month, programming, mentorship and more!