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Sam Wisman/Pianists Mikhail Voskresensky and Stanislav Ioudenitch join Classical KC's Christy L'Esperance for an extended conversation about Mikhail's life and music ahead of his performance in Kansas City. Mikhail shares the story of his harrowing escape during a Nazi attack when he was six years old, and how that experience helped motivate his choice to leave Russia in protest of their 2022 invasion of Ukraine. -
Julie Denesha/KCUR 89.3Before sound came to the movies, silent films ruled the silver screen and music from a theater pipe organ enhanced the drama. A Lee's Summit musician is reviving that tradition at the Kansas City Music Hall.
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Octavia Butler's novel Parable of the Sower — depicting a dystopian U.S. in 2024 — was published 30 years ago. Toshi Reagon's new musical retelling explores the web of past, present and future. -
Sunday's finale marks the end of Succession and its iconic opening theme. Composer Nicholas Britell reflects on shaping the show's signature sound over four seasons — and what he might do next.
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The celebrated singer, who led an illustrious, jet-setting career, broke the color barrier as the first Black artist to perform at Germany's Bayreuth Festival.
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A Jean-Philippe Rameau opera, left unfinished at time of his death and recently completed by a musicologist, gets its premiere 280 years later, with extravagant costumes.
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Opera Ebony was formed when opportunities for Black singers were few and far between. The company celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, but may not survive its 81-year-old founder.
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Planted between spring's biggest temperature swings and the summer sauna, May marks the beginning of Kansas City's outdoor concert season. To help prune the abundance of options, KCUR has pinpointed the most promising acts in May 2023.
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The five-time Grammy winner has mounted two operas at the Metropolitan Opera, which until 2021 had never staged a work by a Black composer. Hear him discuss the future of opera with Lara Downes.
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National Symphony Orchestra Music Director Gianandrea Noseda is reshaping the ensemble's sound with the help of 17th and 18th century instruments he purchased secretly.
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Terence Blanchard made history last season when his opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones was the first work by a Black composer staged by the Metropolitan Opera. And the Met has asked for more.
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Thomas Bangalter, formerly of French electronic music duo Daft Punk, has released a classical music album: the score to a ballet titled Mythologies that draws on American minimalism and Baroque works.
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Scientists have sequenced the genome of Ludwig van Beethoven from two-century-old locks of hair, and found clues about the ailments that plagued him in life.
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A new collection of recordings finally freed from the vaults offers a chance to hear one of opera's greatest artists sing Wagner, Strauss, Berlioz and more.
