Classical Music

A new musical piece is based on this composite image of the center of the Milky Way. The bright spot on the right is hot gas in infrared light, marking the approximate location of the galaxy's supermassive black hole.

Listen to the Center of the Milky Way Translated Into Sound

A new musical composition represents data from three NASA telescopes as a piece that was performed by an orchestral ensemble

Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, a new film that arrives on Netflix on December 20

The Real History Behind Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre's Marriage in 'Maestro'

The Bradley Cooper-led film is a dramatization of the storied composer and conductor's complex love life

Primary image: Sleeping Quarters, by Czech Jewish prisoner Bedřich Fritta, depicts gruesome conditions. After the SS discovered Fritta’s work, they detained him and sent him to Auschwitz, where he died. Background (detail): A musical score by Viktor Ullmann, which was created at Terezin.

Amid the Horrors of the Holocaust, Jewish Musicians Composed Songs of Survival

At the Terezin concentration camp, some of Europe's top artists found solace in creating new work. Today one musician is determined to give them an encore

Paul Kaufmann inherited several of what are thought to be fragments of Ludwig van Beethoven's skull, which he has donated to the Medical University of Austria.

Skull Fragments Thought to Be Beethoven's Return to Vienna

The composer asked that, following his death, his physician study the illnesses that plagued him during his life

The app includes roughly five million tracks.

Can Apple Solve Classical Music's Streaming Problems?

The tech giant has created a new app with a search engine tailor-made for the genre

An anonymous watercolor portrait of Francis Johnson holding an early 19th-century horn

Long Before Jazz, Frank Johnson Was Playing the Hottest Music in America

The innovations of a forgotten genius who laid the groundwork for the nation's signature music

In November 1955 at Carnegie Hall, Anderson performed Mozart, Schubert, spirituals and more.

How Marian Anderson Took the World by Storm

Her mighty contralto propelled her across color lines

Beethoven’s handwritten manuscript for the fourth movement of his String Quartet in B-flat Major

Nazi-Looted Beethoven Manuscript Returned to Original Owners

The Czech Republic's Moravian Museum gave the document to the heirs of the Petschek family

The “Ole Bull” Stradivarius, made in 1687, photographed with flowers and props reminiscent of a Dutch still life from the period.

When It Comes to String Instruments, Stradivariuses Are Still Pitch Perfect

Even after three centuries of their existence, the violins spark debate over what makes their sound special

One reader wonders: Since purple dye was scarce, why didn’t people just combine blue and red?

Why Was Purple the Color of Royalty? And More Questions From Our Readers

You've got questions. We've got experts.

Residents of Billionaire's Row's newest building enjoy stunning views of Central Park.

The World's Skinniest Skyscraper Has a Storied Musical Past

At 1,428 feet tall and just 60 feet wide, Steinway Tower is so slender that its top floors may sway in the wind

Throughout the project, Beethoven’s genius loomed.

How Artificial Intelligence Completed Beethoven's Unfinished Tenth Symphony

On October 9, the work will be performed in Bonn, Germany, and a recording will be released

Trumpet players create about 2,500 aerosol particles per liter of air that flows through their instrument.

To Reduce Covid-19 Risks in Orchestras, Move Wind Instruments to the Sidelines

A study that simulated airflow and aerosol production in a concert hall suggests moving brass and woodwinds near air vents

A previously unknown Thomas Gainsborough portrait of composer Antonín Kammel

Newly Discovered Gainsborough Portrait Reveals Likeness of Overlooked Composer

The acclaimed British artist's painting of Czech musician Antonín Kammel may be worth upward of $1.3 million

Musician Lara Downes aims to highlight the work of composers like Harry T. Burleigh, photographed c. 1938.

How Black Composers Shaped the Sound of American Classical Music

A new project seeks to elevate artists like Harry T. Burleigh and Florence Price, whose work has been ignored by white audiences

A portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven by August Klober, circa 1818

How Young America Came to Love Beethoven

On the 250th anniversary of the famous composer’s birth, the story of how his music first took hold across the Atlantic

Russian physicist and engineer Lev Sergeyevich Termen—who later came to be widely known as Léon Theremin—invented his namesake instrument around 1920. Here, he's pictured in 1928.

The Soviet Spy Who Invented the First Major Electronic Instrument

Created by a Russian engineer, the theremin has delighted and confounded audiences since 1920

This 2016 image shows one of the instruments included in Amnon Weinstein's Violins of Hope collection, which features pre-World War II violins once owned by Jewish musicians and music lovers.

Pandemic Temporarily Silences Violins That Survived the Holocaust

Organizers found ways to make the instruments' voices heard after the cancellation of planned concerts in California

Following the Monday performance, the Barcelona opera house donated its 2,292 houseplants to local health care workers.

Audience of Plants Roots for Barcelona Opera House on Opening Night

The leafy crowd enjoyed a string quartet's performance of Puccini's "Crisantemi"

Debate over Beethoven's race sparked once again on Twitter last week. He is depicted here in a portrait by August Klober from 1818.

Was Beethoven Black? Probably Not, but These Unsung Composers Were

A music scholar examines the history of the decades-old theory, and what its permanence tells us about who is considered 'canon' in classical music

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