I wrote a profile of Bryce Dessner in connection with his residency this season with the Czech Philharmonic:
This February, a pair of electric guitars will slip into the sonic bloodstream of the Czech Philharmonic. Then, later in the season, in May, audiences at Prague’s Rudolfinum will hear a new cello concerto written for and performed by Anastasia Kobekina. Both moments centre on Bryce Dessner, the orchestra’s first ever composer-in-residence, in a role that brings several strands of his musical life into rare alignment.
An especially memorable performance in 2025: Mahler’s Second with the San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen, which concluded his tenure as the orchestra’s music director:
My Gramophonereview of Abstractions, an album of Anna Clyne’s orchestral music performed by Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony:
This engaging portrait album highlights a defining impulse in Anna Clyne’s music: to create vivid soundscapes through a symbiotic dialogue with visual art – one in which textures, forms and atmospheres are translated across disciplines…
The Berliner Philharmoniker violist Martin Stegner discusses reimagining early music for sheng, viola and double bass on Pur ti miro, an ECM New Series release bringing together Wu Wei (sheng), Stegner and Janne Saksala (double bass) in an unconventional but remarkably cohesive trio. continue
Seattle Bach Festival orchestra and Evergreen Ensemble (choir), with SBF founder Tekla Cunningham (in blue), during their concert of Bach cantatas at St. Mark’s Cathedral in May. They will perform Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” this year and next. (Dennis Browne)
For some, Handel’s “Messiah” remains a cherished ritual.
For others, it has become so predictable as to feel almost unavoidable — a seasonal monument polished smooth by repetition.
This season, the Seattle Bach Festival is offering a different way into the Christmas story — one that trades “Messiah’s” grand sweep for a more kaleidoscopic, scene-by-scene celebration of the Nativity: Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio.”…
A new Stradinterview with Gil Shaham about Premieres, his forthcoming album of violin concertos written for him by Scott Wheeler, Bright Sheng, and Avner Dorman:
Premieres, Gil Shaham’s new release on Canary Classics, brings together three violin concertos written expressly for him and realised in close collaboration with conductor Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now. Recorded at Bard College’s Fisher Center, the album reflects a network of long-standing artistic relationships and a shared belief in the concerto as a living, evolving form…
This holiday season, KUOW – Seattle’s public radio station – is offering listeners something gentler than the daily news cycle: a steady stream of seasonal classical music.
Through a new partnership with Classical KING, the Seattle-based classical music broadcaster, the KUOW appnow features Classical Christmas, the organization’s annual holiday stream. The stream appears as an additional listening option, separate from the station’s live radio broadcast.
Rather than create its own seasonal programming, KUOW has collaborated with an organization long associated with classical music in the region to create a digital-only offering that expands KUOW’s role beyond broadcast journalism.
“We are delighted to partner with KUOW,” said Michelle Maestas Simonsen, Classical KING’s Chief Engagement and Content Officer. “This seasonal collaboration is a reminder of what becomes possible when organizations with shared values work together. Whether someone wants a break from the news or simply loves holiday music, Classical Christmas is here for them.”
Classical Christmas is available throughout the holiday season in the KUOW app, where it can be streamed alongside KUOW’s regular live and on-demand programming. The stream is also accessible via Classical KING’s own app, website, and Alexa skills.
Rachell Ellen Wong and MOTS co-director James Garlick
Music on the Strait is giving itsfirst-ever concert on period instrumentson Sunday 14 December in Sequim on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. This looks to be a lovely program, featuring Baroque violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, harpsichordist David Belkovski, and their Twelfth Night Ensemble in music by Telemann, Purcell, Vivaldi, Corelli, Johann Friedrich Fasch, and Francesco Durante.
The performance is Sun 12/14 at 4pm at Trinity United Methodist Church in Sequim:
Tickets starting at $5 with our Pay What Makes You Happy pricing
Telemann | Sonata No 4 in A Minor Henry Purcell | Suite from Amphitryon Antonio Vivaldi | Violin Concerto in E Minor, RV 278 Archangelo Corelli | Concerto grosso in G minor “Christmas Concerto” Johann Friedrich Fasch | Sonata No 5 in D Minor Francesco Durante | Concerto for 2 Violins, Viola, and continuo in G Minor Antonio Vivaldi | Sonata No. 12 in D Minor, RV 63, “La Follia”
Hiroka Yamashita and Ilse Eerens in Toshio Hosokawa’s Natasha; photo: Rikimaru Hotta
The New National Theatre Tokyo (NNTT) presents Toshio Hosokawa‘s new opera Natasha, conducted by Kazushi Ono and directed by Christian Räth, via global streaming. Premiered in August 2025, the production drew wide acclaim and was named a finalist in the World Premiere category of the International Opera Awards 2025.
From Friday, 12 December 2025 at 7:00 p.m. (CET) to Friday, 12 June 2026 at 12:00 p.m. (CET), audiences can experience Natasha for free on OperaVision and NNTT Stream. Running time: Approx. 2 hours 35 minutes.
Natasha is the first opera by Hosokawa to be staged at the NNTT since Matsukaze in 2018, as well as his second opera to be premiered by Ono Kazushi.
“Reconsidering the relationship between humans and nature, Hosokawa Toshio’s music is a kind of prayer or requiem. Especially after the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, his works address humans’ repetitive history of destruction, drawing particular attention to nature’s fearsomeness and to the human arrogance of forgetting the awe nature deserves. Globally acclaimed author Tawada Yoko, who writes novels in both Japanese and German that examine the world from a German base and highlight themes of national borders and languages, is working on the libretto for the new work. The story focuses on an encounter between Natasha, a wandering immigrant driven out of her hometown, and a young man named Arato, as well as a Mephistopheles-like figure who shows and leads the pair through various scenes of human hells. Multilingual with Japanese, German and Ukrainian languages, the opera compares and contrasts the origins of modern civilization and humanity. The groans of the endangered earth resonate deeply throughout this opera that depicts destruction and hope with multiculturalism as the key to finding a path forward.
Hosokawa’s music resonates with meditative power—at once ritualistic and deeply human—evoking the cries of a wounded planet while offering a glimpse of hope.”
Creative Team Libretto by Yoko Tawada Composed by Toshio Hosokawa Conductor: Kazushi Ono Production: Christian Räth Set Design: Christian Räth, Daniel Unger Costume Design: Mattie Ullrich Lighting Design: Rick Fisher Video Design: Clemens Walter Electronic Sound Design: Sumihisa Arima Choreographer: Catherine Galasso Cast Natasha — Ilse Eerens Arato — Hiroka Yamashita Mephistos Enkel — Christian Miedl Frau A — Mari Moriya Frau B — Akiko Tomihira Businessman A — Tang Jun Bo Businessman B — Timothy Harris Saxophonist — Masanori Oishi Electric Guitarist — Gaku Yamada Chorus Master — Kyohei Tomihira Chorus — New National Theatre Chorus Orchestra — Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Tickets starting at $5 with our Pay What Makes You Happy pricing
free Livestream on the MOTS website at 
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 