Lisa Hirsch

Contract negotiations between the orchestra and the musicians appear to be stalled.

Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s new opera hits the bull’s-eye in every possible way and engages audiences to boot.

In Peter Sellars’s semistaged production, everything from the orchestra to the principal performances is absolutely right.

The American music director reflects on her trailblazing career, important mentors, and the value of expanding the canon.

Stephen King’s bestselling novel comes to the opera stage with, thankfully, less luridness than Stanley Kubrick’s famous film adaptation.

Julia Wolfe’s new oratorio makes a passionate feminist argument that’s musically and theatrically unrelenting.

Toshi and Bernice Johnson Reagon’s operatic rendering of Octavia Butler’s novel is scarily on point but also musically winning.

Michel van der Aa’s elusive and subtle work is brilliantly realized at Cal Performances.

The Norwegian group sings spiritual music from ancient to modern with its usual exquisite touch.

The composer’s dark, often mocking orchestral work shares space with Brahms’s First Piano Concerto and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 3.