Classical Classical music performances and features from NPR news, NPR cultural programs, and NPR Music stations.

Classical

Will Liverman's latest album, Show Me The Way, honors women's contributions to music. Daniel Welch/Morahan Arts and Media hide caption

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Daniel Welch/Morahan Arts and Media

Baritone Will Liverman celebrates women in new album 'Show Me The Way'

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The Apollo Chamber Players create concerts in response to book banning, the refugee crisis, the war in Gaza and other world events. The members of the Houston based ensemble are Matthew Dudzik, left, Aria Cheregosha, Matthew J. Detrick and Anabel Ramírez. Lynn Lane/Apollo Chamber Players hide caption

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Lynn Lane/Apollo Chamber Players

Classical ensemble Apollo Chamber Players is tuned in to today's headlines

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Composer Julia Perry, photographed in Florence, Italy, in 1957 after she won her second Guggenheim fellowship. David Lees/Getty Images hide caption

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David Lees/Getty Images

Rediscovering the rigor of composers Julia Perry and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

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A rehearsal of Émigré by the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall on Wednesday. Adam Crane/Courtesy of the New York Philharmonic hide caption

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Adam Crane/Courtesy of the New York Philharmonic

A story of Jewish Shanghai, told through music

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Jan Vogler plays a 1707 Stradivari cello made during Bach's lifetime. He compares it to learning to swim in an Olympic pool: "the pressure on me is more to have imagination to match the instrument." Zayrha Rodriguez/NPR hide caption

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Zayrha Rodriguez/NPR

Amanda Gorman's poetry and Bach's music offer joint message of hope

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George Gershwin, photographed in his 72nd Street apartment in New York in 1934. His Rhapsody in Blue premiered 100 years ago on Feb. 12, 1924. PhotoQuest / Contributor/Getty Images hide caption

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PhotoQuest / Contributor/Getty Images

'Rhapsody in Blue': After a century, Gershwin's musical melting pot still resonates

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Seiji Ozawa led the Boston Symphony orchestra for nearly 30 years. Boston Symphony Orchestra hide caption

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Boston Symphony Orchestra

Seiji Ozawa, longtime conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has died at 88

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View of an embroidered sheet of music from the piece Organ2/ASLSP by John Cage. Artist Sabine Groschup expands the embroidery with each change of sound. After two years, the sound of the slowest piece of music in the world, has changed for the 16th time. This means that the six-sound piece that has been played in the Burchardi Church since February 2022 has become a seven-sound piece. Matthias Bein/dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images hide caption

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Matthias Bein/dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

A 639-year-long John Cage organ performance strikes a new chord in Germany

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A piece titled 'As Slow as Possible' has been in performance for 21 years — so far

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Anastasia Kobekina's debut album with Sony Classical revolves around the city of Venice and the impressions it leaves. Johanna Berghorn/Sony Music Entertainment hide caption

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Johanna Berghorn/Sony Music Entertainment

Russian cellist Anastasia Kobekina shares postcard of Venice through the ages

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The Takács Quartet — left to right: Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes, Richard O'Neill and András Fejér — collaborated with composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama (center) to premiere her composition Flow. Cal Performances hide caption

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Cal Performances

What did the beginning of time sound like? A new string quartet offers an impression

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Faye Webster and Lil Yachty, both of Atlanta and friends since middle school, collaborate on the new song "Lego Ring," from Webster's upcoming album Underdressed at the Symphony. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

The Contenders, Vol. 1: Our running list of the year's best songs

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In 2023, pianist Awadagin Pratt released a terrific comeback album, his first in 12 years. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

The 10 Best Classical Albums of 2023

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Bradley Cooper plays composer Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. Jason McDonald/Netflix hide caption

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Jason McDonald/Netflix

To become the 'Maestro,' Bradley Cooper learned to live the music

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The 1808 Érard piano that Napoleon gifted to his second wife, Marie-Louise, is on long-term loan from the Museum of Music History to the Cobbe Collection of historic instruments outside London. Museum of Music History hide caption

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Museum of Music History

Napoleon's piano lends authenticity to Ridley Scott's biopic

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Maria Callas as Rosina in Rossini's Il Barbieri di Siviglia, at Milan's La Scala theater in 1956. Erio Piccagliani/Teatro alla Scala hide caption

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Erio Piccagliani/Teatro alla Scala

Maria Callas: The soprano of the century

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A scene from Florencia en el Amazonas. Ken Howard/Met Opera hide caption

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Ken Howard/Met Opera

Finding a place at the Met, this opera sings in a language of its own

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Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein and and Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre in Maestro. Jason McDonald/Netflix hide caption

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Jason McDonald/Netflix

'Maestro' chronicles the brilliant Bernstein — and his disorderly conduct

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