Music & Culture

Lady Gaga performs during President Biden's inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021. She'll co-chair Biden's arts advisory committee.

Biden taps Lady Gaga to co-chair an arts advisory committee that dissolved under Trump

5:15pm April 15, 2023

by Kaitlyn Radde

The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities will advise the president on cultural policy, and members were chosen due to their "serious commitment to the arts and humanities."

Music & Culture

Caroline Polachek on her latest album, 'Desire, I Want to Turn Into You'

7:59am April 15, 2023

by Miles Parks

NPR's Miles Parks talks to singer Caroline Polachek about her latest album, "Desire, I Want to Turn Into You."

Los Angeles band La Santa Cecilia is celebrating 15 years together. They recently traveled to an estate in Baja California to record a new album with friends.

La Santa Cecilia celebrates its quinceañera with a new album

7:00am April 15, 2023

by Betto Arcos

Many of the songs on Cuatro Copas, Bohemia en la Finca Altozano are part the group's personal history, growing up in downtown LA, surrounded by Mexican musicians who taught them how to sing and play.

Music & Culture

What keeps Metallica going after 40 years of making music

4:49pm April 14, 2023

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks to bassist Robert Trujillo and founding drummer Lars Ulrich of the band Metallica about their latest album and their four decades of music-making.

Gianandrea Noseda talks with Marissa Regni about the loaned instruments.

Music & Culture

A music director goes public with a secret stash of private instruments

11:19am April 14, 2023

by Olivia Hampton

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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Music & Culture

yMusic, 'Cloud'

10:16am April 14, 2023

by Tom Huizenga

Let the new music sextet yMusic serenade you with a light-as-air track from a forthcoming album.

Rappers Danny Brown (left) and JPEGMAFIA embrace their abrasive sides on Scaring the Hoes, a joyously chaotic collaboration glued together by JPEG's collage-like production.

Music & Culture

JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown are here to blow up your function

5:01am April 14, 2023

by Sheldon Pearce

The joyously chaotic rap team-up Scaring the Hoes is less Watch the Throne and more Wedding Crashers: a pair of motormouthed eccentrics running wild trick plays and daring you to stick around.

Lara Downes speaks with Terence Blanchard.

Music & Culture

Jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard's unexpected path into the opera house

5:00am April 14, 2023

by Lara Downes

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.

Daddy Yankee retired last year after a career spanning more than 30 years. In that time, reggaeton has become one of the most profitable genres in the music industry.

Daddy Yankee's 'Gasolina' is the National Recording Registry's first reggaeton song

6:59pm April 13, 2023

by Vanessa Romo

On Wednesday, the mega-hit single became the first reggaeton song to be inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.

Bangles cofounder Susanna Hoffs infused her debut novel with her love of music

4:29pm April 13, 2023

NPR's Andrew Limbong speaks with the Bangles cofounder Susanna Hoffs on her debut novel This Bird Has Flown and how she used her music career to create her main character, singer Jane Start.