Music & Culture

Alexander Scriabin originally set out to write a piece called "Orgiastic Poem," centered on physical ecstasy, but later decided to alter the title to something more ambiguous.

Music & Culture

Postlude To A Kiss: Scriabin's Raging 'Poem Of Ecstasy'

11:03am October 21, 2014

by Marin Alsop

Mystical Russian composer Alexander Scriabin saw music, heard colors and wrote music that goes from ecstasy to frenzy. Baltimore Symphony conductor Marin Alsop explores Scriabin's best-known piece.

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Music & Culture

Ex Hex's 'Rips' Does What It Says On The Cover

3:12pm October 20, 2014

by Ken Tucker

The initial triumph of Rips is that nearly every one of its songs is sing-along-catchy, immediately memorable.

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Janet Weiss (left), Carrie Brownstein (center) and Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney. The trio's first album since 2005 will be out on Jan. 20.

Music & Culture

Sleater-Kinney Reunites, Announces New Album

11:19am October 20, 2014

by Robin Hilton

Eight years after going on indefinite hiatus, the trio is back. They'll release a new album on Jan. 20 called No Cities to Love. Hear the song "Bury Our Friends" now.

Several hundred protesters picket the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera season at Lincoln Center, Sept. 22, 2014. "You will be made to destroy that set," Jeffrey Wiesenfeld said.

Music & Culture

Twenty Years Later, 'Klinghoffer' Still Draws Protests

6:26pm October 17, 2014

by Joel Rose

Some critics charge that John Adams' opera is anti-Israel, even anti-Semitic. But the opera's supporters dispute that. With its Met debut on Monday, there are calls to burn the set to the ground.

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Michael Keaton stars in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). It's a dark comedy about an actor who once played a superhero and later stages a vanity production on Broadway.

Michael Keaton: As An Actor, You Must Lock In And Let Go

8:53am October 17, 2014

by NPR Staff

"I've got to stay 100 percent present," Keaton says. He is currently starring in Birdman, a dark comedy about an aging movie star who once played a superhero — a role he can't quite get over.

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Duncan Sheik's seventh album, Legerdemain, will come out in 2015.

Music & Culture

Hear Two Songs From Duncan Sheik's Next Album

12:15pm October 16, 2014

by Ann Powers

Legerdemain, out next April, will be the first album of original songs from the pop songwriter and Broadway composer since 2009, and you can download two songs from it here.

Music & Culture

Tove Lo Chronicles Three Stages Of A Love Affair

1:57pm October 15, 2014

The Swedish pop singer-songwriter has a knack for capturing the thoughts of the romantic mind in a delightfully wordy.

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J.K. Simmons plays brutal music teacher Terence Fletcher in Whiplash.

J.K. Simmons Won't Throw A Chair At Your Head, But His Character Might

10:40am October 15, 2014

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with actor J.K. Simmons about his much buzzed about performance as a brutal music teacher in the new film Whiplash.

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Music & Culture

An Unofficial Memorial For Jazz Greats Jim Hall And Charlie Haden

1:31pm October 14, 2014

by Kevin Whitehead

Hall and Haden performed as a duo at a concert in Montreal in 1990. Plans to release the album, Charlie Haden - Jim Hall, were in place before both artists passed away within the last year.

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Elliott Adekoya, 31, aka The Milkman, is a DJ at Monrovia's Sky FM radio, pictured here his DJ booth. He is also part of a group of 45 Liberian musicians called the Save Liberia Project. They want to get the word out that Ebola is real, but it is not a de

Liberian Singers Use The Power Of Music To Raise Ebola Awareness

6:52pm October 12, 2014

by Jason Beaubien

Early on in the epidemic, the government and aid agencies commissioned songs that just ended up terrifying people. But the newer songs on the radio are catchy and danceable — as well as informative.

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