Music

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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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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The Royal Shakespeare Company is releasing albums of the music commissioned for its productions of many of the plays in this first collected edition of William Shakespeare's works.

Music & Culture

The Royal Shakespeare Company Releases Music From Its Archive

1:14pm October 12, 2014

by Ari Shapiro

For more than a century, the Royal Shakespeare Company has commissioned music for plays. Its archive tracks the way music changes over time and across many productions.

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Mary Lambert's new album is called Heart On My Sleeve.

Music & Culture

Mary Lambert: 'You Change People's Opinions By Opening Your Heart'

6:33pm October 11, 2014

by NPR Staff

As a gay Christian, Mary Lambert says singing the hook on Macklemore's "Same Love" is the best introduction she could have hoped for. She speaks with NPR's Arun Rath about finding her own audience.

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Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons face off in Damien Chazelle's impressive drumming-as-sport film, Whiplash.

Bang The Drum Ever Faster In The Different Sports Arena Of 'Whiplash'

8:56am October 10, 2014

by Tomas Hachard

Damien Chazelle's heart-pounding teacher-student drama, Whiplash, sets a combination of a sports film and a genius tale like The Social Network in the world of jazz drumming.

The music on U2's new album, Songs of Innocence, reaches back toward the moment when the band was first building an audience.

Music & Culture

The Dream Of Ridiculous Men

12:54pm October 09, 2014

by Ann Powers

For four decades, U2 has delivered huge rock songs and taken shots for being too serious. The band's new album, Songs of Innocence, provides a key to its long search for universal significance.