JPR Classics

The band's sophomore album, Earthdrawn Skies, connects the dots in wildly diverse music spanning eight centuries.

Vikings were ruthless warriors, but also preserved art. This has inspired a new album of Lullabies for Piano and Cello from composer Gabríel Ólafs.

Saariaho, who battled a male-dominated educational system in her native Finland, forged a strong and singular voice in contemporary music.

Teens in jail in Virginia collaborate with musicians to compose songs, write poetry and find their voices after run-ins with the law.

The Icelandic composer talks about the creative forces behind her distinctive music, her presence in the movie Tár and the "dome of energy" that fuels her country's artistic productivity.

The celebrated singer, who led an illustrious, jet-setting career, broke the color barrier as the first Black artist to perform at Germany's Bayreuth Festival.

Opera Ebony was formed when opportunities for Black singers were few and far between. The company celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, but may not survive its 81-year-old founder.

A Jean-Philippe Rameau opera, left unfinished at time of his death and recently completed by a musicologist, gets its premiere 280 years later, with extravagant costumes.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. about starring in the new movie Chevalier, which tells the forgotten story of Joseph Bologne, a Black composer and violinist of the 1700s.

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.

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.

Terence Blanchard made history last season when his opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones was the first work by a Black composer staged by the Metropolitan Opera. And the Met has asked for more.