Is classical music dying? No. But its institutions, artists and promoters took some hits in the past decade, from bankruptcies to sexual harassment. Still, along the way, we heard a lot of terrific music.


The 2010s: Classical music's decade of reckoning

Do you believe in ghosts? Composers from Mozart to John Corigliano have written them into their operas. Take a tour of some famous operatic phantoms.


A Listener's Guide To The Ghosts That Haunt Opera

Who knew that a little orchestra in America's Midwest, born in 1918, could grow up to be one of the world's best? Through a century of trials and triumphs, the Cleveland Orchestra still shines.


Cleveland Orchestra at 100: Heartland band with a world-class sound

Sometimes it takes an outsider to see a culture clearly. Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 was an ode to what American music could become.


How the 'New World' Symphony introduced American music to itself

A new video, co-directed by actress Tilda Swinton, breaks the joy meter, as her vivacious dogs frolic to the strains of a Handel opera sung by countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. Watch now.


Watch: Tilda Swinton's spaniels are a lot to Handel

Revered Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballe, who died Saturday, spins out silvery threads of tone in her recordings, the likes of which no one has ever matched.


Why soprano Montserrat Caballe 'remains the single most glorious sound ... ever heard from any human voice'

Composer Matthew Aucoin, a 28-year-old polymath from Boston, discusses winning a $625,000 'genius grant' from the MacArthur Foundation, his precocious youth and how he perceives all human language as a form of musical communication.


MacArthur fellow Matthew Aucoin talks composing and donating his 'genius' money

Pianist Conrad Tao and tap dancer Caleb Teicher make a surprisingly satisfying pair as they leap together through Bach's 'Goldberg Variations.' Watch their impromptu performance at the Steinway Factory in New York City.


Bach on tap shoes: Dancing through the 'Goldberg Variations'

The resourceful Mexican jazz singer Magos Herrera partnered with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider to create an album that's steeped in Latin American culture. Read more about their intriguing collaboration.


Smoky-voiced jazz singer partners with classical string quartet on 'Dreamers'

The music of Philip Glass and George Frideric Handel meet in Costanzo's fearless and high-flying voice. Watch his performance at this one of a kind concert from NPR's Tiny Desk, complete with a harpsichord and a specially built bassoon.


Tom Huizenga

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