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Pianist Aldo Ciccolini was born in Naples, Italy, but he had a French soul. A passionate champion of French composers, he recorded more than 50 albums, mostly of French repertoire, and along the way championed many underrepresented French composers, especially Erik Satie. Ciccolini died overnight Saturday at age 89, shortly after returning home to Asnières-sur-Seine in the Parisian suburbs from several weeks in the hospital for undisclosed treatments.

By the time Richard Strauss died in 1949, many musicians and critics considered him an embarrassing fossil. Born in 1864 while Berlioz and Rossini still lived—and a dozen years before Johannes Brahms had written any of his own symphonies—Strauss composed steadily for some sixty-five years and passed away a few months after the premieres of Elliott Carter’s Cello Sonata and John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano. But the path he took long overshadowed a clear assessment of his enormous accomplishments as a composer of opera and orchestral music.

When a bushy-haired 28-year-old with a magnetic podium presence became music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic five years ago, Gustavo Dudamel galvanized the classical music world and beyond. At the Venezuelan conductor's insistence, the gates of the Hollywood Bowl were thrown open to the community, with free tickets for all. After a proud-papa warm-up with youngsters in Youth Orchestra Los Angeles — a group inspired and founded by Dudamel — he led the L.A. Phil, Master Choral and stellar vocal soloists in an exuberant performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The Dude, as he was affectionately called, spread the joy...

Michael Brown protesters interrupted the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's concert on Saturday night, causing a brief delay in the performance at Powell Symphony Hall. The orchestra and chorus were preparing to perform Johannes Brahms' Requiem just after intermission when two audience members in the middle aisle on the main floor began singing an old civil rights tune, "Which Side are You on?" They soon were joined, in harmony, by other protesters, who stood at seats in various locations on the main floor and in the balcony. The protesters then unfurled three hand-painted banners and hung them from the Dress Circle...

Internationally renowned Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, whose work was shaped by his love of the Australian landscape, has died aged 85. The Launceston-born composer passed away at Wolper Jewish Hospital in Sydney after a long illness. Sculthorpe's best-known achievement was his capacity to bring to Australians a sense of their land and history in the music of one of their own. His many remarkable compositions were strongly influenced by Asian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, and centred around his deep love for Australia and its landscape.

Published on American ThinkerBy Enza Ferreri Apparently, many young people, especially those with an antisocial disposition, dislike classical music so much that Bach, Beethoven and Mozart can even be played to discourage young hooligans from intimidating, harassing and robbing store customers. This experiment has been tried and has succeeded over many years in several locations. The earliest occurrence I could find goes back to the mid 1980s, when Canadian outlets of the 7-Eleven convenience store franchise began to play easy listening and classical music to drive away teenagers who were loitering outside their stores. Following the success of this...

Many young people, especially the anti-social, dislike classical music so much that it can be played to discourage them from intimidating, harassing and robbing.This experiment has been successful over many years in countless locations. The earliest occurrence was in the mid-1980s, when Canadian outlets of 7-Eleven played easy listening and classical music to disperse teenagers loitering outside. After that, companies from McDonald's to Co-op, transport authorities, housing estates and shopping malls around the world have employed this method. In the UK, the first to do so was the Tyne-and-Wear Metro system in 1997, following Montreal’s underground system in Canada. Other...

I am stricken to hear of the death today of Lorin Maazel at his home, Castleton Farms, Virginia, in the middle of the festival that he and his wife Dietlinde Turban-Maazel founded there, and that now continues without him. He was 84 years old and had been suffering from what Nancy Gustafson, Castleton’s executive director, described as an unexplained illness following a kind of collapse from fatigue after spending much of the spring jetting back and forth between Asia, Europe and North America for various high-profile conducting gigs. The official cause of death was “complications following pneumonia.” He had appeared...

Julius Rudel, the Austrian-born conductor who raised the New York City Opera to a venturous golden age with highbrow music for the masses and a repertory that, like him, bridged the Old and New Worlds, died on Thursday at his home in New York. He was 93. His death, announced by his son, Anthony, came eight months after his beloved and financially struggling City Opera filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors.

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, who has died aged 80, was a conductor who delivered memorable interpretations of the works of his Spanish compatriots while championing the Germanic canon on the Iberian P eninsula. His work took him to orchestras around the world, but he was best known for his associations with the Philharmonia in London and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the United States.

The composers Richard Strauss and Dmitri Shostakovich had little in common musically, but each worked under one of the most brutal dictatorships of the mid 20th century. Many who regard Shostakovich as a tragic hero, for continuing to create his music while remaining in the Soviet Union, are far less generous to Strauss, who lived in Nazi Germany. When Hitler came to power, Strauss (1864–1949) was in his 70th year and universally regarded as a great composer. He outlived the Nazis by four years. Shostakovich (1906–75) was 11 years old at the time of the Russian Revolution, so he spent...

We have been notified of the death last night, in Bath, of the glorious bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk. John was 83 and still teaching at Peabody in Baltimore and at Bath Spa University in England. A colleague there writes: 'He was very generous to students and they appreciated his wry sense of humour, to say nothing of his vast and remarkable performing experience.' ... English baritone John Shirley-Quirk enjoyed singing and playing the violin as a child, but his true vocal talent did not become apparent until he was already studying chemistry and physics at the University of Liverpool. After several...

Mozart Bond

Review: A shipshape 'Billy Budd' caps Britten 100/LA Mark Swed Los Angeles Times February 24, 2014 ‘Billy Budd’s’ return to L.A. is musically powerful, but it is not about sex Jim Farber Los Angeles Daily News February 24, 2014 (subscription required) 'Billy Budd' sails at L.A. Opera Timothy Mangan Orange County Register February 23, 2014 Wikipedia article on the operaComplete video of 1966 BBC televison performance

German conductor Gerd Albrecht has passed away at the age 78. A sometime controversial figure in the orchestral world, he was a great champion of neglected corners of the repertoire and leaves a rich discography spread across several labels.

Claudio Abbado, a conductor whose refined interpretations of a large symphonic and operatic repertory won him the directorships of several of the world’s most revered musical institutions — including La Scala, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna State Opera and the Berlin Philharmonic — died on Monday at his home in Bologna, Italy. He was 80.

Soviet-born conductor Semyon Bychkov leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Bruckner's Symphony No. 8.

Benjamin Britten was born 100 years ago on 22 November and as events take place around the world to celebrate the work of one of Britain's greatest composers, two people who knew both the man and the musical genius share their recollections. "I was never frightened of Ben but I had great respect for him. He was a very easy person to get on with but you were careful about what you said about works he either liked or disliked, or his own works. You chose your words carefully!" In a rare interview with BBC Radio 3's Tom Service, 87-year-old...

Sir John Tavener, one of the leading British composers of the 20th and 21st Centuries, has died at the age of 69. Sir John was known for music that drew on his deep spirituality. In 1992, The Protecting Veil topped the classical charts for several months and in 1997 his Song For Athene was played at the funeral of Princess Diana.

Composer Ned Rorem has always seemed to exist in his own well-furnished sphere, writing music regardless of current fashion, saying exactly what he thinks (right as he's thinking it), and striking stances that are effortlessly provocative and contrary. He may even give you an argument about his 90th birthday Wednesday. "Other people turn 90," said the Pulitzer Prize-winning Rorem, who will be celebrated at a tribute concert Wednesday at the Curtis Institute, where he was on the faculty until recent years. Though he's not sure whether he'll attend, "I still think of myself as the youngest person at the party."