“Progress depends above all on the temper of the nation,” Anthony Eden told the House of Commons in 1938. “And that temper must find expression in a firm spirit.” The former foreign secretary and ...

It is no small feat to present a concert comprised largely of unfamiliar repertoire. Under the direction of music director Michael Barrett, Boston Cecilia’s season finale on Saturday night at All ...

There’s nothing like an anniversary to encourage an orchestra’s programming. Take Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Intent on marking the occasion of Dmitri Shostakovich’s death fifty ...

Sometimes, despite its imposing grandeur and marvelous acoustic, Symphony Hall can feel like an extension of one’s living room. On Friday, it radiated homey vibes. Part of this owed to the Boston ...

Genius, Edison told us, is mostly the result of hard work. Too much of it, though, can lead to deleterious ends: as Jan Swafford’s recent biography convincingly argues, overwork played an outsized ...

On paper, the lineup for pianists Víkingur Ólafsson and Yuja Wang’s duo recital on Friday at Symphony Hall didn’t make much sense. John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow, for instance, don’t normally share ...

To judge from his appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons on Thursday night, Yo-Yo Ma isn’t just the world’s most famous cellist. He’s also a collegial mensch. No sooner had ...

The Handel and Haydn Society might be the country’s oldest performing arts institution, but it certainly is projecting—and performing with–the vigor of youth this week. On Monday, the ensemble ...

Tis the season for musical marathons, at least in New England. A little more than a week after the Boston Symphony Orchestra wrapped its survey of the complete Beethoven symphonies, the Celebrity ...

Since its founding in the late 90s, the Calder String Quartet has developed a sterling reputation for its wide-ranging programming and championing of contemporary music. Friday night at Jordan Hall, ...

If the two immediate standing ovations on Thursday evening were any indication, sometimes the only response to a performance is “Again!” Such was the case at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s ...

Whoever planned the first month of concerts at Symphony Hall this year deserves a pat on the back: rarely, if ever, do four consecutive weeks of programs, and from different artists, hold together so ...