Brian Wise

The Costa Concordia luxury cruise liner, which ran aground off Italy’s Tuscan coast on Friday, was described by its owners as a floating "temple of fun" dedicated to entertainment and well-being.

New York City Opera and its musicians resumed talks on Saturday, just days after the company locked out the musicians after contract negotiations broke down last weekend.

Every so often, anarchy is unleashed across the carefully-preserved countryside of classical music. Here are five highlights.

Kim Novak accused the French makers of the Oscar-tipped silent film "The Artist" of "rape" Monday for using sections of Bernard Herrmann’s love theme from "Vertigo" in its score.

New York City Opera's musicians say that the cash-strapped company wants to cut their salary to $5,000 annually. The company counters that the musicians would actually earn $11,855.

Alexis Weissenberg, a Bulgarian pianist who spent time in a concentration camp and later performed with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, died Sunday in Lugano, Switzerland at age 82.

The unions representing New York City Opera's orchestra and chorus say they won’t be showing up for the scheduled start of rehearsals on Monday morning after talks with a federal mediator broke down Saturday night.

The New York Philharmonic has named Matthew VanBesien as its next executive director, succeeding Zarin Mehta, who will retire in September.

A writer considers the uncanny similarities between classical music’s most notorious dynasty and that of the movie based on the bestseller by Stieg Larsson.

If anything, classical music fans are not a frivolous crowd. This is the evidence turned up in WQXR's 2011 Classical Countdown, a listener survey that showed that Beethoven remains th...

The Concert for Peace is known for its mixture of inspired music-making, muddy acoustics and a sometimes earnest solemnity. This New Year’s Eve promises to be different.

Claudio Del Monaco, the opera director and son of the late Italian opera tenor Mario Del Monaco, is in critical but stable condition after an incident of operatic proportions.

What do you think was the year's biggest story? What will continue to make waves in 2012? Take our poll and share your thoughts.

In 2011, a growing number of arts organizations embraced digital technology a means of riding out the stresses facing the field.

Andrew Shapiro has played the piano at a Manhattan McDonald's for over seven years. Hints of Chopin-esque harmonies mingle with shouts of “May I help the next customer please?”

The Park Avenue Armory has named Alex Poots, currently the director of England's Manchester International Festival, as its first artistic director.

Kim Jong Il, who died Saturday at the age of 69, took an active role in North Korean culture, and had a truly curious relationship to classical music.

"In The Bleak Midwinter" is the world’s greatest Christmas carol, according to WQXR.org's poll of leading choirmasters and choral experts from the US and the UK.

The New Russian Quartet, the resident string quartet at the Moscow Conservatory, lent its support to the protests against the allegedly fraudulent parliamentary elections.

Not only will he withdraw from the remainder of his performances this season, the conductor says that he won’t conduct at all in 2012-13.