Tom Huizenga

Sooner or later it had to happen — an all-classical Drum Fill Friday. This week's puzzler proves that the world of Beethoven, Stravinsky and Bartók can serve up beats as thunderous as any double drummer metal band.

Try to identify the classical pieces that ...

What do you know about Beethoven? He wrote the Fifth Symphony (da da da dummmm ...) and he became deaf.

There's obviously a lot more to the man and his music, and one person who surely knows is composer and writer Jan Swafford. He's ...

Think opera plots are tough to follow? Try wading through the complicated drama playing out offstage at the Metropolitan Opera. At its most basic, it's the story of management and labor unions fighting over a supposedly dwindling pot of money. The deadline to solve the squabble before a ...

One hundred years after the start of World War I, hear a range of pop and classical music from artists of the era. Some music reflects the war's violence, some gives solace.

"The Star Spangled Banner" turns 200 this year, and the attention it's been getting is again a reminder of how difficult it is for many Americans to sing our national anthem.

Not so for the French, who have "La Marseillaise," composed by Claude Joseph ...

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek — who is one of the world's most prominent living public intellectuals — has been accused of plagiarizing from the white separatist magazine American Renaissance. (The magazine calls itself a "race realist" publication, while ...

Carlo Bergonzi endures. Not only is the Italian tenor approaching his 90th birthday (on July 13) but for decades he sang with tireless warmth and precision, representing a certain old school approach to carefully cultivating one's vocal resources.

Bergonzi may not have been as loud or intimidating as his Italian ...

The year is half over and that means NPR Music and our public radio partners have been obsessing over our favorite songs of the year so far. The full list of 50 songs makes a potent stew ranging from power pop and brash hip-hop to electro-fueled dance music ...

Tracy Silverman has been called the greatest living exponent of the electric violin. But we're not talking just any electric violin. After he graduated from Juilliard in 1980, Silverman designed his own six-string instrument, creating new musical possibilities and inspiring some of today's greatest composers to write for ...

Summer has officially breezed in with not only longer days but also sultry nights. There's something about summer nights that inspires composers — perhaps a certain stillness in the air or the allure of a new romance. To mark the changing of the season, test your ears in this nocturnal ...

In case you've been hiding under a rock (or a patch of AstroTurf), there's a little sporting event underway that has much of the world glued to the television. As the 2014 World Cup blasts into its second week, 32 teams (in groups of four, lettered A-H) continue ...

The concerto. It's a musical recipe more than 400 years old but composers still cook with it. And why shouldn't they? We still seem to crave the sound of a virtuosic soloist playing with (and often against) an orchestra. As in centuries past, virtuosos still inspire, and in many cases ...

Music by Richard Strauss is heard in symphony halls and opera houses across the world. He needs little help to boost his considerable fame. Yet 150 years after his birth, the German composer remains an enigma to some classical music fans and a polarizing figure for others. A ...

Can you hear the wedding bells? June has arrived. Theories vary on why this is the month for marriage. Old traditions like the timing of the harvest season (and pregnancies) might have had something to do with it, or more modern practicalities such as nicer weather and abundant fresh flowers. ...

Almost any pianist, from a budding beginner to a pro like Simone Dinnerstein, will tell you that one of the basic techniques of keyboard playing is also the toughest to master: making your hands to do separate things simultaneously.

The great Johann Sebastian Bach knew this ...

The Estonian composer's contemplative yet powerful music has found popularity beyond the borders of classical music. He's making a rare appearance in the U.S. to attend a festival of his music.

Memorial Day can all too easily mark the start of grilling season and retail sales events instead of fulfilling its original purpose, honoring those who lost their lives in service to our country.

Congress made the holiday official in 1971, but the practice dates back to ...

In Elizabethan England, it was hip to have the blues. Watch the British countertenor mine the art of John Dowland's melancholy songs. He's joined by Thomas Dunford, "the Eric Clapton of the lute."

Oprah Winfrey's television network was set to follow Michael Sam through rookie camp as he tried to earn a spot on the St. Louis Rams. The docuseries was to follow Sam, the first openly gay NFL player, with a camera team at training camp as well as his personal life ...

A new Bob Dylan recording popped up on his site just now. You have to go there to hear it — it's a version of the classic 1945 song, "Full Moon and Empty Arms." The tune is written by Buddy Kaye — known for writing hits for Sinatra, ...