Music & Culture

Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony is Isakov's latest album and first to embrace large-scale collaboration.

Music & Culture

Gregory Alan Isakov: A Folk Artist In A Symphony Hall

7:48am June 05, 2016

by NPR Staff

After three intimate albums, Gregory Alan Isakov decided he wanted to build a bigger kind of song. He speaks with NPR's Rachel Martin about taking his music to the Colorado Symphony.

C.W. Stoneking performs during the Bluesfest Music Festival at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm on April 22, 2011 in Byron Bay, Australia.

Music & Culture

C.W. Stoneking Is Blues From Down Under

5:33pm June 04, 2016

C.W. Stoneking is from the Northern Territory of Australia, but his sound is old school southern American blues. We catch him on his first U.S. tour and talk about his new album, Gon' Boogaloo.

Olga Bell's latest album, Tempo, is a move away from her classical roots — and towards electronic dance music.

Music & Culture

Olga Bell: From Russian Classical Pianist To Brooklynite Dance Musician

8:31am June 04, 2016

by NPR Staff

Though trained in classical piano, Bell has now ventured deeply into the world of electronica. "I guess I felt a compulsion to dance, to do something physical," Bell says of Tempo, her new album.

Kronos Quartet has commissioned 50 pieces of music for its latest project, Fifty for the Future.

Music & Culture

Kronos Quartet Wants To Give You Free Music — And Teach You How To Play It

7:56am June 04, 2016

by Tom Vitale

The Quartet's Fifty for the Future project will commission 50 pieces by as many composers. Then the scores and instructional videos will be free online.

Music & Culture

Paul Simon On World Cafe

5:08pm June 03, 2016

At 74, the legendary songwriter is still searching for sounds he hasn't heard before.

Music & Culture

Across the Blue Ridge #23 - Great Fiddle Tunes, and a tribute to James King

4:51pm June 03, 2016

by Paul Brown

This week, we hear a selection of wonderful fiddle tunes from the south, as musicians across the region start to flock to the fiddlers' conventions that still thrive here as nowhere else. We

Queue Listen Now

Yannick NÃ©zet-SÃ©guin, conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in New York in February 2015.

Music & Culture

The Metropolitan Opera Baton Passes To Yannick Nézet-Séguin

4:51pm June 03, 2016

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

The newly announced music director of the Metropolitan Opera talks about joining one of the world's most famous opera houses — and how he might help heal its wounds.

Music & Culture

Alan Clare On Piano Jazz

4:06pm June 03, 2016

In 1990, the British pianist joined host Marian McPartland from the BBC's London studios.

A scene from the new video for the song "Bubbles Burst," by The Claypool Lennon Delirium.

Music & Culture

All Songs +1: Sean Lennon's Surreal Ode To Michael Jackson's Pet Chimp, Bubbles

2:32pm June 03, 2016

by Robin Hilton

For this week's +1 podcast, Lennon discusses working with Les Claypool, their new album and a famous pet chimpanzee.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

Herman's Hermits, A Band That Was In It For The Hits And The Kicks

1:48pm June 03, 2016

by Ed Ward

Herman's Hermits hit the American pop charts 22 times in the 1960s and early '70s. Now, a new anthology compiles 66 of the Hermits' tracks. Rock historian Ed Ward considers how the music has held up.

Queue Listen Now