Classical Classical music performances and features from NPR news, NPR cultural programs, and NPR Music stations.

Classical

Residents listen as Sound Impact musicians play during the final performance of their three-day residency at the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center in Alexandria, Va. Shuran Huang For NPR hide caption

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Shuran Huang For NPR

Incarcerated teens find escape in music and poems composed with artists

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Actors Jeremy Strong (from left), Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin are pictured in an episode of Succession, which ends on Sunday. Claudette Barius/HBO hide caption

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Claudette Barius/HBO

How composer Nicholas Britell created the sound of 'Succession'

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Anna Thorvaldsdottir begins her composing process by drawing shapes and writing words to help store musical information. Her scores themselves are finely detailed. Hrafn Asgeirsson/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Hrafn Asgeirsson/Courtesy of the artist

Grace Bumbry, in a 1963 portrait. Erich Auerbach/Getty Images hide caption

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Erich Auerbach/Getty Images

Trailblazing opera star Grace Bumbry dies at age 86

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Belgian soprano Gwendoline Blondeel performs as la Folie (madness) in the Opera Lafayette production of Jean-Philippe Rameau's recently completed 18th century opera Io. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

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Keren Carrión/NPR

A forgotten opera premieres 280 years late

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Benjamin Matthews, one of the founders of Opera Ebony. Opera Ebony hide caption

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Opera Ebony

Opera Ebony broke boundaries in classical music for 50 years — but what comes next?

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Writer Neil Gaiman (center) makes music with FourPlay (L-R: Peter Hollo, Shenton Gregory aka Shenzo Gregorio, Lara Goodridge and Tim Hollo) Chris Frape/Riot Act Media hide caption

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Chris Frape/Riot Act Media

Writer Neil Gaiman debuts his first music album with an Australian string quartet

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Pianist Lara Downes has released a new album of contemporary and historical works called Love at Last. Max Barrett/Lara Downes hide caption

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Max Barrett/Lara Downes

Pianist Lara Downes heals loss with 'Love At Last'

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The "digital portrait" of Ludwig van Beethoven that appears in the new Apple Classical streaming app. Apple hide caption

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Apple

Apple Music Classical aims to reach music lovers the streaming revolution left behind

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Gianandrea Noseda talks with Marissa Regni about the loaned instruments. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

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Keren Carrión/NPR

A music director goes public with a secret stash of private instruments

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Ryan Speedo Green as Young Emile Griffith in Terence Blanchard's Champion. Zenith Richards/Met Opera hide caption

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Zenith Richards/Met Opera

'Champion' is not your grandmother's Metropolitan Opera

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Thomas Bangalter, half of the former Daft Punk duo, composed the score for the ballet Mythologies, choreographed by fellow Frenchman Angelin Preljocaj. Jean-Claude Carbonne/Biz 3 hide caption

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Jean-Claude Carbonne/Biz 3

From Daft Punk to ballet: Thomas Bangalter makes full swing to classical

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Soprano Jessye Norman left a number of recordings in the vault at the time of her death. Now some of them have been released for the first time. Decca Archives hide caption

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Decca Archives

The voice of Jessye Norman soars again in trove of unreleased recordings

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Scientists say they have sequenced the genome of composer Ludwig van Beethoven. INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images

Scientists sequence Beethoven's genome for clues into his painful past

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Den Tepfer. Josh Goleman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Josh Goleman/Courtesy of the artist

For pianist Dan Tepfer, improvisation is the mother of Bach's Inventions

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