Music

Lovelorn Sleepwalker, Caught Between Rehearsal and Reality

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

The tenor Juan Diego Flórez as Elvino and the soprano Natalie Dessay as Amina in “La Sonnambula” at the Metropolitan Opera.

Mary Zimmerman’s new production of Bellini’s “Sonnambula” for the Metropolitan Opera, which goes behind the scenes, is exasperating and clichéd.

The Met Offers Chagalls as Collateral

The Metropolitan Opera said it had decided to put up its celebrated Chagall murals as part of the collateral for an existing loan.

A Conductor Revels in His Element

Zubin Mehta was thoroughly in his element conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in Strauss’s “Heldenleben” at Carnegie Hall on Sunday.

The Mainstream Flows Into Alice Tully Hall and Is Hushed

Paavo Jarvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen gave vigorous performances of Beethoven symphonies that kept Alice Tully Hall rocking until midnight on Monday.

Wein Seeks to Regain Control of Newport Festivals

Amid rumors of an uncertain future for the Newport jazz and folk festivals, the veteran jazz concert producer George Wein gained permission to negotiate to regain them.

Music Festivals Adopt an Installment Pay Plan

Festival promoters for events like Bonnaroo are trying to improve ticket sales by dividing the price of admission into smaller bites.

Conductor as Analyst, With Bach as Patient

On Sunday, Philippe Herreweghe conducted his 18-voice chorus and period-instrument orchestra in a texturally lucid and transfixing account of Bach’s Mass in B minor.

Interracial Love in 1920, Evoking Modern Blues

For now, at least, “Strange Fruit” has had another hearing, courtesy of the Harlem School of the Arts in association with New York City Opera.

Building a Mountain of the Avant-Garde and Smoothing Its Surface to Please

Most of what the pianist Donald Berman played at Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday was rooted in decades-old trends from the classical avant-garde and the fringes of pop.

Healthy Dose of Modernism Tempers Incurable Romantic

Alexei Lubimov gave a stellar performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4 at Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Forget a Sleeve, Just Wear Your Heart on a Songbook

In “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy,” her third cabaret show at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel, Sheera Ben-David gets to the heart of the matter.

Music in Review

Reviews of “War and Pieces,” a dramatic presentation Daniel Hope conceived with the Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer, the composer and percussionist Lukas Ligeti and the pianist Hélène Grimaud.

A Precise, but Mirthless, Tribute to ‘Astral Weeks’

In revisiting the rarely performed songs from his classic album, Van Morrison seemed overwhelmed by too many instruments and his own limitations.

Spectacle, Including a Singer in a Tutu

Too much of this concert, built around new and old “Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno,” was just clever and neat.

Two Bands Have a Night in the Orchestral Realm

This concert fleshed out an idea, in a few different ways and with varying degrees of success.

2 Approaches to Monk’s Historic Night

Last week’s concerts demonstrated two different kinds of respect for the music of Thelonious Monk.

A Garage Rocker Gives Songwriting a Spin in a Solo Debut

Dan Auerbach’s brooding new solo debut is an album at once more intimate and less exposed than his work with the Black Keys.

New CDs

New releases from Neko Case and Béla Fleck.

Love Poems With Musical Annotation

Vladimir Martynov’s stupefying opera, a work of nearly two and half hours, is banal and pretentious.

Award Winner Returns to Her Cabaret Show

The Metropolitan Room will present a return engagement of “Strings Attached,” the cabaret show starring Anne Steele.

Last Gang in Town

Thirty years in and millions of albums sold, U2 still wants to be the next big thing.

Call Her Style Concert-Cozy

Nina Kuzma-Sapiejewska, a classical pianist who is an expert on Chopin, likes to perform for small groups on the concert grand Grotrian piano in her apartment in Larchmont, N.Y.

• More Habitats Columns
• Audio Slide Show

It’s Not Just the Opera, It’s Who’s Singing

Culture mingles with neighborly warmth at “Opera Night,” a monthly event at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.

Sounds That Stretch Around the Globe

Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation discusses the music of Buraka Som Sistema, Quiet Village, Quantic and Bersa Discos.

What Do Aquawomen Want?

The mythic lady of the waves is muse to opera, dance and theater.

For the Love of Layla

Yo-Yo Ma’s international ensemble tries updating the timeless with a new version of a storied opera from the Middle East.

A New Stage So Local Bands Can Play On

Local musicians organize their own concert series ain South Orange, hoping to spawn a local rock renaissance.

Country House

Lucinda Williams, the acclaimed singer and songwriter whose music blends rock, folk and country, lives in a 2,600-square-foot 1950s Modernist house in Los Angeles.

• Times Topics: Lucinda Williams

A Singer-Songwriter Changes His Name and His Career

After dubbing himself and his band Milton, the singer-songwriter once known as Marc Rosenthal saw good things start to happen.

A New Orchestra, Built From Scratch

The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, which came into being last summer, made its American debut last week at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

A Rehearing of a Messiaen Composition at the Newly Reborn Site of Its 1974 Premiere

The Juilliard Orchestra performed Messiaen’s “Des Canyons aux Étoiles” Thursday as part of the reopening festivities for Alice Tully Hall.

Turf-Sharing, When Indie Met Classical

“Shuffle Mode,” the Brooklyn Philharmonic program on Thursday night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, put the orchestra on an equal footing with two indie-rock bands.

An Old View of Old Works

Pinchas Zukerman’s recital at the 92nd Street Y on Thursday offered a mix of the wonderful and the wonderfully odd.

Last Virgin Megastore in Manhattan to Close

The latest record store to announce its closing in New York is a big one: the Virgin Megastore in Union Square.

Uptown Shrine’s Upbeat Anniversary

Harlem’s incubator of talent in jazz, blues, comedy, dance and R&B, turns 75.

• Video: Heckling the Hopeful Since 1934
• More Than Just a Theater, With More Than Just an Audience

More Than Just a Theater, With More Than Just an Audience

Several things made the Apollo Theater special: its location, roots and longevity. But above all there was its audience.

Hey, Federal Reserve: The Funk Will Get You

Thievery Corporation mixed policy wonkery and dance-club rhythms in their show on Wednesday.

A Viennese Meal Served With the Dessert First

The Vienna Philharmonic gave a benefit performance Wednesday evening as a precursor to its annual three-concert residency at Carnegie Hall.

Symbiosis of Music and Intimate Surroundings

Mark Padmore deployed his light voice with tonal allure and clarity, and Imogen Cooper was a superlative partner at Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday.

Carnegie Hall and Juilliard Trim Education Program

The Academy, a grand experiment in music education, has fallen victim to the recession.

A Concert Takes a Cue From a Romance Novel

The violinist Nurit Pacht performed Tuesday evening at the Morgan Library & Museum.

A One-Man Variety Show Who Can Still Get the Fans Screaming

Silver-haired and 68, Tom Jones was still the target of flying undergarments when he performed at Terminal 5 on Tuesday night.