Zachary Woolfe

The mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina, center, dances in a truck bed in the title role of Bizet’s “Carmen” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on Dec. 28, 2023. Starring a magnetic Akhmetshina, Carrie Cracknell’s lethargic staging updates Bizet’s opera to present-day America. (Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)

The pianist Ursula Oppens will celebrate her birthday at Merkin Concert Hall with a program drawn from the large catalog of works written for her.

The orchestra, under Andris Nelsons, gave a clear and controlled concert performance of Shostakovich’s crushing opera at Carnegie Hall.

Ursula Oppens at a recording session in Brooklyn on Jan. 2, 2024. Oppens will celebrate her birthday at Merkin Concert Hall with a program drawn from the large catalog of works written for her. (James Estrin/The New York Times)

In Streisand’s new audiobook recording for her chatty, brick-size memoir, “My Name Is Barbra,” the superlative diva adds a little freestyling.

“Émigré,” a bland oratorio about brothers who flee to China to escape Nazi persecution, was given its American premiere by the New York Philharmonic.

The history and curiosity behind these operas, both set in Asia, complicate often simplistic criticisms of borrowing and stereotyping.

On Thursday, the richly talented 28-year-old maestro led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the first time since being named its next music director.

After making history as the Metropolitan Opera’s first work by a Black composer, Terence Blanchard’s “Fire” is back — with its showstopping step dance.

Anthony Freud is leaving Lyric Opera of Chicago on good terms, though the company faces challenges in a strained environment for the performing arts.