NPR Classical

Aretha Franklin liked how Kris Bowers played piano at a competition in 2011. It was his big break — a fact that he says was with him while he scored a upcoming biopic about the late Queen of Soul.

As a student, the young baritone was never really introduced to any Black composers. Liverman's latest album, Dreams of a New Day, features an abundance of them.

In his newest work, Falling Out of Time, composer Osvaldo Golijov explores a painful subject — the death of a child. He was inspired by a unique literary work by Israeli writer David Grossman.

This car choir solution is one that accomplished baritone David Newman came up with so that ensembles could sing "together." The method uses microphones, a mixer, an FM transmitter and car radios.

Meet internationally-acclaimed author Alexander McCall Smith and award-winning composer James Ross, who collaborated on song cycle These Are The Hands.

The renowned musician and Late Show bandleader has sage advice on everything from finding your north star and owning your own orbit to honoring lineage.

NPR Music's classical editor traces the high points of a year spent listening to new albums that offered comfort and confrontation in counterpoint with the relentless world outside the headphones.

Growing up in a progressive city, Ludwig van Beethoven embraced the ideals of the Enlightenment, the philosophical movement that shook Europe and helped shape the composer's music.

Join cellist Jan Vogler and pianist Alessio Bax at the "doctor's office," where they make the case for Beethoven as the liberator of the cello by playing music from his cello sonatas.

Members of the celebrated Borromeo String Quartet – playing it safe with masks – unlock the sillier side of Beethoven in music he wrote late in life.