Classical music

Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews violinist Ida Haendels new 2-CD set on Decca and the video on VAI.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Vienna New Years Concert with Seiji Ozawa (Phillips), a new recording of the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Seiji Ozawa, who is leaving the Boston Symphony Orchestra to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Pierre Boulez conducting Wagners Ring Cycle on DVD (Universal) and works by Stravinsky, Debussy, and Berg on two DVDs (Image).

Composer Aaron Jay Kernis is one of the youngest composers to win the Pulitzer Prize. This Saturday, his latest composition will be performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra as part of the grand opening of the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia's new concert hall. The piece was commissioned specifically for the event. The Walt Disney Company has commissioned a piece by Kernis. His many awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA grant, a New York Foundation for the Arts award, and two Grammy nominations. Kernis was born in Philadelphia and is 41 years old.

Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz previews the Great Performances special The Art of Violin, airing on PBS stations tonight. The program is also available on DVD. For more information, visit The Art of Violin Web site.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz brings us classical music news from Boston. Seiji Ozawa is leaving the Boston Symphony Orchestra after 29 years as conductor. James Levine will replace him. Also, Lloyd will explain how the events of September 11th have changed the BSOs programming.

He becomes the music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2003. Formerly music director for the Houston Symphony, Eschenbach is currently Conductor Laureate for that symphony. He is the music director of the Orchestre de Paris and Germanys Hamburg NDR Symphony Orchestra. He has also been the music director of the Ravinia Festival, summer home to the Chicago Symphony since 1994. He was named director for the Philadelphia Orchestra in January of this year.

We remember violinist Isaac Stern He died Saturday at the age of 81. He died of heart failure.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Three Mo' Tenors, a PBS Great Performances program and a new CD. It features the African-American tenors Rodrick Dixon, Victor Trent Cook and Thomas Young.

Conductor Benjamin Zander, of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been called "a Pied Piper" of classical music and "one of music's evangelists." His passionate performances have earned him quite a following. Through his teaching and his pre-concert discussions, he has tried to spread his love of classical music to a wider public. He has conducted the Boston Philharmonic for over 20 years. He leads the Philharmonia Orchestra on a new CD Mahler: Symphony No. 5 and he has a new book, The Art of Possiblity: Transforming Professional and Personal Life.