Join pianist Jeffrey Siegel at the Eisemann Center in Richardson on Monday for an unconventional piano recital. Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations features the pianist both performing on the piano and providing commentary on the music he presents. In this recital, the works of French composer Claude Debussy — both familiar and…

On Sunday, the Denton Bach Society presents one of J.S. Bach’s most magnificent choral celebrations of the holiday season. The Christmas Oratorio (Das Weihnachts-Oratorium) is less somber than some of the composer’s more serious religious contemplations of Jesus’ birth because Bach borrowed popular non-religious tunes for many of this piece’s…

The Dallas Opera this week announced a big influx of cash by way of the National Endowment for the Arts. The $30,000 N.E.A. grant will go directly toward production costs for a high-tech regional premier in 2014. Basically, all this money means that a robot opera is coming to Dallas…

On Friday, American Airlines Center hosts one of the world’s most powerful and recognizable voices. Blind Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist Andrea Bocelli brings his current world tour to Dallas for a night of moving arias and romantic duets. Bocelli is classically handsome and a born showman; his concerts evoke everything…

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra announced yesterday that the popular NPR show From the Top will tape a broadcast at the Meyerson Symphony Center on January 4. The show, which can be heard locally on WRR Classical 101.1 FM every Saturday at 9 a.m., showcases young classical musicians. Pianist Christopher O’Riley…

On Saturday, the Fine Arts Chamber Players performed a free-to-the-public concert in the Dallas Museum of Art’s Horchow auditorium. The concert, presented as part of the Bancroft Family Concerts series, was billed as a collaborative experience with the museum’s current exhibition, Posters of Paris. Offering a free chamber-music concert alongside…

A beautiful symphony hall is like a sanctuary. It’s a place where members of a community gather to share a common experience. With phones off and conversations muted, there is communion between people and art. Last weekend at the Meyerson symphony hall felt like a celebration of Easter Sunday proportions…

When I spoke with Dallas Symphony Orchestra Maestro Jaap van Zweden earlier this year, he told me that the Meyerson Symphony Center is, in his opinion, “probably one of the top three halls in the world.” “What is very important,” he went on, “is not to underestimate the relationship between…

Last week, Russian pianist Olga Kern barreled through some predictably showy repertoire on stage at the Winspear Opera House. In a hall designed for enormous opera productions, it takes a lot of charisma and sound from a lone pianist to fill such a big space. But with the help of…

Hilary Hahn is about to celebrate her 33rd birthday. She’s spent 30 of those years playing the violin. Her resume is as impressive as expected. This weekend, the Dallas Symphony is performing two works by Beethoven, including one of classical music’s most recognizable pieces, the composer’s 5th symphony (dum-dum-dum-duuuum). Sandwiched…

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra announced on Thursday that soprano Reneé Fleming will join Jaap van Zweden and the orchestra for next year’s AT&T gala. This black tie event, which will be held on Saturday, September 28th, 2013, is the DSO’s largest single fundraising event and typically features a big name…

The Dallas Opera’s current production of Aida opens the company’s fourth season inside the still shiny and new Winspear Opera House. The company has had some financial woes during the transition from its previous home at Fair Park. In 2011, facing substantial deficits, TDO announced it would cut back the…

On Friday, the ladies of Alpha Chi Omega will put on their annual fashion show and charity event, Alpha Chi Couture. The runway show, which also includes an extensive silent auction, raises money to support victims of domestic violence both locally and nationally. Dallas’ Genesis Women’s Shelter, the evening’s beneficiary,…

Halloween seems like as good a time as any to talk human remains. Namely, what are you going to do with yours? I’ve always dreaded the eerily claustrophobic concept of spending eternity six feet under. Plus, there are the bugs. I can’t deal. If imagining your cremated remains tucked inside…

Opening night at the opera should be glamorous and opulent. The genre, defined by excess, demands an elaborate celebration. Hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours are required to put on a fully staged opera with ornate sets, costumes for a huge cast, highly skilled actor/singers, and a full…

The Dallas Opera launches its “Pursuits of Passion” season Friday with a glamorous gala event and the opening-night production of Guiseppe Verdi’s hugely popular romantic drama, Aida. The opera centers on the tribulations of a young Ethiopian princess enslaved by Egyptians who falls in love with her captor. She’s then…

Sometimes reality is scarier than fiction; especially when that reality is liquored up, filmed, edited and filtered through your television. The Quarter Bar is hosting a Reality Bites Halloween Party and Costume Contest from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, complete with Stoli Honey BooBoo shot specials and live music…

After a hiatus of several weeks, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and maestro Jaap van Zweden are back at the Meyerson this weekend with a program that, while lacking diversity and innovation, is a sonorous showcase. The concert is balanced but lengthy, with two 40-minute pieces anchoring each half of the…

This weekend, several local classical music organizations are kicking off their 2012/2013 seasons with great concerts in a variety of venues. Here are five of your best bets for hearing beautiful art music around the metroplex this weekend: 1. Free Chamber Music at the Dallas Museum of Art The Fine…

The Nasher’s newest exhibition, Rediscoveries: Modes of Making in Modern Sculpture, explores masterworks from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection. Running through January 13, familiar works from a variety of historical eras are presented in four groups, each of which examines creative strategies essential to modern sculpture. Sculptures by Carl…