"The Monkey King" is being broadcast live tonight (November 18) and will be available on-demand November 23-25: www.sfopera.com/operas/the-m...

I'll never get enough of Edgar Bainton's "And I saw a new heaven," because I'm that kind of church music nerd, so I loved this performance: www.youtube.com/live/g0mB8eB...

The Marsh Chapel Choir and organist were joined by the Majestic Brass Quintet, plus timpani, and the place was packed, so the music was often fff. Especially intriguing: Lukas Foss's anthem "Behold, I build an house," orig. written for the dedication of Marsh Chapel in 1950:

The Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock's sermon at Marsh Chapel, November 16, 2025, "God's Vision for the Land": www.youtube.com/live/g0mB8eB...

Last but not least, meet Paris Opera's Apprentissage de l’Orchestre, its 160-musician youth arts program! "Most players have been recruited from music schools in the city’s less affluent suburbs (9 of 11 partnering “conservatoires” are in the northeastern area of Seine-Saint-Denis…)."

Not done yet! Choreographers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber are directing Paris Opera's production of Philip Glass's "Satyagraha." "The music in 'Satyagraha' overwhelms you and drives you and it does not let go. And that kind of pressure cooker makes you want to move," says Smith.

The real question is whether my wife — who wrote her college thesis on Hildegard but who also doesn't enjoy opera — will come along to see it in New York! Jury is out...

Yet more! Le Balcon is producing all seven of Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Licht" operas, which have never been presented as a cycle. "Montag aus Licht" is up first in Paris November 29. “I think that the ears of the end of the 20th century were not ready for this music,” says Maxime Pascale.

Still more! Nina Siegal writes from Amsterdam about Dmitri Tcherniakov's revival of Tchaikovsky's rarely performed "Maid of Orleans": “Some pages are very impressive, and some are a little bit mediocre… but at the same time I have a feeling of mystery inside of this score,” Tcherniakov said.

Next: Thomas May profiles composer Huang Ruo's "The Monkey King," which premieres in San Francisco this month. “I hate the cliché of ‘East meets West,’” he said. “It’s more than that. I use the term ‘third culture’ for what happens when these two cultures are integrated so that a new one is born..."

Whoa

Prayers plus the best toy of all time: blue ribbon!

Ooh! Thank you!

To recap the amazingness: www.nytimes.com/athletic/677...