The increasing longevity of humans has advantages for composers. Because the music world gets obsessed with birthdays and anniversaries, composers who make it to age 70 and beyond can expect tribute concerts at least every five years, and heightened attention to their music in general. Performers and audiences are led to think, “There’s a living master in our midst we best pay attention.” Two who fit that bill are...

It’s easy to drive right past the town without even noticing it. A smattering of old buildings on Route 29 northeast of Greenwich in Washington County, Battenville sits beside the Batten Kill and was briefly the home of Susan B. Anthony, who taught school there in 1826. In 1971, artists Robert Nunnelley and Gerald Coble bought an 18th-century house to serve as their country home and studio. Since then, the two men –...

Composer Lou Harrison, who died in February at age 85, was sometimes called the Santa Claus of contemporary music. He certainly looked the part, with a big belly and a white mustache and beard.  The nickname was apt for other reasons as well: He was a joyous and generous man, and all his life he carried a big bag of toys. That’s what he called his many interests and pursuits. “From the start,” he often said, “I...

“I would like to think that I had a significant insight into the girls in Little Women because I wasn’t bound by gender roles. On the other hand maybe the answer is – I had two sisters and we grew up in the same house!” Out composer Mark Adamo’s triumphant hit opera  Little Women – with twenty-four productions in less than five years – has astounded critics and endeared audiences to...