As medici.tv’s Chief Content Officer I spend a lot of time thinking about classical music—and a lot of time on the internet. Here’s my selection of the top five news items you need to see this week if you want to stay in the know.
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Gabriela Lena Frank wins the Pulitzer (Gramophone)
The 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Music was awarded this week to Gabriela Lena Frank, for her composition Picaflor: A Future Myth, premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Marin Alsop last year. The 30-minute, 10-movement symphonic work depicts an original story drawing on Incan mythology and Frank’s personal experience with the California wildfires, reflecting both the composer’s climate activism and multicultural heritage.
Interview with violist-turned-composer Brett Dean (NYT)
Did you know that Brett Dean was a violist in the Berlin Philharmonic before composing full time? Ahead of the premiere of his third opera, Of One Blood, the NYT sat down with the Australian composer to talk about playing under Karajan early in his career, returning to his “home” orchestra as composer-in-residence, and the delicate balance of innovating and respecting tradition as an opera composer in the twenty-first century. According to Claus Guth, who is directing “Of One Blood” in Munich next month: “What thrills me about Brett Dean is that he comes from the tradition that holds onto opera as it was created and as it has existed for centuries. He doesn’t break the mold… but continues working with these same criteria.”
Sample an excerpt of Dean’s second opera, Hamlet here:
Tiny Desk Concert: Kronos Quartet (NPR)
In case, like me, you missed this when it dropped a few weeks ago: the Kronos Quartet visited NPR’s Tiny Desk for the second time (an honor afforded to few ensembles!). As usual, they performed an eclectic mix of music including a Neil Young arrangement and a pair of contemporary commissions by Canadian composer Nicole Lizée and Indonesian composer Peni Candra Rini.
Sonya Yoncheva explores model of artistic “coexistence” with AI
Regular medici.tv headliner Sonya Yoncheva announced a new concept album that wrestles with one of the most important questions of our time: how can we use AI to enhance an artistic vision, rather than wipe it out? With this project, Yoncheva aims to create “a space for dialogue between new technologies and art in a mode of coexistence rather than competition.”
Why do classical musicians dress so formally?
If you enjoyed reading Andrew Mellor’s feature on style in classical music last week, you may also be interested in this Instagram reel from @duo_starke_agnes on the history of the dress code for orchestra members—and whether it’s time for an update. The comment section is worth a read too!
