NewYorker.com highlights the long-overdue revival of Edmond Dédé’s opera Morgiane, a work that blends 19th-century French operatic elegance with a distinctly personal voice. The Black New Orleans-born composer, who found a career in France after facing racial barriers in the U.S., infused his score with masterful orchestration, charming melodies, and subtle nods to composers like Beethoven and Gounod. Beyond its technical brilliance, the opera’s rediscovery is a poignant act of cultural reclamation, showcasing a long-suppressed Black operatic legacy that deserves a permanent place on the stage.

Luis Schmidt conducts his orchestra in “military uniform”.

TheTimes.com captures the audacity and ambition of 20-year-old Luis Schmidt, who has defied expectations by founding Edinburgh’s first professional symphony orchestra in nearly a century. With little experience in fundraising or marketing, Schmidt has nonetheless assembled Capella Edina, secured financial backers, and launched an orchestra with a strikingly disciplined aesthetic. Dismissing skeptics, he exudes youthful confidence, declaring his mission to bring classical music to new audiences while proving that sheer determination can trump tradition.

Vulture.com explores how contemporary film scores are shifting away from the grand orchestral tradition of Zimmer and Shore toward experimental, electroacoustic compositions that challenge conventional symphonic expectations. Composers like Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist) and Volker Bertelmann (Conclave) manipulate sound—using field recordings, unconventional instruments, and dissonant textures—to create music that doesn’t just underscore emotion but actively shapes cinematic storytelling. This shift signals a broader movement in classical composition, where modern film music, often crafted by self-taught artists, blurs the boundaries between traditional concert music and avant-garde sound design, redefining the role of music in visual media.

The blockbuster with a classical score has been a mainstay of cinema for decades.