We're halfway into 2014 and opera has already worked its way into three of the year's biggest athletic events. For those keeping score, there was Renée Fleming's pop-tinged version of the national anthem at the Super Bowl; Anna Netrebko's take on the Olympic Anthem during the opening the Sochi Olympics; and on July 11th, two days before the finale of the World Cup, longtime soccer fan Placido Domingo will perform a concert in Rio de Janeiro with soprano Ana Maria Martinez (and pianist Lang Lang).

The Metropolitan Opera's decision last week to drop its HD and radio broadcasts of the John Adams opera The Death of Klinghoffer continues to draw strong responses – from newspaper editorial boards, anti-censorship groups, and music critics around the world. But this is only the latest chapter in the fraught history of this work.

The Metropolitan Opera's decision to cancel its global HD and radio broadcasts of John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer has stirred up heated responses from around the classical music world. Some have called the decision sensitive and sensible given the real-life subject matter. Others have said it showed a lack of courage of artistic convictions and principles.

June 11 is the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss's birth—an occasion to celebrate and also to raise questions about the composer and his actions during the Nazi era.

The graying of audiences is a perennial, if growing concern for symphony orchestras. Recent data from the National Endowment for the Arts shows that senior citizens are the fastest-growing segment of the classical music audience, while 35- to 54-year-olds are turning way. One presumed reason for younger people's reluctance is the price of entry.

When news broke that Anthony McGill would be the New York Philharmonic’s next principal clarinetist, much of the attention centered on the political intrigue – that he was filling a longstanding vacancy and the perception that he'd been "poached" from the Met Orchestra. But there's also this fact: McGill, a widely respected musician, will be the Philharmonic's first African-American principal player – and part of the roughly two percent of U.S. orchestra musicians who are black.

Every concert-goer has experienced this at one time or another: a performance that is so exhilarating or so transcendent that after the final notes, the audience cheers, leaps to its feet and demands to hear more.

The Berlin Philharmonic announced last week that it is launching an in-house record label, starting on May 23 with concert recordings of the complete Schumann symphonies conducted by Simon Rattle.

When Colorado legalized pot this year, millions of music fans fantasized about the far-out musical experiences that will take place in the "Mile High" city of Denver. Now, the Colorado Symphony may have answered their wishes. In a bid to attract a new and younger audience, the Denver-based orchestra has announced "Classically Cannabis: The High Note Series," four pot-themed fundraising concerts from May through September.

New Federal rules aimed at protecting Africa's endangered elephants are sending shock waves through parts of the music world.