PARIS (Reuters) – A fragment of music by the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had its first known public performance on Thursday in the western French city of Nantes, where it had lain for years in a municipal library.

The two pieces with a combined duration of under two minutes were played on the violin by Daniel Cuiller, artistic director of the baroque music ensemble Stradivaria before a small audience of journalists

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero said she is starting to feel the adrenaline as she rehearses for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration next week.

Montero is preparing to perform a special tribute composed by John Williams at the Jan. 20 inauguration, along with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman and clarinetist Anthony McGill.

"As the date approaches, I'll be more and more into

Multi-award winning soul singer and musical legend Van Morrison is set to release "Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl," an in-concert reworking of his historic 1968 gold-certified solo album. Recorded live over two nights at the Hollywood Bowl this past Nov. 7 and 8, the album marks the premiere release on Mr. Morrison's new EMI-distributed label, Listen to the Lion Records. "Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl" arrives in stores Feb. 10, 2009. A double-vinyl edition with three

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Hyundai Motor Co. will use music by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a Super Bowl XLIII television commercial that consumers can re-edit online, Billboard has learned.

Classical music fans aren't the most obvious target for a National Football League telecast or an ad campaign with an online video editing component. But advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which produced the Hyundai spot, said

The male pop opera group, Il Divo has shook up the opera world and helped rid it of it's stale reputation. With a busy schedule promoting their newest album The Promise and preparing for their next world tour, charismatic tenor Urs Buhler took some time to chat with Starpulse about what was currently going on with the talented quartet.

Congrats on the new album by the way, The Promise which came out on November 18th. Now you all agree that this album happens to be the most

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Film composers aren't exactly the most social creatures in Hollywood.

But when five of this year's Oscar front-runners -- A.R. Rahman ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Howard Shore ("Doubt"), Danny Elfman ("Milk"), Alexandre Desplat ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and Jan Kaczmarek ("The Visitor") -- sat down recently with The Hollywood Reporter, they seized the opportunity for a frank,

Magdalena Kozena's new album presents a recital of songs by various Czech composers, all of whom were deeply rooted in their national folk song tradition. The title comes from one of the Dvorak songs featured, but it isn't just an atmospheric title; there are indeed songs that Kozena's mother sang to her as a child, plus others she heard in her village. As a result, this CD carries the same personal originality that made her debut album, Czech