Editor’s Note: This is an expanded version of a piece published in the current National Review. Many years ago, a reader introduced himself to me outside the Metropolitan Opera House. I already ...

What’s new with the San Francisco Symphony? This past weekend, it was a 200-year-old overture. Hector Berlioz’s music is most often heard at Davies Symphony Hall in repeat performances of his ...

Berlioz’s father was a country doctor practising near Grenoble who was musical enough to give his son his first lessons on the flute, though dead set against music as a career. (Later Berlioz took up ...

Embrace those flutterings, the sleepless nights and those tears. In true Bohemian style Berlioz always wanted to create a symphonic drama that would be a projection of his entire emotional life.