Anastasia Tsioulcas
Anastasia Tsioulcas is a reporter on NPR's Arts desk. She is intensely interested in the arts at the intersection of culture, politics, economics and identity, and primarily reports on music. Recently, she has extensively covered gender issues and #MeToo in the music industry, including backstage tumult and alleged secret deals in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against megastar singer Plácido Domingo; gender inequity issues at the Grammy Awards and the myriad accusations of sexual misconduct against singer R. Kelly.
On happier days, Tsioulcas has celebrated the life of the late Aretha Franklin, traveled to Havana to profile musicians and dancers, revealed the hidden artistry of an Indian virtuoso who spent 60 years in her apartment and brought listeners into the creative process of composers Steve Reich and Terry Riley.
Tsioulcas was formerly a reporter and producer for NPR Music, where she covered breaking news in the music industry as well as a wide range of musical genres and artists. She has also produced episodes for NPR Music's much-lauded Tiny Desk concert series, and has hosted live concerts from venues like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge. She also commissioned and produced several world premieres on behalf of NPR Music, including a live event that brought together 350 musicians to debut a new work together. As a video producer, she created high-profile video shorts for NPR Music, including performances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a Brooklyn theatrical props warehouse and pianist Yuja Wang in an icy-cold Steinway & Sons piano factory.
Tsioulcas has also reported from north and west Africa, south Asia, and across Europe for NPR and other outlets. Prior to joining NPR in 2011, she was widely published as a writer and critic on both classical and world music, and was the North America editor for Gramophone Magazine and the classical music columnist for Billboard.
Born in Boston and based in New York, Tsioulcas is a lapsed classical violinist and violist (shoutout to all the overlooked violists!). She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with a B.A. in comparative religion.
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Sinéad O'Connor, the acclaimed Irish singer who had one of the biggest hits of the early '90s with her version of "Nothing Compares 2 U," has died. She was 56.
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O'Connor, who had one of the biggest hits of the early 1990s with her version of "Nothing Compares 2 U," became as well known for her political convictions and the tumult in her life as for her songs. -
The SAG-AFTRA union received a boost of star power for its ongoing actors' strike. A rally in New York's Times Square featured speakers like Christian Slater, Steve Buscemi and Christine Baranski.
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Taylor Swift has become the first female artist to have four albums on the Billboard 200 chart at the same time. (This first aired on All Things Considered on July 17, 2023.)
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Taylor Swift has become the first female artist to have four albums on the Billboard 200 chart. The artist has been deep in re-recording her early albums to keep artistic and financial control.
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Octavia Butler's novel Parable of the Sower — depicting a dystopian U.S. in 2024 — was published 30 years ago. Toshi Reagon's new musical retelling explores the web of past, present and future. -
There's been a disturbing trend at concerts this summer: performers like Harry Styles, Drake and Bebe Rexha being hit — and sometimes hurt — by audience members throwing things at them during shows.
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First Strokes, a nonprofit based in New York City, is helping students learn water safety skills and how to swim. They offer free swimming lessons for teens — taught by other teens. -
Composer Robert Beaser has been fired from the renowned performing arts conservatory after an independent investigation found that he had broken Juilliard policies and "misrepresented facts." -
The annual Met Gala fundraiser pays tribute to designer Karl Lagerfeld, who has a controversial legacy in the fashion industry.
