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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The last founding member of The Wailers died Tuesday in Kingston, Jamaica. After leaving the group in 1974, Bunny Wailer cultivated a distinguished solo career. -
In a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing Thursday, the judge ruled that conservatorship of the singer's estate will continue to be co-controlled by an outside firm, Bessemer Trust. -
The wide-ranging keyboardist, composer and bandleader died Feb. 9 of cancer. He was one of the fathers of jazz fusion, with his work spanning from acoustic jazz to his own interpretations of Mozart. -
The Supremes was Motown's most successful group in the 1960s, reaching 12 No. 1 hits. The cause of her death has not yet been released. -
In a profile of the iconic 94-year-old singer for AARP The Magazine,Bennett's wife says he was diagnosed in 2016. While the disease progressed, he recorded a new album of duets with Lady Gaga. -
The actors and their supporters say that the union is dropping nearly 12,000 people — many over the age of 65 — from its health care plan at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. -
It is the first major jazz club in New York City to shut its doors permanently due to the coronavirus crisis. Its owners announced the club's closing on Wednesday, after more than two decades. -
A runner managed to record his terrifying six-minute encounter with a protective mama mountain lion in Utah — and escape unscathed.
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Unauthorized boxes — many marked "official" — have been discovered across California, including at state Republican party offices and churches. -
Voters spent as much as five hours waiting to cast in-person ballots. The lines were particularly intense around the Atlanta metro area.
