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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Women dominated the prizes and performances at the 66th Grammy Awards. Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Billie Eilish won major awards; Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman gave captivating performances. -
H. Sinno, former lead singer of the pioneering Lebanese rock band Mashrou' Leila, pairs their own history with that of the Metropolitan Museum's Temple of Dendur in their new opera. -
The top honors in this year's children's book awards from the American Library Association lauded Dave Egger's The Eyes and the Impossible and Vashti Harrison's picture book Big. -
Johnathan Majors has been found guilty of misdemeanor assault and harassment. The once rising Hollywood star faces career setbacks as he awaits sentencing.
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In New York Monday afternoon, a jury found the fast-rising actor guilty of assaulting and harassing his former girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. The jury found him not guilty of two other charges. -
Majors is on trial for assault and harassment in a domestic violence incident involving a former girlfriend. If convicted, he faces up to a year in prison. -
On Dec. 13, 2013, Beyoncé fans got a holiday gift no one expected. A decade later, the artistic and economic impact of her fifth album is still reverberating. -
Move over, Mariah Carey: Brenda Lee's reliable holiday hit, first released during the Eisenhower administration, is the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 — for the first time ever. -
The actor, whose Hollywood prospects have been dimmed by accusations of assault, is currently facing a six-person jury in a Manhattan courtroom. -
Jean Knight, the New Orleans-born soul singer behind the infectious 1971 hit "Mr. Big Stuff," has died. She was 80.
