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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Opening statements have begun in the federal trial of R. Kelly, who faces charges of sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, kidnapping, forced labor and sexual trafficking across state lines.
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The charges that R. Kelly faces in New York include racketeering "to prey upon young women and teenagers" and sexually trafficking these girls and women between states. -
The first federal trial against disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly is underway. Tenacious reporting has explicitly centered the mostly Black girls and women who have accused him. -
Facing pressure to cede control of his daughter's finances, Jamie Spears filed documents Thursday to leave his position as conservator of the pop star's estate. No timeline has been laid out, however. -
It's been two years since the R&B singer and songwriter was arrested. His first federal trial is about to begin in New York, but a lot has happened in the interim. Here's what you've missed. -
One-third of the Texas blues-rock mainstay ZZ Top has died. Dusty Hill, the band's bassist and one of its vocalists, was 72 years old, and according to his bandmates died at his home in Houston. -
In a blistering 120-page document submitted to Los Angeles Superior Court, Mathew Rosengart claims that Jamie Spears appears to be responsible for the "dissipation" of the singer's fortune. -
Attorney Mathew Rosengart, who began representing the pop singer a week and a half ago, wants someone new to look after Spears' estate. For the past 13 years, it's been controlled by her father. -
Federal prosecutors in New York filed a request on Friday that they be allowed to enter more evidence of uncharged crimes allegedly committed by the R&B singer in his trial next month. -
On social media late Wednesday, the musician wrote: "I wish to say that I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present."
