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 music mogul was found guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution, but the jury found him not guilty on three counts related to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. -
After 12 hours of deliberation, the jury told Judge Arun Subramanian that it had decided on counts related to sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution but not yet on racketeering. -
The hip-hop mogul faces an overlapping set of charges that include sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. The jury resumes deliberations on Tuesday. -
Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the tumultuous relationship between Combs and singer Cassie Ventura "a great modern love story," and sought to dismantle the credibility of key witnesses. -
The meandering trial of the hip-hop mogul can be difficult to parse. Here's a broad overview of the charges and the case the government has presented to the jury. -
Judge Arun Subramanian said that the juror's conflicting statements about which state he currently resides in may have been an attempt to get on and stay on the federal trial of the hip-hop mogul. -
The prosecution pushed back on the defense's aggressive questioning of a former Combs employee, saying harassment of the witness might intimidate others taking the stand. -
On Tuesday, Clark, who worked for Combs for more than a decade, accused him of kidnapping her during a chaotic 2011 episode involving his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, and the rapper Kid Cudi. -
The relationship between Combs and his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, has been the focus of the prosecution's case so far, but the charges he faces are bigger and broader. -
The mogul's former protégé and girlfriend emerged as a promising pop artist in 2006. On the stand this week, she said her relationship with Combs and his label quickly became more about control.
