Classical music

Beverly Sills, the Brooklyn-born opera star with the charming smile and the clean, silvery coloratura, died Monday at the age of 78. Fresh Air's classical music critic pays tribute.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz has an appreciation of mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died Monday at her home in Santa Fe at the age of 52 after a long illness.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz shares his thoughts on the 250th anniversary of his favorite composer's birth: Mozart. Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756. (Music in the segment is from Mozart's opera Cosi Fan Tutte, taken from the DVD of the Peter Sellars production, conducted by Craig Smith on the Universal label.)

French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez. He turns 80 years old next month. In celebration of his birthday next month, the record label Deutsche Grammophon is issuing five new recordings of Boulez's work. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz has a review.

We feature an excerpt from the radio program Leonard Bernstein: An American Life. The 11-part documentary series is about the life and work of the preeminent American composer/conductor. It's produced by Steve Rowland, narrated by Susan Sarandon, and distributed by WFMT - Chicago.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz profiles German Countertenor Andreas Scholl.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz discusses the recordings of Viennese conductor Erich Kleiber.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz brings us classical music news from Boston. Seiji Ozawa is leaving the Boston Symphony Orchestra after 29 years as conductor. James Levine will replace him. Also, Lloyd will explain how the events of September 11th have changed the BSOs programming.

Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews this year’s Music Festival in Dresden, Germany.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz tells us what music he most wants to remember from the 20th Century. His selections come from the new box set “Stravinsky REV: Conducting Stravinsky” (Sony), The Dvorak Cello Concerto with Pablo Casals (EMI Reference disc), Joseph Szigeti’s Prokofiev Concerto (Pearl), Artur Schnabel on a currently out-of-print Schubert CD (Arabesque). And Maria Callas’s recordings (EMI)