German Conductor Helmuth Rilling

Alsop talks about the rejection she faced on the way to becoming the first woman to lead a major American orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony. She's now the subject of a new documentary, The Conductor.

There are many recordings of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Do we need another?

German conductor Wilhelm Furtwaengler is regarded as one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, but his legacy was affected by his decision to stay in Germany during WWII. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz looks at how Furtwangler is seen today.

Note: Wilhelm Furtwangler's last name is typically spelled with an umlaut over the 'a' character. The npr website does not support characters with umlauts over characters. A variation of Furtwangler's name without the umlaut is spelled Furtwaengler.