Search the Fresh Air Archive

Close Search

Soprano and Cultural Ambassador Barbara Hendricks

The opera soprano and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Barbara Hendricks has appeared on over fifty recordings and has won critical acclaim in performances with all the major opera companies in the world--but she remains a relatively obscure figure in the United States. This is her seventh year with the UN Commission and she says through her music, she has been able "to get people to listen in a way they wouldn't listen to a diplomat or bureaucrat."

20:41
Queue

Guest

Host

Related Topics

Other segments from the episode on August 13, 1996

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, August 13, 1996: Interview with Barbara Hendricks; Interview with Douglas McGrath; Review of the novels "The Angry Ones" by John A. Williams and "The Scene" by Clarence…
Queue
21:53

Debut Director Douglas McGrath on Adapting Jane Austen

Director and writer of the film version of Jane Austen's "Emma," Douglas McGrath. Already known as a playwright, screenwriter and columnist, this is his debut as a director. "Emma" is generally regarded as Austen's most accomplished and wittiest novel--a matchmaker doing all the wrong things for all the right reasons. McGrath is author of the New Republic column, "Flapjack File."

Interview

Transcript

Transcript currently not available.

Transcripts are created on a rush deadline, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of Fresh Air interviews and reviews are the audio recordings of each segment.

You May Also like

Queue
07:18

Remembering 'La Stupenda': Opera Singer Joan Sutherland.

From the late 1950s up until her last stage appearance in 1990, Australian soprano Dame Joan Sutherland was one of the world's most admired and celebrated opera stars. She died Sunday at age 83. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz looks back at the life and work of the singer known as "La Stupenda."

Obituary
Queue
20:20

Soprano Eileen Farrell

Soprano Eileen Farrell has died at the age of 82. Well listen back to a 1992 interview. Her career began in radio, with her own show on CBS, in the 1940s. In the fifties she started singing opera, and performed with every major opera company and symphony orchestra in the US, including five seasons with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Starting in the sixties, she began putting out albums of jazz standards. Her 1999 autobiography is entitled, Cant Help Singing. She was also a professor of music at Indiana University and the University of Maine.

Obituary

Did you know you can create a shareable playlist?

Learn How
Advertisement

Recently on Fresh Air Available to Play on NPR

52:30

Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

Alexandra Auder's mother, Viva, was one of Andy Warhol's muses. Growing up in Warhol's orbit meant Auder's childhood was an unusual one. For several years, Viva, Auder and Auder's younger half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, lived in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. It was was famous for having been home to Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, and Bob Dylan, among others.

Queue

Related segments from the Fresh Air Archive:

43:04

This fake 'Jury Duty' really put James Marsden's improv chops on trial

In the series Jury Duty, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden has agreed to participate in what he believes is a documentary about the experience of being a juror--but what Ronald doesn't know is that the whole thing is fake.

Queue

Related segments from the Fresh Air Archive:

See All Recent Segments

There are more than 22,000 Fresh Air segments.

Let us help you find exactly what you want to hear.
Just play me something
Your Queue

Would you like to make a playlist based on your queue?

Generate & Share View/Edit Your Queue