Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the cast recording of the contemporary opera "Nixon in China." The score was written by minimalist composer John Adams.
Cinematographer Nestor Almendros. The films he has photographed include "Sophie's Choice," "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Days of Heaven," for which he won the Academy Award. He has directed the photography for films by Eric Rohmer and Francois Truffaut. Almendros worked in Havana in the early years of the Castro regime before he had a falling out with the authorities.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles The Velvet Underground. Sponsored by Andy Warhol, the band was a favorite of the jet-set crowd but reviled by the hippie culture that couldn't comprehend their music. The band featured Lou Reed and violist John Cale. Their best known songs include "Waiting for the Man," "Heroin" and "Sister Ray."
Television Critic David Bianculli previews the last two episodes of St. Elsewhere, the quirky NBC series set at the beleaguered St. Eligius Hospital. The show, which has run for seven seasons, ends on May 25th.
Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews two new albums featuring trumpeter Paul Smoker. Smoker studied trumpet with Doc Severinsen and has played in a varied of settings, including orchestras, brass quintets and circus bands.
Jim Lehrer, co-anchor of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, the nightly PBS news show. Lehrer is also a published novelist and playwright. His new novel is titled Kick the Can. Lehrer is also known to many viewers of PBS for his series on his own recovery from a heart attack.
Painter Jacob Lawrence. For nearly five decades, Lawrence has been widely regarded as one of America's most important black artists. His work depicts the black American experience from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement. In 1986, a major traveling retrospective of his work was brought together by the Seattle Art Museum.
Lehrer, who died Jan. 23, was a nightly figure on PBS news for more than three decades, and moderated presidential debates in every election from 1988 through 2012. Originally broadcast in 1988.
Singer Susannah McCorkle performs a tribute to composer Irving Berlin. McCorkle will perform tributes to Berlin each week at this time throughout the month.
Poet W.S.Merwin. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1970 work, The Carriers of Ladders. His books of poetry include The Song of Roland, The Compass Flower and, his latest collection, The Rain in the Trees.
Composer William Bolcom. He is best known for his humorous and accomplished piano accompaniment of his wife, the singer Joan Morris, in their performances of American popular songs. His own compositions include the vast choral cantata "Songs of Innocence and Experience," that sets the poems of William Blake to music. He won this year's Pulitzer Prize in Music. Bolcom is also renown for his ragtime compositions, especially his work "Graceful Ghost."
Guest film critic Michael Sragow, film critic for The San Francisco Examiner. Sragow will review the Australian film "High Tide" about the reunion of an estranged mother and daughter.
Exiled South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. In the 60's, Masekela was probably best known for his instrumental hit, "Grazing In The Grass." More recently, Masekela performed with Paul Simon during his the Graceland tour.
Rock Critic Ken Tucker reviews "Shoes Best," a collection of 22 songs by Shoes, a grass-roots band from Zion, Illinois that is still trying to make it in the rock world on their own terms, without glitz and hype. They grant few interviews, never tour, and insist on complete control of their image.
Susan Baur, author of Hypochondria: Woeful Imaginings, a book that examines how hypochondria develops, how hypochondriacs stay that way, and how they have been viewed over time.
New York Times television critic Peter Boyer. His new book, Who Killed CBS? The Undoing of America's Number One News Network, explores the recent turmoil within the news division of CBS, and how it has effected the entire corporation. He reports on the ill-fated reign of CBS News President Van Gordon Sauter, the tenure of Dan Rather as anchor of the CBS Evening News and the takeover of CBS by New York investor Laurence Tisch.
Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg comments on recent activity at the federal level regarding bi-lingual education policies, and a proposed constitutional amendment to make English the nation's official language.
