Classical music

For years, singer and musician Laufey knew she wanted to be a performer but struggled to find an audience. The child of an Icelandic father and a Chinese immigrant mother, Laufey sometimes felt out of place in Iceland. That's when Laufey began posting videos of herself singing jazz standards while also playing cello, guitar or piano.

Jon Batiste joins Terry Gross from behind the piano to talk about his new album Beethoven Blues, in which he re-imagines Beethoven's compositions.

Yo-Yo Ma, along with his cello, which he'll be playing. He's the most famous contemporary cellist and perhaps the most revered in the U.S. His best-known recordings are of the Bach Solo Cello Suites, which he's recorded three times - in 1983, 1997 and 2018. He's performed with orchestras around the world, but lots of people who pay no attention to classical music know Yo-Yo Ma because he's performed in so many different settings.

Bradley Cooper stars as composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein in the new film "Maestro," which Cooper also directed and co-wrote. Yannick Nezet-Seguin served as the film's conducting consultant. He conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal.

Verdi imagined each of his operas painted with a different tincture. Conductor Riccardo Chailly puts together an exciting new album of Verdi's choruses, from his best known to his most obscure.

Watts, who died July 12, was born in Germany to a Hungarian mother and an African American father. He became famous at age 16 after performing with Leonard Bernstein. Originally broadcast in 1985.

In 1909, the Russian impresario came to Paris and created a sensation with a company he called the Ballets Russes. A new 22-disc set revisits the music of Diaghilev's legendary ballets.

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.

Justin Chang says the captivating new drama, "The Disciple," is one of the best movies he's seen this year. The film won the best screenplay prize at last year's Venice International Film Festival. It tells the story of a young man from Mumbai who aspires to be a great classical Indian singer.

Herrmann composed some of the best-known film music ever written — especially the scores he wrote for Alfred Hitchcock. Now a new CD shows another side of Herrmann that's equally memorable.