Operas
'Fresh Air' Remembers Broadway Playwright Terrence McNally
McNally, who died March 24 due to complications related to COVID-19, won Tony awards for Love! Valour! Compassion!, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime and Master Class. Originally broadcast June 1993.
After Nearly Losing His Voice To Cancer, Anthony Roth Costanzo Takes On 'Akhnaten'
Counter tenor Anthony Ross Costanzo sings in what's considered a woman's range - in the range of the castrati, men who maintained their high voices by being castrated before puberty. He's about to star in the Philip Glass opera 'Akhenaten.'
Rhiannon Giddens Speaks For The Silenced
Giddens' Freedom Highway is an exploration of African-American experiences, accompanied by an instrument with its own uniquely African-American story: the banjo. Originally broadcast May 11, 2017.
Rhiannon Giddens Speaks For The Silenced
Rhiannon Giddens brings her banjo to the studio and sings some songs from her new solo album which includes original songs based on slave narratives.
With Both Farce And Feeling, Currentzis' 'Figaro' Succeeds Magnificently
There are many recordings of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Do we need another?
For Opera Powerhouse Dolora Zajick, 'Singing Is Connected To The Body'
The mezzo-soprano discovered opera as a 22-year-old pre-med student. She took "a crack at a singing career" and has been at the Metropolitan Opera for 25 years. Now she's helping emerging singers.
This Opera Will Eat Your Heart Out
In few operas does all the mayhem express what underlies George Benjamin's Written on Skin. The work conveys a profound awareness of human cruelty and its inextricable connection to passion and art.
Mozart's Starring Role In 'Sunday Bloody Sunday.'
The 1971 John Schlesinger film, recently released on Blu-ray, tells the story of a love triangle and makes moving use of a trio from the opera Cosi fan tutte as the film's musical theme.
Cecilia Bartoli's New 'Mission' Unearths Baroque Gems.
Critic Lloyd Schwartz welcomes the opera star's new album, Mission, which breathes new life into the work of Italian composer Agostino Steffani. Bartoli, he says, has an astonishing capacity for vocal fireworks and warm, delicate lyricism.