Review: The Met's New Werther Succeeds in Haunting Ways
Were it written today, Werther would undoubtedly be a stalker opera instead of a tender love story of a poet who would rather die than be without the woman he loves. Less-than-wonderful performances of...
View ArticleA Kiss for 'QXR
It’s quite a surprise, seeing these faces on the WQXR website, isn’t it? But it’s no accident, although our connection is to only one of the members of the rock band KISS, which is among the 2014...
View ArticleReview: DiDonato Marvels in Rossini's 'La Donna del Lago'
The central challenge of an operatic star vehicle is knowing what else is needed — and how important that is.At times during Rossini's La Donna del Lago at its Monday medium-voltage Metropolitan Opera...
View ArticleCarnegie Hall's Weill Retires as Chairman, Succeeded by Perelman
Carnegie Hall’s Board of Trustees has elected investor Ronald Perelman as its chairman to succeed Sanford Weill, the board announced Thursday. Weill is retiring from the position after 24 years at the...
View ArticleOpera Review: Alban Berg's 'Lulu' at the Met
Most great opera heroines have at least some emblematic moment and for the title role in "Lulu," it's the casual admission, "I poisoned your mother." And nobody thinks worse of her. That kind of...
View ArticleRemembering The Met's Richard Horowitz
Anyone who goes backstage at the Metropolitan Opera House has seen black-bordered announcements tacked on bulletin boards announcing the passing of someone who worked at the Met or was associated with...
View ArticleGiuseppe Verdi's 'Rigoletto'
Join us on Saturday at 1 pm as the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts Michael Mayer’s electrifying production of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, set in 1960 in a Las Vegas casino. The title role is played by...
View ArticleThe Metropolitan Opera Season Halftime Show
Tune in at 10pm on Tuesday, Dec. 29, as host and Metropolitan Opera soprano Debbie Voigt opens a treasury of live performance excerpts from the Met season so far.Soprano Deborah Voigt.(Dario Acosta)The...
View ArticleJames Levine Conducts Richard Wagner's 'Tannhäuser'
Tune in at 1 pm Saturday to WQXR for the Metropolitan Opera's broadcast of Richard Wagner's 'Tannhäuser'. James Levine is conducting.Wagnerian tenor, Johan Botha stars in the title role as Tannhäuser....
View ArticleAnalysis: The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 Season
Each year, when the Metropolitan Opera announces its new season, I like to analyze the announcement and find as many positive things as possible in what is on offer. The Met famously has had some rough...
View ArticleThe Fabric of Memory: Preserving Met Opera History
I am often asked who is the Belmont for whom the Belmont Room on the Metropolitan Opera’s Grand Tier is named. This is where donors at a certain level to the Opera Guild go for coffee and conversation...
View ArticleVerdi Nods to Shakespeare with 'Otello'
Tune in at 1 pm Saturday to hear Verdi's Otello from the Metropolitan Opera on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. The Bartlett Sher production, which premiered earlier this...
View ArticleA Robert Shaw Centennial Celebration at Carnegie Hall
When Carnegie Hall celebrated its own 100th anniversary in 1990-1991, the organization tapped the dean of American choral conductors, Robert Shaw, to gather singers from across the United States and...
View ArticleYannick Nézet-Séguin Named Met's Next Music Director
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the precocious music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, has been selected to succeed James Levine as the next music director of the Metropolitan Opera, the company announced...
View ArticleA Wish List for Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Metropolitan Opera
The announcement that Yannick Nézet-Séguin would replace James Levine as music director of the Metropolitan Opera was no surprise. The timing was rather quick in that Levine announced on April 14 that...
View ArticleFrom Sayão to Saudade: Brazil's Contributions to Opera
In 2012, I published an article in this space about opera and the Olympics. While watching some of the splendid athletic achievements in Rio this past week, I thought to myself that Brazil, a large and...
View ArticleNYC Cultural Figures on Their Must-See Events of the Season
We asked cultural leaders around New York what concerts, operas and other musical events they are looking forward to this fall. Here are their answers:Masazumi ChayaAssociate Artistic Director, Alvin...
View ArticleRemembering the Old Metropolitan Opera House
The last Monday in September is, customarily, the opening night of the season at the Metropolitan Opera house. It is always a great occasion and this season begins with a new production of Wagner’s...
View Article50 Years at the New Metropolitan Opera House
In my most recent article I described why it was necessary to build a new Metropolitan Opera house at Lincoln Center and why, unfortunately, the old Met was destroyed in the process.In 1966-67, I was a...
View ArticleLeonard Bernstein Makes His Carnegie Hall Debut With A Moment's Notice
On this day, Nov. 14, in 1943, Leonard Bernstein was pulled out of bed and told that he would be conducting the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall for the very first time — that same day. The...
View ArticleKaija Saariaho's 'L’Amour de Loin'
Tune in 1 pm on Saturday to hear Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’Amour de Loin. Originally commissioned by the Salzburg Festival where it was first seen in 2000, L’Amour de Loin has its...
View ArticleWagner's ‘Der Fliegende Holländer’ Is Your Met Opera Broadcast
This Saturday at 1 pm, the Metropolitan Opera is airing Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman). It was Richard Wagner’s fourth full length opera, and his first considered masterpiece. This...
View ArticleThe Met Gala Celebrates Its Opera House
The Metropolitan Opera does galas very well. It covered itself in glory again on May 7 as it celebrated 50 years at Lincoln Center in the 3,786-seat theater it built to stage productions benefiting...
View ArticleListen to the 2017 Richard Tucker Gala Live From Carnegie Hall
In December 2017, we brought you the Richard Tucker Gala live from Carnegie Hall. Several of the opera world's biggest voices — including the most recent Richard Tucker Award winner, Nadine Sierra —...
View ArticleBack in the Day: Artifacts through the Ages
As we mark WQXR's 75th anniversary, we're feeling pretty curious about our history. Commence the plundering of the archives! We've unearthed a ton of great artifacts to share, some we didn't even know...
View ArticleOpera Never on a Sunday? Not at the Met!
As the Metropolitan Opera opens its 2018–19 season, I look forward to attending as many of its enticing offerings as possible. There are great operas, a diverse repertory (though one would hope for at...
View ArticleListen: Carnegie Hall's Opening Night Gala With Michael Tilson Thomas, Renée...
Superstar vocalists Renée Fleming and Audra McDonald joined the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas for Carnegie Hall's Opening Night Gala with a program of musical theater,...
View Article'Marnie' at the Met: Dazzling but Distant, With or Without Tippi
Marnie is an opera about secrets behind secrets behind secrets, always promising a payoff during its journey into the void, with dazzling sounds and inviting sights along the way. By the end of the...
View ArticleA Visual History of WQXR
WQXR has a long and storied history. Our slideshow illustrates milestones from the eight decades that WQXR has been on the air in New York.WQXR has been on the air in New York for almost 80 years....
View Article1958: A Conversation with Van Cliburn
On May 26, 1958, WQXR program director Abram Chasins interviewed the Texan pianist Van Cliburn, just a few weeks after he won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition.The Tchaikovsky...
View Article1949: Stravinsky Visits WQXR with 'Orpheus'
The immediacy of hearing a composer discuss their own work, as it unfolds, is a lot like watching the "director’s cut" of a DVD. Stravinsky's "aural program note" for his then-newly-composed ballet,...
View Article1956: Neil Sedaka Plays Debussy and Prokofiev at WQXR
Over the course of five decades, Neil Sedaka's career has undergone several major phases, including as a teen pop star in the late 1950s, a mature crooner in the '70s and as one of the legendary '60s...
View ArticleAn (Almost) New Year’s Eve Party for WQXR’s 75th
This final McGraw-Hill Companies Young Artists Showcase of 2011 celebrates WQXR’s 75th anniversary by featuring some former artists: Alec Templeton, Leopold Stokowski and a special April Fools’ Day...
View ArticleHugo Fiorato, Founder of WQXR String Quartet, Dies at 97
The conductor and violinist Hugo Fiorato, a founding member of the WQXR String Quartet and a fixture with the New York City Ballet, died April 23 at the age of 97, The New York Times reports.In 1947,...
View ArticleMargaret Juntwait, Former WNYC Host, Voice of Metropolitan Opera, Dies at 58
Margaret Juntwait, the former WNYC Radio announcer who became the first woman to host the Metropolitan Opera's Saturday Afternoon Radio Broadcasts, died on Wednesday of complications from ovarian...
View ArticleThe Importance of Paying Close Attention at the Opera
In 2019, I think we all need to pay closer attention. In terms of politics and the state of the world, it is in our own best interest to stay on top of things and act accordingly on issues we care...
View ArticleThe WQXR Radio, High Fidelity on the AM Band
Long before the WQXR app, the station was marketing a very different type of newfangled technology. In the late 1930s, WQXR branded a line of home radios, complete with mahogany cabinets, AC/DC...
View ArticleBest of Carnegie Hall Live: Les Violons Play Bach's St. John Passion
WQXR is reprising some choice moments from Carnegie Hall Live, our new series co-produced with Carnegie Hall and American Public Media.This week the series concludes with Bach’s choral masterpiece the...
View ArticleListen: New York In Concert - Highlights from Naumburg Orchestral Concerts
Airs Thursday, June 18 at 9 pm ET.On this New York in Concert program, we’ll hear highlights drawn from the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts series in Central Park. Since 1905 the series has provided free...
View ArticleCMS Summer Concert Giveaway Rules
HOW TO ENTER: No purchase or pledge necessary. Entries may be made on the CMS Summer Concert page from 4AM on Thursday, June 10, 2021, Eastern Standard Time to 4AM Monday, June 14 Eastern Standard...
View ArticleJunction Trio: John Zorn and Beethoven in Dialogue
Wednesday, June 2, 7 pmThe Junction Trio continues the Artist Propulsion Lab concert series. The program features a piece by Ravel, rich in color and sonorities, and a performance of John Zorn’s...
View ArticleEnter to Win Gilbert Kaplan's "The Mahler Album"
Wednesday, July 7, is Gustav Mahler’s birthday and you have the chance to get even closer to the great composer and conductor.Make a donation to WQXR in any amount and you’ll be entered to win The...
View ArticleBaritone Norman Garrett on Chausson, King Arthur, and Black Classical Artistry
Beginning July 25, SummerScape at Bard presents four performances of Chausson’s King Arthur (Le roi Arthus). In this artist statement, Norman Garrett reflects upon Chausson’s music and what the...
View ArticleWin a Lego Grand Piano
Not everyone can play the piano, but anyone can build a piano! It's back-to-school season and we're giving away a great project for kids of all ages — a Lego Grand Piano with more than 3,600 pieces!...
View ArticleClassical for Relaxation Playlist
Crisp air, warm beverages, cable knit sweaters. Ensconce yourself in the coziness of the season with the help of our new Classical for Relaxation playlist. With pieces as gentle as falling leaves and...
View ArticleArtist Propulsion Lab Concert Series: Brandon Patrick George
Tuesday, November 9, 7PMLIVE in The Greene SpaceEveryone entering our venue must present proof that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Please review the current policies and safeguards...
View ArticleTimeline: WQXR at 85
On Friday, Dec. 3, WQXR turns 85 and we couldn't feel or sound any better! Here's a look back at the station's rich history of bringing great classical music to New York City and beyond. You can view...
View ArticleAn Abridged Classical Music Dictionary
We’ll be the first to admit that classical music has its share of jargon. Considering that much of it isn’t even in English, but Italian, German, and the occasional French, we applaud classical newbies...
View ArticleVerdi’s Don Carlo
Listen Saturday, February 18th at 1pm.Program notes courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera.Click here for the upcoming Metropolitan Opera broadcast schedule.Originally recorded on November 3, 2022.David...
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