Opera

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a reissue by the late mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian: Luciano Berio's "Recital I for Cathy and Folk Songs." (RCA)

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews two new productions by Peter Sellars.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews "George Gershwin Memorial Concert," a CD of a radio performance broadcast shortly after the composer's death.

Classical music Critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new recording of a major Tchaikovsky opera that hasn't gotten much attention in the United States. It's called "Mazeppa."

From the Metropolitan Opera, soprano Dawn Upshaw. She has a new recording of Broadway showtunes, called "I Wish It So." It includes lesser known works by Marc Blitzstein and Kurt Weill as well as songs by Sondheim and Bernstein. Upshaw has played more then 20 roles at the Met, including the current "The Marriage of Figaro" and the recently completed "Idomeneo," both by Mozart.

Classical Music critic Lloyd Schwartz has a review of the Metropolitan Opera's televised version of Verdi's fourth opera, "I Lombardi", starring Luciano Pavarotti and bass Samuel Ramey. It airs tonight on most PBS stations.

Poet and Professor of English at Yale, Wayne Koestenbaum explores the affinity of gay men for opera in his new book: "The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality and the Mystery of Desire" (Vintage). Koestenbaum traces the art-form back to its origins in The Camerata, a 16th century group of Florentine gentlemen, who studied ancient Greek musical theory. A self proclaimed "Opera Queen", Koestenbaum explores this rarely examined territory with what one critic has called "a brilliantly obsessive and funny memoir".

Classical Music critic Lloyd Schwartz on a live performance of Bellini's opera "I Puritani" which features Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills. (Legato Classics)

Classical Music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new recording of Leonard Bernstein's "On the Town" and the television concert of the same show. (Deutsche Grammophon).

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the jazz opera "Jonny spielt auf" (pronounced shpeelt auf) of the new series "Entartete" (pronounced ent-ART-a-tuh, London Records). It's a series of music banned during the Holocaust.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf," by Kathryn Davis.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the original cast recording of the Broadway show "The Who's Tommy."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews VHS release of Handel's opera Julius Caesar. It's directed by the innovative Peter Sellars. Schwartz says all five hours just fly by.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new CD of the opera "Lord Byron," by American composer Virgil Thomson. The librettist is actor Jack Larson.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews "X," the opera by composer Anthony Davis, about the life and times of Malcom X. It's just came out on CD. The opera is Wagnerian in scale and style, but it also has allusions to the music of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, and John Coltrane, and others.

Composer Anthony Davis's opera "X" based on the life of Malcolm X, and has just come out on CD. It premiered in 1986. Terry talks with David about what Malcolm X meant to him and why he decided to compose an opera on his life. Davis has received international recognition for his compositions as well as his performances as a solo pianist and the leader of the ensemble Episteme.

Classical music critic reviews a new reissue of recordings by the late contralto Kathleen Ferrier, compiled into a 10-CD box set.

At the age of 72, Farrell has had a long career: she began in radio in the 1940s with her own show on CBS. In the fifties, she started singing opera, and has performed with every major opera company and symphony orchestra in the U.S., including five seasons with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Starting in the sixties, she began putting out albums of jazz standards, and has just released her twelfth, called "It's Over."

Concert and interview with composer Anthony Davis and performers from his new opera, "Tania," -- Soprano Cynthia Aaronson, bass/baritone Mark Doss, and pianist Alan Johnson. Davis's opera premiered this week at the American Music Theatre Festival in Philadelphia. "Tania," is loosely based on the Patty Hearst story.

Singer Angelina Réaux. She's gained international recognition for her interpretation of Kurt Weill music. She performed in a one-woman show, "Stranger Here Myself," a collection of Weill music, dramatically linked. (A recording of the show is on the Koch Classics International label). Réaux also performs in Opera and Concert engagements and collaborated with Leonard Bernstein in a some of his final projects: recordings of "West Side Story" and "A Quiet Place." She began her career in Broadway musicals.