Pittsburgh Opera presents Verdi's "Il Trovatore" at the Benedum Center March 25th through April 2nd.  WQED-FM's Anna Singer spoke with Alexandra Loutsion, who sings the role of Leonora.  

Pittsburgh Opera presents Verdi's "Il Trovatore" at the Benedum Center March 25th through April 2nd.  WQED-FM's Anna Singer spoke with Pittsburgh Opera Music Director Antony Walker.  

Pittsburgh Opera presents Verdi's "Il Trovatore" at the Benedum Center March 25th through April 2nd.  WQED-FM's Anna Singer spoke with the opera's Stage Director, Daniel Rigazzi.  

Pittsburgh Opera presents Verdi's "Il Trovatore" at the Benedum Center March 25th through April 2nd. WQED-FM's Anna Singer spoke with Marianne Cornetti, who sings the role of Azucena.

Viktor Ullman’s opera "Der Kaiser von Atlantis" was written while he was incarcerated at Theresienstadt during WWII but never performed because the Nazis caught on to his satire of Hitler in the plot. Ullmann died at Auschwitz, but his opera has been increasingly popular with three commercial recordings and multiple performances around the world including March 30th through April 2nd at CMU Opera. Conductor Sara Tarana Jobin and Director Karina Aviva Benjamin joined Jim Cunningham to discuss the opera which takes place in the Fred Rogers studio at WQED.  Here are the details from CMU:  
Der Kaiser von Atlantis
Viktor Ullmann, composer
Peter Kien, libretto
Tarana Jobin, conductor
Karina Aviva Benjamin, director

Showtimes:
Thursday, March 30, 2023 | 8:00 PM
Friday, March 31, 2023 | 8:00 PM
Saturday, April 1, 2023 | 8:00 PM
Sunday, April 2, 2023 | 2:00 PM

Der Kaiser Von Atlantis was the only surviving opera written in any of the camps during the Holocaust. It was a collaboration of two Jewish artists (writer and composer) who were acutely aware of the horrific genocide against the Jewish people, including themselves. They wrote this as a processing of this unimaginable moment, being faced with their own mortality and gaslit as to their own classification as human beings. We as contemporary audiences bear witness to the almost necessary comedic flairs that accompany utter despair in this hauntingly beautiful grasping of the meaning of life.

Cost:
$10 Regular Admission
$5 Senior Citizen (65+) Admission
All students, along with CMU/Pitt faculty and staff, are free w/ valid ID.
 

Mindful Museum is an extensive suite of accessible programs and activities for visitors 55 and over that expand the museum as a destination that nurtures the mind, body, and soul. Mindful Museum participants are invited to enjoy 31 weeks of Wednesday morning programming that includes art paths and meditation stops throughout the museum, drawing, art-making, chair yoga, art history classes, social gatherings, guided tours, exclusive digital content offerings, and more. 

WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke with CMOA's Lucy Stewart, Associate Curator of Education, about the program.

For more information on Mindful Museum click here.

The Butler County Symphony Orchestra presents "The Golden Age of Hollywood" at the Butler Intermediate High School April 8th 2023 with Music Director Matthew Kraemer who has recently been named the Music Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic. The program includes scores from film classics by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Max Steiner, Franz Waxman and Miklos Rosza, plus Henry Mancini's Moon River. Matthew Kraemer runs down the delights of the concert and fills us in on his plans for New Orleans in this conversation with Jim Cunningham.