Today, Christmas Day 2023, is also the 93rd birthday of my teacher, the great John Wustman. I can think of no better way to conclude Season Four of Countermelody than with a tribute to the man who had

For my second holiday episode this year, I turn to the music of my other country, Germany, the land of my forebears, where I have lived for the last decade. Christmas is celebrated in a different wa

In the midst of our recent move, I came across a stash of old mixtapes (actually CDs and much other archival material. One such item which particularly moved me was one entitled A Golden Age Christ

What is there to say about todays featured artist, Maria Callas, who was born 100 years ago today? So many of my esteemed colleagues are weighing in with their Callas tributes today (both encyclopedi

This weeks episode is the first in what I hope will be a series featuring vocalists who performed with Duke Ellington, Todays artist is the playful and sophisticated Joya Sherrill (20 August 1924

This year for Thanksgiving I bring you Handels glorious Neun deutsche Arien composed in the year 1725 to meditative texts by Barthold Heinrich Brockes, who ten years previous had provided Handel with

A few weeks ago I finally found a copy of a rare recording by one of my favorite singers, the baryton martin Camille Maurane (1911 2010) in which he sings Schubert songs in French. Inspired and fasc

It is hard to believe that its already been 13 years since the death of Shirley Verrett on November 5, 2010. It has also already been four years since I did a pair of episodes on this extraordinary a

This is an episode I have been planning for years now! This past August 15, the great French baritone Robert Massard turned 98 years old. As many of my listeners know, I have a thing for baritones in

A year ago, I posted an episode entitled The Haunted Opera House that featured a wide range of spooky, witchy, Halloween-appropriate 20th century operas from Prokofiev to Penderecki. This year I foc