Countermelody

There are countless singers that I include among my favorites. In fact, it’s become a joke with some of my listeners about just how many “favorite singers” I actually have. (If you must attach a name to it, think of it as vocal polyamory.) Far too many of those well-loved singers, however, have not been as prominently featured on Countermelody as they might have been. Chief among these is the luminous Judith Blegen, who died last week at the age of 85. I heard her exactly once, singing Pamina in

African American soprano Martina Arroyo died on October 13 at the age of 90. Tributes have been rolling in from all corners, perhaps especially because Martina Arroyo was a 2013 Kennedy Center Honoree when that still meant something. As such, she is one of an increasingly shrinking proportion of classical musicians who has been thus celebrated. Indeed, if there was ever a universally-admired and -beloved singer in the operatic firmament, it would be Ms. Arroyo. My original intention for this epi

Welcome to the second of my birthday potpourri episodes! I recorded this the day before we left on vacation, in other words, exactly a week ago. The focus this week is on Coming Attractions for the rest of the year and the new season (Season Eight already!) of Countermelody coming in January. We begin with a tribute to Dutch bass-baritone John Bröcheler, who died on September 30 at the age of 81. I have been collecting his recordings for a couple years now and will do a full memorial tribute in

It’s my birthday! And we’re heading south for a week. But never fear: I have spent the week preparing in advance a number of new episodes which will “hit the airwaves” right on schedule. And, perhaps best of all, they’re my famous potpourri episodes, that feature everything but the kitchen sink! Today’s episode is another in my “Rescue Mission” series, featuring artists who have already received full Countermelody episodes, but who are always worth revisiting. And in each case, I’m playing mater

Today, October 3, is probably the most significant of all German holidays, the Tage der Deutschen Einheit, the day on which we celebrate “Die Wende,” German reunification. Though the country in some ways is more divided than it has ever been (shades of my own home country!), we somehow must continue to hold on to hope and love as the forces that drive us on. It just so happens that the episode I was planning for today fits in quite nicely with today’s theme of German reunification, as it present

Today is the one-year anniversary of my dear mother’s death. Yesterday, in preparing for my own private commemoration, I remembered that almost exactly a year ago, just two days after she died, I recorded the narration for a memorial episode in her honor that at the time I never published. Listening to the raw material for that episode, I realized that today would be the perfect time to publish that episode. I assumed that I would be so choked up with grief that I would not even be able to organ