Classical 101 Podcasts

Even if you’ve never seen the 1957 hit musical West Side Story, I'll bet you can hum the tune from "Tonight," "Maria," "America" or any number of the show's signature songs and dance pieces on command.

Lawrence of Arabia is, hands down, one of the classics.

A violin with a past is fated to keep dooming the present.

John Sturges' 1960 Western remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic film Seven Samurai features an intense musical score by one of the great composers of film music, Elmer Bernstein.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the animated film Up, directed by Pete Docter, produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Set initially in Ohio, Up unfolds in dazzling visuals the outlandish adventures of an elderly widower and a young boy.

September 2019 marks the 80th anniversary of Hitler's invasion of Poland, which opened the floodgates to World War II. On this occasion, this episode of SoundReels looks at a film set in the later years of the war.

September 1, 2019 is the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the combined Nazi and Soviet invasion of Poland, which marked the start of World War II.

Writer, director and producer Wes Anderson’s 2018 stop motion animation film Isle of Dogs was first screened at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival.

Some operas inspire reverence beyond who gets kissed and who gets killed. Francis Poulenc’s The Dialogues of the Carmelites is chief among them.

In 1972, I saw a production of Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Regiment ("The Daughter of the Regiment"), starring Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. And in 1972, there were no two opera singers more famous, more skilled or greater.

Fifty years ago, a teacher gave me two tickets to see Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli in Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur.

Ah, the joys of summer — sunshine, long days, grilling on the patio — and movies.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the mother and mother-in-law. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the music lover. And, thanks to the Notorious R.B.G. blog, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the unexpected pop-culture icon.

The Metropolitan Opera presents a new production of Jules Massenet's Cendrillon, screened live in HD at movie theaters worldwide at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 28.

Opera Abbreviated is a Classical 101 podcast that previews The Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD series of performances beamed into cinemas worldwide.

Bring on the dancing. The Metropolitan Opera has a hot new production of Camille Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila (Samson and Delilah) complete with bacchanal.

The Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD presentations, beamed into cinemas worldwide, begins a new season Saturday, Oct. 6. Anna Netrebko stars in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida.

The Metropolitan Opera presents Gioachino Rossini's Semiramide, broadcast live from New York in HD to movie theaters worldwide at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 10.