Ruth Phinney's blog

If you're like me, you don't have time to be searching all over for the latest events and news in the classical music world.  So I love it when two magazines bring the news right to me.  Check out LISTEN magazine and Opera News.  Sure, I can read some of their articles on line, but I sti

The Metropolitan Opera just released info on its 2010-2011 season.  Here are the headlines...

Like WXXI, the RPO, Geva, MAG and so many arts organizations are looking to develop and nurture younger audiences to help take us into the future. 

Classical pianist James Rhodes just signed with the Warner Brothers Record label - a label that usually handles groups like Metallica, R.E.M., Linkin Park and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Rhodes has a unique perspective on the future of classical music and how today's musicians can break the mold that has been tradition for decades.  Check out an interview with him and let us know what you think.  http://properdiscord.com/2010/04/05/interview-with-james-rhodes/

WGBH is looking for blind and low vision adults to participate in online survey about audio description.

IBM Research in Japan and WGBH’s National Center for Accessible Media are soliciting adults who are blind or have low vision to participate in an online survey regarding the use of synthesized voice in audiodescription. The survey, which will be accessible via screen-reading software, should take no longer than 30 minutes....

Retired Classical 91.5 Sunshine Show host Simon Pontin narrates a brand new work by William Cahn in the upcoming concert of the Rochester Chamber Orchestra.

We just received word about the second program from the Pipedreams Live! recording here in Rochester in February 2009.  It will be broadcast on WXXI-FM 91.5 on Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.  Here's the full rundown of what will be on the show.

The Lotte Lenya Competition is an internationally recognized theater singing competition sponsored by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music in Manhattan.  The Eastman School of Music will again host one of the live regional auditions as well as the finals of the annual Lotte Lenya Competition, giving local audiences plenty of opportunities to catch the rising stars of musical theater. 

WXXI is pleased to host a very special free screening of "The Eyes of Me", a feature film from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series "Independent Lens."

Midday host Julia Figueras goes On Record to find out about a new opera production.

Mercury Opera Artistic Director Benton Hess, Olga Makarina from the Metropolitan Opera and Dinyar Vania from the New York City Opera join Julia Figueras on Wednesday, 1/13 at 1:00 p.m. to talk about the company’s newest production of La Traviata.  David Bartholomew returns to direct the production, and Metropolitan opera star Olga Makarina will be making her Mercury Opera debut as Violetta.