Metropolitan Opera

Country kid stirred a big-city opera

Chances are, this isn’t what a kid in rural Louisiana expects:
Some day, his youth will be turned into … an opera. A real one, opening the Metropolitan Opera season, with bejeweled fans applauding and bespectacled critics praising.
That’s what happened to Charles Blow (shown here). His memoir — “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” at 9 p.m. Friday (April 1) on PBS – was the first show after the Met’s long Covid break. Read more…

PBS keeps filling the music gaps

For decades, PBS has had an extra duty: It’s the main link many people have to what’s happening on Broadway and in concert halls, opera houses and more.
But lately, there’s been an added role: It’s been giving us what’s NOT happening there.
As the pandemic shut most things down, PBS kept going. It had music on rooftops, on porches, in vacant rooms and now – quite carefully – in standard concert settings.
That’s led by Luke Frazier and his American Pops Orchestra, who has rushed a dozen concerts, ranging from slim half-hours to an ambitious “Wicked” concert (shown here with Ariana Grande). Read more…