Voice of the Arts

Composer and Conductor Victoria Bond worked with the Pittsburgh Symphony as Composer in Residence with Music Director Andre Previn. Victoria speaks with Jim Cunningham about her warm memories of Pittsburgh making music with the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony run by Marie Maazel and her Previn collaborations. She conducted numerous concerts as a trailblazer in the world of women and the arts. She has formed her own company in Chicago worked a lot New York with a home in Greenwich Village and several albums of her music have been released. The most recent from fall 2022 The centerpiece of her newest album is the world premiere recording of Blue and Green Music, commissioned by the Cassatt Quartet through a Chamber Music America commissioning grant. She is principal guest conductor of Chamber Opera Chicago, and has held conducting positions with Pittsburgh Symphony, New York City Opera, Roanoke Symphony, and Bel Canto and Harrisburg Operas. Ms. Bond is Artistic Director of Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival in New York, which she founded in 1998, and is a frequent lecturer at the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

Director Rebecca Wahls, writer SMJ, and composer Maggie Marie Rodgers talks with Voice of the Arts about their upcoming new musical, this old haunt, having their academic premiere at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, this Saturday, November 19th at 2pm. They also discuss creating a new musical during the age of internet meetings, and how one can overcome grief individually and together with friends. Shows run until November 30th.

The Pittsburgh Savoyards continue their 85th season this Fall with Gilbert and Sullivan’s magical operetta, The Sorcerer. Performances will be held October 21-23 and 28-30 2022 at the Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Center in Ross Township, PA. Some cast members of the Sorcerer stopped by WQED-FM to talk with Anna Singer.

The University of Pittsburgh presents a “Concert of Ukrainian Words and Music” on Thursday July 7th, 7pm at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium. WQED-FM’s Anna Singer spoke with Katie Manukyan, Robert Frankenberry and Adriana Helbig about the concert.

Wayne Brinda of Prime Stage Theatre, and formerly Pittsburgh Playhouse Jr. sits down with John Robbins, WQED Intern, to discuss their new program, Prime Stage Sprouts. The new program opens with a production of The Amazing Lemonade Girl. This production is based on the real story of Alexandra Scott. She suffered from a rare disease but decided to not let that bring her down and she was able to help many kids just like her. The running of this show is June 16th-19th at the New Hazlett Theater.

Colin Aikins , tenor, presents his Senior Recital June 8 at 7pm in a free concert at Carnegie Hall in Oakland which he previews with Jim Cunningham. Colin is on to Juilliard in New York next year after completing his degree at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He has invited soprano Sarah Fleiss to sing Monteverdi with him. She is also a singer from the vocal department at Curtis and also studies with Julia Faulkner of Chicago Lyric Opera.. Mezzo Soprano Alexandria Zallo will join in the program and the accompanist is Djordje Nesic pianist. Colin is a Central Catholic graduate who has won fans in western Pennsylvania including soprano Marianne Cornetti. He has performed at the Aspen Music Festival and in Europe at Salzburg, at Chautauqua, Las Vegas and other cities along the  way winning multiple awards at prestigious competitions..The plan for the program is operatic dazzlers, favorite Italian songs by Tosti and Cole Porter at the end of the evening.

Emmy Award winning producer Beth Dolinar joins Bryan Perry, Executive Director of the Great Allegheny Passage and Jim Cunningham to discuss events relating to the screenings of the new documentary “The Great Ride Landmarks Along the Trail,” which airs on WQED June 16th at 8pm. Recently praised by the New York Times and other national media, the trail continues to generate tourism in the bicycle route from Pittsburgh to Washington DC. Three screenings with questions and answers from the principals will celebrate the film closing with Confluence, PA and Frostburg, Maryland.

Elizabeth Barker, the Executive Director of the Frick Art and Historical Center, discusses the excitement over bringing the two paintings together in the exhibit “Slay: Artemisia Gentileschi and Kehinde Wiley.” Elizabeth Barker shares with Jim Cunningham her excitement over the plans for music in the outdoors this summer, including a Juneteenth concert and much more.

Unisound is a hub for unifying Youth Music Organizations with a Black Teaching Artist Residence Program. Each year starting in November, the Teaching Artists put together a workshop, recital or lecture. Hear all about it with Jim Cunningham and the artists for this season.

It was elements of the CIA who were responsible for the death of President John F. Kennedy says Dr. Cyril Wecht. He has been certain of it since 1964 and says so again with new evidence in two new books – “The JFK Assassination Dissected: An Analysis by Forensic Pathologist Cyril Wecht with Dawna Kaufman” and “The Life and Deaths of Cyril Wecht: Memoirs of America’s Most Controversial Forensic Pathologist,” written with WQED Producer Jeff Sewald. Dr. Wecht is the retired Allegheny County Coroner and Medical Examiner who served as County Commissioner, holds degrees in law and medicine, taught at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and has presided over 21,000 autopsies and written over twenty books.

In this conversation with Jim Cunningham Dr. Wecht discusses his violins and holding down the concertmaster’s chair in the University of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He admired Jascha Heifetz, Zino Francescatti and the greats who appeared under Fritz Reiner and William Steinberg at the Syria Mosque. He marvels at Beethoven writing the Ninth Symphony while deaf and thinks it may have been lead poisoning that killed Ludwig.

His criticism of the Warren Commission’s findings regarding JFK and the single bullet theory that involved Lee Harvey Oswald as the assassin is pointed and backed up with first-hand knowledge including lunch meetings with Oswald’s widow Marina. There must have been three shooters he says.

Dr. Wecht is still waiting for the release of documents promised by the Trump and Biden administrations. He knows he ruffled feathers and made enemies along the way, but he had to do it his way.  Dr. Wecht’s wife, his children and the memories of his parents are what he holds most dear. Will there be a civil war in America? He thinks not, but he is deeply concerned about the health of the political scene in the country he served as a Navy man. At age 91, he is pleased to speak for those who can not tell tales.

Opera star Rolando Villazon returns to Pittsburgh for a recital on Sunday November 21st, 4pm at Pittsburgh Opera headquarters. Rolando was a Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist in 1998-1999. WQED-FM’s Anna Singer spoke with him about his time as a resident artist, his upcoming performances, and how he is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan!

Maria Sensi Sellner talks about Decameron Opera Coalition’s presentation of “Heroes”, seven world premiere opera short films presented in three episodes, all framed by original art songs by Hilliard and Boresi, featuring renowned soprano Karen Slack, mezzo-soprano Tesia Kwarteng, tenor Javier Abreu, and baritone John Castillo. Maria spoke with WQED-FM’s Anna Singer.