Superstar violinist Joshua Bell has been entertaining audiences for decades. More recently, he’s started conducting as well. Here he talks about his work with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

KUSC’s Alan Chapman has a lot to say about music, but can he say it in 60 seconds? That’s the Chapman Challenge. We ask a question and Alan has a minute to answer it. Today’s question is in honor of Halloween. And the question is what is the spookiest instrument?

Pacific Opera Project is premiering a new opera based on a classic story by Edgar Allan Poe. Just in time for Halloween! KUSC’s John Van Driel has the story.

An eagerly anticipated sequel is bringing us new visions of a dystopian LA. Here are KUSC’s Gail Eichenthal and LA Times and KUSC film critic Kenneth Turan on Blade Runner 2049.

Listen to an extended feature on the Luna Composition Lab.

Soprano Patricia Racette is back in Southern California after her lauded turn in LA Opera’s Salome last February. This time, she’s with Long Beach Opera appearing in the politically-charged The Consul by Gian Carlo Menotti — performances are this weekend and next. Racette plays a woman fighting a tyrannical bureaucracy to get visas for her persecuted family. KUSC’s John Van Driel spoke with Racette about what attracted her to The Consul and about the other creative challenges she’s been tackling.

The Huntington Library spent the last four years preparing their contribution to Pacific Standard Time, “Visual Voyages: Images of Latin American Nature from Columbus to Darwin”. Dr. Daniela Bleichmar, who curated “Visual Voyages” with the Huntington’s Catherine Hess, gave KUSC’s Gail Eichenthal a look at the diverse offerings in the exhibition. Dr. Bleichmar explains that juxtaposing works from European and Latin American artists reveal how the study of nature was central to understanding art and the natural world:

KUSC’s Alan Chapman has a lot to say about music, but can he say it in 60 seconds? That’s the Chapman Challenge. We ask a question and Alan has a minute to answer it. Today’s question is: Why do symphonies have movements?

KUSC and LA Times Film Critic Kenneth Turan and KUSC’s Gail Eichenthal talk about a surf movie for wave riders and landlubbers alike.

Music can be a tool for us to connect with people (and their stories) who are different from us. Music can be a force for peace. We only need to listen. Alexander Blake can remember the exact moment that sparked his desire to become a classical musician.