This interview discussed The Edgewood Symphony Orchestra’s performance this upcoming Sunday, July 2nd for Bach, Beethoven, and Brunch.  Walter also spoke of the program and what will be played along with his background in music while growing up in Costa Rica.  Walter is also producing an opera for the Pittsburgh Festival Opera at Wincester Thurston.

Mozart was commissioned by an Austrian Count to write a requiem mass for his wife.  Verdi was inspired to write his requiem in memory of a poet he admired.  Stephen Edwards lost both of his parents in a matter of months to cancer.  That is the inspiration behind Requiem for my Mother, the piece that has earned a place on the Billboard Top 100 Classical Albums charts for the fifth week in a row.  WQED’s Luke Campayno and composer Stephen Edwards converse about the piece, his day-to-day work in film composition, and his advice for young composers.

Mark Rylance and Friends perform at The Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead to acknowledge the 125th Anniversary of the 1892 Battle of Homestead, when thousands of locked-out steel workers and townspeople clashed with Pinkerton guards hired by Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie. Rylance calls it “a story worthy of Shakespeare.” Actor-activist–playwright Rylance comes back to Pittsburgh to perform some of his favorite speeches from Shakespeare, as well as revisiting resonant words, characters, songs and situations leading up to 1892, joining with his co-writer Peter Reder, local actors and musicians.  Rylance talks to WQED-FM's Anna Singer.

Music Director Francesco Lecce Chong discusses highlights from the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony tour of Spain from Barcelona with violinists Aaron Berger (grandson of conductor Julius Rudel) and Hannah Ishizaki (composer the concertmistress, a senior at Mt. Lebanon High School).  Topics include the reactions of the audience and the musicians in Avila, El Escorial and Valencia, sightseeing and restaurant highlights.

Chamber Music Pittsburgh begins the Just Summer series at the Kelly Strayhorn theater in East Liberty with Anton Miller and Rita Porfiris violin and viola duo accompanying silent films including  Charlie Chaplin. They both teach at the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut. Rita played under Christoph Eschenbach in the Houston Symphony. They've made a number of cds and championing music by Robert Fuchs, Gliere, Martinu and Milhaud.

Jim Cunningham chats with Elliott Dinkin about his work with Cowden Associates, his blog, admiration for tennis superstar Roger Federer, his piano playing and arts mad relatives including conductor and impresario Jacques Brourman who founded the Bedford Springs Festival Orchestra. Also why his company supports WQED-FM and why you should too.

Deborah Sunya Moore, Vice President and Director of Programming at Chautauqua Institution, reveals her personal picks from the 2000 events scheduled for July and August in the 2017 season.  Interview topics include: What’s the latest on the acoustics in the new Amphitheater; new directions for Sunday afternoons; Chautauqua Opera and Dance; and much more.

From the College of Wooster, Professor of Music Jack Gallagher speaks with WQED intern Ethan Simmons in celebration of his 70th birthday.  The two discuss Professor Gallagher’s latest album, cases of mistaken artistic identity, and when to introduce children to classical music—amongst other topics.

"Gathering of Sons" opens the 40th season of Pittsburgh Festival Opera – formerly Opera Theater of Pittsburgh founded by Mildred Miller Posvar.  Performances begin this Thursday and Friday and Mt. Ararat Church beginning at 7:30.  Kevin Maynor Bass and Dwayne Fulton Composer were the guests.  For Tickets 412-326-9687.

WQED's Jim Cunningham sits down to interview famed-Mexican pianist Jorge Federico Osorio on the release of his newest album, "Final Thoughts: The Last Piano Works of Schubert &a Brahms." Together, the two discuss the engaging musical referentiality of the great composers whose works Osorio plays, as well as Osorio's colorful history with other famous artists.