Brooke Welsh (Executive Director), Dennis McNair (Board President) and Bill Locher (Opera Festival Co-Chair) of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra talk about the upcoming Opera Festival taking place September 21st, 7pm at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center in Johnstown, PA.

WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham talks to Exploring Music host Bill McGlaughlin about the show's 10th anniversary, the program's new website, Bill's time as a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the current state of classical music.

Meet Julie Hanify, the new Head of the Music, Film & Audio Department at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Main Branch in Oakland, She talks about the first concert in the library's new "Sounds Upstairs" concert series, and about wealth of resources available to the public at the library.

Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks opens its free, outdoor production of Romeo and Juliet on Aug. 31st. In her production, audience members must choose to side with either the Montagues or the Capulets, then follow that family as both families' scenes are staged simultaneously about 30 yards apart. QED's Stephen Baum met director Helen Meade and cast members during rehearsals in Frick Park, one of the three venues.

CMU-trained Sonja Sweterlich is a visual arts coordinator for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and a portrait painter. She talks about her latest show, "Julia," featuring a series of 12 portraits of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre principal dancer and nutrition bar ("Barre") entrpreneur Julia Erickson. "Julia" is on view at Box Heart Gallery in Bloomfield, Aug. 20 through Sep. 14, 2013.

Sarah Hall, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Frick Art Museum, takes you through "Clayton Days Revisited," a re-installation of the exhibition created by conceptual photographer Vik Muniz at Clayton in 1999 and 2000. With careful attention to period techniques and using the Frick Art & Historical Center's historical resources, Muniz staged and photographed scenes evoking the life of the Frick family at Clayton a century ago.

Lead Artist Amanda Gross and assistant Penny Mateer discuss Knit the Bridge, the largest "yarn bombing" event in the US to date, led by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh. They are directing a campaign with nearly 2,000 volunteers to cover downtown Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol Bridge with colorful knitted panels. The work will be on view August 12th through September 6th, 2013.

Curators Daniel Baumann and Gabriela Burkhalter talk about the Carnegie Museum of Art's Playground Project, a part of the 2013 Carnegie International which opens in October, which includes a playground near the museum entrance and an exhibition in the Heinz Architectural Center.

Andrew Druckenbrod, who recently stepped down as Music Critic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after 13 years, talks about a critic's job, the new P-G critic, his reasons for leaving his post, his future plans, classical music's future, and great moments in his tenure covering the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Kevin Noe talks about his final concert as Artistic Director of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. He is joined by PNME clarinetist Kevin Schempf, who describes his preparations for Reich's "New York Counterpoint."