Voice of the Arts

The University of Pittsburgh Bands will host their first Summer Concert Band performance! Brad Townsend, Director of Bands, and Michael Buckstein, Assistant Director of Bands, speak with Melissa Black about the concert. This unique ensemble features Pitt students, alumni, faculty and staff, local high school musicians, and community members. Michael talks about taking inspiration from IUP's Associ...

The Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra will take the stage at Mellon Park this weekend for Bach, Beethoven and Brunch! Conductor Pierce Cook speaks with Melissa Black about the concert. TRYPO will feature some of their string players this weekend with a program titled "Be Water, My Friend." Pierce talks about how he came up with the water theme, which includes selections from Water Music , the A...

One month on from the passing of Joe Negri, Mister Rogers' drummer Bobby Rawsthorne remembers his friend. Bobby spoke with Jim Cunningham by phone about working on the show with Joe and more. Bobby recalls fond memories from the set of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, including a time when Joe was suspended mid-air for a production of a children's opera. He says he felt incredibly fortunate to be part...

Pittsburgh singer-songwriter Madeline Sclichter has been named as one of the winners of this year's Write Out Loud contest! Madeline speaks with Melissa Black about the contest and teases an upcoming new single. Madeline's song, "Queen Bee," which was inspired in part by Mean Girls the Musical , was one of over 400 submissions to the contest. She'll get to travel to New York for a special recordin...

The Pittsburgh Savoyards open their 89th season with the adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s world-famous detective in Sherlock Holmes and the Web of Deceit , a new adaptation written and directed by Robert Hockenberry. Rob joined Anna Singer to chat about the show. Rob talks about stripping the adaptation back to the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle texts, and modernizing Sherlock 's language....

RealTime Arts present their July program, Equitable Dinners , a play, a meal, and a conversation. Co-Founders Rusty Thelin and Molly Rice, and performer Malika Cleckley, spoke with Anna Singer live on the QED Afternoon Show about the events. Rusty talks about the origin of the program, which began with Out of Hand Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. Molly goes over what to expect--she wrote the play base...

Aria412 presents Anything Goes: The Music of Cole Porter on Tuesday, July 7th at 7:00pm. Co-founder Desirée Soteres and emcee Kip Soteres spoke with Anna Singer live on the QED Afternoon Show about the evening. Desirée talks about starting Aria412 ten years ago, which she founded as a platform for Pittsburgh singers and artists to build a community and try new genres. Anything Goes continues Aria4...

The Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra will tour Italy this summer! Anna Singer speaks with Executive Director Eftihia Arkoudis and Music Director Patrick Forsyth about the tour. Also hear from some of PYPO's tour musicians. Stops along the tour include Cremona, Tuscany, Verona, and Venice. Their touring program has pieces from Henry Mancini, Verdi, Vivaldi, and more. Eftihia and Patrick also...

The city unveiled on Friday, June 26th a historical marker dedicated to George B. Vashon, a 19th-century abolitionist, educator, lawyer and writer. Jim Cunningham attended the ceremony, and spoke with Paul N.D. Thornell, great-grandson of George B. Vashon, and A.G. Miller, a retired professor at Oberlin College, from which Vashon. was the first Black graduate. The ceremony took place at the site o...

Subscriptions to Chatham Baroque's 2026-2027 season are available now! Associate Artistic Director Andrew Fouts, Managing & Artistic Director Scott Pauley, and Co-Founder Patricia Halverson spoke with Anna Singer live on the QED Afternoon Show about the season and celebrating 35 years. Patty has been with Chatham Baroque since the beginning, Scott joined in the late 90s, and Andrew joined the grou...

The Chautauqua Institution are gearing up for their 2026 season! Chief Program Officer Deborah Sunya Moore speaks with Jim Cunningham about upcoming events, including WQED's two visits to the campus. WQED's first trip to Chautauqua is on July 2nd for an evening with Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara. They will give a talk in the morning, followed by an opening night performance with the Chautauqua Sy...

Pittsburgh Festival Opera presents The Three Tenors this weekend at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland. General Manager/Artistic Director Marianne Cornetti, conductor Christopher Franklin, and the three tenors, John Osborn, Victor Cardamone, Greg Kunde, spoke with Anna Singer live on the QED Afternoon Show about the concert. The program combines music by Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and José Car...

The River City Brass Band will play at Mellon Park this Sunday, June 28th as part of Bach, Beethoven and Brunch! Artistic & General Director James Gourlay and Principal Euphonium Algirdas Matonis joined Jim Cunningham live on the QED Morning Show to chat and play. The band will play a variety of marches, classic rock, and other quintessential American tunes. Algirdas talks about coming to Pittsbur...

Students from Carnegie Mellon University's Preparatory School will participate in a Concerto Fest! Luz Manriquez, Director of the school's Piano Division, and her student Alex Shen speak with Jim Cunningham about the performances. There are 25 young performers involved, ranging from age 7-18. They will each play one movement of a concerto. Luz, along with her colleagues Sung-Im Kim and Amaury Mora...

Acclaimed sleight-of-hand artist Dan Kamin brings THE MAGIC LESSON to the Greer Cabaret Theater! He speaks with Anna Singer about the show. Dan talks about finding inspiration from gamblers, card sharks, and con-men, and adapting his magic-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also remembers learning body movement from Jewel Walker at Carnegie Mellon University. THE MAGIC LESSON is an intimate m...

The Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra is on an eleven-day international concert tour of Greece. The tour will feature four concerts in Thessaloniki, at the Amphitheatre in Ancient Phillipi (UNESCO Site), Volos, and Athens. During a break in rehearsal before their first concert of the tour, WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham spoke with Music Director Jacob Joyce, violinist Eloise Johnson, trumpet Evan Lava...

Bach, Beethoven and Brunch kicks off this weekend, and the East Winds Symphonic Band serves as this summer's opener! Conductor Susan Sands and co-founder/euphonium player Roger Schneider speak with Bryan Sejvar about the band and their concert program. Roger recounts the history of the band, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. Susan joined the band as an oboe player in 1988 and be...

RESCHEDULED: Performances of The Cowboy Evolves have been rescheduled to the following dates: Monday, July 13 at 7pm - City of Asylum Tuesday, July 14 at 7:30pm - Vanka Murals, St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in Millvale   Chamber Music Pittsburgh presents their 2026 Pittsburgh Performs series! Jim Cunningham speaks with PSO Paul J. Ross Fellow bassoonist Carlos Clark, PSO violinist Jennifer...

Resonance Works present a new version of Gounod’s Roméo & Juliette . Anna Singer spoke with conductor/producer Maria Sensi Sellner, director Justin Lucero, and the actors playing our star-crossed lovers, Ben Werley and Helen Zhibing Huang, live on the QED Afternoon Show about the production. Maria talks about creating this version of the opera with Justin and bringing it to the New Hazlett with Re...

The Blairsville Chamber Music Festival returns this weekend! Blairsville Chamber Music Society's Executive Director Sarah Marshall and Artistic Director Avital Mazor spoke with Anna Singer live on the QED Afternoon Show about the concert lineup. Sarah explains how the festival got its start, and moving back to her hometown from New York City. Avital talks about this year's program, spanning five c...

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra come together this weekend for Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring . PBT Artistic Director Adam McKinney speaks with Anna Singer by phone about the collaboration. PBT will perform Mark Godden’s choreography, Angels in the Architecture , which is a tribute to communities of the Shaker religious sect. The performance will feature the set...

French Moderns: Matisse / Renoir / Degas opens at The Frick Pittsburgh on June 20th! Chief Curator & Director of Collections Dawn Brean and Director of Learning & Visitor Experience Kelsie Paul spoke with Anna Singer about bringing the exhibition and its surrounding programs to life. Dawn talks about the curatorial process, which begins with an idea and manifests as crates of artwork. Some of the...

A rare staging of Shakespeare's Hamlet , based on the first quarto, will be at the University of Pittsburgh's Rauh Theater this weekend! Director Jeremy Seghers and actor Ayden Freed speak with Melissa Black about the show. The first quarto, infamously referred to as the "bad quarto," is the earliest and least known text of Hamlet . Jeremy talks about why he wanted to tackle this version of the pl...

Happy Pride Month, neighbors! In this episode, local drag artist Kaydence McQueen sits down with WQED Digital Correspondent Nick Tommarello to chat about Pittsburgh's drag culture and her Pride activities. Kaydence was drawn to drag through gender expression, and she enjoys combining her passion for theater and fashion in her performances. Kaydence takes Nick through what goes into creating her dr...

The Lindsay Theater's 2026 summer season is bringing back the 90s! Their Director of Communications and Media Relations, Josh Axelrod, stopped by the WQED-FM studio to chat with Anna Singer about the lineup. The series opens with Jerry Maguire , which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. It also commemorates 35 years of Boyz N the Hood and Thelma & Louise . And, of course, Jurassic Park , Gh...