Voice of the Arts

Now Hear This, a Great Performances miniseries, returns for its seventh season tonight! Scott Yoo, creator and host, spoke with Jim Cunningham about the highlights. Season seven explores the lives and works of Johannes Brahms and Scott Joplin, two celebrated composers whose careers did not go as planned; alongside the music scene of two major musical epicenters: Istanbul and Iceland. Tonight's sho...

The Bands and Bids fundraising campaign benefits the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank through both an online auction and a live music event. Lance Jones, the events organizer, stopped by WQED-FM to talk to Jim Cunningham about the event, which features performances from the Polkamaniacs, the Jig-Offs and Ben Forbeck. The event takes place on Thursday April 16th at the Penn Hebron Garden Club...

The Three Rivers Community Band Festival returns for their 20th year! East Winds Symphonic Band Conductor Susan Sands and co-founder of the festival and EWSB Roger Schneider spoke to Jim Cunningham live on the QED Morning Show about the festival. Hosted by WQED-FM's Jim Cunningham, the festival is a celebration of the best of community band music from around the region, including performances by t...

Chatham Baroque presents Czech a cappella ensemble Tiburtina for Celestial Harmony , a concert of music written by Hildegard von Bingen. Director and soprano, Barbora Kabátková, joined QED's Anna Singer from Prague to chat about the program. Tiburtina is a group of female voices that specializes in interpreting Gregorian chant, Medieval polyphony, and contemporary music. They'll bring a program of...

Pittsburgh Baroque Orchestra have an upcoming concert titled "Bouquet de Baroque," a candlelit evening of music and dance! Soprano Sarah Richards stopped by the QED studio to talk live with Anna Singer. PBO is a community ensemble that performs original or reproduction instruments, in historical dress, and in historical venues. The program includes pieces never before performed in Pittsburgh, work...

Confluence Ballet Co. presents Images , an evening of storytelling which will feature a performance by pianist Amaury Morales and new ballet works. Amaury, joined by Confluence's Resident Composer and Music Director Joshua Malavé, Co-Artistic Director Keeley Hernández, and Guest Composer Ayca Akin, spoke with QED's Anna Singer about the program. Josh, who wrote the piano concerto Amaury will perfo...

The Lindsay Theater & Cultural Center's Director of Communications and Media Relations, Josh Axelrod, talks upcoming Lindsay events with QED's Melissa Black! The Lindsay is hosting two upcoming Emerging Filmmakers Showcases. The first, on April 9th at 7:00pm, highlights the work of women in Pittsburgh's film industry. It will include 13 short films created by members of Women in Film & Media Pitts...

Rick Sebak joined Jim Cunningham on the QED Morning Show to preview his latest Lucky to Live in Pittsburgh program, focused on Switzerland-born Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin as he arrived in western Pennsylvania. The episode features a band called Gallatin Hall and a high school named for him. Rick explains how Lewis and Clark are involved, General Lafayette, and the beloved dog Seaman...

Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh will premiere Yvar Mikhashoff’s Viola Concerto on Saturday, April 4th at 7:00pm at Rodef Shalom's Levy Hall! Artistic Director Edward Leonard and PSO violist Tatjana Mead Chamis joined Jim Cunningham live on the QED Morning Show to talk about the concert. Tatjana and Eddie explain how the premiere came about, including the reconstruction of the concerto, which was o...

Mai Khôi & the Dissidents are bringing their album release tour for Five Years in Exile to the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall! Mai Khôi, her creative partner and husband, Mark Micchelli, and the Carnegie Carnegie's Director of the Music Hall, Heidi Matthews, spoke with QED's Melissa Black about it. Mai Khôi talks about her career in Vietnam, encountering censorship from the government...

The Frick Pittsburgh presents "Borealis," a contemporary multimedia concert conceived by soprano Lilly Abreu and media artist Andrés Tapia-Urzúa, featuring members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Cello Quartet, and Cello Fury, conducted by Flávio Chamis. Lilly Abreu and pianist Rodrigo Ojeda joined QED's Jim Cunningham to talk about the concert details. The program brings toge...

The New Hazlett Theater is presenting Erin Kouwe's GRAPPLING as part of their Community Supported Art series! Erin, Choreographic Assistant Teena Marie Custer, and Lighting Designer Andrew David Ostrowski spoke with QED's Emily Brunner about the show. Erin explains the construction of GRAPPLING, calling it a lecture-demonstration of a scientific experiment, in which a researcher uploads their fami...

Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Shannon Crowley is one of only six Grand Finals winners of the Metropolitan Opera's Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition! She sat down with QED's Anna Singer to talk about the competition process and her finals experience, which took place on Sunday, March 22nd. Shannon explains how she entered the competition, progressing from qualifying to Districts (which were...

Kathleen Dean, Director of Administration and Governance at Washington National Opera, sat down with QED's Jim Cunningham to talk about the WNO's split from the Kennedy Center, their current season, financing opera, and more. The company is currently showing a hit production of The Crucible , which received high praise from the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. It is the first show they've produc...

The Juilliard Quartet returns to Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland on March 30th at 7:30pm! All four members joined QED's Jim Cunningham via Zoom to talk about the concert, presented by Chamber Music Pittsburgh. The current members of the Juilliard String Quartet are violinists Areta Zhulla and Leonard Fu, violist Molly Carr, and cellist Astrid Schween. They were the first ensemble presented by Chamb...

Pittsburgh contemporary ensemble, the IonSound Project, have an upcoming concert titled "Respite and Reflection" at St. Vincent's Basilica crypt. Cellist Elisa Kohanski and clarinetist Kathleen Costello spoke with QED's Jim Cunningham about the concert. Included on the program for "Respite and Reflection" are Robert Muczynski, Jessie Montgomery, Mark Abel, Connor Chee, and James MacMillan. Elisa a...

The Andy Warhol Museum and Carnegie Mellon University School of Art's MFA program continue their collaboration to present the class of 2026's thesis exhibition at the Warhol. Katie Briski, Associate Registrar of Exhibitions and Loans at the Warhol, and CMU School of Art's Elizabeth Chodos talked with QED's Anna singer about the exhibition. Elizabeth introduces the artists. They include Naomi Chamb...

Music for Food returns with Romantic Masterpieces , featuring the music of the Mendelssohn siblings. Pianist Nanette Kaplan Solomon, cellist Paula Tuttle, and violinist Alison Fujito spoke with QED's Jim Cunningham about the program. Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D minor will serve as the cornerstone of the concert. Nanette recounts the relationship between Fanny and Felix, including Fanny's p...

Alaine Fink, pianist and Minister of Music at First Presbyterian Church downtown, is starting a new concert series called First with Friends! She spoke with Jim Cunningham about the creation of the series. First with Friends will take place on Tuesdays at 12:00pm at the church. Alaine explains the motivation for the series, focusing on revitalizing Pittsburgh's downtown area. She encourages reside...

Chatham Baroque celebrate Bach's birthday next weekend with "Bach's Sublime Chamber Music," featuring mostly Bach but also his contemporaries Telemann and Sylvius Leopold Weiss. QED's Anna Singer spoke with Chatham Baroque members Scott Pauley and Patricia Halverson live on the QED Afternoon Show about the program. Scott and Patty walk Anna through the pieces, which include sonatas for the full gr...

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presents "Betsy and Joe Seamans: Abide in This Place for a While" on Saturday Mach 21st at 7pm in the Harris Theater. Betsy and Joe began their careers at WQED where Joe filmed award-winning documentaries for National Geographic and later for WGBH’s Nova programs. He worked on hundreds of WQED programs while making documentaries with his wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth appe...

The Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania presents Vladimir Milošević, virtuoso pianist, and multiple award-winning faculty member of the University of the Arts in Belgrade, Serbia on Sunday March 22nd at 3:00pm, at the Kresge Theater at CMU. Vladimir spoke with Jim Cunningham about his program. Vladimir plans to play a demanding concert featuring Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker arranged by Mikhail Pl...

The Pittsburgh Savoyards will wrap up their 88th season with Gilbert and Sullivan's The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel ! Production Manager Lynette Garlan and Stage Director Olivia Hartle stopped by the studio to chat with QED's Melissa Black about the show. Olivia summarizes the plot of the operetta, detailing the wild shenanigans of a theater troupe organizing an uprising against the Grand D...

The Bach Choir of Pittsburgh returns with their signature fundraising event, Bach Day Bash, celebrating J.S. Bach's 341st birthday! Amy Herlich, who is the Major Gifts Officer of the Cultural Trust and a member of BPC's Special Events Committee, stopped by the WQED studio to chat live with Anna Singer about the event. This year's bash is co-chaired and emceed by WQED's own Anna Singer and Jim Cunn...

Principal harpist of the PSO Gretchen Van Hoesen will play French music for harp and strings in the Allegheny Historical Preservation Society’s Tiffany Concert Series. Gretchen joined Jim Cunningham live on the QED Morning Show to talk about the concert.   The program features music by Gretchen’s former teacher, Marcel Grandjany,  Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne , Bernard Andrès’ Zerbina , Ravel’s Strin...