OperaWire interview with concertmaster Benjamin Bowman about his new job as concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera, his first experiences with the violin, his teachers and more. Here’s a snippet (full feature here): The biggest challenge is that challenges take many forms, and continue to creep their way in, no matter what. It’s more a matter...

The experience of performing classical music is endlessly fascinating for music lovers. Marcia Butler, a former oboist and one of our very own Opera Fan(atics), has written about this in her new memoir, The Skin Above My Knee. She describes what it is like to perform in an orchestra and the aching love that brought...

Piano Technician Keeps the Met’s Engines Running By Jennifer Johnson Christopher Kennedy was 14 when he demolished the family piano. And honestly, the old Schiller had it coming. It’d been mocking him – Kennedy could just sense it, with its preposterous pitch and clanky tone – until finally, armed with a tool kit and adolescent...

Pablo and Daniela Godoy grew up in a small town in Argentina, 5,165 miles from the Metropolitan Opera. Pablo recalls watching Michael Jackson on MTV and his father playing folk guitar. “We studied literature in school, but classical music was thought of as elite. We knew nothing about it.” But when Pablo saw a broadcast...

Note: The photos in this article are by Rose Callahan and originally appeared on Last Night at the Met. They are used here with permission. For years I have been intrigued by an extremely well-heeled couple who are often in our audience at the Met. Many opera fans are elegant at the Met, but this couple...