Peter Fox Smith
CommentatorPeter was part of VPR from 1977, hosting Saturday Afternoon at the Opera and then A Passion For Opera, until VPR's 40th anniversary in 2017.
Opera had always been one of Peter's passions. As a young boy visiting his paternal grandparents, he was treated to impromptu concerts by touring stars of the Metropolitan Opera performing with his grandmother. He is author of A Passion For Opera: Learning To Love It: The Greatest Masters, Their Greatest Music, released in 2004 by Trafalgar Square Publishing.
As a student at Harvard, Peter's doctoral thesis was on Wagner. An appointment at Dartmouth College allowed him to pursue his three passions: athletics, academics and the arts. He coached Dartmouth's women's cross country running team, taught opera courses to freshmen through master candidates and produced an annual arts concert for many years.
Peter passed away on October 5, 2020, and by his longtime audio engineer Sam Sanders.
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Maria Callas is largely responsible for the re-kindling of interest in Cherubini's masterpiece Medea in the twentieth century. We hear excerpts from her鈥� -
We hear four mystery opera excerpts (to be identified afterward) - plus a special visit from Anna Russell.Listen Saturday, April 8 at 12 noon.
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We celebrate this special day with a variety of musical excerpts featuring such artists as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Feodor Chaliapin, Maria Galvany, The鈥� -
Trial by Jury was the first successful collaboration by Gilbert & Sullivan; The Gondoliers was the last of the successful Savoy operas. We'll hear a 1995鈥� -
We hear excerpts from Rimsky-Korsakov's most popular opera, Sadko, featuring the voices of Vladimir Galusin and Gegan Grigorian.Listen Saturday, March 18鈥�
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We hear music from Verdi's Don Carlo, which had its premiere on this date in 1867.Listen Saturday, March 11 at 12 noon. -
Daniel-Fran莽ois Auber was once an immensely popular composer. We sample music from his opera Le domino noir.Listen Saturday, March 4 at 12 noon. -
We hear excerpts from La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder), a one-act comic opera by the 20 year old Gioachino Rossini.Listen Saturday, February 25 at 12鈥� -
In celebration of Black History Month, we hear excerpts from Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha. And we honor the life of tenor Nicolai Gedda, who died last鈥� -
February operatic premieres include Verdi's I Lombardi, Handel's Serse and Rodelinda, and Massenet's Werther. We'll hear excerpts from these operas.Listen鈥�
