Alan Gilbert conducts two works by English composer Benjamin Britten in this program from 2013. The Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with Michael Slattery and Philip Myers as the soloists is followed by the Spring Symphony with soloists and chorus.

“My job as a singer, if I’m doing my job correctly, is no different than what a curator does with a beautiful work of art.”

The English conductor returns to Chicago Opera Theater to lead Britten’s comic masterpiece later this month.

Christmas is the most musical time of the year, and each December, we look forward to sharing a new assortment of festive holiday albums.

Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96. In memoriam, we take a look at the royal monarch’s life through a musical lens…

10 pieces of music inspired by angling and sea creatures

This LGBTQ Pride Month, WFMT honors the numerous LGBTQ artists and composers who have changed classical music for the better.

All weekend long, WFMT will be honoring Memorial Day in music. Check out these highlights that you won’t want to miss.

In a free three-part lecture, esteemed tenor Ian Bostridge examines the capacity of music to capture the otherwise indescribable phenomena of life: identity, existence, and death.

Every year, the holiday season brings a new assortment of fabulous and festive Christmas albums.

September is National Piano Month, so WFMT is sharing a supersized playlist – with one selection corresponding to each key on the keyboard.

A lifelong pacifist, Britten used his music to advocate for peace. Baritone Benjamin Luxon, who created the title role of the composer’s pacifist opera Owen Wingrave, reflects on Britten’s legacy of music and pacifism.

A Viennese Christmas would not be complete without the glorious sounds of the Vienna Boys’ Choir. We asked the choir members to select their favorite Christmas carols that they have performed.

What makes a piece popular? How does a piece survive its first few performances? What makes something a warhorse, played over and over again, easily marketed from decade to decade? Who decides what’s good, anyway? Here are 18 underrated concertos – ones that don’t get played all that much, but maybe should be more widely known.

The opera house can be a scary place – and we’re not talking about all those crazy singers and their shenanigans backstage! Many operas contain ghastly ghouls, ghosts, goblins, witches, dragons, and all kinds of crazy creatures. Here are some of the most frightening pieces from the history of opera.

Whether bosom buddies or esteemed colleagues, there’s no doubt that these composers enjoyed genuine friendships that would influence their personal and professional lives.

If “Music oft hath such a charm / To make bad good, and good provoke to harm,” perhaps these 10 Shakespeare-inspired operas will charm you.

“Opera is deeply satisfying in a way that Shakespeare cannot be,” stage director Barlett Sher said backstage at Lyric Opera of Chicago during rehearsals for Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.

Can you imagine a world without the music of Handel, Tchaikovsky, or Britten? These great composers of the past are just a few of many important musical figures who did not identify as heterosexual.