Hearing music by Schubert and Mendelssohn, WFMT audiences enjoyed some rarified music-making by the Risus Quartet, the Grand Prize winner of the prestigious 2021 Fishoff Competition.

Ali was among the most important, most charismatic, most unique figures in American (not just sports) history. So how do you adapt the monumental life of the People’s Champion into an opera?

WFMT host LaRob K. Rafael visited Haymarket rehearsals, hearing musical rehearsal highlights and talking with two of the production’s stars: countertenor Bejun Mehta and mezzo-soprano Emily Fons.

Ahead of her appearance at Ravinia this week, we sat down to talk with Lara Downes about her efforts to broaden the classical canon, her first introduction to Black composers like Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, and why she loves to work with Rachel Barton Pine.

Is it luck? Preparation? Skill? David Govertsen thinks it’s a little bit of each that has guided him to some of the city’s biggest stages.