Lloyd Schwartz

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reads a poem about his late mother, who had Alzheimer's Disease. Schwartz's latest collection is Little Kisses.

The inaugural show at the Metropolitan Museum's Met Breuer branch raises the question of what makes a finished work of art. Critic Lloyd Schwartz calls it "an astonishing gathering of masterpieces."

When his mother was turning 90, music critic Lloyd Schwartz wrote poems that put her memories into verse. Composer Mohammed Fairouz set three of the poems to music on the new recording, No Orpheus.

Beverly Sills, the Brooklyn-born opera star with the charming smile and the clean, silvery coloratura, died Monday at the age of 78. Fresh Air's classical music critic pays tribute.

Actress Betty Hutton died last weekend at the age of 86. Hutton was a singer and actress who starred in classic musicals and comedies of the 1940s and 1950s.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz has an appreciation of mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died Monday at her home in Santa Fe at the age of 52 after a long illness.

American opera visionary Sarah Caldwell founded the Opera Company of Boston in 1958. The company's principal prima donna was Beverly Sills, and Placido Domingo was an unknown young tenor when he first sang with the company. Caldwell died on March 23 at the age of 82.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz shares his thoughts on the 250th anniversary of his favorite composer's birth: Mozart. Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756. (Music in the segment is from Mozart's opera Cosi Fan Tutte, taken from the DVD of the Peter Sellars production, conducted by Craig Smith on the Universal label.)

French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez. He turns 80 years old next month. In celebration of his birthday next month, the record label Deutsche Grammophon is issuing five new recordings of Boulez's work. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz has a review.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz profiles German Countertenor Andreas Scholl.