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 is remembered here by his longtime audio engineer Sam Sanders.
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William Mayer, pre-eminent American composer and some-time Vermonter, has died. Born in 1925, Mayer was a Phi Beta Kappa Yale graduate, and he studied…
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In this final program in the series "A Passion for Opera," produced by Peter Fox Smith, we present a potpourri of our very favorite recordings.Listen…
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We sample the artistry of ten opera singers of today, from Jonas Kaufmann to Dmitri Hvorostovsky to Barbara Bonney.Listen Saturday, September 2 at 12 noon.
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Gypsies figure prominently in many operas, most famously Azucena in Il trovatore and, of course, Carmen. We'll hear excerpts from six such operas.Listen… -
Poets are significant characters in a number of operas. We'll sample some, including Rodolfo in La bohème, Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger, and Andrea…
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We sample a wide variety of operas that feature characters who are singers by trade - from Der Schauspieldirektor to La Gioconda to Die…
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It's the birthday of Sigmund Romberg, the Austro-Hungarian-born composer of operetta. We hear excerpts from his best-known work, The Student Prince, from… -
I masnadieri was the first of Verdi's operas to be premiered outside of Italy. We hear excerpts from a superb recording that features Montserrat Caballé… -
Peter's special guest is Evans Haile, General Director of Opera North. They talk about the company's upcoming season and play excerpts from this year's…
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From Fiordiligi and Dorabella in Così fan tutte, to Clorinda and Tisbe in La Cenerentola, to Tatiana and Olga in Eugene Onegin, sisters play an important…
