
Opera for Everyone is a radio show and podcast that makes opera understandable, accessible, and enjoyable for all. Pat Wright hosts the show, inviting guest co-hosts to participate in the mission she and Keely Herron developed after lively discussions of operas they had enjoyed seeing together. Music soars. Epiphanies abound. Hilarity ensues. The show airs Sundays from 9.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. on 89.1 KHOL in Jackson, Wyoming. Cover artwork by illustrator Rosie Brooks (www.rosiebrooks.com)
Episodes

Sunday Jun 16, 2024
Ep. 119 Zoraida di Granata by Donizetti
Sunday Jun 16, 2024
Sunday Jun 16, 2024
An unscrupulous king pressures a woman to marry him. She resists, knowing her heart belongs to the man who truly loves her, the chief general in the king’s army. Into this love-triangle, toss in a scheming underling of the king, a sympathetic maid of the woman, a devoted best friend of the general, and you have all the ingredients for a gripping story. Enhance the whole tale with a magnificent score, and you have a delightful opera, and, in fact, the first fully successful opera by the most prolific composer of the Bel Canto style, Gaetano Donizetti. Though Donizetti composed 70 operas, only a small number of those are regularly staged these days. We invite you to meet Zoraida di Granata, and enjoy an early work from a beloved composer.
Hosted by Pat and Janet

Saturday Jun 15, 2024
OFE Presents a Brief Conversation with KHOL's Executive Director
Saturday Jun 15, 2024
Saturday Jun 15, 2024
KHOL in Jackson WY is Opera for Everyone’s home radio station, and Wyoming’s only community radio station. If you have ever wanted to support Opera for Everyone, please consider supporting KHOL at 891KHOL.org/donate.
June 15 marks the beginning of KHOL’s summer membership drive.
Thank you everyone!

Sunday May 19, 2024
Ep. 118 A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten
Sunday May 19, 2024
Sunday May 19, 2024
“The course of true love never did run smooth.” Shakespeare’s iconic "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" gives us some of the Bard’s most memorable (and ridiculous) characters and situations. Benjamin Britten, together with his partner Peter Pears, so appreciated the merits of Shakespeare’s play that they faithfully adapted the script into a libretto for Britten’s 1960 opera of the same name.
The good-natured story shifts among fairy and human characters and their antics on a midsummer night. Observing the chaos, Puck, puckish henchman to the fairy king, exclaims, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” True enough, but there’s plenty of entertaining foolishness here from mortals and fairies alike. And, after all, doesn’t love make fools of us all?
Hosted by Pat and Kathleen
For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Ep. 117 The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Was it only a dream?
Baroque composer Henry Purcell was on his way to establishing a national operatic tradition based on the dramatic and musical traditions of the English, when, alas, his life was cut short after just 36 years. Join us as we explore Purcell’s musically and emotionally rich “The Fairy Queen,” a delightful twist on the Bard’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Shakespeare was content to end his tale with ambiguity, and so must we content ourselves with what Purcell has given us, and not indulge in the fantasy of what might have been had he enjoyed additional years composing.
Hosted by Pat and Kathleen
For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

Monday Feb 26, 2024
Ep. 116 Verdi's La Forza del Destino & Lisa Reagan's What We Need Is Here
Monday Feb 26, 2024
Monday Feb 26, 2024
Where passion joins with music and poetry we find opera. In this sweet spot, we also find What We Need Is Here, the most recent project by accomplished musician and singer, Lisa Reagan. Lisa joins us to talk about creating an album of songs for classic poems that have been meaningful to her life.
Lisa Reagan spent twenty years singing with the Washington National Opera and her first performance there was in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, an opera of epic scope and dramatic extremes. Join Pat, Kathleen and Lisa for a close look at this powerful opera and the varieties of human experience it explores.
Hosted by Pat and Kathleen, with special guest Lisa Reagan
For more on Lisa Reagan and her album What We Need Is Here, visit lisareagan.com
For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

Monday Jan 22, 2024
Ep. 115 Berg's Lulu & Erica Miner's Prelude to Murder
Monday Jan 22, 2024
Monday Jan 22, 2024
Two things never go out of fashion: opera and mystery. In this episode, mystery writer and former opera violinist Erica Miner talks with us about her opera mystery series and Lulu, Berg’s high-body-count melodrama. Lulu, which features prominently in Erica’s new novel, centers on a beautiful young woman whose admirers descend into obsession. Join us for a fascinating discussion of the nuts and bolts of opera, how it has informed Erica’s writings, and a close look at Berg’s masterpiece.
Erica Miner is the author of Prelude to Murder, the second book in the Julia Kogan Opera Mystery Series. For more on Erica, visit ericaminer.com

Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Ep. 114 Amahl and the Night Visitors
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
In Amahl and the Night Visitors, a young boy and his mother unexpectedly play host to the Magi on their way to meet the infant Jesus. Originally written for television, this opera uniquely bridges the ancient and modern in a heartfelt exploration of the meaning of hospitality.
In the second half of this episode, we are joined by Grant to talk about the role of Epiphany in the Christmas story, and enjoy some of the more beloved songs associated with the timeless story of the Magi.
Hosted by Pat and Kathleen.
For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Ep. 113 L’Italiana in Algeri by Rossini
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
By turns funny, serious, and seriously funny, L’Italiana in Algeri is a fascinating assembly of romantic tropes: a spurned wife, a shipwrecked lover, a pirate king, and a daring escape. At the same time, it deals with serious themes of agency, power, and silence. Set in a world that is both alien and familiar, this opera has something to say to all of us.
Guest co-host Emily Cohen, executive director of Opera For Everyone’s home station KHOL, joins us for an opera in which she once performed!

Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Ep. 112 The Egyptian Helen by Richard Strauss
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
“The face that launched a thousand ships.”
Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world, has a problem. Her husband plans to kill her, but she just wants him to fall in love with her again. She may just need a miracle to pull it off, but if anyone can do it, she can. Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal aimed for a light and comic operetta with Die Ägyptische Helena, but delivered a profound and dramatic work of art about the road to repairing broken relationships.
Hosted by Pat, Kathleen, and Grant
For more cultural and arts commentary by Kathleen Van De Wille, visit Constructive Criticism on Substack.

Saturday Aug 26, 2023
Ep. 111 Tosca by Giacomo Puccini
Saturday Aug 26, 2023
Saturday Aug 26, 2023
One of the top ten most-performed operas in the world, Puccini’s Tosca is considered by some the greatest of operas. A painter provides refuge for an escaped political prisoner, which begins a chain of events that starts with petty jealousy and ends in a death leap. Things spiral further and further out of control in this epic confrontation of tyranny and passion, set in the tempestuous era of the Napoleonic Wars. Join Pat and Greg for an in-depth discussion of the story and the power of this masterpiece.