Countermelody
Countermelody is a new podcast devoted to the glories of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great classical and opera singers of the past and present with the help of guests from the classical music field: singers, conductors, composers, coaches, agents, and voice teachers. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please also visit the Countermelody website for updates, additional content, and to pledge your support. www.countermelodypodcast.com
- Update frequency
- every 3 days
- Average duration
- 91 minutes
- Episodes
- 323
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
Episode 234. David Savran Introduces Carol Brice (Listeners’ Favorites V)
This Listeners’ Favorites episode serves a dual purpose: first it is a celebration the publication this week of my partner David Savran’s new book, Tell It to the World: The Broadway Musical Abroad, …
01:23:54 |
Sun 14 Jan 2024
Episode 233 – Dusty Pörn Introduces Eleanor Steber (Listeners’ Favorites IV)
Today’s subject is Eleanor Steber, certainly one of the greatest and most versatile of American sopranos. She is introduced by one of the most recent (and most colorful) of all of my listeners, the S…
01:19:49 |
Wed 10 Jan 2024
Episode 232. Janet Williams and Paul Padillo Introduce Maria Ewing (Listeners’ Favorites III)
January 9 is already the second anniversary of the death of the iconoclastic (and iconic) Maria Ewing, who died of cancer in her home outside of her native Detroit on January 9, 2022. She was an arti…
01:58:48 |
Sun 07 Jan 2024
Episode 231. Elliot Levine Introduces Margaret Marshall (Listeners’ Favorites II)
The second of my Listeners’ Favorites episodes for January is introduced by my dear friend Elliot Levine, a founding member of the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, with whom he sang bass for 47 years. He…
01:40:37 |
Wed 03 Jan 2024
Episode 230. Brian Castles-Onion Introduces Ira Siff: La Gran Scena and Beyond (Listeners’ Favorites I)
Welcome to Season Five of Countermelody! While I indulge in a much-needed break for the month of January (my first in four years!), I have asked a number of Countermelody fans and listeners to provid…
01:57:10 |
Mon 01 Jan 2024
Episode 229. Happy Birthday, John Wustman
Today, Christmas Day 2023, is also the 93rd birthday of my teacher, the great John Wustman. I can think of no better way to conclude Season Four of Countermelody than with a tribute to the man who ha…
01:56:07 |
Mon 25 Dec 2023
Episode 228. Song Cycles for Christmas
For my second holiday episode this year, I turn to the music of my “other” country, Germany, the land of my forebears, where I have lived for the last decade. Christmas is celebrated in a different w…
01:23:07 |
Mon 18 Dec 2023
Episode 227. A Golden Age Christmas
In the midst of our recent move, I came across a stash of old “mixtapes” (actually CDs and much other archival material. One such item which particularly moved me was one entitled “A Golden Age Chris…
01:22:05 |
Sat 09 Dec 2023
Episode 226. Maria Callas: Singer of the Century
What is there to say about today’s featured artist, Maria Callas, who was born 100 years ago today? So many of my esteemed colleagues are weighing in with their Callas tributes today (both encycloped…
01:49:35 |
Sun 03 Dec 2023
Episode 225. Joya Sherrill
This week’s episode is the first in what I hope will be a series featuring vocalists who performed with Duke Ellington, Today’s artist is the playful and sophisticated Joya Sherrill (20 August 1924 –…
01:23:02 |
Wed 29 Nov 2023
Episode 224. Handel’s Deutsche Arien
This year for Thanksgiving I bring you Handel’s glorious Neun deutsche Arien composed in the year 1725 to meditative texts by Barthold Heinrich Brockes, who ten years previous had provided Handel wit…
01:17:10 |
Wed 22 Nov 2023
Episode 223. Chouxbert vs. Shubertsky (Schubert in French and Russian)
A few weeks ago I finally found a copy of a rare recording by one of my favorite singers, the baryton martin Camille Maurane (1911 – 2010) in which he sings Schubert songs in French. Inspired and fas…
01:36:17 |
Tue 14 Nov 2023
Episode 222. Shirley Verrett, Falcon Sfogatissima
It is hard to believe that it’s already been 13 years since the death of Shirley Verrett on November 5, 2010. It has also already been four years since I did a pair of episodes on this extraordinary …
01:37:42 |
Thu 09 Nov 2023
Episode 221. Robert Massard
This is an episode I have been planning for years now! This past August 15, the great French baritone Robert Massard turned 98 years old. As many of my listeners know, I have a thing for baritones in…
01:33:08 |
Wed 01 Nov 2023
Episode 220. La Fiamma (The Haunted Opera House II)
A year ago, I posted an episode entitled “The Haunted Opera House” that featured a wide range of spooky, witchy, Halloween-appropriate 20th century operas from Prokofiev to Penderecki. This year I fo…
01:29:01 |
Wed 25 Oct 2023
Episode 219. Chants d’Auvergne
Another episode featuring orchestral songs, these arrangements by the French composer Joseph Canteloube AKA Marie-Joseph Canteloube de Malaret (1879 – 1957), of elaborately orchestrated folk songs fr…
01:28:23 |
Wed 18 Oct 2023
Episode 218. Edith Piaf, storyteller
Today is the 60th anniversary of the death of Edith Piaf, the greatest singer in the history of French popular music. She died on the eve of my third birthday, and since I have always allowed myself …
01:11:13 |
Tue 10 Oct 2023
Episode 217. Patricia Neway Revisited
Today I revisit the artistry of the great Patricia Neway (1919-2012), a singer of extraordinary versatility, dramatic power, and musical sensibility. She is no doubt most famous for two of her Broadw…
00:56:43 |
Wed 04 Oct 2023
Episode 216. The Lieder of Joseph Marx
This week (inspired by an 10-inch LP in my collection of his songs performed by Anton Dermota and Wilma Lipp, both stalwarts of the Wiener Staatsoper in the 1950s) I present an introduction to the Li…
01:14:12 |
Thu 28 Sep 2023
Episode 215. Trauer und Trost
This week’s episode offers music of both mourning and consolation performed by treasured artists, many of whom celebrate significant anniversaries this fall, and all of whom died before their time. T…
00:49:00 |
Tue 19 Sep 2023
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