Aug 09 Study: Learning a musical instrument boosts language, reading skills By samantha abramowitz Learning to sing or play a musical instrument can improve language and reading skills of disadvantaged children, according to a new study released Friday. Continue reading
Jul 17 Broadway and cabaret actress Elaine Stritch dead at 89 By Joshua Barajas Cabaret legend and Broadway mainstay Elaine Stritch died in her Michigan home Thursday from natural causes, her publicist confirmed. The brassy performer was 89. Continue reading
Jul 07 The historical novel celebrates 200 years, thanks to Sir Walter Scott By Lorna Baldwin The author of one of the world's first bestsellers carved out a distinctive identity for Scotland through his writing, an image that persists 200 years later. Continue reading
Jul 06 Watch New opera tells story of Auschwitz prisoner and her SS overseer By PBS News Hour "The Passenger," an opera opening at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York on Thursday, is based on a radio play and novel by a concentration camp survivor, Zofia Posmysz. The opera tells the story of two women during the… Continue watching
Jul 05 Public radio’s iconic ‘Prairie Home Companion’ celebrates 40 years By Megan Thompson A three-day anniversary event kicked off Friday at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, where Garrison Keillor first broadcast "A Prairie Home Companion" on July 6, 1974. Back then, there were about 12 people in the audience. Today the show… Continue reading
Jul 05 Watch Documenting gay rights activists at dawn of the movement By PBS News Hour KQED presents a report on photographer Anthony Friedkin and his efforts to document gay life more than 40 years ago. Friedkin's photographs were ahead of their time and most galleries wouldn’t show them -- until now. The culmination of Friedkin’s… Continue watching
Jun 28 Watch ‘Degenerate Art’ exhibit explores Nazi assault on modern art By PBS News Hour A new exhibit at the Neue Galerie in New York juxtaposes the classical 19th century paintings and sculptures that Adolf Hitler loved, with the abstract art that he hated and labeled "degenerate." The Nazis put on a show of so-called… Continue watching
Jun 21 Watch Auction for 18th century viola starts at $45 million By PBS News Hour An 18th century viola by Antonio Stradivarius, the famed Italian lute-maker, is up for auction at Sotheby's starting at $45 million. The old stringed instruments, known as "Strads" are praised for their masterful craftsmanship. But a French researcher who blindfolded… Continue watching
Jun 15 Legendary radio personality Casey Kasem is dead at 82 By Elisabeth Ponsot Casey Kasem, the radio legend known for counting down the nation's greatest hits on the "American Top 40" broadcast died on Sunday. He was 82. Continue reading