wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli is a hugely popular opera star but she's often avoided the big roles in favor of obscure music from the distant past. Today, she discusses her latest CD, "Opera Proibita," which explores arias from oratorios written in 18th-century Rome, a period in which the pope banned operas. Also on the show: Grammy-winning singer Fiona Apple. Her latest CD, "Extraordinary Machine," has gotten more pre-release buzz than any in a great while. Earlier this year, eleven apparently unfinished tracks from the CD were leaked onto the Internet. The real thing comes out on October 4th, and she joins us to perform a pair of selections. Finally, we visit with Marin Alsop, the globe-trotting conductor who recently earned a 2005 MacArthur Fellowship - also known as the "genius award."