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Full-bore, Italian "verismo" meets the American frontier, in Puccini's Girl of the Golden West, from Glimmerglass Opera. Minnie is a golden-hearted woman serving a Deadwood-style mining camp as everyman's sister, teacher, mother and sweetheart -- until a mysterious stranger comes to town, and she falls in love with the wrong guy.

Bassist Michael Thurber, 18, was excited to perform with special guest Bela Fleck, one of his musical idols. "I've always been a huge fan of everything he's done," Thurber says. Thurber and Fleck cooked up an improvisational, jazzy rendition of Fleck's "Sunset Road" for the show. This segment originally aired on Sept. 20, 2006.

Bassist Michael Thurber, 18, was excited to perform with special guest Bela Fleck, one of his musical idols. "I've always been a huge fan of everything he's done," Thurber says. Thurber and Fleck cooked up an improvisational, jazzy rendition of Fleck's "Sunset Road" for the show. This segment originally aired on Sept., 2006.

Stephen Harke's new opera The Greater Good portrays a clash between the classes -- but it's hard to tell which class is which when high-brow aristrocrats resort to decidedly low-brow behavior. The provocative, world premiere production comes from Glimmerglass Opera.

Stephen Harke's new opera The Greater Good portrays a clash between the classes -- but it's hard to tell which class is which when high-brow aristrocrats resort to decidedly low-brow behavior. The provocative, world premiere production comes from Glimmerglass Opera.

The Icelandic composer pits the string orchestra against the computer in an epic struggle of man vs. machine. "Part II - IBM 1403 Printer" sounds barren at first, propelled by the glacial sound of radio frequencies. Then, a string orchestra flourishes and builds to a wall of sound.

Sean McFate has flown with the 82nd Airborne, and helped demobilize African armies as a private military contractor -- but his true love is opera. His blog, the 'Musical Mercenary,' has the tagline: "War meets opera. May all our passions be deadly."

Sean McFate has flown with the 82nd Airborne, and helped demobilize African armies as a private military contractor -- but his true love is opera. His blog, the 'Musical Mercenary,' has the tagline: "War meets opera. May all our passions be deadly."

It was a bad night for Beethoven, but a compelling event in the history of music. His 5th and 6th Symphonies and 4th Piano Concerto saw shaky premieres in a freezing theatre in 1808. Conductor Louis Langree reproduces Beethoven's inauspicious concert at this year's Mostly Mozart Festival.

It was a bad night for Beethoven, but a compelling event in the history of music. His 5th and 6th Symphonies and 4th Piano Concerto saw shaky premieres in a freezing theatre in 1808. Conductor Louis Langree reproduces Beethoven's inauspicious concert at this year's Mostly Mozart Festival.