Mark Lundberg, who competed in the Met auditions, successively, as a bass, baritone, and tenor, has died after a brief illness at the age of 50. He leaves a wife, Anya, and four children, ages 6 to 18.

Mark’s father was…

Another event has been added to Thursday’s August 7 “Christine Brewer Day in St. Louis” festivities: the soprano will appear live on the KTVI-Channel 2 (Fox) morning program. She’s scheduled to appear between 7:15 and 7:30 — an extraordinarily early…

The St. Louis Classical Guitar Society and St. Louis Cathedral Concerts have announced their 2008-09 seasons.

There are four concerts in the Guitar Society’s regular series, and two “special performances.”

The series opens Oct. 4 with a performance by the Brasil…

I’m heading to Santa Fe to catch the opera festival there. My internet access will be limited, so additions to the blog will be sporadic in the next week. (But I should have some good things to share when I…

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Federal regulators have formally approved the merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, ending a months-long drama closely watched by Washington and Wall Street.

The FCC voted 3-2 to approve Sirius’s buyout of rival XM…

Union Avenue Opera presents Verdi’s “Otello” at Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 N. Union Blvd. 8 p.m. Aug. 1, 2, 8 and 9. $32 to $52; 314-361-2881 or unionavenueopera.org.

No one could accuse Giuseppe Verdi of peaking early: he wrote his…

James Levine, music director of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, had to bow out of his summer duties at the Tanglewood Festival in order to have a kidney removed.

The originally reported cause of the removal was…

Alan Stone, founder of Chicago Opera Theater, died last week at the age of 79.

Alan studied in Italy and dreamed of being a great operatic tenor. When that career didn’t work out, he became a vocal coach in Chicago.…

Bill McClellan apologized too soon.

Before the Missouri Department of Transportation closed down Highway 40 from Hanley to Ballas, our columnist forecast doom and gridlock. When it hadn’t come to pass by mid-January, he wrote, “I was wrong.”

Well, Bill, maybe you…

With James Levine out for the summer (unlike Mark Mulder, there is hope that he’ll return in six weeks’ time in top form) due to surgery, various substitutes are being called in.

The first one in is former St. Louis…