Don Giovanni (Gerald Finley, left) is pulled down to hell by the ghost of the Commendatore (Alastair Mills) in a Glyndebourne production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Robbie Jack /Corbis via Getty Images hide caption
Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Conductor Carlos Kalmar leads the Oregon Symphony in music inspired by war. Leah Nash/Oregon Symphony hide caption
The Oregon Symphony In Concert
Audio is no longer available
Every inch of the immense Carnegie Hall was filled with musicians as music director Robert Spano leads his Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Benjamin Britten's stunning War Requiem. Melanie Burford/For NPR hide caption
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra At Carnegie Hall
Madama Butterfly is one of many unhappy moms in opera. Patrick Riviere/Getty Images hide caption
Sarah Joy Miller as Anna Nicole Smith in Anna Nicole by Mark-Anthony Turnage, the final production from the New York City Opera, which closed its doors for good this fall. Stephanie Berger hide caption
Tenor Nicholas Phan and harpist Sivan Magen perform at a group house in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Mito Habe-Evans/NPR hide caption
Benjamin Britten takes a cup of tea during rehearsals for his War Requiem at Coventry Cathedral, in Coventry, England in May, 1962. Erich Auerbach/Getty Images hide caption
Consumed By Violence, With Hope For Peace: Britten's 'War Requiem'
It was a big year for extravagant classical box sets. Denise DeBelius/NPR hide caption
It was a big year for extravagant classical box sets. Denise DeBelius/NPR hide caption
A singer takes the stage during the first performance of "Grimes on the Beach," an outdoor production of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes, on June 17, 2013 in Aldeburgh, England. Bethany Clarke/Getty Images hide caption
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, written in response to the devastation of both World Wars, premiered in 1962. Getty Images hide caption
Britten: War Requiem
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A portrait of the composer Benjamin Britten from 1948. Denis De Marney/Getty Images hide caption
Hear an Audio Introduction to 'Death in Venice'
The Jupiter String Quartet in Studio at WGBH
In the Mix: Britten, Bach, Mozart and Strauss
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Britten's Sea Interludes, in a Landlocked Setting
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A portrait of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau taken circa 1965. Erich Auerbach/Getty Images hide caption
The cast of Moonrise Kingdom. courtesy of Focus Features hide caption