WDAV 89.9 Classical Public Radio announced today that as of January 18, 2010, the station will take over production of National Public Radio’s World of Opera, keeping in place NPR’s successful creative team of host Lisa Simeone and producer Bruce Scott. WDAV General Manager Benjamin K. Roe is the new executive producer. The show will continue to be marketed and distributed by NPR.

NPR World of Opera, carried now by 87 public radio stations across the nation, is the only radio show in America devoted to broadcasting full-length operas captured in performance from around the world. Productions from La Scala, Bayreuth, Vienna, Paris, and Geneva regularly grace NPR World of Opera’s airwaves, as well as performances from great American opera companies, including Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass, Santa Fe, and New York City Opera. The production team of Simeone and Scott has been together since 2002, when Roe, then NPR’s Director of Music, paired them. While this new partnership is a first for WDAV, the organization is poised for the opportunity.

“In the last 18 months, we’ve been working to re-position WDAV as a strong source for original classical music productions from the Carolinas and beyond,” explains Roe (at right). “This partnership with NPR puts us squarely now in front of a national audience – a step we welcome. I’m especially thrilled to be reunited with Lisa Simeone and Bruce Scott — two of the most creative and dedicated talents I’ve known in my thirty years of broadcasting.”
Adds Anya Grundmann, Executive Producer for NPR Music, “We know NPR World of Opera is in good hands, given Ben Roe’s history with the show and his award-winning classical music production credits. For NPR, this arrangement lets us continue our long, proud history of supporting opera in performance, beginning with the 1972 World Premiere of Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha–the work that subsequently won Joplin the first posthumous Pulitzer Prize in Music.”
About Lisa Simeone, Host of NPR World of Opera
Lisa Simeone has been the host of NPR World of Opera since July 2002. She has more than 25 years’ experience in radio and television, including as host of All Things Considered, Performance Today, Weekend Edition and the Metropolitan Opera. She also hosts the nationally syndicated Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series and the internationally syndicated documentary series Soundprint. Simeone earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland and an M.A. from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University.
About WDAV 89.9 Classical Public Radio
WDAV is fast becoming a national showcase for the arts in the Carolinas, thanks to its round-the-clock classical music programming, original productions, live broadcasts, commissioned concerts, video, podcasts, and social media. A service of Davidson College, WDAV’s 89.9FM signal reaches a 22-county region centered in the Charlotte, NC metro area and ranging from Rock Hill, SC to Galax, VA. WDAV’s broadcasts can be heard live online 24 hours a day at wdav.org and iTunes, as well as on any iPhone equipped with the Public Radio Player.