The opera buffa Il mondo della luna was first performed on August 13rd, 1777 in Hungary. Written by Joseph Haydn (libretto by Carlo Goldini), it tells the story of an astronomer who tricks a rich aristocrat into marrying off his daughters. The astronomer does so by convincing the aristocrat he has been transported to the moon, and puts on a bogus marriage ceremony featuring the ‘Emperor of the Moon’ and the rest of his court (played by himself and the aristocrat’s daughters).

Quite frequently here at WXXI we are asked what listeners can do with their old pianos.  It seems that in this day when many are downsizing and people don't stay in one place for many years as they used to, few people are interested in having a large instrument in their home; much less one that can't easily be moved. 

Stream: Spotify, Apple Music.

Maybe you have opera jokes. We did.

When the Pop Culture Happy Hour team planned a trip to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, we grudgingly served up to each other our dusty old gags about Bugs Bunny and helmets with horns and Pretty Woman and ... have we left anything out?

We chose to see Rigoletto, precisely because it's a classic. It's real, hardcore actual opera. We didn't want to be reluctant, or to insist that opera come meet us where we were. We wanted to dive in. All jokes aside, we really did want the opera experience.

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren is asking City Council to apply for $4.7 million from New York state, as part of a proposal to develop Parcel 5 into a year-round festival site.

Details still need to be fleshed out, but City Council President Loretta Scott says the city can only apply for this particular pool of state funding once a year, so officials are asking that the application be made now.

It would be part of a potential $18.8 million project that could possibly include things like a visitor center, an overhead canopy and green space.

Rochester’s latest piece of public art has become the most recent in a series of eye-catching intersections in western New York and across the country.

It’s a movement that is more than artistic. Urban designers and transportation planners say this kind of art – colorful crosswalks and engaging sidewalks – leads to safer intersections, stronger neighborhoods, and better public health.