William Berger (or Will Berger) is an American author, radio music host and commentator. Born in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

on January 25, 1961, studied Romance languages and musicology at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

. He was editor in chief for the Stanford Daily, the newspaper of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California from 1979-1980. For five years he worked in the

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

, being responsible for acquiring company's records collection. As author, he wrote such books on music and

operatic Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libret ...

composers as: ''Wagner Without Fear'' (1998), ''Verdi With a Vengeance'' (2000), ''Puccini Without Excuses'' (2005), all published by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

. He has also written opera

libretti A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...

and articles on religion and architecture. He frequently gives lectures on operatic music and composers, and is also a radio commentator and has recently been a regular host for New York Public Radio's Overnight Music and WNYC radio. Since creation of the Metropolitan Opera Radio on

Sirius Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CM ...

in the Fall of 2006, he writes all the commentaries heard during entractes of historical broadcasts. Berger is currently often a co-host during live Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, and is often the moderator of those broadcasts' Met Opera Quiz.

References

Links

Random House on William Berger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, William 1961 births Living people American writers about music Classical music radio presenters Metropolitan Opera people University of California, Santa Cruz alumni American librettists Writers from California