Wednesday is the 110th birthday of Harlem Renaissance author and social activist Langston Hughes. Celebrated around the world for his emotionally charged yet economic use of language, one of the lesser-known aspects of Hughes' legacy is that of lyricist. In a collaboration with the African-American classical composer William Grant Still - and grandfather of The Takeaway's own Celeste Headlee - Hughes created an opera based on the life of Haitian revolution leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines titled "Troubled Island."

Italian opera singer Salvatore Licitra died today at 43, nine days after suffering severe injuries in a scooter accident in Sicily. Licitra was regarded as the greatest tenor since Luciano Pavarotti. Celeste Headlee remembers his storied career and stunning voice.

Most of us think of opera as a traditionally Western art. Historically, the best composers wrote in French, Italian, German or English — until now. Over the past decade, the Chinese government has devoted millions to new opera houses, opera festivals and music education. The Chinese investment in opera has piqued the interest of classical music students here in the U.S., where budget-cutting has sapped funding for the arts.

Four years ago this month at age thirty-nine, Playboy model, reality star and tabloid fixture Anna Nicole Smith died. Her tumultuous life included dropping out of high school, teen parenthood, stripping, plastic surgery, accusations of gold-digging, and repeated struggles with drugs and alcohol. But while Anna Nicole is no longer with us, she’s alive and well at the Royal Opera House in London. A new opera called 'Anna Nicole' premiered last night. Composed by Mark-Anthony Turnage and written by Richard Thomas, it stars Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role.

The national media frequently paints Detroit as a near constant subject of sad stories during this ailing economy. But there are outliers in every struggling economy, and in this city there is a bright and beautiful outlier: The Detroit Opera House is not struggling at all.  It is thriving, thanks in part to the leadership of its director, David Dichiera.

Thinking about the Detroit Opera company trying to survive Detroit’s economic woes, it certainly seems that the abandoned buildings and tragic urban landscape of parts of Detroit  provide that city with an opportunity for theater at the very least.

The stark triumph (or not so much) over adversity themes in "La Boheme" ought to make it a Motown fave given the economy. You could stage it in some of Detroit's most troubled neighborhoods. "Boheme" is obvious though, so why not imagine other stories of operas starring some of the fallen, or embracing some of the narratives in the motor city? You’ve got discredited mayor Kwame Kilpatrick as Lt. Pinkerton in "Madame Butterfly" leaving Detroit in the lurch. GM would be perfect as suicidal "Tosca," or evil "Don Giovanni." Ford is clearly "The Magic Flute" in this narrative… you could imagine Andre Chenier for Alan Mulally over at Ford but then he doesn’t climb the scaffold in the end.

Celeste remembers Dame Jane Sutherland, the opera singer who Luciano Pavarotti called the voice of the century, English opera-goers called "The Incomparable," and who, after a memorable performance of Alcina in 1960, the audience dubbed La Stupenda.

Today, music fans around the world remember the work of Gustav Mahler, who would be 150 years old today. Ljubljana, Slovenia kicks off "Mahler Year," a year dedicated to the artist who lived and worked in the city from 1881-1882; and musicians in New York plan to kick off the NYC Summer Mahler Project. Not bad for a man who, in his lifetime, received little recognition for his 11 symphonies.