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Classical Couples: Sweethearts Sharing The Stage

Soprano Ailyn Perez and tenor Stephen Costello met in music school. Now married, the couple sings together around the world — as in Gounod's <em>Romeo and Juliet</em> at Opera Philadelphia in 2001.
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Opera Philadelphia
Soprano Ailyn Perez and tenor Stephen Costello met in music school. Now married, the couple sings together around the world — as in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet at Opera Philadelphia in 2001.

Cupid's arrow has often inspired love between classical musicians. There's J.S. Bach and his second wife, Anna Magdalena, the soprano for whom he created the Anna Magdalena Notebook. There's Rossini, who wrote operas for his wife, powerful Spanish diva Isabella Colbran. Pianists and composers Robert and Clara Schumann made concert tours together. Gustav Mahler published his wife Alma's songs. And Daniel Barenboim and Jacqueline DuPré's partnership in the 1960s can be heard in numerous recordings, including Elgar's Cello Concerto.

Happily, the arrows are still flying and the roster of musical matchups keeps growing. For this Valentine's Day, we offer a few contemporary couples making beautiful music.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tom Huizenga
Tom Huizenga is a producer for NPR Music. He contributes a wide range of stories about classical music to NPR's news programs and is the classical music reviewer for All Things Considered. He appears regularly on NPR Music podcasts and founded NPR's classical music blog Deceptive Cadence in 2010.