Evening at the Opera host Barry Gold says his interest in music began in junior high school with lessons in piano and double bass. He started collecting LPs from the “Columbia Record Club” and practically lived at Cutler’s Record Store which was on Broadway in New Haven from the 50s to the 80s.

His first love was jazz (New Haven had four jazz clubs) and the close proximity to NYC gave him multiple opportunities to go into the city and hear many of the jazz greats of the 50s and 60s.

He developed a love for classical music and folk music and, again, living between Boston and NYC provided him a cornucopia of memorable performances, especially everything Yale University had to offer.

His first opera experience was in Miami, FL in 1959, where he attended a performance of Tosca, starring Richard Tucker and Dorothy Kirsten. He was hooked!

As a longtime listener to WMNR (especially in the car) he eventually started calling into EATO and talking with host Doug Fox who, after a number of years, entrapped convinced him to come onto the show as a guest and subsequently, a host.

A former sales and marketing manager in the building products industry, Barry holds an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts. Barry and his wife Marsha live in Hamden. They are the parents of two daughters and have three grandchildren. He’s a 50-year volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America.

Besides hiking, gardening, cooking, and baking (he has won blue ribbons for his breads), the Golds also enjoy a nice glass of wine together. Barry’s other interests have always been history and politics.

He tells us that his goal in programming is not unlike all of our broadcasters at WMNR (from whom he says he has learned a lot)-- to educate and entertain our listening audience.