Fred Plotkin

Fred Plotkin is an expert on opera, classical music, food, wine and everything Italian. His books, Opera 101 and Classical Music 101, are the best-selling standard texts on the subjects. Italy for the Gourmet Traveler, his definitive book that covers more than five hundred towns in Italy, has its sixth edition in March 2014, both in book and e-book versions. He has written five Italian cookbooks. His articles appear in many publications, including The New York Times, the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, the Financial Times, Time, and Opera News. He lectures at leading universities, in opera houses and on cruise ships. He also leads cultural and gastronomic tours in Europe and writes the Operavore blog at www.wqxr.org. He frequently appears on NPR and the BBC.