One of Troy University’s Public Radio programs is celebrating 25 years of bringing classical music to listeners, sharing not only the timeless works but also the rich history and stories behind them.

“Opus 3”, hosted by Catherine Allard, began when James Clower, former Radio Station Manager for WSTU-FM, asked her to come speak during a fundraiser for the radio. Allard went on air and began to tell the stories behind the music that was being broadcast. About a week later, Clower called and asked her to host a radio program that would offer commentary on classical music.

“Most of the music is from my personal library that I’ve acquired over the years,” Allard said. “But at the time, the station had a pretty good library and of course, the university library had a good collection of CDs. I love to learn new music and listen to new music. It was just a big adventure for me.”

Opus, the Latin word for “work,” was paired with the number three because it coincided with the time that the program originally aired on the radio, Wednesdays at three. Now, “Opus 3” airs on Sundays at noon.

Born into a military family, Allard studied music education and performance at The State University of New York at Potsdam. While in school, she decided to become an opera singer, and got the opportunity to be an apprentice with the Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton, New York.

She eventually got the opportunity to sing in Europe for seven years. When the prospects for a new contract became slim, she decided to change course.

“At that point, I had already started coaching some of my friends and taught my colleagues, and I realized that I really liked doing this because I did have that teaching degree. I’d already taught elementary school, and I liked the coaching part, and I thought well, what the heck, let’s go back.”

She returned to the U.S. to finish her degree and then moved to Alabama to be closer to her family who were living in Florida at the time.

Allard began working for TROY in 1989, teaching voice in the music department where she says she had the pleasure of working with Dr. John Long, former Director of Bands, and Dr. Bill Denison, the former Director of the School of Music. She taught music history and music theory and would occasionally use “Opus 3” as a tool to help teach her students.

“I would tell them that I was going to give three questions or extra credit for them to answer,” Allard said. “So, I would say ‘read this and listen to this show, then we’ll take a test.’ It was fun because it was something that they could do as a group and talk about various things. I didn’t really care what their answers were, as long as they were listening and thinking.”

Allard says that over the years the program has somewhat evolved as it took her time to find a format that would work.

“I tried winging it for a little while, and then I would listen to myself and would hear a lot of ‘ums’ and ‘uhs,’ I said to myself ‘this is no good’ so I would write a script,” she explained.

“I read a lot of books, and articles and I would pull the liner notes from CDs, and they were very helpful. I would get the idea for a theme which would help me decide and narrow things down for what I was going to talk about.”

Working through composers’ names alphabetically, Seven Deadly Sins and asking friends for their top 10 classical pieces are some of the themes that Allard has done on “Opus 3.”

According to Allard, “Opus 3” has stayed relevant for the last two-and-a-half decades because there are other people who like classical music as much as she does.

“There is a way that all music reaches across who you are, what you think, and it reaches right down into the depths of who you are and pulls something out of you and allows you to express. Even though you don’t know you’re expressing things, whether it’s happy things, sad things and even love, the relevance of music has been with us forever and ever.”

Allard says that while the program has “forced” her to listen and learn new music, it’s something that she genuinely loves doing.

“This show has allowed me to indulge in my love of listening to music because sometimes your life can fill up with all sorts of stuff, but this show allows me to do exactly that,” she said. “And I am not done buying CDs by any stretch of the imagination.”

As “Opus 3” marks 25 years on the air, Allard remains dedicated to sharing the stories behind classical compositions that continue to inspire, educate and connect listeners for years to come.