New Season of Radio 3 Opera

Today:

Opera on 3. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 20th September 2008 (starting this evening). Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long). Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. HK Gruber conducts soprano Susan Bickley and the Royal National Scottish Orchestra in a performance of Weill and Brecht's anti-capitalist satire, given in August at the Usher Hall in the opening concert of this year's Edinburgh International Festival. The opera's story centres on three fugitives' setting up of a city in an American desert devoted solely to pleasure and debauchery. Prostitution and cheap alcohol attract many prospectors, but when Jimmy the barman declarates that all restraints are to be removed, there can only be tragic consequences. Introduced by Donald Macleod, who also talks to the conductor about the context of the work and Weill and Brecht's influence on subsequent operatic developments. Susan Bickley, mezzo (Leokadja Begbick), Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, tenor (Fatty), Alan Opie, baritone, (Trinity Moses), Giselle Allen, soprano (Jenny), Anthony Dean Griffey, tenor (Jimmy Mahoney), Peter Hoare, tenor (Jack Smith, Toby Higgins), Stephan Loges, baritone (Bill), Brindley Sherratt, bass (Joe), Hannah Gordon (narrator), Ladies of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Christopher Bell (chorus master), Royal Scottish National Orchestra/HK Gruber.

As before, these broadcasts are streamed from the Radio 3 website and some may be available for seven days after broadcast.

Opera on 3. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 27th September 2008 (starting this evening). Time: 18:00 to 20:15 (2 hours and 15 minutes long). Szymanowski's King Roger. Valery Gergiev conducts baritone Andrzej Dobber and the Mariinsky Opera in a staged performance of Szymanowki's exotic and colourful opera given at the Edniburgh International Festival. A strongly philosophical work, King Roger centres on the arrival at the court of the Catholic King Roger II of Sicily of an enigmatic shepherd, who threatens the established harmony by preaching a seductive and sensually-based pagan religion. Sung in Polish, and directed by Mariusz Trelinski. Andrzej Dobber, baritone (Roger), Elzbieta Szmytka, soprano (Roxana), Sergei Semishkur, tenor (Edrisi), Pavlo Tolstoy, tenor (Shepherd), Yury Vorobiev, bass (Archbishop), Lyubov Sokolova, mezzo (Deaconess), Chorus and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Opera/Valery Gergiev.

Opera on 3. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 11th October 2008 (starting this evening). Time: 18:00 to 20:45 (2 hours and 45 minutes long). Love and Other Demons. Peter Eotvos's opera in two acts, performed at Glyndebourne. Based on the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this story of forbidden love is set in 18th-century Colombia. Allison Bell, soprano (Sierva Maria), Robert Brubaker, tenor (Don Ygnacio), Nathan Gunn, baritone (Father Cayetano Delaura), John Graham Hall, tenor (Abrenuncio), Marietta Simpson, contralto (Dominga de Adviento), Felicity Palmer, mezzo (Josefa Miranda), Jean Rigby, mezzo (Martina Laborde), Glyndebourne Chorus and London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Opera on 3. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 18th October 2008 (starting this evening). Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long). Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress. Robert Lepage directs a new production of Stravinsky's neo-classical opera, based on the story behind a set of engravings by the British painter and satirist William Hogarth, and featuring a libretto by the poet W H Auden. The story centres on Tom, a young country man, and his path to ruin because of the malign influence of Nick Shadow, who appears out of nowhere, offering to help him. Presented by Ivan Hewett. Charles Castronovo, tenor (Tom Rakewell), John Relyea, bass (Nick Shadow), Sally Matthews, soprano (Anne Trulove), Darren Jeffrey, baritone (Trulove), Patricia Bardon, mezzo (Baba the Turk), Peter Hoare, tenor (Sellem), Kathleen Wilkinson, mezzo (Mother Goose), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Thomas Ades.

Opera on 3. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 1st November 2008 (starting this evening). Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long). Mozart's Cosi fan tutte: Riccardo Muti conducts soprano Barbara Frittoli, mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager and bass Ildebrando D'Arcangelo in a performance of Mozart's comic opera, given in February at the Vienna State Opera - in the same city where the work was first performed in 1790. The plot of what is regarded by many as the composer's greatest opera centres on Guglielmo and Ferrando, two army officers who claim to their colleagues that their wives will always be faithful to them. However, their friend Don Alfonso bets otherwise, devising a plan to test the women's fidelity. Presented by Suzy Klein. Barbara Frittoli, soprano (Fiordiligi), Angelika Kirchschlager, mezzo (Dorabella), Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, bass-baritone (Guglielmo), Francesco Meli, tenor (Ferrando), Natale De Carolis, baritone (Don Alfonso), Laura Tatulescu, soprano (Despina), Vienna State Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Riccardo Muti.

Opera on 3. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 8th November 2008 (starting this evening). Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long). Handel's Partenope.

Christian Curnyn makes his debut conducting a new ENO production of Handel's comic opera, updated by Christopher Alden to the time of the surrealists, and starring Rosemary Joshua, Patricia Bardeon and Christian Rice. Queen Partenope of Naples has four suitors: one, Eurimene, is actually Rosmira disguised as a man and trying to regain the affections of her ex, Arsace, now another Partenope suitor. Another, Emilio, ends up declaring war when she refuses to marry him. After many twists and turns, she ends up with a fourth claimant to her affections, while the ex-lovers are reunited. Presented from London's Coliseum by Suzy Klein. The broadcast includes interviews with the director and cast, plus insights from Handel expert Dr Donald Burrows. John Mark Ainsley, tenor (Emilio), Rosemary Joshua, soprano (Partenope), Christine Rice, mezzo (Arsace), Iestyn Davies, countertenor (Armindo), Patricia Bardon, mezzo (Rosmira/Eurimene), James Gower, bass-baritone (Ormonte), Nicholas Ansdell-Evans, Joseph McHardy (harpsichords), David Newby (cello continuo), David Miller (theorbo continuo), Orchestra of English National Opera/Christian Curnyn.

Opera on 3. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 15th November 2008 (starting this evening). Time: 18:15 to 20:45 (2 hours and 30 minutes long). Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. Live from London's Coliseum, Suzy Klein presents English National Opera's production of Mussorgsky's classic study of guilt and paranoia. Bass Peter Rose takes the role of the Russian Czar in a performance of the original version with a new translation by David Lloyd-Jones. Peter Rose, bass (Boris Godunov), John Graham-Hall, tenor (Prince Shuisky), David Stephenson, baritone (Andrei Shchelkalov), Brindley Sherratt, bass (Pimen), Gregory Turay, tenor (Grigory, later Dmitri the Pretender), Yvonne Howard, mezzo (Innkeeper), Jonathan Veira, bass-baritone (Varlaam), Anton Rich, tenor (Misail), Sophie Bevan, soprano (Xenia), Ann Grevelius, mezzo (Fyodor), Deborah Davison, mezzo (Xenia's Nurse), James Gower (bass-baritone (Nikitch), Paul Napier-Burrows, baritone (Mityukha), Charles Johnston, bass (Border Guard), Philip Daggett, tenor (Boyar-in-attendance), Robert Murray, tenor (Simpleton), Orchestra and Chorus of English National Opera/Edward Gardner.

Sirensong. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 15th November 2008 (starting this evening). Time: 21:10 to 22:30 (1 hour and 20 minutes long). A performance of Jonathan Dove's one-act opera Sirensong, given at the 2007 Gratchenfestival, Amsterdam. Brad Cooper, tenor (Davey Palmer), Mattijs van de Woerd, baritone (Jonathan Reed), Amaryllis Dieltiens, soprano (Diana Reed), Mark Omvlee, tenor (Regulator), Marijn Zwitserlood, bass-baritone (Captain), John Edward Serrano, speaker (Wireless Operator), Siren Ensemble/Henk Guittart.

There are still six days left to listen to yesterday evening's opera broadcast on the BBC Listen Again service.

A performance of Rachmaninov's rarely-heard one-act opera The Miserly Knight, the story of a young knight, Albert, who lives a life of jousting and courtly pleasure, and his father, an extremely rich but miserly baron who refuses to support him.

Baron ...... Maxim Mikhailov (bass)
Albert ...... Misha Didyk (tenor)
Duke ...... Sergey Murzaev (baritone)
Moneylender ...... Peter Bronder (baritone)
Servant ...... Gennadi Bezzubenkov (bass)
BBC Philharmonic
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)

Rachmaninov: The Miserly Knight.

Opera on 3. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 22nd November 2008 (starting this evening). Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long).

Rossini's Matilde di Shabran.

Ivan Hewett introduces a performance of the first Royal Opera House production since 1854 of Rossini's tragicomedy, with Carlo Rizzi conducting soprano Aleksandra Kurzak alongside tenor Juan Diego Florez. The plot centres on Corradino, who refers to himself as 'heart of iron', but who is actually a petty tyrant, misogynist and hypochondriac. He becomes smitten by Mathilde, a charmer with a ready answer for everything, but has to fight obstacles in the form of love rival Edoardo and the evil Countess. Aleksandra Kurzak, soprano (Matilde di Shabran), Juan Diego Florez, tenor (Corradino), Carlo Lepore (Ginardo), Marco Vinco, bass (Aliprando), Alfonso Antoniozzi, baritone (Isidoro),Vesselina Kasarova, mezzo (Edoardo), Enkelejda Shkosa, mezzo (Contessa d'Arco), Bryan Secombe, bass (Rodrigo), Mark Beesley, bass (Raimondo Lopez), Robert Anthony Gardiner, tenor (Egoldo), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Royal Opera Chorus/Carlo Rizzi.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met. On: BBC Radio Three. Date: Saturday 29th November 2008 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:30 to 20:30 (3 hours long).

Berlioz's La damnation de Faust: Launching the new season of live broadcasts from New York's Metropolitan Opera, James Levine conducts tenor Marcello Giordani as Faust and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham as Marguerite in Berlioz's adaptation of Goethe's story of a man who sells his soul to the Devil. In a story that is more romantically focused than the Goethe version, the evil Mephistopheles introduces Faust to Marguerite and causes them to fall in love. Faust is tricked into selling his soul to save the woman he loves, ultimately sacrificing himself so that she might reach heaven. Presented by Margaret Juntwait, with guest commentator Ira Siff. Susan Graham, mezzo (Marguerite), Marcello Giordani, tenor (Faust), John Relyea, bass (Mephistopheles), Patrick Carfizzi, bass (Brander), Chorus and Orchestra of New York Metropolitan Opera/James Levine.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 13th December 2008 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:30 to 21:30 (4 hours long)

The Queen of Spades.

Direct from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, Seiji Ozawa conducts Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades opera based on Pushkin's story about a man who loses his fortune and his mind to cards, with Maria Guleghina as Lisa and Ben Heppner as Ghermann. Ghermann is madly in love with Lisa, the wealthy granddaughter of the Countess, but he is too poor to have much hope of aspiring to her hand. He must learn the Countess's gambling secret in order to strike it rich and marry Lisa. She kills herself, though, when she realises that Gherman's obsession with gambling has driven him mad, and he commits suicide after losing his fortune. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. The two intervals include live backstage interviews with some of the artists. Maria Guleghina, soprano (Lisa), Ben Heppner, tenor (Ghermann), Ekaterina Semenchuk, mezzo (Pauline), Felicity Palmer, mezzo (The Countess), Mark Delavan, baritone (Count Tomsky), Vladimir Stoyanov, baritone (Prince Yeletsky), Alan Oke, tenor (Chekalinsky), Paul Plishka, bass (Surin), Mark Schowalter, tenor (Chaplitsky), LeRoy Lehr, bass (Narumov), Bernard Fitch, tenor (Master of Ceremonies), Kathryn Day, mezzo (Governess), Erin Morley, soprano (Masha), Wendy Bryn Harmer, soprano (Chloe), Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Seiji Ozawa. Including the Met Opera Quiz during the interval.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 20th December 2008 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 20:40 (3 hours and 40 minutes long)

Massenet's Thais.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, soprano Renee Fleming brings one of her most celebrated roles there for the first time in a performance of Massenet's exotic drama of love and redemption. Based on a tale initially written down by a 10th-century nun, the opera tells the story of the monk Athanael and his ultimately tragic desire for the Alexandrian courtesan Thais. Presented by Margaret Juntwait, with guest commentator Ira Siff. The two intervals include backstage interviews. Renee Fleming, soprano (Thais, a courtesan), Thomas Hampson, baritone (Athanael, a coenobite monk), Michael Schade, tenor (Nicias, a young sybarite philosopher), Alain Vernhes, bass (Palemon, an old coenobite monk), Alyson Cambridge, soprano (Crobyle, a slave), Ginger Costa-Jackson, mezzo (Myrtale, a slave), Leah Partridge, soprano (Albine, Abbess), David Won, baritone (Servant of Nicias), Kurt Phinney, Daniel Clark Smith and Craig Montgomery, tenors, and Roger Andrews and Richard Pearson, basses (Cenobites), Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Jesus Lopez-Cobos.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 27th December 2008 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Puccini's La fanciulla del West in a production by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The cloudy mountains of Wild West California at the height of the Gold Rush form the setting for La Fanciulla del West, the most vivdly cinematic of Puccini's operas. Its characters come from the ends of the earth to the Polka Saloon, where they gather to drink, gamble, gossip and fight. The mining camp is full of men, with just one woman, the owner of the saloon, Minnie. She is a scripture-reading innocent, admired and respected by everybody. Into this environment comes Dick Johnson, in reality Ramirez, a bandit on the run. Despite her better instincts, Minnie falls for him, much to the annoyance of Jack Rance the sheriff, who fancies Minnie himself. Rance hunts Johnson down and is about to have him lynched, when Minnie finds a way to save him. Presented by Martin Handley, with guest Alexandra Wilson. Eva-Maria Westbroek, soprano (Minnie), Jose Cura, tenor (Dick Johnson), Silvano Carroli, baritone (Jack Rance), Bonaventura Bottone, tenor (Nick), Eric Halfvarson, bass (Ashby), Vuyani Mline, bass (Jake Wallace), Daniel Sutin, baritone (Sonora), Hubert Francis, tenor (Trin), Kostas Smoriginas, bass-baritone (Bello), Quentin Hayes, bass (Happy), Harry Nicoll, tenor (Joe), Andrew Foster-Williams, baritone (Larkens), Robert Murray, tenor (Harry), Adrian Clarke, baritone (Sid), Graeme Danby, bass (Billy Jackrabbit), Clare Shearer, soprano (Wowkle), Jeremy White, bass (Jose Castro), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Antonio Pappano.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 3rd January 2009
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Puccini's La Boheme.

Direct from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Frederic Chaslin conducts a revival of Franco Zeffirelli's celebrated production of Puccini's much-loved opera, with a cast headed by Latvian soprano Maija Kovalevska as Mimi and Ramon Vargas as Rodolfo. A story that has touched opera audiences ever since its creation in 1895, it tells of the love between penniless young artists in 19th century Paris, blighted by jealousy, harsh living conditions and grave illness. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. The two intervals include live backstage interviews and the popular Metropolitan Opera Quiz. Ramon Vargas, tenor (Rodolfo, a poet), Maija Kovalesvska, soprano (Mimi, a seamstress), Mariusz Kwiecien, baritone (Marcello, a painter), Tommi Hakala, baritone (Schaunard, a musician), Oren Gradus, bass (Colline, a philosopher), Susanna Phillips, soprano (Musetta, a singer), Paul Plishka, bass (Benoit/Alcindoro), Daniel Clark Smith (tenor (Parpignol), Orchestra and Chorus of Metropolitan Opera/Frederic Chaslin.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 10th January 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:30 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Puccini's La Rondine.

Direct from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, Marco Armiliato conducts the least-known of Puccini's later operas, which has a much lighter musical style than his better known works, as well as operetta-like touches and strong tunes. Real-life couple Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna play the lead romantic roles in a piece they have performed around the world and helped to put back onto the operatic map. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. The interval includes backstage interviews. Angela Gheorghiu, soprano (Magda), Roberto Alagna, tenor (Ruggero), Lisette Oropesa, soprano (Lisette), Marius Brenciu, tenor (Prunier), Samuel Ramey, baritone (Rambaldo), David Won, baritone (Perichaud), Tony Stevenson, tenor (Gobin), David Crawford, bass-baritone (Crebillon), Monica Yunus, soprano (Yvette), Alyson Cambridge, soprano (Bianca), Elizabeth De Shong, mezzo (Suzy), Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Marco Armiliato.

I heard Gheorghiu in La Rondine at SF Opera last June. She was excellent in the role. The music, while not Puccini's greatest, is pleasant.

Lucky you, pechmerle, to hear her live. I enjoyed the broadcast whilst doing the ironing and other chores and I'd agree with you about it not being Puccini's best. Those soaring, exstatic melodies though!

This evenings opera:

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 17th January 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

From the Met.

John Adams's Doctor Atomic: In a performance given in November 2008 at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, Alan Gilbert conducts John Adams's opera, treating the subject of the atomic bomb, which is the latest in a series of works dealing with resonant moments in 20th-century history. Bass-baritone Gerald Finley portrays Robert J Oppenheimer, the highly cultivated scientific genius whose profound humanism is at odds with his role as the head of the project to create a weapon of unprecedented destructive force. Presented by Margaret Juntwait. Richard Paul Fink, bass-baritone (Edward Teller), Gerald Finley, bass-baritone (J Robert Oppenheimer), Thomas Glenn, tenor (Robert Wilson), Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano (Kitty Oppenheimer), Eric Owens, bass (General Leslie Groves), Earle Patriarco, baritone (Frank Hubbard), Roger Honeywell, tenor (Captain James Nolan), Meredith Arwady, mezzo (Pasqualita), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York/Alan Gilbert.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 24th January 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 19:45 (1 hour and 45 minutes long)

Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera New York, James Levine conducts mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and soprano Danielle de Niese in the title roles of Gluck's version of the Greek myth of Orpheus. Presented by Margaret Juntwait, with guest commentator Ira Siff. Stephanie Blythe, mezzo (Orfeo), Danielle de Niese, soprano (Euridice), Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano (Amor), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera/James Levine.

I expect to see this one in a theater. That gives the added advantage of allowing ogling of Daniel de Niese.

Robert

>20 Mr.Durick:: I like your priorities. ;-)

Danielle (pardon my misspelling earlier) was in a role that did not highlight her strengths except that she can sing. She is a dynamic performer capable of glorious physical, including facial, expression; the role limited her to singing in a cumbersome dress.

That, however, did not ruin the performance. The mezzo-soprano in the Orfeo role was superb, and, in her case, it was her voice that carried the day.

This was my first exposure to Gluck's telling of the story. I'm not sure I like his new twist at the end. I would like to hear, and see, it in French.

Robert

Lucky you, to see it live. Over here, on the other side of the pond, we can only listen....

This evenings treat:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 31st January 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Verdi's Rigoletto.

Direct from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, Riccardo Frizza conducts a young cast in Otto Schenk's production of Verdi's Rigoletto, a work that incorporates his most memorable melodies, and which shows his individuality as an operatic composer. The dark story focuses on the exploits of the womanising Duke of Mantua and his hump-backed court jester Rigoletto. When Rigoletto's daughter Gilda is abducted, he plots revenge, but a curse placed on him means that the result can only lead to tragedy. Giuseppe Filianoti, tenor (Duke of Mantua), Zelijko Lucic, baritone (Rigoletto), Aleksandra Kurzak, soprano (Gilda), Mikhail Petrenko, bass (Sparafucile), Victoria Vizin, mezzo (Maddalena), Kathryn Day, soprano (Giovanna), Keith Miller, bass (Count Monterone), Mark Schowalter, tenor (Borsa), James Courtney, bass (Count Ceprano), Grazia Doronzio (soprano (Countess Ceprano), Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Riccardo Frizza.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 7th February 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 22:00 (4 hours long)

Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

Direct from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Marco Armiliato conducts one of the most loved bel canto operas of all time, broadly based on a historic drama by Walter Scott, and starring Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and Polish tenor Piotr Beczala as the doomed lovers. The opera centres on a tragic love triangle, as Lucia and Edgardo secretly become engaged, although Lucia is forced by her cruel brother to marry Arturo. She obeys, imagining that Edgardo is unfaithful, but after realising her mistake, Lucia turns mad with anguish. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. The intervals include backstage interviews with the performers and the Met Opera Quiz. Anna Netrebko, soprano (Lucia), Mariusz Kwiecien, baritone (Enrico), Rolando Villazon, tenor (Edgardo), Colin Lee, tenor (Arturo), Ildar Abdrazakov, bass (Raimondo), Michaela Martens, mezzo (Alisa), Michael Myers, tenor (Normanno), Chorus and Orchestra of New York Metropolitan Opera/Marco Armiliato.

(It is Piotr Beczala, and not Rolando Villazon, who is singing Edgardo.)

I listen to the radio performances from time to time, but operas mean very little to me without the drama in my face. I like Ira Siff's commentary and the other tidbits that come with Live from the Met, and I miss them when I see the performance in High Definition video at the theater. Nevertheless, on Saturday we had Natalie Dessay hosting the video, and that was a treat.

I had not seen Lucia di Lammermoor or even read about it. The first two acts, full of singing though they were, struck me as a chick flick. But then the glorious third act came on. I don't know that I have ever even thought of a duet comprising a singer and a flute. Both stars got to make the day for me by the time it was over. I believe that they would not have if I had only listened to it.

The people I ran into in church who had seen it were universally enthusiastic. They were all women and hadn't seen the first two acts as chick flick, but they nodded their heads when I mentioned it.

A fellow who was there dug out an old New York Times article on last year's performance and e-mailed it around (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/arts/music/05glas.html). I didn't notice (hear or see) a glass harmonica in this production, but a woman who is close to opera in this town and who was there said she noticed it. Did you?

And I just wish that more people looked like the harpist.

Robert

Yes, I agree with you, opera is better as a stage, live, art form rather than just audio. But an audio-only hearing is also enjoyable and, this side of the pond, this is the only option.

Pity I missed the harpist................

This evening's broadcast:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 28th February 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Verdi's Il Trovatore.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Gianandrea Noseda conducts Argentinian tenor Marcelo Alvarez in the title role alongside American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora. This work is a tale of revenge, with a wretched twist, as Manrico, the troubadour, snatched as a baby and raised by the gypsy Azucena, discovers the tragic consequences of his upbringing later on in life. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. There are interviews with members of the cast during the interval. Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone (Count di Luna), Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano (Leonora), Dolora Zajick, mezzo-soprano (Azucena), Marcelo Alvarez, tenor (Manrico), Kwangchul Youn, bass (Ferrando), Maria Zifchak, soprano (Ines), Eduardo Valdes, tenor (Ruiz), Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera/Gianandrea Noseda.

Sondra Radvanovsky is in good voice tonight, as is Alvarez. We are going to hear her in the same role at Covent Garden in a couple of months -should be good. Hrovostovsky is coming too, but Roberto Alagna is singing Manrico.

I thoroughly enjoyed this broadcast.

I wonder if we will notice any decline in quality, however, in later broadcasts this year. I hear that even the Met is having to cut back, ditch some expensive plans, and hire cheaper singers in the context of the current economic downturn......

Tomorrow's broadcast:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 7th March 2009 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Madama Butterfly.

Direct from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Patrick Summers conducts Anthony Minghella's celebrated production of Puccini's opera, with soprano Patricia Racette and tenor Marcello Giordani in the leading roles. One one the most popular operas ever written, it is set in Nagasaki at the beginning of the 20th Century where a geisha named Cio-Cio San, known as 'Butterfly' to her friends, marries US Navy officer Pinkerton, who is stationed in Japan. He considers the union temporary, but Butterfly is clearly not under the same impression as she renounces her family and religion for the marriage. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. The intervals include backstage interviews and the Met Opera Quiz. Patricia Racette, soprano (Cio-Cio-San/Madam Butterfly), Marcello Giordani, tenor (Pinkerton), Maria Zifchak, mezzo-soprano (Suzuki), Dwayne Croft, baritone (Sharpless), Edyta Kulczak (Kate Pinkerton), Orchestra and Chorus of Metropolitan Opera/Patrick Summers.

You shouldn't expect to see major changes in quality from the economic downturn this season. Singers' contracts are made more than a year ahead, often two years or more for the stars.

Has the Met announcement of next season's operas and cast been made yet? Does it show effects from the economy? (San Francisco's next season announcement has been out for about a month. Cast quality remains high, but programming has taken a turn for the conservative and number of performances will be down.)

-------------------------
edited to add: The Met 2009-10 season complete list of performances and casts is out; you can peruse it here:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/press/detail.aspx?id=6986

In a performance from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Czech maestro Jiri Belohlavek conducts soprano Renee Fleming in the title role of Dvorak's opera Rusalka - one she has made her own in recent years, with global success.

Rusalka tells the romantic story of a water nymph, who falls in love with a human. It has a poetic score, which evokes the mystery of the forest and explores the clash of the human and fairy worlds, most famously with Rusalka's passionate Song to the Moon.

Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. The two intervals include backstage interviews and the Metropolitan Opera Quiz.

Rusalka ...... Renee Fleming (soprano)
Foreign Princess ...... Christine Goerke (soprano)
Jezibaba ...... Stephanie Blythe (mezzo-soprano)
Prince ...... Aleksander Antonenko (tenor)
Water Gnome ...... Kristinn Sigmundsson
Gamekeeper ...... James Courtney (tenor)
Turnspit ...... Kate Lindsey (mezzo-soprano)
First Wood Nymph ...... Kathleen Kim (soprano)
Second Wood Nymph ...... Brenda Patterson (soprano)
Third Wood Nymph ...... Edita Kulczak (mezzo-soprano)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera
Jiri Belohlavek (conductor).

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 21st March 2009 (starting in 1 day)
Time: 17:00 to 20:00 (3 hours long)

Bellini's La Sonnambula.

Direct from New York's Metropolitan Opera, Evelino Pido conducts Mary Zimmerman's new production of Bellini's opera, with soprano Natalie Dessay and tenor Juan Diego Florez in the lead roles. The story is set in a Swiss village inn, where a group of people are celebrating the marriage of orphan Amina to the rich Elvino. Her habit of sleepwalking accidentally leads her into the bed of Count Rodolfo, causing the villagers to reach the wrong conclusions and arouse Elvino's suspicions. Natalie Dessay, soprano (Amina), Juan Diego Florez, tenor (Elvino), Michele Pertusi, bass (Rodolfo), Jennifer Black, soprano (Lisa), Jeremy Galyon, bass (Alessio), Jane Bunnell, mezzo-soprano (Teresa), Bernard Fitch, tenor (Notary), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/Evelino Pido.

Perhaps worth saying that this performance is being streamed in HD to cinemas around the world tomorrow.

ETA link -

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx

I plan to see it, but I have to stock up on cough drops. Natalie Dessay is both funny looking and a babe; I wouldn't miss her.

Robert

Dessay also has a wonderful voice. I heard her as Lucia last year.

Pity me. I could not promise myself not to cough, so I did not go despite having acquired the cough drops. Perhaps in a week and a half I will skip my book group to catch the rerun. For those who caught it, how was it?

Robert

That's a real shame - but how public spirited! We went to hear the local choral society perform Elijah so missed the broadcast, but we saw Natalie with Florez in La Fille du Regiment a couple of years ago. I agree with both the 'babe' and 'wonderful voice' comments. Hope you make the reprise.

Lovely to see the discussions here and thanks again abbotthomas for providing the cinema links.

It seems that female opera singers may be widely admired, but where are the women here who may equally lust after the men? Or are the only members of this group men?

Tonight's broadcast:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 4th April 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore: Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Maurizio Benini conducts Donizetti's bel canto comedy, with Angela Gheorghiu and Massimo Giordano in the lead roles. The young Nemorino is in love with the beautiful farm owner Adina, but she seems beyond his reach, even more so when Sergeant Belcore turns up and asks her to marry him. But Dr Dulcamara, a travelling quack and charlatan, arrives in the village offering potions capable of curing anything, including an elixir of love. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. The interval includes live backstage interviews with members of the cast. Massimo Giordano, tenor (Nemorino), Angela Gheorghiu, soprano (Adina), Franco Vassallo, baritone (Belcore), Ying Huang, soprano (Giannetta), Simone Alaimo, bass-baritone (Dulcamara), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/Maurizio Benini.

I got to see La Sonnambula on Wednesday. Natalie Dessay is not only a funny looking babe, but she has a good complection. She can sing and act at the same time; she was a real pleasure to watch and listen to.

All the voices were good although Mama could have been a little stronger.

I would like to see a more conventional staging. I may have to buy a DVD to do it, but I'm a couple of hundred DVD's behind in my watching, and a good number of them are operas.

The women I talked to in the lobby afterwards were unanimous in their opinion that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Peruvian tenor.

Robert

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 18th April 2009 (starting tomorrow afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 22:30 (5 hours and 30 minutes long)

Wagner's Siegfried.

Live from New York Metropolitan Opera, James Levine conducts a performance of the third part of Wagner's four-part epic drama, The Ring of the Nibelung, based on Nordic myths. German tenor Christian Franz, in his debut season at the Met, performs the title role, supported by Swedish soprano Irene Theorin. The story centres on the cycle's hero, the eponymous Siegfried, product of an incestuous union, who becomes a blacksmith and forges a sword with which he slays powerful foes. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. There are backstage interviews and the Met Quiz during the two intervals. Christian Franz, tenor (Siegfried), Gerhard Siegel, tenor (Mime), James Morris, bass-baritone (The Wanderer), Richard Paul Fink, bass-baritone (Alberich), John Tomlinson, bass (Fafner), Jill Grove, mezzo (Erda), Irene Theorin, soprano (Brunnhilde), Lisette Oropesa, soprano (Woodbird), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/James Levine.

The London Financial Times critic was less than kind about the Met's Ring - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e43e7362-277d-11de-9b77-00144feabdc0.html
Clearly they should have given Tomlinson the job of Wotan - but I am a fan - and I enjoyed Irene Theorin when she stepped in at the last minute for a sick Lisa Gasteen in the 2007 Covent Garden Ring.

In some ways the Ring is better listened to than seen - the pictures are better.

It depends on the pictures Abbotthomas - some are better and more evocative than others. That goes for live performance also - better to listen in the privacy of your own living room than to sit next to some bronchial irritant. But, all things being well, live is always much better than recorded.

Still, here is tomorrow's offering (without broadcast images):

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 25th April 2009 (starting tomorrow afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 23:00 (6 hours long)

Wagner's Gotterdammerung.

In the last live broadcast from the New York Metropolitan Opera for the 2008/2009 season, James Levine conducts the final part of Wagner's Ring cycle, with Christian Franz as Siegfried and Katarina Dalayman as Brunnhilde. As a pledge of his love, Siegfried gives Brunnhilde the ring he took from the dragon Fafner, the ring made from the Rheingold that gives its owner power over all the world. Then she sends him into the world to do heroic deeds. But in the hall of the Gibichungs, Hagen has other ideas: a magic potion will make Siegfried forget Brunnhilde and fall in love with Gutrune. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. There are live backstage interviews and the Met Quiz during the two intervals. Christian Franz, tenor (Siegfried), Iain Paterson, bass-baritone (Gunther), Richard Paul Fink, bass-baritone (Alberich), John Tomlinson, bass (Hagen), Katarina Dalayman, soprano (Brunnhilde), Margaret Jane Wray, soprano (Gutrune), Yvonne Naef, mezzo (Waltraute), Wendy White, mezzo (First Norn), Elizabeth Bishop, mezzo (Second Norn), Wendy Bryn Harmer, soprano (Third Norn), Lisette Oropes, soprano (Woglinde), Kate Lindsey, soprano (Wellgunde), Tamara Mumford, mezzo (Flosshilde), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/James Levine.

I read Martin Bernheimer's reviews, but haven't taken his opinions too seriously since his dismissals of Klaus Florian Vogt and Joseph Calleja.

I actually like Schenck's set and suspect that it will get more praise and love than ever before when the Met unveils the Lepage production in 2010/2011.

Half way through the broadcast as I type, and it's going very well.

I've only seen two live Rings - both the recent Covent Garden production so not much to go on. The descriptions of the Met production suggest that it it a style that I would enjoy but I suppose that, as with so much, the next production will be 'modernised'.

The 'better pictures' line was throwaway, but I guess my mind's eye is a bit Arthur Rackham-ish. There are a lot of problems in staging the Ring - the giants tend to need clumpy Karloff style boots and extended foreheads and the Tarnhelm is next to impossible - the ROH had a sort of Rubik's Cube. I thought they did the bottom of the Rhine well and I liked the bleached horse skulls as a substitute for the Valkyries' mounts.

I wonder how, if he were around today, Wagner would have got on with Peter Jackson and his CGI team.

I have got tickets for the visit of the Mariinsky Ring to Covent Garden in June -sounds as if it will be good.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three (0103)
Date: Saturday 23rd May 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:45 (2 hours and 45 minutes long)

Korngold's Die tote Stadt: In a performance from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, American tenor Stephen Gould and German soprano Nadja Michael take on the two central roles in the UK premiere of the staged version of Korngold's opera, completed when the composer was still only in his early 20s. It tells the story of Paul's relationship with two women - his recently deceased wife Marie and the young actress Marietta. They bear a striking resemblance to each other and they begin to merge in Paul's mind. But what is real and what is fantasy? Presented by Christopher Cook with guest Erik Levi. Korngold: Die tote Stadt. Stephen Gould, tenor (Paul), Nadja Michael, soprano (Marie/Marietta), Gerald Finley, bass-baritone (Frank/Fritz), Kathleen Wilkinson, mezzo (Brigitta), Bernard Richter, tenor (Gastone/Victorin), Simona Mihai, soprano (Juliette), Jurgita Adamonyte, mezzo (Lucienne), Ji-Min Park, tenor (Graf Albert), Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Ingo Metzmacher.

ARTS: Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 30th May 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:45 (2 hours and 45 minutes long)

Wagner's Der Fliegende Hollander.

Radio 3's series of operas from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden continues with Marc Albrecht conducting Tim Albery's new production of Wagner's Der Fliegende Hollander, with bass-baritone Bryn Terfel in the title role and soprano Anja Kampe as Senta. Wagner based his great Romantic opera on Heinrich Heine's story about a Dutch sea captain compelled, as punishment for a blasphemous oath, to sail the oceans for ever unless he's redeemed by the love of a faithful woman. For a while it seems that Senta might be that redeeming angel, but after a misunderstanding the Dutchman is disillusioned once more, and returns to the sea, consigning himself to his fate. Presented by Martin Handley. Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander. Bryn Terfel, bass- baritone (Der Hollander), Anja Kampe, soprano (Senta), Hans-Peter Konig, bass (Daland), Torsten Kerl, tenor (Erik), Clare Shearer, mezzo-soprano (Mary), John Tessier, tenor (Steersman), Royal Opera Chorus,Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Marc Albrecht.

I was lucky enough to see this production a month or two ago - musically very satisfactory. I have been unfortunate with my Sentas before but Anja Kampe is good. Bryn Terfel was his usual impressive self.

Well worth a listen.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 6th June 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:50 (2 hours and 50 minutes long)

Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi.

In a performance from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Mark Elder conducts Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca in Bellini's setting of Romeo and Juliet. It had radical differences from the Shakespeare original, and featured two rival political factions instead of families, no balcony scene as well as the role of Romeo written for a woman. Presented by Donald Macleod with opera historian Sarah Lenton. Elina Garanca, mezzo-soprano (Romeo), Anna Netrebko, soprano (Giulietta), Dario Schmunck, tenor (Tebaldo), Eric Owens, bass-baritone (Capellio), Giovanni Battista Parodi, bass (Lorenzo), The Royal Opera Chorus, The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Mark Elder.

Performance on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Monday 8th June 2009
Time: 19:00 to 21:15 (2 hours and 15 minutes long)

Presented by Martin Handley. In a concert from Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, the Halle give their first performance of a complete Wagner opera, with Mark Elder conducting Lars Cleveman as Siegfried and Katarina Dalayman as Brunnhilde. As a pledge of his love, Siegfried gives Brunnhilde the ring he took from the dragon Fafner, the ring made from the Rheingold that gives its owner power over all the world. Then she sends him into the world to do heroic deeds. But in the hall of the Gibichungs, Hagen has other ideas. Wagner: Gotterdammerung (Prologue and Act 1). Katarina Dalayman (Brunnhilde), Attila Jun (Hagen), Peter Coleman-Wright (Gunther), Susan Bickley (Waltraute), Yvonne Howard (Second Norn), Katherine Broderick (Woglinde), Leah-Marian Jones (Flosshilde), Lars Cleveman (Siegfried), Andrew Shore (Alberich), Nancy Gustafson (Gutrune), Ceri Williams (First Norn), Miranda Keys (Third Norn), Madeleine Shaw (Wellgunde), BBC Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Chorus, Chorus of the Royal Opera, Halle Choir and Orchestra/Mark Elder.

The conclusion of Gotterdammerung was broadcast on Tuesday evening. Both parts are available to listen again - if you can get iPlayer.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 13th June 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:15 (2 hours and 15 minutes long)

Strauss's Elektra.

Andrew McGregor presents a performance from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in which Mark Elder conducts soprano Susan Bullock in a highly-praised production of Strauss's one-act opera. Bullock won an RPS award for her performance in the title role, while Elder was also feted for his work. The opera tells the bloody story of Elektra and her dysfunctional family. She has sworn vengeance for the murder of her father, King Agamemnon, by her mother, Klytemnestra, and she eventually achieves this, but at the cost of several lives including, finally, her own. Susan Bullock, soprano (Elektra), Anne Schwanewilms, soprano (Chrysothemis), Jane Henschel, mezzo (Klytemnestra), Johan Reuter, baritone (Orest), Miriam Murphy, soprano (Overseer), Frances McCafferty, mezzo (First Maid), Monika-Evelin Liiv, mezzo (Second Maid), Kathleen Wilkinson, mezzo (Third Maid), Elizabeth Woollett, soprano (Fourth Maid), Eri Nakamura, soprano (Fifth Maid), Louise Armit, mezzo (Confidante), Dervla Ramsay, mezzo (Trainbearer), Alfie Boe, tenor (Young Servant), Jeremy White, bass (Old Servant), Vuyani Mlinde, bass (Orest's companion), Frank van Aken, tenor (Aegisth), The Royal Opera Chorus, The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Mark Elder.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 20th June 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Purcell's Dido and Aneas.

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas. Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano (Dido), Belinda: Lucy Crowe (soprano), Lucas Meacham, baritone (Aeneas), Anita Watson, soprano (Second Woman), Sara Fulgoni, mezzo (Sorceress), Eri Nakamura (First Witch), Pumeza Matshikiza, soprano (Second Witch), Iestyn Davies, countertenor (Spirit), Sailor: Ji-Min Park (tenor). Handel: Acis and Galatea. Charles Workman, baritone (Acis), Danielle de Niese, soprano (Galatea), Paul Agnew, tenor (Damon), Ji-Min Park, tenor (Coridon), Matthew Rose, bass (Polyphemus), Juliet Schiemann (chorus soprano soloist), Philip Bell (chorus tenor soloist), The Royal Opera Extra Chorus, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Christopher Hogwood.

ARTS: Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 4th July 2009 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Berg's Lulu.

Concluding a season from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden is a performance of Alban Berg's Lulu. Presented by Suzy Klein in conversation with novelist Philip Hensher. Berg: Lulu. Agneta Eichenholz, soprano (Lulu), Michael Volle, baritone (Dr Schon/Jack the Ripper), Countess Geschwitz, Jennifer Larmore (mezzo), Peter Rose, bass (Animal Trainer/Athlete), Klaus Florian Vogt, tenor (Alwa), Gwynne Howell, bass (Schigolch), Philip Langridge, tenor (Prince/Manservant/Marquis), Will Hartmann, tenor (Painter/Policeman/Negro), Jeremy Whitem bass (Prof of Medicine/Theatre Manager/Banker), Heather Shipp, mezzo-soprano (Dresser/Schoolboy/Groom), Kostas Smoriginas, bass-baritone (Journalist), Vuyani Mlinde, bass (Manservant), Monika-Evelin Liiv, mezzo-soprano (Lady Artist), Frances McCafferty, mezzo-soprano (Mother), Simona Mihaim soprano (15-year-old girl), The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Antonio Pappano.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 11th July 2009 (starting in 1 day)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

David Alden's ENO production of Britten's Peter Grimes which wowed critics and audiences alike with its unconventional but powerful take on Britten's music drama, set at the time of its premiere - postwar Britain. Australian tenor Stuart Skelton sings the epic title role, giving a compelling interpretation of the misunderstood outsider, victim of his own weaknesses and contradictions, at once unstable and unpredictable, visionary and violent. Amanda Roocroft is Ellen Orford and Gerald Finley is Captain Balstrode. Edward Gardiner conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera.

So, for the next couple of months the BBC will be occupied with the Proms. Some opera coming up - Handel's Partenope, the Glyndebourne production of the Fairy Queen, G & S Patience and Fidelio.

Last night I was very fortunate to see The Barber of Seville at Covent Garden. The performance was recorded and is due to be broadcast next New Years Eve - do listen! Juan Diego Florez at the top of his form got the longest post-aria applause I have ever heard. Alexandro Corbelli and Ferrucio Furlanetto were great. Joyce DiDonato sang brilliantly from a wheelchair after fracturing her fibula on the first night and Pietro Spagnoli (as Figaro) was a worthy substitue for the sick Simon Keenlyside. This production must have been destined for a DVD so how they cope with the wheelchair remains to be seen.

Yes, I read about Joyce DiDonata in the newspaper. I'll certainly put New Year's Eve in my diary, sounds a real treat for the new year.

As you say, there are some excelllent operatic offerings at this year's proms. Tonight, for example:

Sunday 19th July 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20.35

Catherine Bott presents a concert performance of Handel's Partenope, sung in Italian. Partenope is a dazzling comic parody of a typically convoluted plot, which only unravels when the supposed Prince of Armenia is challenged to fight bare-chested and is exposed as the disguised Rosmira, her challenger's abandoned fiancee. Inger Dam-Jensen, soprano (Partenope), Tuva Semmingsen, mezzo (Rosmira), Andreas Scholl, countertenor (Arsace), Christophe Dumax, countertenor (Armindo), Bo Kristian Jensen, tenor (Emilio), Palle Knudsen, bass (Ormonte), Concerto Copenhagen/Lars Ulrik Mortensen. Partenope.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 19th September 2009 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Verdi's Macbeth.

Donald Macleod presents a performance given in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, as part of the 2009 International Festival. David Robertson conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a concert version of Verdi's dramatic setting of Shakespeare's play Macbeth. Lado Ataneli, baritone (Macbeth), Susan Neves, soprano (Lady Macbeth), John Relyea, bass (Banquo), Vsevolod Grivnov, tenor (Macduff), Katherine Broderick, soprano (Lady-in-Waiting), Nicholas Phan, tenor (Malcolm), Vuyani Mlinde, bass (Doctor/Servant), Wade Kernot, bass (Murderer/Herald/Apparition), Michael Yeoman, Niall Docherty (Two Apparitions), Edinburgh Festival Chorus, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/David Robertson.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 26th September 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:50 (2 hours and 50 minutes long)

Gershwin's Let 'Em Eat Cake: In a performance from the Grand Theatre in Leeds, Wyn Davies conducts the British premiere of George and Ira Gershwin's 1933 Broadway hit musical Let 'em Eat Cake - the sequel to his more popular Of Thee I Sing. This production by Opera North is directed by Caroline Gawn, with choreography by Caroline Pope. Presented by Donald Macleod. William Dazeley, bass (Wintergreen), Rebecca Moon, soprano (Mary - his wife), Steven Beard, tenor (Throttlebottom), Nicholas Sharratt, tenor (Louis Lipman), Martin Hyder, baritone (Francis X Gilhooly/Uncle William), Rob Edwards, baritone (Matthew Arnold Fulton), Richard Morris, baritone (Carver Jones), Graham Howes, baritone (Senator Robert E Lyons), Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North/Wyn Davies.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 10th October 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:45 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Rossini's Barbiere Di Siviglia.

From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Donald Macleod presents Rossini's comic opera The Barber of Seville. Artistic director Antonio Pappano conducts a cast including Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez as the Count, Italian baritone Pietro Spagnoli as the resourceful barber and American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as the young maiden Rossina. This is a revival of the critically acclaimed production by French directors Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier. Pietro Spagnoli, bass (Figaro), Juan Diego Florez, tenor (Count Almaviva), Joyce DiDonato, mezzo (Rosina), Alessandro Corbelli, baritone (Dr Bartolo), Ferruccio Furlanetto, bass (Don Basilio), Jennifer Rhys-Davies, soprano (Berta), Changhn Lim, baritone (Fiorello), Bryan Secombe, bass (Ambrogio), Christopher Lachner, baritone (Officer), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Antonio Pappano.

>59 antimuzak: Wasn't that a treat? And on Listen Again for another 4 days. The applause after Florez's last (often omitted) aria lasted for two solid minutes.

Yes, fantastic, glorious singing and Rossini's accellerandos and fantastic melodies.

Tonight: Saturday 17th October 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 22:30 (4 hours and 30 minutes long)

Verdi's Don Carlo.

From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Presented by Donald Macleod. Semyon Bychkov conducts the first revival of Nicholas Hytner's Royal Opera production of Verdi's grandest opera, first heard in 2008. Verdi: Don Carlo. Jonas Kaufmann, tenor (Don Carlo), Simon Keenlyside, baritone (Rodrigo), Marina Poplavskaya, soprano (Elisabetta), Ferruccio Furlanetto, bass (Philip II), Marianne Cornetti, mezzo (Princess Eboli), John Tomlinson, bass (Grand Inquisitor), Robert Anthony Gardiner, tenor (Conte di Lerma), Robert Lloyd, bass (Carlos V), Dawid Kimberg, Changhan Lim, David Stout, baritones, with Lukas Jokobski, bass (Flemish Deputies), Eri Nakamura, soprano (Voice from Heaven), Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Semyon Bychkov.

I thought I should flag up last Saturday's (31/10/09) performance of Tristan und Isolde, recorded earlier in the month at the Royal Opera House. Those who can get the BBC iPlayer have a few more days to catch this sublime work, even if there was a fairly big question mark over Ben Heppner's performance as Tristan. He sang very uncertainly with a lot of pitch problems and was certainly no match for Nina Stemme as Isolde. The supporting cast was fine - Sophie Koch as Brangane, Michael Volle as Kurwenal and Matti Salminen (hobbling bravely around after a recent Knee replacement) as King Mark - and Antonio Pappano did an excellent job. The set was strange and had attracted some boos for Christoph Loy on the first night.

To return to Heppner, we went to the next performance by which time his virus infection had developed and his doctor had forbidden him to sing a note. As his cover was also ill, the role was sung by a hastily flown in Lars Cleverman, a Swedish tenor who has sung the role opposite Nina Stemme in the past. Heppner valiantly walked the part while Cleverman sang from the side of the stage. Despite all this, I think we had a better evening than this recording. Nina Stemme was super - I believe she is due to sing Brunnhilde in San Francisco next year: I do wish I could go!

Thanks for this Abbotthomas, I was away for half term and missed the broadcast. It sounds as if this was a production plagued by illness!

This evening:

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 7th November 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:15 to 20:45 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Britten's The Turn of The Screw.

Live from the London Coliseum. Presented by Martin Handley. Based on Henry James's creepy ghost story, Britten's disturbing chamber opera explores themes of sexual repression and the corruption of innocence. Charles Mackerras, who knew and worked closely with Britten, and has performed this eerie and ambiguous masterpiece for more than 50 years, conducts David McVicar's celebrated English National Opera production. 6.15 Martin Handley in conversation with award-winning documentary maker and author John Bridcut. 6.30 The Turn of the Screw - Act 1. 7.25 Martin Handley and John Bridcut further explore the themes and composition of the opera, and Valentine Cunningham looks at Henry James's novella, the literary inspiration behind Britten's music. 7.50 The Turn of the Screw - Act 2. Michael Colvin, tenor (Prologue/Peter Quint), Rebecca Evans, soprano (Governess), Anne Murray, mezzo (Mrs Grose), Cheryl Barker, soprano (Miss Jessel), Charlie Manton, treble (Miles), Nazan Fikret, soprano (Flora), members of the ENO Orchestra/Charles Mackerras.

The BBC seems to be tailing me (or vice versa)* - we saw this a week or so ago. Highly recommeded. Uniformly well sung and spookily set, it was right for the eve of Halloween. Great to see Mackerras, absolutely in control in the pit, but sadly looking rather frail at the curtain calls. Long may he continue.

*there are at least some advantages to living in the crowded and expensive south-east of England!

I'll have to watch Turn of the Screw on DVD. I have a version but haven't watched it.

Today, and presumably in a week and a half, the Met is putting on Turandot in US theaters at least in high definition.

Robert

I envy you abbotthomas, living in the far North of England as I do with small children - it is years since I went to the opera in London or the Proms. On the other hand, I did manage to go to the new Kings Centre last year.

This evening (this is probably one you won't get to!):

Saturday 14th November 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:25 (2 hours and 25 minutes long)

Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre.

Presented by Ivan Hewett. In a performance given at Le Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Leo Hussain conducts Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre with an international cast in a production by innovative Catalan theatre company La Fura dels Baus. 6.00 Ivan Hewett introduces Ligeti's 'anti-anti-opera' - as the composer himself called it - with the help of Ligeti's biographer Richard Steinitz. 6.10 Le Grand Macabre: Scenes 1 and 2. 6.55 Richard Steinitz reveals more about the hidden depths and difficult gestation of this remarkable piece of theatre. 7.10 Le Grand Macabre: Scenes 3 and 4. Chris Merritt, tenor (Piet the Pot), Frances Bourne, mezzo (Amando), Ilse Eerens, soprano (Amanda), Werner Van Mechelen, baritone (Nekrotzar), Frode Olsen, bass (Astradamors), Ning Liang, mezzo (Mescalina), Barbara Hannigan, soprano (Venus), Brian Asawa, countertenor (Prince Go-Go), Bernard Villiers, baritone (Ruffiak), Gerard Lavalle, baritone (Schobiack), Jacques Does, baritone (Schabernack), Eberhard Lorenz, actor (White Minister), Martin Winkler, actor (Black Minister), Barbara Hannigan, soprano (Gepopo/Chief of Secret Police), La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Leo Hussain.

Not Radio 3 but BBC 4 (TV) and starting in a couple of hours - 20.00 GMT.

Antonio Pappano, artistic director of the Royal Opera, introduces Nicholas Hytner's production of Verdi's Don Carlo from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Based on Schiller's play, it tells the story of the conflicts in the life of Don Carlo, Prince of Spain after his betrothed Elizabeth of Valois is married to his father, Phillip II, as part of a peace treaty.

Rolando Villazon sings the title role and Marina Poplavskaya is Elizabeth. Pappano conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

(From www.bbc.co.uk)

I don't know if this will be available on iPlayer.

Yes it is, for the next 7 days, it looks well worth watching, from the evidence of the first 12 minutes.

Tonight:

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 21st November 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:50 (2 hours and 50 minutes long)

Massenet's Werther.

In a new Opera North production directed by Tom Cairns, Richard Farnes conducts tenor Paul Nilon and mezzo Alice Coote in Massenet's four-act opera Werther. Paul Nilon, tenor (Werther), Alice Coote, mezzo (Charlotte), Fflur Wyn, soprano (Sophie), Peter Savidge, baritone (Albert), Donald Maxwell, bass (The Magistrate), Richard Burkhard (Johann), Joshua Ellicott (Schmidt), Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North/Richard Farnesiwi.

ARTS: Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 28th November 2009 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:20 (2 hours and 20 minutes long)

Peter Maxwell Davies's Taverner.

With a performance from City Halls, Glasgow's mini-festival celebrating Peter Maxwell Davies' 75th birthday comes to an end with a concert performance of his iconic morality opera Taverner. Presented by Tom Service with contributions from the composer and performers, and commentary from Ian McQueen. Peter Maxwell Davies: Taverner. Daniel Norman, tenor (John Taverner), Richard Angas, bass (Richard Taverner), Martyn Hill, tenor (Cardinal/Archbishop), Stephen Richardson, bass (King/Archangel Michael/Captain), David Wilson-Johnson, bass (Jester/Death), Roderick Williams, bass (White Abbot), Andrew Watts, countertenor (Priest/God), Michael Yeoman, treble (Boy), Alasdair Robertson, treble (Boy), Stephen Jeffes, spoken/tenor (Antichrist/Second Monk), Christopher Bowen (tenor (Archangel Gabriel/First Monk), Susan Bickley, mezzo (Rose/Virgin Mary), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Chamber Choir, University of Glasgow Chapel Choir, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus/Martyn Brabbins.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 12th December 2009 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:30 to 22:00 (4 hours and 30 minutes long)

To begin a new season of broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Stefano Ranzini conducts a production of Puccini's ever-popular triple bill of Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. During the two intervals there are backstage interviews and the Met Quiz. Il Tabarro: Patricia Racette, soprano (Giorgetta), Stephanie Blythe, mezzo (Frugola), Salvatore Licitra, tenor (Luigi), Zeljko Lucic, baritone (Michele). Suor Angelica: Patricia Racette, soprano (Suor Angelica), Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano (Sister Genovieffa), Stephanie Blythe, mezzo (Principessa). Gianni Schicchi: Patricia Racette, soprano (Lauretta), Saimir Pirgu, tenor (Rinuccio), Alessandro Corbelli, baritone (Gianni Schicchi), Stephanie Blythe, mezzo (Zita). Stefano Ranzini conducts the Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera.

We saw Il Trittico earlier this fall at S.F. Opera. Patricia Racette also sang all three lead roles here. She was excellent.

I wish this were one of their High Definition broadcasts. I saw it once on public teevee and would like to see it in bigger scale.

Robert

It was good to hear the three operas in sequence, although I cannot really understand what links them. I do enjoy Corbelli who I saw as Schicchi at Glyndebourne a year or two ago.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 2nd January 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:30 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel: Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Fabio Luisi conducts Angelika Kirschlager and Miah Persson in Humperdinck's take on the Brothers Grimm fairytale. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. With live backstage interviews during the interval. Miah Persson, soprano (Gretel), Angelika Kirchschlager, mezzo (Hansel), Rosalind Plowright, soprano (Gertrude), Dwayne Croft, baritone (Peter), Philip Langridge, tenor (Witch), Jennifer Johnson, soprano (Sandman), Erin Morley, soprano (Dew Fairy), Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Children's Chorus/Fabio Luisi.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 9th January 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 23:00 (5 hours long)

Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.

Direct from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Edo de Waart conducts Renee Fleming, Susan Graham and Christine Schafer in Richard Strauss's masterpiece Der Rosenkavalier. The story centres on the Marschallin, who enjoys time with her young lover Octavian, but knows that she is getting older and that one day he will lose interest in her. Sure enough, when he is chosen to deliver the engagement silver rose from the Baron Ochs to Sophie, they fall instantly in love with each other.

I plan to see it in High Definition. I don't know it at all, and five hours is a little intimidating.

Robert

Don't worry Robert, I'm sure the time will fly by. Strauss at his best, eveything ends appropriately and no one dies. The closing trio is the one piece that is guaranteed to leave me with tears running down my cheeks.

The satellite broke. The rerun is January 27, and I've got another commitment then. I guess I'll never see it. I heard some of it on the radio, but I don't get opera without the story.

Alackaday,

Robert

I agree, there is some wonderful music in this opera Robert. The story helps - I sometimes sit with a copy of the libretto with an English translation and I find that it helps me to follow the story enormously.

This evening:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 16th January 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:45 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Bizet's Carmen.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna in Bizet's famous work, which include the best-known and most memorable melodies in the classical canon. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Including backstage interviews with artists during the interval. Elina Garanca, mezzo-soprano (Carmen), Roberto Alagna, tenor (Don Jose), Trevor Scheunemann, baritone (Morales), Barbara Frittoli (soprano (Micaela), Mariusz Kwiecien, baritone (Escamillo), Earle Patriarco, tenor (Dancaire), Keith Jameson, tenor (Remendado), Keith Miller, bass (Zuniga), Elizabeth Caballero, soprano (Frasquita), Sandra Piques Eddy, soprano (Mercedes), Orchestra and Chorus of Metropolitan Orchestra/Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

I'm about to try the High Definition broadcast of this Carmen. I do hope the satellite feed works this time.

Some years back when I was still off opera but thinking that was my deficiency rather than the genre's I read about Aida then listened to the CD with the libretto and its translation in front of me. It was excruciating, but it turned me to my attention, now loving attention, to opera. I haven't done such a thing since, although I have had a libretto at hand for some of the DVD's I've watched.

Robert

Roberto Alagna owns the role, but the performances that engaged me were Carmen and the matador. She had a presence and acting ability that is uncommon, and she kept it up. He was a last minute stand in and took charge of his role, especially the initial song of the toreadors. Both sounded great.

She would have been perfect except she exposed her thighs.

Robert

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 23rd January 2010
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

Suzy Klein presents a performance given in July at Nikolaus Harnoncourt's own Styriarte Festival in Graz, Austria, where he fulfilled a long-held desire to conduct Porgy and Bess. Harnoncourt is adamant that the work is an opera and not a musical, and in his performances he has adopted many of the cuts Gershwin himself made during its initial run. Jonathan Lemalu, bass-baritone (Porgy), Isabelle Kabatu, soprano (Bess), Angela Renee Simpson, soprano (Serena), Michael Forest, tenor (Sportin' Life), Gregg Baker, baritone (Crown), Bibiana Nwobilo, soprano (Clara), Roberta Alexander, soprano (Maria), Rodney Clarke, baritone (Jake), Previn Moore, tenor (Mingo/Robbins/Peter/Honeyman and Crab-man). The Arnold Schoenberg Chorus, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Last night's Stifelio went well despite a last minute substitution for Sondra Radvanovsky. The cover - I didn't catch her name - was well received. Verdi had a lot of trouble from the censors with this story of adultery in the Austrian protestant pastor's house and the opera still appears relatively infequently - a pity, I think.

Placido Domingo was conducting: loosening up for his outing as a baritone in next week's Simon Boccanegra?

Thanks abbott, as you say, tonight's offering is:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 6th February 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:45 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.

Verdi's dark score forms the background for one of his most commanding operas on many of his favourite themes: the people pitted against the aristocratic few; power and politics; illegitimacy and forbidden love. The Plebeian Doge of 14th-century Genoa struggles against his Patrician bitter rival. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Including backstage interviews and the famous Met Quiz during the intervals. Placido Domingo, baritone (Simon Boccanegra), Adrianne Pieczonka, soprano (Amelia), Gabriele Adorno, Marcello Giordano (tenor), James Morris (bass), Nicola Alaimo, bass, (Paolo Albiani), Richard Bernstein, baritone (Pietro), Joyce El-Khoury, soprano (Maidservant), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York/James Levine.

I read that the Berlin production was booed - NOT Domingo, of course, but the rather pedestrian production. Barenboim apparently was furious, expressed his feelings and converted the boos to cheers. I'm sure that tonight's show will be ecstatically received by the Met audience.

I plan to see it in High Definition. I hope the satellite is up to it.

Robert

I saw Simon Boccanegra. There was only one satellite glitch, just long enough for the audience to finish saying, "Oh!" I had not seen it or heard it before.

I think this may not be a favorite. It was grand. It was the Met. The singers were greats behaving competently. And in the first few acts I was saying, "So what?" except where there was an in house confrontation between the plebeians and the patricians. The opera 'til then received enough support from James Levine who said he found it among his favorites to make up for my dislike; I didn't need to feel guilty.

The last act, a tear jerker, jerked my tears, and I was perfectly willing to let it do that. The afternoon was made worth the trip.

If either of you, or any of you, got it only in audio, how did it sound to you?

Robert

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Robert. It was my wedding anniversary so I was out with the missus at a Sardinian restaurant. I'm sorry to have missed the broadcast, but I shall try very hard to get tickets for Domingo's baritone outing when it comes to Covent Garden later this year - it'll be a very hot ticket.

I heard Domingo sing Adorno a few years ago so it will be interesting to see him in the much meatier role of Boccanegra. I think it's a powerful story even if the music can be a bit gloomy and there aren't many tunes to come away whistling. It is certainly in my Top 10 of Verdi's operas.

I was looking in The Rough Guide to Opera and it waxes lyrical about a 1939 radio broadcast from the Met which is available on CD - "no greater Verdi cast has ever been assembled". What a shame they didn't have HD streaming then.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 20th February 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Strauss's Ariadne Auf Naxos.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Kirill Petrenko conducts Richard Strauss's opera-within-an-opera, in which Greek tragedy collides with the mischief-making of the commedia dell'arte. The work was conceived in collaboration with librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal and features Swedish soprano Nina Stemme as Ariadne, Kathleen Kim as the ever-pragmatic Zerbinetta and Sarah Connolly as the naive young Composer. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Including live backstage interviews during the interval. Nina Stemme, soprano (Ariadne), Kathleen Kim, soprano (Zerbinetta), Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano (Composer), Lance Ryan, tenor (Bacchus), Jochen Schmeckenbecher, baritone (Music Master), Anne-Carolyn Bird, soprano (Najade), Tamara Mumford, mezzo-soprano (Dryade), Erin Morley, soprano (Echo), Tony Stevenson, tenor (Dancing Master), Sean Panikkar, tenor (Brighella), Mark Schowalter, tenor (Scaramuccio), Markus Werba, baritone (Harlequin), Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Kirill Petrenko.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 27th February 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Puccini's La Boheme.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Marco Armiliato conducts Puccini's ever-popular opera about a group of bohemian artists sharing a garret in 1830s Paris. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. With live backstage interviews and the famous Met Quiz during the two intervals. Piotr Beczala, tenor (Rodolfo), Anna Netrebko, soprano (Mimi), Gerald Finley, baritone (Marcello), Massimo Cavalletti, baritone (Schaunard), Oren Gradus, bass (Colline), Nicole Cabell, soprano (Musetta), Paul Plishka, bass (Benoit/Alcindoro), Jeremy Litte, tenor (Parpignol), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/Marco Armiliato.

I have not come across Piotr Beczala (Rodolfo) before. Anyone know anything about him?

Here is his website, complete with streaming audio!

http://www.beczala.com/

Thanks for that, antimuzak - some nice soundbites. I thought he did rather well as Rodolfo.

I saw Beczala as Lensky at the Metropolitan Opera last season. He was very good, but no one can compare to Ramon Vargas in that role, I think.

How to compete with the best! It must be very difficult for those who may have been assigned to a starring role to discover that they are otherwise. A recent biography of Masud Khan discusses how Nureyev's partnership with the mature, at end of career, Margot Fonteyn pushed the younger Svetlana Beriosova aside, causing her to drift into decline and alcoholism.

Anyway, her is tomorrows offering:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 6th March 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Verdi's Attila.

Live from the Metropolitain Opera, New York, Riccardo Muti makes his long-awaited Met debut with Verdi's remarkable opera, Attila, which is being performed for the first time, at Lincoln Center. The story explores a pivotal moment in history - the collapse of the Roman Empire under attacks from the barbarians, led by Attila. The demanding title role is sung here by young Russian bass Ildar Abrazakov, alongside soprano Violeta Urmana, who stars as the Italian slave Odabella. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. There are live backstage interviews with members of the cast during the interval. Ilda Abrazakov, bass (Attila), Violeta Urmana, soprano (Odabella), Giovanni Meoni, baritone (Ezio), Ramon Vargas, tenor (Foresto), Russell Thomas, tenor (Uldino), Samuel Ramey, bass (Leone), Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Riccardo Muti.

I went to the first night of Attila and was most impressed with the Giovanni Meoni, the baritone who sings Ezio. The orchestra also played very well for Muti. If this gets revived I'm hoping that Rene Pape can sing the title role.

Next up for me is Hamlet with Simon Keenlyside and Marlis Petersen.

Thanks Ortolan, I thought the whole thing was excellent,

Tomorrow, though, it is not Hamlet, but:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 13th March 2010 (starting in 1 day)
Time: 18:00 to 21:05 (3 hours and 5 minutes long)

Shostakovich's The Nose

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Valery Gergiev conducts Shostakovich's powerful adaptation of Gogol's absurdist short story. Kovalyov has a shave in Yakovlevich's barbershop, and the following morning, Yakovlevich discovers Kovalyov's nose in his freshly baked loaf of bread. It turns up in the Cathedral, human sized, dressed as a State Councillor, and wanting nothing to do with its desperate owner. It then escapes from Kovalyov, who spends the rest of the opera being outwitted by it. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Andrei Popov, tenor (Police Inspector), Gordon Gietz, tenor (The Nose), Paulo Szot, baritone (Kovalyov), Vladimir Ognovenko, baritone (Ivan Yakovlevich), Claudia Waite, soprano (Praskovya Osipovna), James Courtney, bass (Newspaper Clerk), Maria Gavrilova, soprano (A Mother), Wendy White, mezzo-soprano (A Countess), Claudia Waite, soprano (A Pretzel Vendor), Gennady Bezzubenkov, bass (A Doctor), Adam Klein, tenor (Yaryzhkin), Erin Morley, soprano (Mme Podtochina's daughter), Barbara Dever (mezzo-soprano (Mme Podtochina), Kathryn Day, mezzo-soprano (Respectable lady), Orchestra and Chorus of Metropolitan Opera/Valery Gergiev.

Kovalyov has a shave in Yakovlevich's barbershop. The following morning, Yakovlevich discovers Kovalyov's nose in his freshly baked loaf of bread, much to the annoyance of his wife who demands that he gets rid of it. He eventually manages to throw it into a river, by which time Kovalyov has noticed it's missing and begun to hunt for it. It turns up in the Cathedral, human sized, dressed as a State Councillor, and wanting nothing to do with its desperate owner. It then escapes from Kovalyov, who spends the rest of the opera being outwitted by it.

Shostakovich's adaption of Gogol's absurdist short story is performed by a stellar cast conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff.

Police Inspector: Andrei Popov (tenor)
The Nose: Gordon Gietz (tenor)
Kovalyov: Paulo Szot (baritone)
Ivan Yakovlevich: Vladimir Ognovenko (baritone)
Praskovya Osipovna: Claudia Waite (soprano)
Newspaper Clerk: James Courtney (bass)
A Mother: Maria Gavrilova (soprano)
A Countess: Wendy White (mezzo-soprano)
A Pretzel Vendor: Claudia Waite (soprano)
A Doctor: Gennady Bezzubenkov (bass)
Yaryzhkin: Adam Klein (tenor)
Mme Podtochina's daughter: Erin Morley (soprano)
Mme Podtochina: Barbara Dever ( mezzo-soprano)
Respectable lady: Kathryn Day (mezzo-soprano)

Valery Gergiev: conductor
Orchestra and Chorus of Metropolitan Opera.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 20th March 2010 (starting tomorrow afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 18:50 (1 hour and 50 minutes long)

From the Met.

Janacek's From the House of the Dead: From the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts a performance of Janacek's final opera, based on Dostoyevsky's novel. The opera is set in a prison and focuses on the daily lives and pasts of its various inmates such as Shishkov, imprisoned for murdering his wife, and the wrongly imprisoned young Tatar Alyeya. Through their bleak existence, hope is given to the inmates by the defiance of an injured eagle, captive with them. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Willard White (bass-baritone (Gorianchikov), Kurt Strei, tenor (Skuratov), Peter Mattei, tenor (Shishkov), Stefan Margita, tenor (Filka Morozov), Peter Hoare, tenor (Shapkin), Eric Stoklossa, tenor (Alyeya), Peter Straka, tenor (Nikita), Vladimir Chmelo, baritone (Short Prisoner), Vladimir Ognovenko, bass (Prison Commandant), Jeffrey Wells, bass (Chekunov), Richard Bernstein, bass (The Cook), Adam Klein, tenor (Drunk Prisoner), John Cheek, bass (Priest), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Set in a prison, I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that there are no girls.

I like Janacek's music but may never have heard anything from his operas -- I think I've got bits and pieces of the Cunning Vixen in my history. I don't do opera well without video. I wonder whether I should jury-rig something to hear this (stream BBC3 if I can figure the right time, stream the local public radio station, drive around town with the public radio station on the car radio).

Could I get and read the novel in the next 24 or 25 hours? Should I?

Anyway, thank you,

Robert

I saw From the House of the Dead without reading the Dostoyevsky novel, and liked it very much. Because the Metropolitan Opera has subtitles on the back of every seat, I could have done without seeing the subtitles projected on the stage.

Stand outs for me were Peter Mattei and Willard White. Heinz Zednik, who's the Mime in the Patrice Chereau/Pierre Boulez Ring, had a non-speaking part. There are some women playing visitors to the prison.

Mr Durik. Yes, seeing opera live or on video is much better. It helps to know the story, though, and also to follow the printed libretto if this is available - very difficuly in Czech, I can confirm.

This evening, something of a novelty:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 27th March 2010 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 21:00 (4 hours long)

Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Louis Longree conducts a 19th-century Romantic interpretation of Shakespeare's tragedy. It originally had a happy ending, but this was subsequently changed to reflect the play a little more closely. Simon Keenlyside is the tormented Prince seeking vengeance for his father's death, in one of the few chances for a baritone to play the lead role. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with Ira Siff as guest commentator. With live backstage interviews during the interval. Simon Keenlyside, baritone (Hamlet), Marlis Petersen, soprano (Ophelia), Toby Spence, tenor (Laertes), Jennifer Larmore, mezzo-soprano (Gertrude), James Morris, baritone (Claudius), David Pittsinger, bass (The Ghost), Liam Bonner, baritone (Horatio), Maxim Mikhailov, bass (Polonius), Richard Bernstein, bass (First Gravedigger), Mark Schowalter, tenor (Second Gravedigger), Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Louis Langree.

In spite of the obvious talents and skills of the performers, I can understand why the last time this opera was performed at the Met was in 1897.

I believe this is the one that Natalie Dessay dropped out of ill. I am planning to see it in high definition. It looks to be long and with only one intermission, but I think the last in the HD series will be longer still.

Robert

We have just seen the HD Live presentation and, pace Ortolan, rather enjoyed it. Very French. No arias but 'scenes'. Perhaps not worth a place in the regular repertoire but I was glad to have seen it. Certainly one to see and not just to hear - Ophelie's mad scene and suicide, and Hamlet's extravagant behaviour with the wine at the banquet would have lost a lot on CD. Despite it's length it didn't drag and it's a pretty good story.

Natalie Dessay was tremendous as La Fille du Regiment but I'm not sure that Marlis Petersen wasn't better suited to this part.

It was our first HD Live experience but with some very tasty things coming up next season it won't be our last

I pretty much agree, but I have less authority. I kept dozing during the first half including during the banquet.

There were times while watching Ophelia with Hamlet that I wondered whether Natalie Dessay might be better or more believable.

I heard the name of this opera pronounced on line recently; it sounded a lot like 'omelet.' During the introduction to the high definition performance Renee Fleming pronounced it 'hamlet.' So I listened, when I wasn't dozing, to how the singers pronounced it. There were a good half dozen ways.

I was thinking that a French opera should have some ballet stirred in, and this didn't have any.

Gertrude sang quite well enough, but I thought her acting was sometimes a little off the mark. I blamed her, but I suppose it could be the directors' fault.

There is one more high definition transmission in this season. I hope to see it, but I also was impressed with all eleven coming next season.

Robert

Saturday 3rd April 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 22:00 (4 hours long)

Verdi's Aida.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Marco Armiliato conducts a performance of Verdi's spectacular opera Aida. Set in the ancient Egypt of the pharaohs, it tells the story of the Ethiopian slave girl who finds that her lover and her father are on the opposite sides of warring nations. A love rival to her princess employer, she chooses to be buried alive with her lover Radames, rather than endure life without him. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. With live backstage interviews and the Met Quiz during the two intervals. Hui He, soprano (Aida), Salvatore Licitra, tenor (Radames), Dolora Zajick, mezzo-soprano (Amneris), Carlo Guelfi, baritone (Amonasro), Stefan Kocan, bass (King of Egypt), Carlo Colombara, bass (Ramfis - Chief Priest), Elizabeth DeShong, soprano (High Priestess), Diego Torre, tenor (Messenger), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/Marco Armiliato.

106> I am hoping I can stay with it, but obligations may take me away. However, on the 10th I shall be glued to my chair for Die Zauberflote. It is one of my favorites.

As an aside, I would be curious to know if anyone saw Branagh's 'The Magic Flute' and enjoyed it. I must admit that I rather liked it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6MMamY1AQI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYaQqEk3Ot4&feature=related

Trivia note: In the last century, German artist, Jürgen Görg, created a very limited suite of intaglios depicting Mozart's operas, including three for Die Zauberflote.

Unfortunately, the Branagh film of The Magic Flute hasn't received any kind of US distribution yet (whether DVD, movie theater or TV broadcast), so I haven't seen it except for the Youtube clips. I'm a fan of Pape and Kaiser, so it's a pity!

Here is the information, then:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 10th April 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Mozart's Die Zauberflote.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Adam Fischer conducts Nathan Gunn as Papageno, Matthew Polenzani as Tamino and Julia Kleiter as Pamina in Julie Taymor's production of Mozart's great comic opera. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. There are live backstage interviews with members of the cast during the interval. Nathan Gunn, baritone (Papageno), Matthew Polenzani, tenor (Tamino), Julia Kleiter, soprano (Pamina), Albina Shagimuratova, soprano (Queen of the Night), Wendy Bryn Harmer, soprano (1st Lady), Jamie Barton, mezzo (2nd Lady), Tamara Mumford, mezzo (3rd Lady), Jakob Taylor, treble (1st Boy), Neem Ram Nagarajan, treble (2nd Boy), Jonathan A Makepeace, countertenor (3rd Boy), Monica Yunus, soprano (Papagena), Hans-Peter Konig, bass (Sarastro), David Pittsinger, bass (Speaker), Greg Fedderly, tenor (Monostatos), David Crawford, bass-baritone (1st Priest), Bernard Fitch, tenor (2nd Priest), Philip Webb, tenor (1st Armed Man), Richard Bernstein, bass (2nd Armed Man), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/Adam Fischer.

I hear that Leonard Slatkin did not go down well recently and was replaced by another conductor. Slatkin stepped in due to the illness of James Levine.

This is the opera..........

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 17th April 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Verdi's La Traviata.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Yves Abel conducts Verdi's tragic love story, with Angela Georghiu in the role which launched her international opera career. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. The two intervals contain live backstage interviews with the cast and the famous Met Quiz. Angela Gheorghiu, soprano (Violetta Valera), James Valenti, tenor (Alfredo Germont), Thomas Hampson,baritone (Giorgio Germont), Theodora Hanslowe, mezzo-soprano (Flora Bervoix), Kathryn Day, soprano (Annina), Eduardo Valdes, tenor (Gaston), John Hancock, baritone (Baron Douphol), Louis Otey, bass (Marquis d'Obigny), Paul Plishka, bass (Doctor Grenvil), Juhwan Lee, tenor (Giuseppe), Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Yves Abel.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 24th April 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Puccini's Tosca.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Fabio Luisi conducts Patricia Racette, Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel in Puccini's grisly tale of torture, suicide, murder and execution, which has been one of the most popular of all operas ever since its 1900 premiere. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. The two intervals feature the famous Met Quiz and live backstage interviews with members of the cast. Patricia Racette, soprano (Tosca), Jonas Kaufmann, tenor (Cavaradossi), Bryn Terfel, bass (Scarpia), David Pittsinger, bass (Angelotti), John del Carlo, bass (Sacristan), Eduardo Valdes, tenor (Spoletta), Jeffrey Wells, bass (Sciarrone), Richard Bernstein, bass (Gaoler), Jonathan Makepeace, boy alto (Shepherd Boy), Metropolitan Chorus and Orchestra/Fabio Luisi.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 1st May 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 22:30 (4 hours and 30 minutes long)

Rossini's Armida.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera New York, Riccardo Frizza conducts six tenors for the venue's premiere performance of Armida. Renee Fleming performs the role of the sorceress who plans to use her beauty to enslave the crusading soldiers. She falls in love with Rinaldo, who is captivated by her until he sees his reflection and realises he is no longer the noble warrior he once was. Presented by Margaret Juntwait, with guest commentator Ira Siff. There are backstage interviews and the famous Met Quiz during the intervals. Renee Fleming, soprano (Armida), Lawrence Brownlee, tenor (Rinaldo), John Osborn, tenor (Goffredo), Jose Manuel Zapata, tenor (Gernando), Barry Banks, tenor (Carlo), Kobie van Rensburg, tenor (Ubaldo), Yegishe Manucharyan, tenor (Eustazio), Peter Volpe, bass (Idraote), Keith Miller, bass (Astarotte), Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Riccardo Frizza.

I'll be off to see it in just a little bit. It's the last of the season of high definition broadcasts. It is also pretty long, so I'm not drinking coffee.

I don't know anything about it and worry a little that I won't get it. But I lack the energy to look it up.

Robert

Well, it was long, but it lasted only four hours including intermissions. The director said that she had made no cuts.

There is not much drama to it, and drama is what makes opera for me. But it is serious musical display: lots of arias, lots of music, almost enough dancing. I dozed a little during the first act, but because of the little drama aspect I think I didn't miss much.

There were two non-singing roles: Love and Vengeance. Love was very well portrayed.

I'm looking forward to next season although I think I recognized a couple of the sets.

Robert

I saw the third performance of Armida in-house and you're right that it doesn't have a lot of dramatic elements, but it's still more interesting than the Ambroise Thomas version of Hamlet. I stayed through it to watch the dance sequence and to hear Lawrence Brownlee. They're actually reviving this at the Met again with Fleming next year and unless they get a great mezzo to do the title role, I can't see how they will attract an audience for it.

The Tosca I went to two weeks ago with Kaufman, Terfel and Racette was just wonderful.

Here's a trailer for the Met's new production of Rheingold and Die Walkure for next year. Crossing my fingers about Terfel's Wotan.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metupload/video/2010-11PressConf/TheRing.html

We saw Terfel in Das Rheingold and Die Walkure at Covent Garden in 2004/5. He opted out of Seigfreid. I thought he was rather good. He was very much the young, entrepreneurial Wotan in Rheingold and had a rather unpaternal relationship with Brunnhilde in Walkure. Really quite a robust take on the part. Perhaps there was something similar to his way of playing Scarpia - very direct and physical without too much of the Machiavellian slime often seen.

He can be a bit prima uomo-ish and pulled out of the complete Ring we saw in 2007. John Tomlinson took over brilliantly - more weltschmerz and less sexuality, but very satisfying, nonetheless.

I think Terfel has such a magnificent voice, that he doesn't have to pile on the melodrama to be effective.

I saw Tomlinson as Hunding at a performance of Die Walkure at the Met last year and he's easily the scariest, suavest and most menacing Hunding I've yet to hear. Not that I've ever met a bad Hunding. I loved Mikhail Petrenko's and Rene Pape's performances of the role. However, there was something super primeval about Tomlinson's Hunding.

I later heard Tomlinson's Fafner and Hagen at one of the full Ring Cycle performances, and really couldn't ask for better interpretations of those roles.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 8th May 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 22:30 (4 hours and 30 minutes long)

Berg's Lulu.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Fabio Luisi conducts soprano Marlis Petersen as the eponymous scandalous femme fatale of Berg's opera, a role for which she has won international praise. Anne Sofie von Otter sings Countess Geschwitz, Gary Lehman is Alwa and James Morris is Dr Schon. An animal trainer presents to his audience the wonderful wild beasts they are about to see. There's a tiger, a bear and a dangerous serpent - who will mesmerise, seduce and kill, and who eventually get murdered by Jack the Ripper. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with Ira Siff as guest commentator. With live backstage interviews and the Met Quiz during the two intervals. Marlis Petersen, soprano (Lulu), Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano (Countess Geschwitz), Gary Lehman, tenor (Alwa), Michael Schade, tenor (Painter), David Pittsinger, bass (Animal Trainer/Acrobat), James Morris, baritone (Dr Schon/Jack the Ripper), Ginger Costa-Jackson, soprano (Wardrobe Mistress/Schoolboy/Page), Graham Clark, tenor (Prince/Manservant/Marquis), Gwynne Howell, bass (Schigolch), James Courtney, bass (Theatre Manager/Banker), Jane Shaulis, mezzo-soprano (Mother), Edyta Kulczak, mezzo-soprano (Designer), Joshua Benaim, baritone (Journalist), LeRoy Lehr, bass (Servant), Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Fabio Luisi.

This starts an hour early in my area on National Public Radio. I don't have the DVD of this, am not likely to see it in a theater, and wonder whether I could get anything out of an exclusively audio performance. It is long, and I wonder how I could pay attention. If my eyes wander, will I lose it?

I suppose tomorrow I will know. I suspect I'm not going to do it.

I hope somebody will report back on it.

Robert

We saw a very minimalist production of Lulu at Covent Garden last year - there were certainly no actual serpents, bears and tigers, nor very much else on stage, come to that. Despite some nervousness about four hours of Berg, I did enjoy the music - an eye-opener. (you can see my comments here: http://www.librarything.com/work/8429799/details/46058183
)

I share your reservations about an audio performance, Robert. The action - even if a bit inactive - and the surtitles were important to understanding and enjoyment.

Looks like Gwynne Howell is the only cast member in common for the two performances.

I'm going to Lulu at the Met on Wednesday night, and it will be the first performance I'll see of this opera, and I will report back.

abbottthomas, your comments make me want to see it rather than just listen to it. I like Berg's music, however, though I can't hum any of it, and may stream it when it comes on if I am at my computer. I don't think I will give it my full attention or sit all the way through it.

Ortolan, I am looking forward to your report.

Robert

Fabio Luisi and the Met Orchestra did a wonderful job on Wednesday, bringing out the lyrical moments in the score. The basses and viola players looked delighted because so much of the music has them taking the lead. However, I've heard Levine conduct Berg's orchestral and chamber pieces at Carnegie Hall, and hearing Luisi made me miss him even more. Levine's conducting would have been spikier, more ballsy and architectural, but he had to cancel because of medical problems. I hope he's in fine health next spring to conduct Wozzeck.

I didn't find any of the characters particularly sympathetic until Act III when the ladies were killed. I fell asleep a few times during the recitatifs but was mostly riveted after the latter half of Act II. Staging was mostly in the fin de siecle Vienna style with a circus backdrop during the prologue and between scenes and Act III is in a very depressing London studio apartment with a bad ceiling.

The cast was excellent. James Morris is often taken for granted at the Met but what a wonderful singer and actor he is. His Dr. Schoen wasn't just some pitiful old schmuck, but a dignified guy who felt above it all. Michael Schade's as the painter and African prince was very good. It's nice to see him play nasty characters. Gary Lehman's Alwa was excellent but I envy Abott Thomas having seen Klaus Florian Vogt in the role. Anne Sofie Van Otter was great as the countess and made the most of her last lines and Marlis Petersen was a slinky and game Lulu, and sang well.

I think this is an opera that definitely needs to be seen with rather than just heard, and I would like to see it again so I'm going to look up VHS or DVD copies of Lulu with Anja Silja or Christine Schafer.

From Radio 3 Controller's Newsletter:

You may have been following the live Saturday transmissions from the Metropolitan Opera since December, and our new Thursday afternoon operas building on the success of our complete Handel in 2009. Opera is undeniably a very international world, and on the coming Thursday afternoons we are visiting Pesaro for Rossini’s Zelmira , starring Juan Diego Flórez (27 May). Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde from Vienna, starring Robert Gambill and Violeta Urmana, will be conducted by Sir Simon Rattle (10 June); and Beethoven’s Fidelio from Barcelona stars Karita Mattila (17 June).

We are also going to create our own A-Z of Opera, or rather from aria to zarzuela! From Wednesday 19 May for 26 days, our drivetime programme, In Tune, will unveil a letter a day, demystifying opera through a series of short features. Each one will feature some aspect of opera, described in interviews with key figures, such as the legendary British bass Robert Lloyd, conductor Sir Mark Elder, voice coach Mary King, and tenor Rolando Villazón. The A-Z series will be broadcast each weekday at 5.40pm and will also be available as downloads.

Following the end of the Metropolitan Opera season, Radio 3 will present specially recorded operas from the UK each Saturday, beginning with Rossini's Il turco in Italia from the Royal Opera House on 15 May. Also from Covent Garden we have productions of Prokofiev’s The Gambler, starring Sir John Tomlinson and Roberto Saccà (22 May), Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier starring Soile Isokoski (5 June), and Massenet's Manon starring Anna Netrebko and Vittorio Grigolo (10 July). We will also be presenting English National Opera’s production of Janácek’s Katya Kabanova, with Patricia Racette in the title role (12 June) and Opera North’s production of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda starring Sarah Connolly as Mary Queen of Scots (19 June).

Composer of the Week is going to feature operatic composers throughout 2010. The big names of the nineteenth century - Verdi, Wagner - have whole weeks to themselves. Donald Macleod also explores the history of opera through locations and groups of composers spread across the year. Coming up soon there’s a week on the ‘verismo’ opera of the 19th century, in which Roger Parker explains exactly what verismo or realism actually was (17 - 21 May). We spend a week listening to the glorious repertoire of the French Opera Comique (23-28 August), and in November we have a visit to Drottningholm near Stockholm, a wonderfully preserved 18th-century theatre, complete with the original stage mechanics, and a focus on the story of Russian opera over Christmas.

On Sunday May 30th presenter Claire van Kampen sets off in search of the first English opera. The Siege of Rhodes dating from 1656 reached the ears of Samuel Pepys, and remains an important landmark in both English literature and music. Its creator, Sir William Davenant, was one of the great innovators of the English theatre, inventing English opera and promoting the idea of Shakespeare as the national poet.

n The Essay, starting on 31 May, we hear from five people whose lives have been shaped by opera. They describe how they have interacted with the operatic world as critics, performers and commentators. Michael Chance, one of the world’s foremost counter-tenors, ponders the life of an itinerant performer. Critic Tom Sutcliffe argues for the relevance of opera, while Matt Peacock, originator of Streetwise Opera, reflects on how opera has changed the lives of people he has met through his work with the homeless.

Our opera focus is part of a BBC-wide season of opera which extends across radio, television and online. It is the widest range of operatic programming that the BBC has ever undertaken. You can find the full details at www.bbc.co.uk/opera. I hope you enjoy it.

Ortolan, thank you. I heard big pieces of it. The stand in commentator on the radio mentioned arias, but I didn't distinguish them from the recitatif. I too should look for a DVD. I think I've done cursory checks when I was out to buy one or two on a list of twenty; I may concentrate on getting Lulu. I have yet to watch Wozzeck which I am pretty sure I have.

Robert

More on my previous messgae:

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/28179/bbc-launches-opera-season

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 15th May 2010 (starting in 1 day)
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Rossini's Il Turco in Italia.

In a performance given in April at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Maurizio Benini conducts Rossini's perceptive comedy of Neapolitan life and love in a production updated to the 1960s. With additional insights during the interval from writer and broadcaster Daniel Snowman, members of the cast, conductor Maurizio Benini, and directors Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier. Aleksandra Kurzak, soprano (Fiorilla), Colin Lee, tenor (Don Narciso), Alessandro Corbelli, baritone (Don Geronio), Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, bass (Selim), Thomas Allen, baritone (Prosdocimo), Leah-Marian Jones, mezzo-soprano (Zaida), Steven Ebel, tenor (Albazar), Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Maurizio Benini.

You can see what I thought of it here: http://www.librarything.com/work/9867613/details/59352316
Rossini's less usual operas seems to be getting a good airing recently. I think this is one that can be enjoyed without having to see the action.

ARTS: Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 22nd May 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:35 (2 hours and 35 minutes long)

Prokofiev's the Gambler.

From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Antonio Pappano conducts Prokofiev's rarely-heard opera, based on Dostoyevsky's novel, featuring some of his most unusual and energetic music. In the town of Roulettenburg, the whole of life is based around the casino. In the middle of this money-driven world is the possibility of a love story, but is Alexey really in love with Polina, or addicted to her in the same way as he is to his gambling? Andrew McGregor is joined by Prokofiev biographer David Nice, as well as conductor, director and members of the the cast. Roberto Sacca, tenor (Alexey), Angela Denoke, soprano (Polina), John Tomlinson, bass (General), Jurgita Adamonyte, mezzo-soprano (Blanche), Kurt Streit, tenor (Marquis), Mark Stone, baritone (Mr Astley), Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano (Babulenka), John Easterlin, tenor (Prince Nilsky), Dawid Kimberg, baritone (Potapytch), Jeremy White, bass (Baron), Simona Mihai, soprano (Gaudy Lady), Elisabeth Meister, soprano (Pale Lady), Elizabeth Sikora, mezzo-soprano (Dubious Old Lady), Carol Rowlands, soprano (Lady Comme Ci, Comme Ca), Kai Ruutel, mezzo-soprano (Venerable Lady), Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, tenor (Rash Gambler), Steven Ebel, tenor (Hypochondriac Gambler), Alasdair Elliott, tenor (Hunchback Gambler), John Cunningham, bass-baritone (Aged Gambler), David Woloszko, bass-baritone (Fat Englishman), Lukas Jakobski, bass (Tall Englishman), Graeme Danby, bass (Casino Director), Hubert Francis, tenor (First Croupier), Robert Anthony Gardiner, tenor (Second Croupier), Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Antonio Pappano.

Sounds a good evening Abbotthomas. I was in London last weekend, a fairly rare visit from North East England, but I was, unfortunately, not able to take in anything cultural on Saturday evening (or even listen to the radio).

Saturday 29th May 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:15 (2 hours and 15 minutes long)

Janacek's the Cunning Little Vixen.

Martin Handley introduces a performance from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in which the great Janacek interpreter Charles Mackerras conducts Australian soprano Emma Matthews and baritone Christopher Maltman in a magical opera about the life of a vixen (Janacek: The Cunning Little Vixen). A work which holds a special place in the repertoire, its characters are a mixture of human beings and animals and started life as a cartoon-strip in a newspaper. Emma Matthews, soprano (Vixen Sharp-Ears), Christopher Maltman, baritone (Forester), Elizabeth Meister, soprano (Fox), Robin Leggate, tenor (Schoolmaster/Mosquito), Madeleine Shaw, mezzo-soprano (Gamekeeper's Wife/Owl), Jeremy White, bass (Priest/Badger), Matthew Rose, bass (Harasta), Alasdair Elliott, tenor (Pasek), Elizabeth Sikora, mezzo-soprano (Inkeeper's Wife), Simona Mihai, soprano (Pepik), Elizabeth Cragg, soprano (Frantik), Deborah Peake-Jones, soprano (Rooster/Jay), Glenys Groves, soprano (Chief Hen), Peter Shafran, treble (Cricket), Talor Hanson, child soprano (Caterpillar), Harry Bradford, treble (Frog), Eleanor Burke, child soprano (Young Vixen), Amanda Floyd, mezzo-soprano (Woodpecker), Royal Opera Chorus, Children's Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Charles Mackerras.

The Essay
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Monday 31st May 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 23:00 to 23:15 (15 minutes long)

A Passion for Opera.

Series in which people describe their relationship with opera. 1. Opera critic Tom Sutcliffe argues that rather than depending on grand theatricality and lavish scale, opera's intimacy lies at the core of its effectiveness. For him, the aria is a confessional form, opening up a character's emotions to the audience by way of the music, like a cinematic close-up. He also discusses the importance of setting and substance can be too slavishly observed but they matter as well.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 5th June 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 22:00 (4 hours long)

Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.

Christopher Cook introduces a performance given in December 2009 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden of Strauss's comedy of manners about age and class. The story tells of the love triangle between the noble Marschallin, her young lover Octavian and Sophie, daughter of the nouveau riche Herr von Faninal. Christopher also presents interviews with the conductor, Kirill Petrenko, as well as members of the cast. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier. Sophie Koch, mezzo-soprano (Octavian), Soile Isokoski, soprano (Marschallin), Lucy Crowe, soprano (Sophie), Peter Rose, bass (Baron Ochs), Thomas Allen, bass (Herr von Faninal), Graham Clark, tenor (Valzacchi), Leah-Marian Jones, mezzo-soprano (Annina), Elaine McKrill, soprano (Marianne Leitmetzerin), Lynton Black, bass-baritone (Notary), Wookyung Kim, tenor (Italian Singer), Glenys Groves, soprano (Noble Widow), Andrea Hazell, mezzo-soprano, Tamsin Coombs, Deborah Peake-Jones, sopranos (Noble Orphans), Robert Anthony Gardiner, tenor (Major Domo to Marschallin), Steven Ebel, tenor (Major Domo to Faninal), Alan Duffield, tenor (Doctor), Robert Worle, tenor (Inkeeper), Jeremy White, bass (Police Commissioner), Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Kirill Petrenko.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 12th June 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:15 (2 hours and 15 minutes long)

Janacek's Katya Kabanova.

In a performance given in March at the Coliseum in London, Martin Handley presents ENO's version of Janacek's tragic opera, written in the composer's creative Indian summer. Starring soprano Patricia Racette and tenor Stuart Skelton, it tells the story of a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, stifled by provincial society - and an insufferable mother-in-law. Before the opera begins, Martin discusses its themes and origins with Mike Ashman. Patricia Racette, soprano (Katya Kabanova), Stuart Skelton, tenor (Boris), Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano (Kabanicha), John Graham-Hall, tenor (Tikhon), Anna Grevelius, mezzo-soprano (Varvara), Alfie Boe, tenor (Vanya), Clive Bayley, bass (Dikoy), Valerie Reid, mezzo-soprano (Glasha), Nicholas Folwell, baritone (Kuligin), Michelle Daly, mezzo-soprano (Feklusha), Orchestra of English National Opera/Mark Wigglesworth.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 19th June 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Donizetti's Maria Stuarda.

Donald Macleod presents an Opera North performance from the Grand Theatre, Leeds, of Donizetti's controversial opera about Mary, Queen of Scots. The work focuses on the fictional and confrontational meeting between Mary Stuart, the catholic Queen of Scotland, and the protestant Queen Elizabeth I, resulting in Mary's condemnation and execution. The opera is now considered one of Donizetti's most powerful and compelling, culminating in a dramatic final scene. Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano (Mary Stuart), Antonia Cifrone, soprano (Queen Elizabeth), Bulent Bezduz, tenor (Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester), David Kempster, baritone (Sir William Cecil), Frederic Bourreau, bass (George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury), Michelle Walton, soprano (Hannah Kennedy), Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North/Guido Johannes Rumstadt.

MUSIC: Why Do Women Die in Opera?
BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 26th June 2010 (starting in 4 hours and 42 minutes)
Time: 12:15 to 13:00 (45 minutes long)

Associate editor of The Guardian newspaper and opera fanatic Martin Kettle asks why in the most popular tragic operas the sopranos, and occasionally the mezzos, meet a gruesome end. He explores how composers' own relationships with women might shed light on their dying divas, as well as considering a feminist approach to 19th-century tragic opera which presents death as a punishment that the female romantic lead is required to pay for living too passionately. He is joined by singers Natalie Dessay and Christine Rice, singer-cum-director Catherine Malfitano, director David McVicar, ENO music director Edward Gardner, The Royal Opera House's director of opera Elaine Padmore and scholars Peter Conrad, Susan McClary and Margaret Reynolds.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 26th June 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Verdi's Aida.

Suzy Klein presents a new production from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden of one of the greatest love stories in opera. A work featuring lust and violence, war and doomed love, it tells the story of the slave girl who finds that her father and her lover are on opposite sides in a confrontation between nations. Suzy is joined by Italian opera expert Roger Parker. Micaela Carosi, soprano (Aida), Marcelo Alvarez, tenor (Radames), Marianne Cornetti, mezzo-soprano (Amneris), Giacomo Prestia, baritone (Ramfis), Marco Vratogna, baritone (Amonasro), Robert Lloyd, bass (King of Egypt), Ji-Min Park, tenor (Messenger), Elisabeth Meister, soprano (High Priestess), Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Nicola Luisotti.

Afternoon on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Thursday 24th June 2010
Time: 14:20 to 17:00 (2 hours and 40 minutes long)

Thursday Opera Matinee.

Penny Gore presents a performance given at the Palais Garnier in Paris in September of Gounod's Mireille. Albanian soprano Inva Mula performs the title role, as a young Provencal woman falling for her social inferior in a tale of thwarted love, death, violence and the supernatural. Inva Mula, soprano (Mireille), Charles Castronovo, tenor (Vincent), Franck Ferrari, baritone (Ourrias), Alain Vernhes, baritone (Ramon), Sylvie Brunet, mezzo-soprano (Taven), Anne-Catherine Gillet, soprano (Vincenette), Sebastien Droy, tenor (Andreloux), Nicolas Cavallier, bass-baritone (Ambroise), Amel Brahim-Djelloul, soprano (Clemence), Ugo Rabec, bass (Le Passeur), Paris National Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Marc Minkowski.

Why Do Women Die in Opera?

It makes a dramatic ending, no? and there are few arias about drinking eight glasses of water a day and practicing yoga.

Last I heard, sometimes tenors and baritones die too.

Antimuzak, I take it there's no news about a broadcast of the recent Meistersinger at the WNO?

Yes, I know. The reviews of the Welsh productions were excellent along with a number of other productions in the UK at this time.

I don't know, though, of any plans for a broadcast. Does anyone else know?

And the death of women in opera? You might as well ask this about Shakespeare or many other examples in drama and literature. The "Anna Karenina" syndrome?

The death of one's mother is even more terrible to contemplate than the Oedipus Complex.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 3rd July 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 22:30 (4 hours and 30 minutes long)

Handel's Tamerlano.

A performance given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, of Handel's touching drama - a tale of tyranny and power, betrayal and love. Tamerlano, the great Tartar warlord, boasts of having conquered the proud Turkish Sultan Bajazet, but spurns Irene, his betrothed princess, for Asteria, the Sultan's daughter. Presented by Louise Fryer with guest Sarah Lenton. Handel: Tamerlano. Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano (Tamerlano), Kurt Streit, tenor (Bajazet), Sara Mingardo, contralto (Andronico), Christine Schaefer, soprano (Asteria), Renata Pokupic, soprano (Irene), Vito Priante, bass (Leone), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Ivor Bolton.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 10th July 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Massenet's Manon Lescaut.

In a performance given last week at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Antonio Pappano conducts soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Vittorio Grigolo in Massenet's opera Manon Lescaut. The story centres on a young woman as she tries to come to terms with the conflicts imposed by love, wealth, family and faith - a story that inspires Massenet to compose some of his most memorable and lyrical music. Presented by Martin Handley, who is joined by French music expert Claire Launchbury. Anna Netrebko, soprano (Manon Lescaut), Vittorio Grigolo, tenor (Chevalier des Grieux), Russell Braun, tenor (Lescaut), Christophe Mortgane, tenor (Guillot de Morfontaine), William Shimell, baritone (De Bretigny), Simona Mihai, soprano (Pousette), Louise Innes, mezzo-soprano (Javotte), Kai Ruutel, mezzo-soprano (Rosette), Lynton Black, bass-baritone (Inkeeper), Christof Fischesser, bass (Comte des Grieux), John Bernays, bass (Sergeant), Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Antonio Pappano.

The Early Music Show
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 17th July 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Opera Profile.

Lully's Armide: As part of The Early Music Show's monthly profile of important Baroque masterworks, Lucie Skeaping presents a profile of Jean-Baptiste Lully's 17th-century operatic masterpiece Armide, with French conductor Hugo Reyne highlighting some of its qualities and innovations. Lully almost single-handedly created French opera and Armide was the culmination of a long and fruitful collaboration with librettist Philippe Quinault - and it was instantly recognised as a masterpiece. Excerpts from the opera are performed from CD by Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale.

Discovering Music
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Sunday 22nd August 2010 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:45 to 19:00 (1 hour and 15 minutes long)

Puccini: La Boheme.

The great Italian composer is revered as one of music's great tunesmiths, but Catherine Bott reveals there is much more to his art as she explores his Parisian masterpiece with singers Katie van Kooten and Peter Auty. Edward Gardner conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Saturday 18th September 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:45 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Mozart's Idomeneo.

Donald Macleod presents a performance given at the Usher Hall as part of the 2010 Edinburgh Festival of Mozart's colourful early masterpiece. Roger Norrington conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a star-studded cast in the dramatic Greek drama of Idomeneo, featuring the inevitable struggle of love versus duty, an insoluable love triangle and the intervention of a sea monster and Neptune himself. Mozart: Idomeneo - in three acts. Kurt Streit, tenor (Idomeneo), Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano (Idamante), Rosemary Joshua, soprano (Ilia), Emma Bell, soprano (Elettra), Rainer Trost, tenor (Arbace), Keith Lewis, tenor (Sacerdote), Jan Martinik, bass (La Voce). Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus/Roger Norrington.

Saturday 25th September 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Britten's Billy Budd.

Presented by Andrew McGergor. In a performance given at the 2010 Glyndebourne Festival, Mark Elder conducts a new production of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd, based on Herman Melville's allegorical tale of good versus evil on board an 18th-century warship. Andrew talks to director Michael Grandage about his operatic debut and to Mark Elder who is also conducting this opera for the first time. John Mark Ainsley, tenor (Captain Vere), Jacques Imbrailo, baritone (Billy Budd), Phillip Ens, bass (Claggart), Iain Paterson, bass (Mr Redburn), Matthew Rose, bass (Mr Flint), Darren Jeffery, bass (Lieutenant Ratcliffe), Alasdair Elliott, tenor (Red Whiskers), John Moore, baritone (Donald), Jeremy White, bass (Dansker), Ben Johnson, tenor (The Novice), Colin Judson, tenor (Squeak), Richard Mosley-Evans, baritone (Bosun), London Philharmonic, The Glyndebourne Chorus/Mark Elder.

CD Review
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 2nd October 2010
Time: 09:00 to 12:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Including 9.30 Building a Library: Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. Stephen Walsh recommends a recording of this Pushkin-inspired operatic masterpiece. 10.30 Simon Heighes reviews some recent recordings of music by some of Handel's near contemporaries, including a premiere recording of Oxford-based William Hayes's oratorio The Passions, featuring Antony Rooley; harpsichordist Mitzi Meyerson's two-disc set of keyboard suites by Robert Jones; and London Baroque's latest disc - The Eighteenth Century Trio Sonata. 11.40 Disc of the Week: Mozart: Die Zauberflote. Daniel Behle (Tamino), Marlis Petersen (Pamina), Daniel Schmutzhard (Papageno), Sunhae Im (Papagena), Anna-Kristiina Kaapola (Queen of the Night), Marcos Fink (Sarastro), Kurt Azesberger (Monostatos), RIAS Kammerchor, Akademie fur Alte Musik, Berlin/Rene Jacobs.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 2nd October 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:45 (2 hours and 45 minutes long)

Verdi's Rigoletto.

Christopher Cook introduces a performance given at the Wales Millennium Centre of Verdi's famously controversial tragedy Rigoletto, featuring the much-anticipated debut of baritone Simon Keenlyside in the title role. Welsh National Opera's revived production brings together director James McDonald and designer Robert Innes Hopkins to transport Verdi's Mantua to the Washington of the Kennedy era. Christopher's co-presenter is Welsh bass and close friend of Simon Keenlyside, Gwynne Howell. Before the final act there is a chance to explore the magical process of bringing the Oval Office into the opera house, as Christopher meets the skilled draftsmen, carpenters and painters who convert a designer's vision into on-stage reality. Simon Keenlyside, baritone (Rigoletto), Gwyn Hughes Jones, tenor (The Duke), Sarah Coburn, soprano (Gilda), Michael Druiett, baritone (Monterone), David Soar, bass (Sparafucile), Leah-Marian Jones, mezzo-soprano (Maddalena), Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera/Pablo Heras-Casado.

The Early Music Show
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Sunday 3rd October 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:10 (1 hour and 10 minutes long)

Opera Profiles.

5. As part of a series of monthly reflections on great baroque operas, presented as part of the Opera on the BBC season, Catherine Bott introduces a performance of John Blow's masque Venus and Adonis given at the 2010 York Early Music Festival by Theatre of the Ayre directed by Elizabeth Kenny. Venus and Adonis was the last masque ever composed for the Stuart court, and while it is in effect a miniature opera, it was intended as a vehicle for the members of the royal court to take part in. John Blow crafted an allegory on contemporary court issues around the classical myth of the goddess Venus and her thwarted love for the mortal Adonis. It became the model for Purcell's celebrated Dido and Aeneas. Catherine also talks to several of the participants in this production about the work.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 9th October 2010 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:45 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Wagner's Lohengrin.

Andrew McGregor introduces a performance given at the 2010 Bayreuth Festival of Wagner's controversial Lohengrin. Andris Nelsons conducts Jonas Kaufmann - in his debut at the event - as the mysterious knight who arrives on a swan and refuses to reveal his identity. Annette Dasch is the woman who falls in love and marries him, even though she is never to ask him his name. Observer critic Fiona Maddocks reveals what it was like to be at the first night of this production - the opening opera in the initial season run by Wagner's two granddaughters. Wagner: Lohengrin. Jonas Kaufmann, tenor (Lohengrin), Georg Zeppenfeld, bass (King Henry), Annette Dasch, soprano (Elsa), Hans-Joachim Ketelsen, baritone (Telramund), Evelyn Herlitzius, mezzo-soprano (Ortrud), Samuel Youn, bass (The Herald), Stefan Heibach, tenor (1st Nobleman), Willem van der Heyden, tenor (2nd Nobleman), Rainer Zaun, bass (3rd Nobleman), Christian Tschelebiew, bass (4th Nobleman), Bayreuth Festival Chorus, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra/Andris Nelsons.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 16th October 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:00 (2 hours long)

Strauss's Salome.

Andrew McGregor presents a performance given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden of Strauss's Salome, in a revival of David McVicar's celebrated and shocking 2008 production. Strauss's work adapted Oscar Wilde's lurid tale of power, corruption, depravity and obsession and was based on a short biblical reference to a girl dancing for King Herod and the immortal line: 'nring me the head of John the Baptist. Strauss: Salome. Andrew Staples, tenor (Narraboth), Sarah Castle, mezzo-soprano (The Page), Nicolas Courjal, bass (First Soldier), Alan Ewing, bass (Second Soldier), Johan Reuter, baritone (Jokanaan), John Cunningham, bass-baritone (A Cappadocian), Angela Denoke, soprano (Salome), Gerhard Siegel, tenor (Herod), Irina Mishura, mezzo-soprano (Herodias), Adrian Thompson, tenor (First Jew), Robert Anthony Gardiner, tenor (Second Jew), Hubert Francis, tenor (Third Jew), Steven Ebel, tenor (Fourth Jew), Jeremy White, bass (Fifth Jew), Vuyani Mlinde, bass (First Nazarene), Dawid Kimberg, baritone (Second Nazarene), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Harmut Haenchen.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 6th November 2010 (starting in 1 day)
Time: 17:45 to 21:15 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Gounod's Romeo Et Juliette: Presented by Suzy Klein.

In a performance given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, French specialist Daniel Oren conducts Charles Gounod's version of Shakespeare's great play. This revival production by Nicolas Joel, not seen in a decade, features a cast led by Piotr Beczala and Nino Machaidze. Gounod: Romeo et Juliette. Piotr Beczala, tenor (Romeo), Nino Machaidze, soprano (Juliette), Stephane Degout, tenor (Mercutio), Alfie Boe, tenor (Tybalt), Ketevan Kemoklidze, mezzo-soprano (Stephano), Simon Neal, bass (Duke of Verona), ZhengZhong Zhou, baritone (Count Paris), Vitalij Kowaljow, bass (Frere Laurent), Darren Jeffery, baritone (Count Capulet), Diana Montague, mezzo-soprano (Gertrude), James Cleverton, baritone (Gregorio), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Royal Opera House Chorus/Daniel Oren.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 13th November 2010 (starting in 1 day)
Time: 18:00 to 20:35 (2 hours and 35 minutes long)

Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos: Donald Macleod presents a performance given at the Wales Millennium Centre of Richard Strauss's paradoxically light-hearted confection Ariadne auf Naxos. Welsh National Opera's revived production by director Neil Armfield features the collision of boisterous comedy and tragedy and explores themes such as the spiritual versus the material world, the nature of theatre, love and death, and ultimately the power of music. Eric Roberts (Major-Domo), Robert Poulton, baritone (Music Master), Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano (composer), Tamura, tenor (Bacchus), Stephen Wells, bass (Lackey), Philip Pooley, tenor (Officer), George Newton-Fitzgerald, bass (Wig-Maker), Gillian Keith, soprano (Zerbinetta), Orla Boylan, soprano (Ariadne), Stephen Rooke, tenor (Dancing Master), Mary-Jean O'Doherty, soprano (Naiad), Patricia Orr, alto (Dryad), Joanne Boag, soprano (Echo), Owen Webb, baritone (Harlequin), Aled Hall, tenor (Scaramuccio), Julian Close, bass (Truffaldino), Wynne Evans, tenor (Brighella), Orchestra of Welsh National Opera/Lothar Koenigs.

Saturday 20th November 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:25 (3 hours and 25 minutes long)

Handel's Radamisto.

From the Coliseum in London, Donald Macleod presents an English National Opera production of Handel's intensely dramatic opera Radamisto, a work that took the theatre-going public of London at the time of its premiere. Set in the ancient kingdom of Thrace, it follows prince Radamisto, who tries to follow a noble path despite being under siege in the city from the Armenian tyrant Tiridate. Handel: Radamisto. Lawrence Zazzo, countertenor (Radamisto), Christine Rice, mezzo-soprano (Zenobia), Ryan McKinny, baritone (Tiridate), Sophie Bevan, soprano (Polissena), Henry Waddington, bass (Farasmane), Ailish Tynan, soprano (Tigrane), English National Opera Orchestra/Laurence Cummings.

The Early Music Show
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 27th November 2010 (starting tomorrow afternoon)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Opera Profiles: 8.

As part of a series of reflections on great baroque operas, presented as part of the Opera on the BBC season, Lucie Skeaping delves into the music and history surrounding Handel's Alcina. Based on the epic poem by Ariosto, the libretto by Antonio Marchi provided Handel with some very intense dramatic opportunities, including star-crossed lovers, dark magic and madness. Alcina was composed for Handel's first season at London's Covent Garden Theatre, and it premiered on April 16, 1735. Like many of the composer's other serious stage works, it fell into general obscurity; after a revival in Brunswick in 1738 it was not performed again until a production in Leipzig nearly two centuries later, in 1928. It has now become one of Handel's most popular operas. Lucie talks to American harpsichordist and musical director Alan Curtis at his home in Florence, who recorded Alcina in 2007 with his ensemble Il Complesso Barocco.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 27th November 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:15 to 21:45 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Live from London's Coliseum, Suzy Klein presents an ENO production of Mozart's famous opera Don Giovanni. It centres on a young, arrogant, contemptuous and dissolute aristocrat who doesn't take no for an answer and leaves a trail of outrage and wrecked lives in his wake. He soon comes up against something he can't dupe, evade, or kill. Suzy is joined by novelist Jeanette Winterson to discuss the multilayered music and the production by theatre director, Rufus Norris. Mozart: Don Giovanni. Iain Paterson, bass (Don Giovanni), Brindley Sherratt, bass (Leporello), Katherine Broderick, soprano (Donna Anna), Robert Murray, tenor (Don Ottavio), Rebecca Evans, soprano (Donna Elvira), Matthew Best, bass (The Commendatore), John Molloy, bass (Masetto), Sarah Tynan, soprano (Zerlina), Orchestra and Chorus of English National Opera/Kirill Karabits.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 4th December 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:45 to 22:30 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur.

Live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Donald Macleod presents a performance in which Mark Elder conducts a new David McVicar production of Cilea's masterpiece, not heard at that venue since 1906. Adriana Lecouvreur, an actress, has her heart is set on Maurizio, whom she believes is an officer in the service of the Count of Saxony. She is mistaken in this assumption, however, and she finds she has a rival for the man's affections in the form of a princess who will stop at nothing to get rid of her. Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur. Angela Gheorghiu, soprano (Adriana Lecouvreur), Jonas Kaufmann, tenor (Maurizio), Maurizio Muraro, bass (Princesse de Bouillon), Bonaventura Bottone, tenor (L'Abate di Chazeuil), Alessandro Corbelli, baritone (Michonnet), David Soar, bass (Quinault), Iain Paton, tenor (Poisson), Olga Borodina, mezzo-soprano (Princess de Bouillon), Janis Kelly, soprano (Mlle Jouvenot), Sarah Castle, mezzo-soprano (Mlle Dangeville), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Royal Opera House Chorus/Mark Elder.

Saturday 11th December 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Rossini's Otello.

Alexandra Wilson presents a concert performance of Rossini's rarely heard opera, given at Theatre Chatelet, Paris by the Lyon Opera. The setting of Francesco Berio di Salsa's libretto based on a French translation of Shakespeare's play features American tenor John Osborn in the title role with Anna Caterina Antonacci as his wife Desdemona. Rossini's Otello was written for performance in Naples and first given in 1816. It many respects it has been overshadowed by Verdi's operatic masterpiece but Rossini's opera marks a real development in his dramatic style. The libretto gives a different emphasis to some of the characters both in Shakespeare's original and in Verdi's version most notably Iago. John Osborn, tenor (Otello), Anna Caterina Antonacci, mezzo-soprano (Desdemona), Dario Schmunck, tenor (Iago), Dmitri Korchak, tenor (Rodrigo), Jose Manuel Zapata, tenor (Jago), Jose Maria Lo Monaco, mezzo-soprano (Emilia), Tansel Akzeybek, tenor (Doge of Venice and Gondolier), Fabrice Constans, tenor (Lucio), Lyon Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Evelino Pido.

Discovering Music
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Sunday 12th December 2010 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 18:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

Stephen Johnson is joined by players and performers to explore some of the ideas and music for one of the most popular and effective Italian operas of the 19th century - Verdi's Rigoletto. Verdi composed this powerful drama for Venice between 1850 and 1851, and while critics were initially ambivalent, audiences immediately took the opera to their hearts. Stephen focuses on the final act of the opera and joins a cast of singers that includes Anthony Michaels-Moore as Rigoletto; Laura Claycomb as Gilda; Madeleine Shaw as Maddalena; David Soar as Sparafucile; and Gwyn Hughes Jones as the Duke. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers conducted by Andrew Litton and opera Director Graham also join Stephen for an examination of some of Verdi's musical and theatrical achievements in the work that proved the turning point in the career of one of the most significant composers of the operatic genre.

The Early Music Show
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 18th December 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Opera Profiles: 9.

As part of a series of reflections on great baroque operas, presented as part of the Opera on the BBC season, Lucie Skeaping delves into the music and history surrounding Jean Phillipe Rameau's comic masterpiece, Platee. Rameau wrote the opera when he was in his 60s, for an entertainment at a court wedding at Versailles. The story tells of a foolish and ugly nymph who believes she is loved by Jupiter. The sense of the absurd permeates Rameau's score, with the composer and his librettist managing to create an imaginative and colourful piece which turned many of the operatic conventions of the time on their head. Rameau's contemporary Melchior Grimm considered the piece 'sublime', while for Jean-Jacques Rousseau it was a 'divine' work. Even today it succeeds in firing the imaginations of opera producers and conductors, not least the French conductor Marc Minkowski who explains why in the programme.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 18th December 2010
Time: 17:30 to 22:30 (5 hours long)

Verdi's Don Carlo.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts a cast including Marina Poplavskaya, Yonghoon Lee and Simon Keenlyside in Verdi's Don Carlo. When Carlo, the son of Philip II of Spain meets Elisabeth, the daughter of the King of France, whom he must marry to unite the two countries, he falls in love with her straight away. When news reaches him that his father has decided to marry Elisabeth himself, he is devastated. This sets in motion a sequence of events with tragic consequences for everybody. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Marina Poplavskaya, soprano (Elisabeth de Valois), Anna Smirnova, mezzo-soprano (Eboli), Yonghoon Lee, tenor (Don Carlo), Simon Keenlyside, baritone (Rodrigo), Ferruccio Furlanetto, bass (Philip II), Eric Halfvarson, bass (Grand Inquisitor), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

I saw this last Saturday in the high definition broadcast. Roberto Alagna was Don Carlo. This is the long version, but not in French. Some of the production could have been improved, but it was still great. All of the singers were strong except Princess Eboli to my taste, although the audience applauded her.

Robert

Saturday 25th December 2010 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:55 (3 hours and 55 minutes long)

Wagner's Tannhauser.

Martin Handley introduces the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden's first performance in more than 20 years of Wagner's opera telling the story of a medieval troubadour's tussle between the sensual and the spiritual. A new production, directed by Tim Albery, which opened earlier this month features leading South African tenor Johan Botha in the title role and is conducted by highly experienced Wagnerian Semyon Bychkov. The two women who represent the opposing poles of his attraction are Venus (sung by Michaela Schuster) and Elisabeth (sung by Eva-Maria Westbroek). Christof Fischesser, bass (Hermann), Johan Botha, tenor (Tannhauser), Christian Gerhaher, baritone (Wolfram), Timothy Robinson, tenor (Walter), Clive Bayley, bass (Biterolf), Steven Ebel, tenor (Heinrich), Jeremy White, bass (Reinmar), Eva-Maria Westbroek, soprano (Elisabeth), Michaela Schuster, mezzo-soprano (Venus), Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House/Semyon Bychkov.

We went to Covent Garden yesterday to see Tannhauser. Yet another great production from the Royal Opera.

Listeners miss the exciting dancing accompanying the Venusberg music and the imaginative set - a faux ROH proscenium arch + red curtains in Act 1 which starts to crumble in Act 2 almost dissolving by the end. The story is fair-to-middling tosh but the music is fine. Botha is a decent heldentenor but the audience liked Christian Gerhaher (Wolfram) better - rightly in my view. I preferred Michaela Schuster to Eva-Maria Westbroek but all the principals did a first class job. Semyon Bychkov is quite at home with the score and got the best out of the ROH Orchestra.

If you can still access the broadcast and haven't yet heard it, don't miss it. Opportunities to hear a new production are not that common.

Saturday 1st January 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

The Genius of Mozart.

Franz Welser-Most conducts the Vienna State Opera production of Mozart's masterpiece Don Giovanni. When Don Giovanni creeps into the house of the Commendatore hoping to seduce his daughter Anna, things do not go quite to plan. Anna cries out; her father rushes to help her and in the subsequent duel he is killed. Mozart: Don Giovanni. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Don Giovanni), Sally Matthews (Donna Anna), Saimir Pirgu (Don Ottavio), Roxana Constantinescu (Donna Elvira), Alex Esposito (Leporello), Albert Dohmen (Il Commendatore), Adam Plachetka (Masetto), Sylvia Schwartz (Zerlina), Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna State Opera Orchestra/Franz Welser-Most.

I am right now listening to him conducting the New Year concert from Vienna. He's a busy man.

Robert

Yes, I saw this on TV and also heard it on the Radio - a very popular New Years Day offering.

Some Mozart on Radio 3 today:

Donald Macleod's Mozart
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 8th January 2011
Time: 12:00 to 13:00 (1 hour long)

Donald Macleod maps out Mozart's life-story: 7. Opera. Donald mixes two of his favourite passions: Mozart and opera, selecting music from Zaide, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro. Ruhe sanft mein holdes Leben (Rest gently, my sweet life) - Zaide. Miah Persson (soprano), Swedish Chamber Orchestra/Sebastian Weigle. Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (excerpts). Peter Schreier, tenor (Belmonte), Wilfried Gahmlich, tenor (Pedrillo), Zurich Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Se il padre perdei (Idomeneo). Sylvia McNair, soprano (Ilia), The English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner. Don Giovanni (excerpt). Simon Keenlyside, baritone (Don Giovanni), Matti Salminen, bass (Il Commendatore), Coro di Ferrara Musica, Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Claudio Abbado. Dove son?; Soave sia il vento (Cosi fan tutte), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano (Fiordiligi), Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano (Dorabella), Walter Berry, bass-baritone (Don Alfonso), Philharmonia Orchestra/Karl Bohm. Le nozze di Figaro (Finale of Act 2). Simon Keenlyside, baritone (The Count), Veronique Gens, soprano (The Countess), Patrizia Ciofi, soprano (Susanna), Lorenzo Regazzo, bass (Figaro), Marie McLaughlin, soprano (Marcellina), Kobie van Rensburg, tenor (Basilio), Antonio Abete, bass (Antonio), Nuria Rial, soprano (Barbarina), Concerto Koln/Rene Jacobs.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 8th January 2011 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 14:00 to 17:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

The Genius of Mozart: Presented by Martin Handley.

In an exceptional performance from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis conducts Cosi fan Tutte, one of Mozart's wittiest operas, with a superlative cast, including Kiri Te Kanawa and Agnes Baltsa. Davis's finely polished account of the score deftly balances the humanity, irony, pain and humour of Da Ponte's complex battle of the sexes. When two army officers claim to be certain that their fiancees will be eternally faithful, Don Alfonso cannot resist the urge to prove them wrong. It will take him only a day, he claims, to prove that these - like all women - are fickle. His wager is accepted, and from then on, things get complicated. Stuart Burrows, tenor (Ferrando), Thomas Allen, baritone (Guglielmo), Richard Van Allan, bass-baritone (Don Alfonso), Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano (Fiordiligi), Agnes Baltsa, mezzo-soprano (Dorabella), Daniela Mazzucato, soprano (Despina), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Colin Davis.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 8th January 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:30 to 01:00 (6 hours and 30 minutes long)

The Genius of Mozart - Mozart Double Bill.

Donald Macleod presents performances of Le nozze di Figaro, with the Chicago Lyric Opera under Andrew Davis, and La clememza di Tito, conducted by Rene Jacobs. Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro. Kyle Ketelsen, bass-baritone (Figaro), Danielle de Niese, soprano (Susanna), Anne Schwanewilms, soprano (Countess), Mariusz Kwiecien, baritone (Count), Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano (Cherubino), Lauren Curnow, mezzo-soprano (Marcellina), Andrea Silvestrelli, bass (Bartolo), Keith Jameson (Basilio), Philip Kraus, baritone (Antonio), Angela Mannino, soprano (Barbarina), David Portillo, tenor (Curzio), Chicago Lyric Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Andrew Davis. Mozart: La clemenza di Tito. Mark Padmore, tenor (Tito), Alexandrina Pendatchanska, soprano (Vitellia), Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano (Sesto), Marie-Claude Chappuis, mezzo-soprano (Annio), Sunhae Im, soprano (Servilia), Sergio Foresti, bass (Publio), RIAS Kammerchor, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra/Rene Jacobs.

Opera on 3
BBC Radio Three
Date: Sunday 9th January 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:10 to 23:00 (3 hours and 50 minutes long)

The Genius of Mozart.

A complete performance of Mozart's opera Idomeneo, re di Creta, K366. Idomeneo, at risk of drowning at sea, makes a vow to Neptune: to sacrifice, if he arrives safely on land, the first living creature he should meet. Unfortunately, when he is washed up on a Cretan beach, the first person he sees is his own son. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor (Idomeneo), Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano (Idamante), Sylvia McNair, soprano (Ilia), Hillevi Martinpelto, soprano (Elettra), Nigel Robson, tenor (Arbace), Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner.

Saturday 29th January 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Catherine Bott samples Lully's opera Bellrophon with Christophe Rousset and his group Les Talens Lyriques, who recently gave the first performance in modern times of this hugely successful tragedie en lyrique at the Opera Royal at Versailles after Rousset's discovery of missing pages of the score in a bookshop in Paris. Rousset talks about his find, and about the qualities that make Lully's opera stand out as a masterpiece. Lully was one of opera's most significant figures and this opera was one of his most successful. It originally ran for nine months when it was given at the Palais Royal on 31st January 1697. But non-French speaking audiences often encounter difficulties appreciating Lully's dramatic style and some of the subtleties of his declamatory word setting. Rousset offers some insights as to why these pioneering and influential works are worth wider appreciation. With comments from tenor Cyril Autivy - who played Bellerophon - as well as highlights from the Versailles performance.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 29th January 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Puccini's Tosca.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Marco Armiliato conducts Puccini's tale of love, lust, corruption and revenge. In this revival of Luc Bondy's dramatic production, Sondra Radvanovsky sings the title role for the first time at the Met, starring as the prima donna with the firebrand artist lover, who thinks she knows how to outwit the notorious Baron Scarpia - the vicious Police Chief, who will stop at nothing to have her. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano (Floria Tosca - a celebrated singer), Marcelo Alvarez, tenor (Mario Cavaradossi - a painter), Falk Struckmann, baritone (Baron Scarpia - Chief of Police), Peter Volpe, bass (Cesare Angelotti - former Consul of the Roman Rep), Paul Plishka, bass (a Sacristan), Dennis Petersen, tenor (Spoletta - a police agent), James Courtney, bass (Sciarrone - a gendarme), Harold Wilson, bass (A jailer), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/Marco Armiliato.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 5th February 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, James Levine conducts a performance of Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra, featuring Dmitri Hvorotovsky, Barbara Frittoli, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Ramon Vargas. In 14th-century Genoa, there is a conspiracy afoot to overthrow the aristocracy. Popular former pirate Simon Boccanegra will be made doge, but this public success is complicated by a private tragedy involving an illegitimate child he had by the daughter of a nobleman. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone (Simon Boccanegra - a corsair), Barbara Frittoli, soprano (Maria Boccanegra - his daughter, aka Amelia), Ferruccio Furlanetto, bass (Jacopo Fiesco, a Genoese nobleman), Ramon Vargas, tenor (Gabriele Adorno, a Genoese gentleman), Nicola Alaimo, bass (Paolo Albiani - a goldsmith), Richard Bernstein, baritone (Pietro - a Genoese popular leader), Adam Laurence Herskowitz, tenor (Captain of the Crossbowmen), Edyta Kulczak, mezzo-soprano (Amelia's maid), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera/James Levine.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 12th February 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 22:00 (4 hours long)

John Adams's Nixon in China.

Live from New York's Metropolitan Opera, John Adams conducts the Met debut of his Nixon in China, in the same production first seen at ENO in 1987, with James Maddalena reprising a role which he made his own. The opera explores the important moment in American history when President Nixon and his wife met Chairman Mao in Communist China, and the political and cultural differences which arise between the two leaders. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. James Maddalena, baritone (Richard Nixon), Janis Kelly, soprano (Pat Nixon), Russell Braun, baritone (Chou En-lai), Robert Brubaker, tenor (Mao Tse-tung), Richard Paul Fink, bass (Henry Kissinger), Kathleen Kim, soprano (Chiang Ch'ing), Ginger Costa-Jackson, mezzo-soprano (Nancy T'sang - first secretary to Mao), Teresa S Herold, contralto (Second secretary to Mao), Tamara Mumford, contralto (Third secretary to Mao), Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera/John Adams.

I saw Nixon in China in high definition yesterday. I liked the music. I liked the libretto. The singing was in English so I could hear the rhetoric against the music. I would have liked the music and the libretto to have been more congruent.

A good bit of the story mystifies me but didn't thereby move out of consideration.

The high definition transmission replays on March 2, and I can recommend it to folks.

Robert

Why Do Women Die in Opera?
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 26th February 2011 (starting tomorrow afternoon)
Time: 12:15 to 13:00 (45 minutes long)

Associate editor of The Guardian newspaper and opera fanatic Martin Kettle asks why in the most popular tragic operas the sopranos, and occasionally the mezzos, meet a gruesome end. He explores how composers' own relationships with women might shed light on their dying divas, as well as considering a feminist approach to 19th-century tragic opera which presents death as a punishment that the female romantic lead is required to pay for living too passionately. He is joined by singers Natalie Dessay and Christine Rice, singer-cum-director Catherine Malfitano, director David McVicar, ENO music director Edward Gardner, The Royal Opera House's director of opera Elaine Padmore and scholars Peter Conrad, Susan McClary and Margaret Reynolds.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 26th February 2011 (starting tomorrow evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Patrick Summers conducts a performance of Gluck's potent interpretation of the Greek myth, starring soprano Susan Graham and tenor-turned-baritone Placido Domingo as the siblings who endure family murder, vengeance and a great storm before eventually being reconciled. Presented by Margaret Juntwait. Gluck: Iphigenie en Tauride. Susan Graham, soprano (Iphigenie), Placido Domingo, baritone (Oreste), Paul Groves, tenor (Pylade), Gordon Hawkins, bass (Thoas), Chorus and Orchestra of the New York Metropolitan Opera/Patrick Summers.

Also playing in a high definition transmission that I hope to get to. I've seen only one of Gluck's operas. It was on DVD. Did he do an Orfeo? Anyway, one writer bookended his book with Monteverde at the front and Gluck at the back; I read that and wanted to see both so took it to the opera group that I was participating in at the time and got to see both.

Robert

>176 antimuzak: Not just 19th C. heroines. I recently attended the world premiere of Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera House - Mark-Anthony Turnage's take on the life and death of Anna Nicole Smith, the silicone enhanced Playmate who married a very old oil billionaire and died youngish of a drug overdose. She finally perishes zipping herself up in a body-bag while reprising her opening lines - "I want to blow you ..............a kiss". I'm sure her death was meant to be a pay-off for bad behaviour.

The opera received bi-polar reviews with the majority panning it. I must say I enjoyed the evening as did, apparently, most of the audience - rather younger than usual for Covent Garden. OK, it wasn't great opera by any stretch of the imagination but it was quite fun and Eva-Maria Westbroek and Gerald Finley were well worth listening to. I fear it won't have the legs to last on major opera house stages, but look how long it took Nixon in China to get to the Met. Modern opera has an uphill struggle.

ETA Missed you last week, antimusak

Thanks for missing me - I went away for the half term break. But I've been thinking of stopping posting programme information on the Radio 3 group and just waiting to see if dialogue develops, thinking that these postings may just swamp any other discussion.

Re. Anna Nichole: despite the reviews this opera has produced more comment in the UK media than any other opera I can think of - just add some breasts and sexuality and see what happens....... Pictures and free advertising galore.

However, I also viewed the Saltzburg Festival Programme on BBC4 last night, and the Viennese seem not to take the same interest in bodies as in the UK - some very explicit nudity on stage there and the comments were generally "shocked".

One could hardly blame you for setting down your self-imposed burden but I have appreciated some reminders of what was coming up, particularly the Met broadcasts which aren't available on iPlayer.

I confess that the opera thread is the only one of yours that I regularly follow. I'm sure that I'm not the only LTer who would thank you for your past efforts.

You are absolutely right about the free advertising for the Royal Opera House. Twenty years ago there would have been a lot of harrumphing from the regulars, but I get the feeling that everyone is a bit more laid-back now just as long as they maintain their musical standards.

I'll continue to post here about Opera on Radio 3, abbot, so you can continue to view the programme information. And there is always the Radio 3 website...

Today:

ARTS: Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three (703)
Date: Saturday 5th March 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:45 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Rossini's Armida.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Riccardo Frizza conducts a new production of Rossini's Armida, an epic tale of sorcery at the time of the First Crusade. Rinaldo is a fierce warrior, determined to play his part in the crusades. But when he encounters Armida, who is on the opposing side, he loses sight of his Christian duties and idles as a lovesick prisoner in her enchanted garden. Presented by Margaret Juntwait. Renee Fleming, soprano (Armida), Lawrence Brownlee, tenor (Rinaldo), John Osborn, tenor (Goffredo), Antonino Siragusa, tenor (Gernando), Barry Banks, tenor (Carlo), Kobie van Rensburg, tenor (Ubaldo), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera/Riccardo Frizza.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 19th March 2011 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 21:30 (4 hours and 30 minutes long)

Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Patrick Summers conducts soprano Natalie Dessay and tenor Joseph Calleja. Dessay stars as the innocent Lucia, forced by her brother into a political marriage with Arturo when she's desparately in love with Edgardo. The heartbreak and ruthlessness of her brother become too much for the fragile heroine, with tragic consequences. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Natalie Dessay, soprano (Lucia), Joseph Calleja, tenor (Edgardo), Ludovic Tezier, baritone (Enrico), Kwangchul Youn, bass (Raimondo), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera/Patrick Summers.

I'll be seeing this in high definition. From the previews I think I have seen this production before, but I can't figure out how.

Robert

Saturday 26th March 2011 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 20:45 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Tchaikovsky's the Queen of Spades.

A live performance from the Metropolitan Opera in New York of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades. Andris Nelsons conducts the tragic tale of a young army officer's obsession with gambling, featuring soprano Karita Mattila as Lisa and Vladimir Galouzine as Ghermann. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Karita Mattila, soprano (Lisa), Tamara Mumford, mezzo (Paulina), Dolora Zajick, mezzo (The Countess), Vladimir Galouzine, tenor (Ghermann), Alexej Markov, baritone (Tomsky), Peter Mattei, baritone (Yeletsky), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera/Andris Nelsons.

>182 antimuzak: It is very kind of you, antimusak, but I would feel very bad if you were going to this trouble just for me ;-) As you say, there is the BBC website, which I glance at most times I go on line, so please continue only if it suits you.

Did you catch Anna Nicole on BBC4 last night? Having been rather uncertain about it when we saw it live, I found myself warming to it on second viewing. I listened more attentively to the music, was less distracted by the libretto, and picked up some things in close-up that I'd missed from the middle of the Amphitheatre. I found the final minutes very touching. It's on iPlayer for a week, as well as Pappano's preceding programme on 'Fallen Women' which I haven't yet seen.

It's OK, I don't mind posting and others here may want to be informed of Radio 3 opera to catch the broadcasts.

Yes, I did see Anna Nicole on BBC4 and liked it, more serious than I had expected and much more immediately likeable than many modern operas. I didn't manage to catch the documentary about it beforehand though. I didn't think about the iPlayer....

Tonight:

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 2nd April 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Wagner's Das Rheingold.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Fabio Luisi conducts a performance of the first installment of Wagner's Ring cycle, Das Rheingold, in which all the problems for the gods in Valhalla and mortals on earth are set up for the rest of the epic series. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Wendy Bryn Harmer, soprano (Freia), Stephanie Blythe, mezzo (Fricka), Patricia Bardon, mezzo (Erda), Arnold Bezuyen, tenor (Loge), Gerhard Siegel, tenor (Mime), Bryn Terfel, baritone (Wotan), Eric Owens, bass (Alberich), Franz-Josef Selig, bass (Fasolt), Hans-Peter Konig, bass (Fasolt), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera/Fabio Luisi.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 9th April 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Rossini's Le Comte Ory.

In a live performance from Lincoln Center, New York, Maurizio Benini conducts Rossini's comic opera Le Comte Ory in its Metropolitan Opera premiere. Count Ory is determined to win the countess Adele, and will do anything to get access to the castle where the women are, including disguising himself and his men as nuns. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Diana Damrau, soprano (Countess Adele), Joyce DiDonato, mezzo (Isolier), Susanne Resmark, mezzo, Ragonde), Juan Diego Florez, tenor (Count Ory), Stephane Degout, baritone (Rimbaud), Rob Besserer, baritone (The Prompter), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera/Maurizio Benini.

I'm off to the multiplex to see the high definition broadcast of this. They've been showing the picture of the man dressed as nun all season, and based on that alone I think I can't miss it.

Robert

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 16th April 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:00 (2 hours long)

Direct from the New York Metropolitan Opera, Alban Berg's Wozzeck, one of the 20th century greatest dramatic works, the story of a man at the bottom of the heap who goes to pieces under unrelenting pressure, with a plot of crushing despair that leaves no hint of hope or redemption. Baritone Alan Held takes the title role and mezzo Waltraud Meier is his common law wife Marie, with Stuart Skelton, tenor (Drum Major), Gerhard Siegel, tenor (Captain), Walter Fink, bass (Doctor), Russell Thomas, tenor (Andres), Wendy White, contralto (Margret), Richard Bernstein, bass (First Apprentice), Mark Schowalter, baritone (Second Apprentice), Philippe Castagner, tenor (Madman), Daniel Clark Smith, tenor (A Soldier), New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/James Levine. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff.

Oh, I wish that that were going to be in a high definition broadcast. Maybe it will turn up as a DVD.

Robert

I had it on. I can't get opera very much at all without being able to see the drama, but I was thrilled listening to the audience reaction at the end. They loved it!

Robert

ARTS: Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 7th May 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Strauss's Ariadne Auf Naxos.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, a performance of Strauss's two-act opera. Presented by Margaret Juntwait and Ira Siff. Violeta Urmana, soprano (Ariadne), Joyce DiDonato, mezzo (The Composer), Kathleen Kim soprano (Zerbinetta), Vasili Ladyuk, baritone (Harlequin), Mark Schowalter, tenor (Scaramuccio), Joshua Bloom, bass (Truffaldino), Paul Appleby, tenor (Brighella), Thomas Allen, baritone (The Music Master), Robert Dean Smith, tenor (Bacchus), Tony Stevenson, tenor (The Dancing Master), David Crawford, baritone (A Wigmaker), James Courtney, bass (A Footman), Noah Baetge, tenor (An Officer), Michael Devlin, spoken role (The Major-Domo), Metropolitan Opera Chorus/Fabio Luisi.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 21st May 2011 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 22:00 (5 hours long)

Wagner's Parsifal.

From London's Coliseum, Donald Macleod presents ENO's celebrated production of Wagner's last opera, with Mark Wigglesworth conducting. The knights of the Holy Grail are in disarray. Only a blameless fool, made wise through compassion, can cure Amfortas's wound and so set them on the way to recovery. Unlikely as it seems at first, Parsifal might well be that saviour. Stuart Skelton, tenor (Parsifal), Iain Paterson, bass (Amfortas), Andrew Greenan, bass (Titurel), John Tomlinson, bass (Gurnemanz), Tom Fox, bass (Klingsor), Jane Dutton, mezzo (Kundry), English National Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Mark Wigglesworth.

I wrote an aide-memoire here - http://www.librarything.com/catalog/abbottthomas&deepsearch=parsifal -
after we saw this production. Visually very grey and a bit strange with an unconventional ending, but that won't get in the way of enjoying the music on the radio, particularly Tomlinson's singing.

As I get older and (some) directors try to be innovative before all else, I find I often sit there with my eyes closed - my wife says I'm sleeping, but I'm NOT! We went to Terry Gilliam's take on the Damnation of Faust last week: eyes open all the time for that.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 28th May 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:35 (2 hours and 35 minutes long)

Weinberg's the Portrait.

From the Grand Theatre in Leeds, a new Opera North production of Moisey Weinberg's three-act opera The Portrait, based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol. The work tells the cautionary tale of the painter Chartkov who yearns for fame and fortune until he acquires a portrait which brings him exactly that. Blinded by the attentions of the rich and famous he betrays his artistic integrity and, distraught at his own actions, resorts to desperate measures. Presented by Christopher Cook with Russian music expert David Nice. Paul Nilon, tenor (Chartkov), Katherine Broderick, soprano (Liza), Richard Burkhard, baritone (Nikita), Peter Savidge, baritone (Professor of Fine Arts/Journalist/Art Dealer/Landlady/Earl), Nicholas Sharratt, tenor (Lamplighter/Noble Gentleman), Jonathan Best, bass (3rd Seller/Dignitary), Richard Angas, bass (Policeman/General), Helen Field, soprano (Female Seller/Lady in Waiting), Mark Le Brocq, tenor (1st Seller/1st Waiter/Turk), Christopher Steele, tenor (2nd Seller/2nd Waiter/Cavalry Officer), Carole Wilson, mezzo (Noblewoman), Orchestra of Opera North/Rossen Gergov.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 4th June 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:50 (2 hours and 50 minutes long)

Massenet's Werther.

From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Andrew McGregor presents a performance of Massenet's Goethe-based opera Werther, with tenor Rolando Villazon and mezzo Sophie Koch as the doomed lovers. Passionate young poet Werther meets Sophie and falls instantly in love. Sophie falls for him, too, but has promised her dying mother she will marry Albert and cannot break her vow. Including conductor Antonio Pappano talking to Andrew McGregor about his view of the opera. Rolando Villazon, tenor (Werther), Sophie Koch, mezzo (Charlotte), Audun Iversen, baritone (Albert), Eri Nakamura, soprano (Sophie), Alain Vernhes, bass (Magistrate), Darren Jeffrey, baritone (Johann), Stuart Patterson, tenor (Schmidt), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Antonio Pappano.

Villazon has had more than his share of vocal problems in the last year or two, but I thought he was back to near his original form as Werther. The supporting cast was good too.

The night we went was beset by a lot of coughing as well as a fair bit of creaking from the sets - I hope this broadcast is more peaceful.

Good to hear that Villazon is back to form - he has been critically mauled over the past year after his vocal chord op.

Why do people persist in coughing at concerts and the opera - and often in the quietest parts?

This evening:

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 11th June 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Rimsky-Korsakov's the Tsar's Bride.

Martin Handley presents a performance given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, of The Tsar's Bride. Marina Poplavskaya, soprano (Marfa Sobakina), Johan Reuter, baritone (Grigory Gryaznoy), Ekaterina Gubanova, mezzo-soprano (Lyubasha), Dmitry Popov, tenor (Ivan Sergeyevich Likov), Vasily Gorshkov, bass (Elisa Bomelius), Paata Burchuladze, bass (Vasily Sobakin), Jurgita Adamonyte, mezzo (Dunyasha Saburova), Elizabeth Woollett, soprano (Domna Saburova), Alexander Vinogradov, bass (Malyuta-Skuratov), Anne-Marie Owens, mezzo (Petrovna), Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra/Mark Elder.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 18th June 2011 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 20:00 (3 hours long)

Verdi's Macbeth.

From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Andrew McGregor presents a performance of the celebrated revival of Verdi's Macbeth, featuring Simon Keenlyside and Liudmyla Monastyrska. When witches prophesy that Macbeth will be made thane of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland, they unleash in him a turmoil of anticipation and misery. But Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband's uncertainty. She covets the kingship for him and is prepared to go to any length to obtain it. Simon Keenlyside, baritone (Macbeth), Liudmyla Monastyrska, soprano (Lady Macbeth) Raymond Aceto, bass (Banquo), Dmitri Pittas, tenor (Macduff), Steven Ebel, tenor (Malcolm), Elizabeth Meister, soprano (Lady-In-Waiting), Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Antonio Pappano.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 25th June 2011 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:30 to 20:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Beethoven's Fidelio.

From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Martin Handley presents a performance of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, which tells story of a woman's determination to rescue her husband from imprisonment at the hands of an evil governor. Swedish soprano Nina Stemme tackles the demanding title role for the first tme on stage and is supported by an experienced cast and conductor, Mark Elder. Nina Stemme, soprano (Leonore), Endrik Wottrich, tenor (Florestan), Steven Ebel, tenor (Jaquino), Elizabeth Watts, soprano (Marzelline), John Wegner, bass (Don Pizarro), Willard White, bass (Don Fernando), Kurt Rydl, bass (Rocco), Dawid Kimberg, baritone (Prisoner), Royal Opera Chorus/Renato Balsadonna, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Mark Elder.

I've just been listening, on BBC 3 CD Review, to an excerpt from Abbado's new Lucerne Festival DVD that is getting rave reviews. Stemme as Leonora and Jonas Kaufmann as Florestan. Pity they didn't get him along to Covent Garden. He is, however, due to sing in two performances of Tosca in a couple of weeks with Bryn Terfel and Angela Gheorghiu. This set up is clearly aimed at the DVD / streaming market. I think it will be sad if opera houses start to do this often - a 'B' cast to bed the set in and let the chorus and orchestra get settled and then fly in the stars for a couple of takes.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 2nd July 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:45 to 22:00 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

Live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Suzy Klein presents a performance of a revival of Puccini's Madama Butterfly - a tragic tale of boundless love and selfish betrayal, with undertones of the clashing of two cultures. With soprano Kristine Opolais in the title role as Cio-Cio San, a tender Japanese geisha, and tenor James Valenti as Pinkerton, the US Navy lieutenant who deceives her. Kristine Opolais, soprano (Cio-Cio San), James Valenti, tenor (Pinkerton), Anthony Michaels-Moore, baritone (Sharpless), Robin Leggate, tenor (Goro), Helene Schneiderman, soprano (Suzuki), Jeremy White, bass (Bonze), Zheng Zhou, baritone (Yamadori), Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus/Andris Nelsons.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 9th July 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:45 to 22:00 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Massenet's Cendrillon.

Live from Covent Garden, London, Donald Macleod presents the first Royal Opera House production of Massenet's opera Cendrillon, based on Perrault's version of the fairytale of Cinderella. Donald is joined by Sarah Lenton to discuss the background to the opera, and he interviews the cast and conductor about their roles in it. Massenet: Cendrillon. Joyce DiDonato, mezzo (Cendrillon), Eglise Gutierrez, soprano (La fee), Alice Coote, mezzo (Le prince charmant), Ewa Podles, mezzo (Madame de la Haltiere), Jean-Philippe Lafont, baritone (Pandolfe), Madeleine Pierard, soprano (Noemie), Kai Ruutel, mezzo (Dorothee), Jeremy White, bass (Roi), Harry Nicoll, tenor (Doyen de la Faculte), Dawid Kimberg, baritone (Surintendant des Plaisirs), John-Owen Miley-Read (Premier Ministre), Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra/Bertrand de Billy.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 24th September 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:45 to 22:30 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Gounod's Faust.

Live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Louise Fryer presents a performance of Gounod's Faust, in a revival of David McVicar's production. Soprano Angela Georghiu plays the innocent Marguerite alongside and young Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo as Faust, who seduces her after making a devilish pact with Mephistopheles to exchange his soul for youth. Louise is joined by French music expert Claire Launchbury to discuss the work. Vittorio Grigolo, tenor (Faust), Rene Pape, bass (Mephistopheles), Angela Gheorghiu, soprano (Marguerite), Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone (Valentin), Michele Losier, mezzo-soprano (Siebel), Carole Wilson, mezzo-soprano (Martha Schwerlein), Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Evelino Pido.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 1st October 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:40 (2 hours and 40 minutes long)

Puccini's Tosca in a Royal Opera House production conducted by Antonio Pappano featuring soprano Angela Gheorghiu in the title role, tenor Jonas Kaufmann as her lover Cavaradossi and baritone Bryn Terfel as the menacing embodiment of sadistic evil Baron Scarpia. With Hubert Francis, tenor (Spoletta), Lukas Jakobski, bass (Angelotti), Jeremy White, bass (Sacristan), Zheng Zhou, baritone (Sciarrone), William Payne, treble (Shepherd Boy), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

CD Review
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 8th October 2011
Time: 09:00 to 12:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Andrew McGregor presents Radio 3's weekly programme devoted to all that's new in the world of classical music recordings. Including 9.30 Building a Library: David Nice with a personal recommendation from the available recordings of Tchaikovsky's opera The Queen of Spades. 10.45 Piers Burton-Page talks to Andrew about recent releases of music by Shostakovich and the man who is increasingly seen as one of the great Soviet composers - Mieczyslaw Weinberg. 11.45 Disc of the Week: Delius: Concertos. Tasmin Little (violin), Paul Watkins (cello), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Davis.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 8th October 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:40 (3 hours and 40 minutes long)

Debussy: Pelleas Et Melisande.

A concert performance given in May this year at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris. With soprano Natalie Dessay and baritone Simon Keenlyside in the title roles, with Marie-Nicole Lemieux, contralto (Genevieve), Laurent Naouri, baritone (Golaud), Alain Vernhes, bass (Arkel), Khatouna Gardelia, soprano (Yniold), Nahuel di Pierro, bass (The Doctor), Paris Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Louis Langree.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 15th October 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:20 (3 hours and 20 minutes long)

Weinberg's the Passenger.

In a performance given at the 2010 Bregenz Festival, Andrew McGregor presents Mieczyslaw Weinberg's opera The Passenger. Banned in the USSR, the work was not given its first full staging until 14 years after the composer's death. A chance encounter between two women travelling at sea - one a former Auschwitz guard, the other (the Passenger) a former prisoner - triggers memories which plunge them into a moral battle between guilt and denial, retribution and absolution. Elena Kelessidi (Martha, The Passenger), Artur Rucinski (Tadeusz), Roberto Sacca (Walter), Michelle Breedt (Lisa), Artur Rucinski (Tadeusz), Svetlana Doneva (Katja), Angelica Voje (Krzystina), Elzbieta Wroblewska (Vlasta), Agnieszka Rehlis (Hannah), Talia Or (Yvette), Helen Field (Old woman prisoner), Liuba Sokolova (Bronka), Tobias Hachler (1st SS-officer), Wilfried Staber (2nd SS-officer), David Danholt (3rd SS-officer), Richard Angas (Steward), Heide Capovilla (Boss), Chorus of the Prague Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony Orchestra/Teodor Currentzis.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 29th October 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Tchaikovsky's the Queen of Spades.

From the Grand Theatre in Leeds, Christopher Cook introduces Opera North's new period production of Tchaikovsky's tragic tale of obsession and greed - The Queen of Spades. The young gambler Hermann attempts to end his run of bad luck by trying to discover the old Countess's secret of the cards and winning the hand of her granddaughter Lisa in marriage, but ends up gambling with love and life and losing at both. Orla Boylan, soprano (Lisa), Josephine Barstow, soprano (Countess), Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, tenor (Hermann), Jonathan Summers, baritone (Count Tomsky), William Dazeley, baritone (Prince Yeletsky), Alexandra Sherman, mezzo-soprano (Pauline), Fiona Kimm, mezzo-soprano (Governess), Daniel Norman, tenor (Chekalinsky), Julian Tovey, baritone (Sourin), Gillene Herbertm soprano (Masha), David Llewellyn, tenor (Tchaplitsky), Dean Robinson, bass (Narumov), Paul Rendall, tenor (Master of Ceremonies), Miranda Bevin, soprano (Chloe), Orchestra of Opera North/Richard Farnes.

Saturday 5th November 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:00 (3 hours long)

Domingo Celebration: From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Andrew McGregor presents a special homage to renowned tenor Placido Domingo, who is considered one of the greatest voices of all time. The celebration marks the fortieth anniversary of Domingo's London debut, with acts from three Verdi operas that have had special significance in the Spanish tenor's career: Otello, Rigoletto and Simon Boccanegra. Placido Domingo, tenor-baritone (Otello/Rigoletto/Boccanegra), Marina Poplavskaya, soprano (Desdemona/Amelia), Ailyn Perez, soprano (Gilda), Francesco Meli, tenor (Duke/Adorno), Paata Burchuladze, bass (Ludovico/Sparafucile/Fiesco), Jonathan Summers, bass (Iago), Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra/Antonio Pappano.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 12th November 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:45 (2 hours and 45 minutes long)

Wagner's Der Fliegende Hollander.

Louise Fryer presents a performance given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden of Wagner's celebrated opera The Flying Dutchman, with Jeffrey Tate conducting a revival of Tim Albery's 2009 production. Egils Silins sings the part of the man cursed to sail his ghostly ship for eternity and only allowed ashore every seven years. The only way to break the curse is to find a woman who will be faithful to him until death. Anje Kampe sings Senta, who believes she is that woman, despite having promised herself to somebody else. Stephen Milling, bass (Daland), Anja Kampe, soprano (Senta), Endrik Wottrich, Tenor (Erik), John Tessier, tenor (Steersman), Egils Silins, bass (The Dutchman), Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus/Jeffrey Tate.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 19th November 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:45 (2 hours and 45 minutes long)

Bellini's La Sonnambula.

Ivan Hewett presents a performance given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in which Daniel Oren conducts Bellini's La Sonnambula. The story centres on the unfortunate Amina, whose sleepwalking causes her fiance Elvino to doubt her. Ivan is joined in the box by translator and writer on music Kenneth Chalmers. Elena Xanthoudakis, Soprano (Lisa), Eglise Gutierrez, Soprano (Amina), Elizabeth Sikora, mezzo-soprano (Teresa), Celso Albelo, tenor (Elvino), Michele Pertusi, baritone (Count Rodolfo), Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus/Daniel Oren.

For me, I think that listening to La Sonnambula without set and surtitles beats getting involved in this rather silly story. We went to see it this week - cast as above except for Christophoros Stamboglis replacing Pertusi as Count Rodolfo - and I spent too much attention on the spoilt-kid behaviour of Elvino and the pre-feminist doormat response of Amina. OK, things were different in the 19th C., but Elvino's petulance at discovering his betrothed asleep on the floor under the Count's motoring coat and his refusal to consider protestations of her blamelessness from her, the Count and eventually most of the chorus made me see him as a mummy's boy who was not likely to make Amina happy. Like Tracey Samantha Lord in High Society, Amina should have dumped her intended on the altar steps and found someone more relaxed and less self-satisfied.

I enjoyed the singing and thought the principals rather better than some of the critics had suggested. There is a lot of work for the chorus, which was as excellent as ever. Daniel Oren has done the rounds of all the top places but maybe age is catching up with him - a bit short on pzzazz for me. Another reminder of the huge privilege of having Pappano as Music Director and principal conductor.

I don't see BBC shows until they come around on DVD rentals, but I appreciate the discussion.

@abbottthomas, like you I sometimes get distracted by the unappealing main characters. It seems to me that many, if not most, of the pairings in opera are bad matches between fools, narcissists, juvenile princesses, popinjays, and worse. I guess it's really just a case of "What do they see in each other?" and it's not for us to know. I never come away from Madama Butterfly without feeling sorry for the real American wife who has to go on living with this cad, whereas Cio-Cio-San never has to face the worthlessness of her idealized lover.

Nice one, Meredy. I think you've got the makings of a question for the Met Opera broadcat quiz there. "Name an operatic couple who you'd like to have as nextdoor neighbours", perhaps. Rather fewer than couples who would be interesting party guests, I guess.

Maybe Violetta and Alfredo would be OK (if she could get hold of some streptomycin).

Re the mummy's boy - I had missed the point of a framed photo Elvino carried everywhere until I listened to the broadcast - it was, of course, of his recently departed mother.

CD Review
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 10th December 2011
Time: 09:00 to 12:15 (3 hours and 15 minutes long)

Including 9.30 Building a Library: Sarah Lenton makes a personal recommendation from the available recordings of Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto. 10.30 Andrew talks to Ivan Hewett about new releases of a variety of choral repertoire. 11.35 Disc of the Week: Schubert: Sonatas; Impromptus; Klavierstucke. Paul Lewis (piano).

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 10th December 2011 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 22:10 (4 hours and 10 minutes long)

Gounod's Faust.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts a performance of Gounod's Faust, the very first opera to be staged at the venue when it opened in 1883. The work tells the famous story of Dr Faust and how he sells his soul to the devil, Mephistopheles, in order to regain his youth. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Jonas Kaufmann, tenor (Faust), Rene Pape, bass (Mephistopheles), Marina Poplavskaya, soprano (Marguerite), Russell Braun, baritone (Valentin), Jonathan Beyer, baritone (Wagner), Michele Losier, mezzo-soprano (Siebel), Wendy White, mezzo-soprano (Marthe Schwerlein), New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

Faust is also live in HD today. Alas, my car is in the body shop having two doors replaced, and I can't get to it. I may be able to get to the encore screening in a couple of weeks.

Robert

Hope you managed this Robert.

Today:

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Sunday 1st January 2012 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 14:45 to 21:15 (6 hours and 30 minutes long)

Wagner's Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg.

Live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Martin Handley presents a performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger, with Wolfgang Koch (Hans Sachs), Simon O'Neill (Walter von Stolzing) and Emma Bell (Eva). Wolfgang Koch, baritone (Hans Sachs), Simon O'Neill, tenor (Walter von Stolzing), Emma Bell, soprano (Eva), Peter Coleman-Wright, baritone (Sixtus Beckmesser), John Tomlinson, bass (Veit Pogner), Toby Spence, tenor (David), Heather Shipp, mezzo (Magdalene), Colin Judson, tenor (Kunz Vogelsang), Nicholas Folwell, baritone (Konrad Nachtigall), Donald Maxwell, baritone (Fritz Kothner), Jihoon Kim, baritone (Hermann Ortel), Martyn Hill, tenor (Balthazar Zorn), Pablo Bemsch, tenor (Augustin Moser), Andrew Rees, baritone (Eisslinger), Jeremy White, bass (Hans Foltz), Richard Wiegold, bass (Hans Schwarz), Robert Lloyd, bass (Nightwatchman), Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Antonio Pappano.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 7th January 2012 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:30 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel: Live from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, Robin Ticciati conducts an English language production of Humperdinck's perennially popular opera. With mezzo Alice Coote donning trousers to play Hansel, and tenor Robert Brubaker pulling on a frock and clutching a broomstick to play the wicked witch. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel. Alice Coote, mezzo (Hansel), Aleksandra Kurzak, soprano (Gretel), Robert Brubaker, tenor (the Gingerbread Witch), Dwayne Croft, baritone (Peter), Michaela Martens, mezzo (Gertrud), Jennifer Johnson Cano, soprano (Sandman), Lei Xu, soprano (Dewman), Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus/Robin Ticciati.

This evening:

RAMEAU'S CASTOR AND POLLUX

English National Opera have undoubtedly helped to establish Handel in the modern repertoire with many acclaimed productions in recent years. Now, with Castor and Pollux, they have their first stab at Handel’s comparatively neglected French contemporary, Jean-Philippe Rameau.

Director Barrie Kosky’s controversial updating of this mythical story took some critical flak, but there are plenty of stylish musical moments under the sympathetic baton of Baroque specialist Christian Curnyn. And superb singing, too, particularly from Allan Clayton and Roderick Williams as the identical twins who love the same woman, Télaire, enchantingly sung here by Sophie Bevan.

Rameau's Castor and Pollux, a tangled tale of devotion and unrequited love, presented by Donald Macleod in conversation with Simon Heighes. This new production by Barry Kosky, translated by Amanda Holden, is the first time any Rameau opera has been staged at English National Opera. Rameau: Castor and Pollux. Allan Clayton (tenor: Castor), Roderick Williams (baritone: Pollux), Sophie Bevan (soprano: Telaire), Laura Tatulescu (soprano: Phoebe), Henry Waddington (bass: Jupiter), Andrew Rupp (baritone: High Priest of Jupiter), Ed Lyon (tenor: Mercury/Athlete), English National Opera Chorus and Orchestra, conductor Christian Curnyn.

Today:

The Enchanted Island (Music by Handel, Rameau and Vivaldi)

Live from The Met

The Live from the Met season continues with the world première of The Enchanted Island, a contemporary revival of the 18th century musical pastiche by the British librettist Jeremy Sams in collaboration with the Baroque music expert William Christie. Inspired by two Shakespeare plays, the story finds the four lovers from A Midsummer Night's Dream landed on an island where Sycorax and Prospero from The Tempest are embroiled in a supernatural battle. This modern Baroque fantasy features arias by various composers including Handel, Rameau and Vivaldi.

Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff

Prospero.....David Daniels (countertenor)
Sycorax.....Joyce DiDonato (mezzo-soprano)
Ariel.....Danielle de Niese (soprano)
Neptune.....Placido Domingo (tenor)
Caliban.....Luca Pisaroni (baritone)
Miranda.....Lisette Oropesa (soprano)
Ferdinand.....Anthony Roth Constanzo (countertenor)
Helena.....Layla Claire (soprano)
Hermia.....Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo-soprano)
Demetrius.....Paul Appleby (tenor)
Lysander.....Elliot Madore (baritone)
New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Conductor.....William Christie.

I expect to be seeing it in a few minutes live in HD. Those of us who see it as well as listen to it can evaluate the expansion of Joyce DiDonato and Danielle de Niese. I like Danielle de Niese's handling of baroque arias.

Robert

Hope you enjoyed it Robert - as I did the audio broadcast. You might enjoy reading this article in "The Guardian".

Today:

Donizetti's Anna Bolena live from the Met.
Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff.

Anna Netrebko portrays the ill-fated queen driven insane by her unfaithful king, in Donizetti's tragic two-act opera. She sings one of opera's greatest mad scenes as Henry VIII abandons her and takes up with Jane Seymour, previously her lady-in-waiting. Ekaterina Gubanova sings Jane, Ildar Abdrazakov takes the role of Henry VIII, and Marco Armiliato conducts.

Anna Bolena ..... Anna Netrebko (soprano)
Giovanna Seymour ..... Ekaterina Gubanova (mezzo-soprano)
Enrico VIII ..... Ildar Abdrazakov (bass)
Smeaton ..... Tamara Mumford (contralto)
Lord Riccardo Percy ..... Stephen Costello (tenor)
New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus
Marco Armiliato (conductor).

I very much enjoyed Enchanted Island despite the counter tenors in macho roles.

I have missed Anna Bolena. The first HD screening was preempted by a local film festival; the second screening was up against an more urgent event I had to go to. Apparently it was on teevee; a friend invited me but too late actually to get to her house. I wanted to see it and put it up against my images of the woman from Wolf Hall albeit a different part of her life. I may get snippets of it on the radio driving, but I won't have any idea of what's going on. Perhaps there'll be a DVD some day.

Robert

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 18th February 2012 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, live from the New York Metropolitan Opera, in a production by Bartlett Sher. Diana Damrau, soprano (Rosina), Colin Lee, tenor (Count Almaviva), Rodion Pogossov, baritone (Figaro), John Del Carlo, bass-baritone (Dr Bartolo), Ferruccio Furlanetto, bass (Don Basilio). New York Metropolitan Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Marco Armiliato.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 10th March 2012 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 20:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Andrew Davis conducts a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Baritone Gerald Finley potrays the indiscriminate and sexually voracious Don Giovanni, a man who will not take no for an answer, leaving a trail of outrage and wrecked lives in his wake. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Gerald Finley, baritone (Don Giovanni), Bryn Terfel, bass (Leporello), Marina Rebeka, soprano (Donna Anna), Ellie Dehn, soprano (Donna Elvira), Don Ottavio, soprano (Matthew Polenzani), Shenyang, bass (Masetto), Isabel Leonard, soprano (Zerlina). James Morris, bass (Il Commendatore), New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Chorus/Andrew Davis.

Saturday 17th March 2012 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 16:00 to 20:30 (4 hours and 30 minutes long)

Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina.

Live from The Metropolitan Opera, Kirill Petrenko conducts a performance of Mussorgsky's epic tale, on the stage in New York for the first time in more than a decade.The opera, set during the reign of Peter the Great, tells the story of rebellion led by Prince Ivan Khovansky, commander of the streltsy guards, against the ruler and his attempts to bring reforms to Russia. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Olga Borodina, mezzo-soprano (Marfa), Misha Didyk, tenor (Andrei Khovansky), Vladimir Galouzine, tenor (Vasily Golitsin), George Gagnidze, bass-baritone (Shaklovity), Anatoli Kotscherga, bass (Ivan Khovansky), Ildar Abdrazakov, bass (Dosifei), Maria Gavrilova, soprano (Susanna), John Easterlin, tenor (Scrivener), Wendy Bryn Harmer, soprano (Emma), David Crawford, bass (Varsonofyev), Mark Schowalter, tenor (Kuzka), Michael Todd Simpson, tenor (Streshnev), New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus/Kirill Petrenko.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 24th March 2012 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

The Spirit of Schubert.

Fierrabras: Andrew McGregor presents a performance of Schubert's last completed opera, Fierrabras - an early example of the German romantic operatic style. The story is set in the courts of the Frankish King Charlemagne and the Moorish Prince Boland. Claudio Abbado conducts the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in a production featuring singers Karita Mattila and Josef Protschka. Schubert: Fierrabras. Karita Mattila, soprano (Emma), Robert Holl, bass (Konig Karl), Thomas Hampson, baritone (Roland), Robert Gambill, tenor (Eginhard), Laszlo Polgar, bass (Boland), Josef Protschka, tenor (Fierrabras), Cheryl Studer, soprano (Florinda), Brigitte Balleys, contralto (Maragond), Hartmut Welker, baritone, Brutamonte), Arnold Schoenberg Choir, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Claudio Abbado.

Thomas Hampson is also on the radio today from the Metropolitan Opera in MacBeth. I wish that listening to opera did for me what watching and listening does.

Robert

You are not the only one, Mr D. Ideally, perhaps, one should try to see an opera before buying a CD or listening on the radio so that you can have something helpful in your mind's eye as you listen.

At least modern recording technology is giving us much better video recordings of a wide variety of opera. Two excellent DVD's that spring to mind are the Glyndebourne production of Guilio Cesare with Sarah Connolly and Danniele de Niese and La Fille du Regiment from the ROH with Juan Diego Florez and Natalie Dessay. I'm not sure that I wouldn't prefer to see a straight shot of the stage throughout, but I suppose we are stuck with the cinematic close-ups.

I've seen the Glyndeborne Giulio Cesare on DVD and loved it. I have also seen Natalie Dessay in the Met's production of La Fille du Regiment in their HD Live series; I don't remember Juan Diego Florez in that; could he have been?

Robert

According to this, he was - http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/gp-at-the-met-la-fille-du-regiment/introd...

When the opera was last broadcast from the Met in 2011, it had a less starry cast.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 7th April 2012 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 21:00 (4 hours long)

Massenet's Manon.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, principal conductor Fabio Luisi leads a performance of Massenet's opera Manon. The Chevalier des Grieux falls in love with Manon at first sight. When she tells him that her fondness for pleasure has led her family to send her to a convent, he is determined to rescue her from such a fate. But all will not go smoothly for the eloping couple. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Anna Netrebko, soprano (Manon), Piotr Beczala, tenor (Chevalier des Grieux), Paulo Szot, baritone (Lescaut), David Pittsinge, bass (Comte des Grieux, Christoph Mortagne, baritone (Guillot Morfontaine), Bradley Garvin, bass (Monsieur de Bretigny), Anne-Carolyn Bird, soprano (Poussette), Jennifer Black, soprano (Javotte), Ginger Costa-Jackson, mezzo-soprano (Rosette), Philip Cokorinos, tenor (Innkeeper), Kathryn Day, mezzo-soprano (Maid), New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus/Fabio Luisi.

Opera on 3: Live from the Met
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 21st April 2012 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 16:00 to 22:00 (6 hours long)

Wagner's Siegfried.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Fabio Luisi conducts a performance of Wagner's opera Siegfried, the part of the Ring Cycle. When Siegfried eventually finds the sleeping Brunnhilde, he is overwhelmed by her beauty and finally realises the meaning of fear. Awakened by his kiss, Brunnhilde tries to resist his declarations of passion, but finally gives in and joins Siegfried in praise of love. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Jay Hunter Morris, tenor (Siegfried), Deborah Voigt, soprano (Brunnhilde), Patricia Bardon, contralto (Erda), Gerhard Siegel, tenor (Mime), Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone (Wanderer), Eric Owens, baritone (Alberich), Hans-Peter Konig, bass (Fafner), Erin Morley, soprano (Waldvogel), Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Fabio Luisi.

Saturday 5th May 2012 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:30 to 20:30 (3 hours long)

Janacek's the Makropoulos Case.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Jiri Belohlavek conducts the Metropolitan Opera and Chorus. When, at the end of the 16th century alchemist Hieronymus Makropulos made a potion that would extend the span of human life, he tested it on his daughter Elina. She fell into a coma and Hieronymus was sent to prison. But after a week Elina woke up and fled with the formula. Three hundred years later, she is still going - but does life have any value if it goes on for ever? Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Karita Mattila, soprano (Emilia Marty), Richard Leech (Tenor (Albert Gregor), Tom Fox, bass (Dr Kolenaty), Alan Oke, tenor (Kolenaty's Clerk), Johan Reuter, baritone (Baron Prus), Matthew Plenk, tenor (Janek), Bernard Fitch, tenor (Count Hauk-Sendorf), James Courtney, bass (Stagehand), Jane Shaulis, mezzo-soprano (Cleaning Woman), Edyta Kulczak, mezzo-soprano (Chambermaid), Emalie Savoy, soprano (Kristina), New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus, New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Jiri Belohlavek.

Saturday 19th May 2012 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:00 (2 hours long)

Judith Weir's Miss Fortune.

A performance given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden featuring the British premiere of Judith Weir's new opera Fortune. Miss Tina Fortune is born into a wealthy family, but loses her luck thanks to the meddling hands of Fate, who is ever-present on stage with her. Her fortune only begins to improve when she confronts Fate, and they come to a truce. Sara Mohr-Pietsch talks to Judith Weir and conductor Paul Daniel about the opera. Emma Bell, soprano (Tina), Jacques Imbrailo, baritone (Simon), Andrew Watts, countertenor (Fate), Anne-Marie Owens, mezzo-soprano (Donna), Noah Stewart, Tenor (Hassan), Alan Ewing, bass (Lord Fortune), Kathryn Harries, soprano (Lady Fortune), Royal Opera House Orchestra, Royal Opera House Chorus/Paul Daniel.

Saturday 19th May 2012 (starting this evening)
Time: 20:00 to 22:00 (2 hours long)

Gerald Barry's the Importance of Being Earnest.

A performance given at the Barbican in London of Irish composer Gerald Barry's three-act opera based on the celebrated Oscar Wilde play. Thomas Ades conducts the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Barry: The Importance of Being Earnest. Barbara Hannigan (Cecily Cardew), Peter Tantsits (John Worthing), Joshua Bloom (Algernon Moncrieff), Katalin Karolyi (Gwendolen Fairfax), Hilary Summers (Miss Prism), Alan Ewing (Lady Bracknell), Benjamin Bevan (Lane/Merriman), Joshua Hart (Dr Chasuble). Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/Thomas Ades.

Opera on 3
On: BBC Radio Three
Date: Saturday 26th May 2012 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Mozart's the Marriage of Figaro.

From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Louise Fryer presents a performance of Mozart's great comic opera. When Count Almaviva takes an over-eager interest in his cunning manservant's wife-to-be, he sets off an elaborate train of events and finds himself thwarted many times. But after a day of madness and a night of confusion, everything ends more or less happily. Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, bass (Figaro), Aleksandra Kurzak, soprano (Susanna), Carlo Lepore, bass (Bartolo), Ann Murray, mezzo-soprano (Marcellina), Anna Bonitatibus, mezzo-soprano (Cherubino), Lucas Meachem, baritone (Count Almaviva), Bonaventura Bottone, tenor (Basilio), Jeremy White, bass (Antonio), Harry Nicoll, tenor (Don Curzio), Susana Gaspar, main artist (Barbarina), Kate Royal, soprano (Countess Almaviva), Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Antonio Pappano.

Today:

From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Louise Fryer presents a performance of Dvorak's Rusalka, in its first fully-staged production there. In a radical interpretation by Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, Dvorak's 'lyric fairytale' stars Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund in the title role and Yannick Neezet-Seguin makes his Royal Opera debut conducting the late romantic score. Camilla Nylund, soprano (Rusalka), Alan Held, baritone (Vodnik, Spirit of the Lake), Brian Hymel, tenor (Prince), Petra Lang, mezzo-soprano (Foreign Princess), Agnes Zwierko, mezzo-soprano (Jezibaba), Daniel Grice, bass-baritone (Voice of Huntsman), Gyula Orendt, baritone (Gamekeeper), Ilse Eerens, soprano (Kitchen Boy), Anna Devin, soprano (Wood Nymph), Madeleine Pierard, soprano (Wood Nymph), Justina Gringyte, mezzo-soprano (Wood Nymph), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

Saturday, June 9th, 2012 on
BBC Radio Three from 6:00pm to 8:40pm

Verdi's Rigoletto.


From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Louise Fryer presents a performance of Verdi's tragic and provocative tale of the cynical court jester who, against his better nature, wreaks havoc with the lives of others. In this revival of David McVicar's production, Dimitri Platanias is the hunchback jester, Ekaterina Siurina his daughter Gilda, and Vittorio Grigolo the handsome, amoral Duke who poses as a penniless student to gain Gilda's love. Verdi: Rigoletto. Vittorio Grigolo, tenor (Duke Of Mantua), Dimitri Platanias, baritone (Rigoletto), Ekaterina Siurina, soprano (Gilda), Christine Rice, mezzo-soprano (Maddalena), Matthew Rose, bass (Sparafucile), Elizabeth Sikora, mezzo-soprano (Giovanna), Gianfranco Montresor, baritone (Monterone), Zheng Zhou, baritone (Marullo), Pablo Bemsch, tenor (Borsa), Jihoon Kim, bass-baritone (Count Ceprano), Susana Gaspar, soprano (Countess Ceprano), Nigel Cliffe, tenor (Usher), Andrea Hazell, mezzo-soprano (Page), Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera/John Eliot Gardiner.

Saturday, June 16th, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 6:00pm to 8:45pm

Puccini's La boheme: Featuring Carmen Giannattasio (Mimi) and Joseph Calleja (Rodolfo). Semyon Bychkov conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House.

Saturday, June 23rd, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 6:00pm to 9:30pm

Donald Macleod presents a performance given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, a tale of vengeance and retribution, even from beyond the grave. Mozart: Don Giovanni. Erwin Schrott, bass (Don Giovanni), Alex Esposito, bass (Leporello), Reinhard Hagen, bass (Commendatore), Ruxandra Donose, mezzo-soprano (Donna Elvira), Carmela Remigio, soprano (Donna Anna), Pavol Breslik, tenor (Don Ottavio), Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano (Zerlina), Matthew Rose, bass (Masetto), Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera/Constantinos Carydis.

Saturday 7th July 2012 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 20:40 (2 hours and 40 minutes long)

Christopher Cook presents the English National Opera's UK premiere of Glanert's opera Caligula at the London Coliseum - already acclaimed as perhaps the finest German opera of the 21st century. Baritone Peter Coleman-Wright takes the title role as a larger-than-life, timeless dictator in a veritable tour-de-force inspired by Albert Camus' existentialist play portraying the Roman Emperor in the shadow of Hitler and Stalin. This disturbing spectacle of tyranny, corruption and decadence is set by director Benedict Andrews in a contemporary football stadium. Peter Coleman-Wright, baritone (Caligula); Yvonne Howard, mezzo-soprano (Caesonia); Christopher Ainslie, countertenor (Helicon); Pavlo Hunka, bass-baritone (Cherea); Carolyn Dobbin, mezzo-soprano (Scipio); Brian Galliford, tenor (Mucius); Eddie Wade, baritone (Mereia/Lepidus); Julia Sporsen, soprano (Livia). English National Opera Chorus and English National Opera Orchestra. Ryan Wigglesworth (conductor).

There's nothing very controversial about "Lohengrin" these days, though it's not a feminist classic - but the production on this occasion certainly was. Apparently (there's now, in 2012 a DVD) the chorus appear as rats, and at the end there is a gratuitous birth of a future leader.

Thanks for this information Charlecote. All this imagery lost, of course, on the radio. I remember reading a review of this production some time ago. Mixed feelings, I remember.

Today:

Saturday, September 22nd, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Scottish Opera's new production of Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress, with tenor Edgaras Montvidas as Tom Rakewell, Carolyn Sampson as Anne Trulove, Leah-Marian Jones as Baba the Turk and Steven Page as Nick Shadow. Sian Edwards conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Inspired by Hogarth's 18th century engravings, the libretto by WH Auden and Chester Kallman charts the decline of Tom Rakewell and his final descent to madness abetted by Nick Shadow, who turns out to be the Devil.

Saturday, October 6th, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 6:00pm to 9:30pm

Mozart: The Magic Flute

Andrew McGregor presents a performance given at the 2012 Salzburg Festival of one of Mozart's last works, with veteran instrument specialist Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting his long-time ensemble, Concentus Musicus Vienna. Mozart's opera is a work where true love, jealousy and freemasonry are afoot in an imaginary ancient Eygpt, featuring an evil Queen of the Night, a giant serpent, pairs of lovers and titular magic flute. Mozart: The Magic Flute: Georg Zeppenfeld, bass (Sarastro), Bernard Richter, tenor (Tamino), Mandy Fredrich, soprano (Queen Of The Night), Julia Kleiter, soprano (Pamina), Sandra Trattnigg, soprano (First Lady), Anja Schlosser, mezzo (Second Lady), Wiebke Lehmkuhl, contralto (Third Lady), Tolzer Knabenchor (Three Boys), Markus Werba, baritone (Papageno), Elisabeth Schwarz, soprano (Papagena), Rudolf Schasching, tenor (Monostatos), Martin Gantner, baritone (Speaker), Lucian Krasznec, tenor (First Armoured Man/First Priest), Andreas Horl, bass (Second Armoured Man), Concentus Musicus Vienna, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (conductor).

Not the Saturday 'Opera on 3' slot, but in the next two weeks BBC Radio 3 is broadcasting a Ring cycle, live, from the Royal Opera House. The production has had pretty good reviews with praise for Pappano's conducting and Terfel's Wotan. Lucky me, I'll be listening and watching from the Amphitheatre but I'm looking forward to a reprise or two on iPlayer.

Rheingold is on Tuesday next, Die Walkure on Thursday, Siegfried on Sunday afternoon and Gotterdammerung on the following Wednesday.

And here is one episode:

Sunday, October 21st, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 2:45pm to 9.20pm

Wagner: Siegfried

Live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Donald Macleod presents a performance of Acts 1 and 2 of the third of Wagner's Ring dramas, Siegfried. Donald is joined by Wagner expert John Deathridge for discussion on the work. Wagner: Siegfried. Gerhard Siegel, tenor (Mime), Stefan Vinke, tenor (Siegfried), Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone (Wanderer - Wotan), Wolfgang Koch, baritone (Alberich), Eric Halfvarson, bass (Fafner), Sophie Bevan, soprano (Woodbird), Maria Radner, contralto (Erda), Susan Bullock, soprano (Brunnhilde), The Orchestra of The Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano (conductor).

The Writers' Ring Cycle

Sunday, October 21st, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 6:15pm to 7:30pm

The second in a series of specially commissioned responses to Wagner's Ring Cycle from four leading writers. Novelist Andrew O'Hagan, author of Our Fathers and The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog and of his Friend Marilyn Monroe reads a polemical essay in response Wagner's character Siegfried, in a recording made in front of an audience at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Today:

Handel's Julius Caesar

Andrew McGregor presents English National Opera's brand new production of one of Handel's greatest operas. The action centres around Cleopatra's quest to overthrow her brother Ptolemy in order to gain control of Egypt, and the burgeoning love affair between her and the emperor Julius Caesar.

Written for some of the finest singers of Handel's day, Julius Caesar features some of Handel's most popular arias.

The Romans
Julius Caesar..... Lawrence Zazzo (counter-tenor)
Curio..... George Humphreys (bass)
Cornelia Pompey's widow.....Patricia Bardon (mezzo-soprano)
Sesto ..... Daniela Mack (mezzo-soprano)

The Egyptians
Cleopatra..... Anna Christy (soprano)
Ptolemy, Cleopatra's brother...... Tim Mead (counter-tenor)
Achillas, his general...... Andrew Craig Brown (bass-baritone)
Nirenus, Cleopatra's servant...... James Laing (counter-tenor)

English National Opera Orchestra
English National Opera Chorus
Conductor.....Christian Curnyn.

This opera will be presented later in the season on the Metropolitan Opera's live in HD series. I've seen the Glyndebourne production with Danielle de Niese on DVD; it is one of the productions that sold me on Baroque opera.

Robert

That Glyndebourne production was brilliant - we were fortunate enough to see it in the flesh. A real treat! From what I have read of the ENO production, I don't think it is worth putting yourself out for, but, of course, the huge advantage of listening on the radio is that any visual nonsense passes you by and you can concentrate on the music.

Saturday, November 10th, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 6:00pm to 9:30pm

Louise Fryer presents Opera North's new production of Gounod's Faust - bringing a modern spin to one of the most popular 19th-century operas. Gounod: Faust. Peter Auty, tenor (Faust), James Creswell, bass (Mephistopheles), Paul Gibson, bass (Wagner), Marcin Bronikowski, baritone (Valentin), Robert Anthony Gardiner, tenor (Siebel), Juanita Lascarro, soprano (Marguerite), Sarah Pring, mezzo-soprano (Marthe), Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North, Stuart Stratford (conductor).

Saturday, November 17th, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 6:00pm to 10:00pm

Rossini's Matilde di Shabran.

John Shea presents a peformance of Rossini's Matilde di Shabran given at the 2012 Pesaro Festival, conducted by Michele Mariotti and featuring Olga Peretyatko in the title role. Rossini: Matilde di Shabran. Olga Peretyatko, soprano (Matilde di Shabran), Anna Goryachova, mezzo (Edoardo), Marco Filippo Romano, baritone (Raimondo Lopez), Juan Diego Florez, tenor (Corradino), Simon Orfila, bass-baritone (Ginardo), Nicola Alaimo, baritone (Aliprando), Paolo Bordogna, baritone (Isidoro), Chiara Chialli, mezzo (Contessa d'Arco), Giorgio Misseri, tenor (Egoldo), Ugo Rosati, tenor (Rodrigo), Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale, Bologna, Michele Mariotti (conductor).

> 255 I'm looking forward to this. Florez has rather made the role of Corradino his own since his professional debut at the age of 23 when he was a last minute stand-in at the Pesaro festival.

Saturday, November 24th, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 6:15pm to 9:30pm

Vaughan Williams's the Pilgrim's Progress.

Live from the Coliseum in London, Martin Handley presents an English National Opera production of Vaughan Williams's opera based on John Bunyan's allegory The Pilgrim's Progress. The scenario is of a dream of a quest with Bunyan himself as the dreamer and the pilgrim his alter ego who overcomes trials and tribulations on the real and symbolic journey from his home in the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Vaughan Williams: The Pilgrim's Progress. Roland Wood, baritone (Pilgrim/John Bunyan), Benedict Nelson, baritone (Evangelist/Watchful/First Shepherd), George von Bergen, baritone (Obstinate/Herald/Lord Hate-Good), Timothy Robinson, tenor (Interpreter/Usher/Mr By-Ends/Second Shepherd), Colin Judson, tenor (Timorous/Lord Lechery/Messenger), Alexander Sprague, tenor (Pliable/Superstition/Celestial Voice 1), Mark Richardson, bass-baritone (Mistrust/Apollyon/Envy/Third Shepherd), Eleanor Dennis, soprano (First Shining One/Madam Wanton/Voice of a Bird/Celestial Voice 3), Aoife O'Sullivan, soprano (2nd Shining One/ Branch-Bearer/Malice), Kitty Whately, mezzo-soprano (Third Shining One/Cup-bearer/Pickthank/Woodcutter's Boy), Ann Murray, mezzo-soprano (Madam Bubble/Mrs By-Ends/Celestial Voice 2), Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera, Martyn Brabbins (conductor).

I would like to see that work even if I can't get to London for this performance. I think I'll look for a DVD.

Robert

As far as I can see there are no DVD recordings of Pilgrim's Progress: but here are a few cd's:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/58677

Saturday, December 15th, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 5:45pm to 10:30pm

Meyerbeer's Robert le diable: Live from the Royal Opera House, Martin Handley presents Laurent Pelly's new production of Meyerbeer's grand opera, on the Covent Garden stage for the first time since 1890. Though hugely successful when it had its premiere in Paris in 1831 the work subsequently fell out of favour and was rarely performed in the 20th century. It depicts a grand battle between good and evil. With a plot featuring courtly entertainments, jousting, romance and the supernatural, it features one of opera's most memorable scenes - the ballet of the nuns. Meyerbeer: Robert Le diable. Bryan Hymel, tenor (Robert), John Relyea, bass (Bertram), Jean-Francois Borras, tenor (Raimbaut), Marina Poplavskaya, soprano (Alice), Patrizia Ciofi, soprano (Isabelle), Nicolas Courjal, bass (Alberti), Jihoon Kim, bass (Priest/Chevalier), Pablo Bemsch, tenor (Herald/Chevalier), David Butt Philip, tenor (Master of Ceremonies/Chevalier), Ashley Riches, baritone (Chevalier), Dusica Bijelic, soprano (Dame), Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Daniel Oren (conductor).

>259 antimuzak: The Royal Opera has been dogged with casting problems in this production. Originally Diana Damrau was booked to sing Isabelle but withdrew because she was pregnant. The American coloratura soprano, Jennifer Rowley, was brought in as a replacement but, a few days before the first night, it was decided that her voice wasn't right for the part so Patrizia Ciofi has substituted at very short notice. To complicate things further, she can't sing the last two perormances, so next week, when I'll be going, we will hear Sofia Fomina from Kazakhstan.

Thai is apparently quite a demanding part in an opera that is not well known and there are few singers up to the demands of the part - or able to substitute at short notice. Jennifer Rowley, is is said, was terminated by mutual agreement but she was clearly sacked because her voice was too light for the part. One of the perils of scheduling a rarely performed opera whan only a few singers can take on the part and when singers are scheduled years in advance.

I think that I read that Ciofi has sung the part before - I don't know about Fomina. Still, she's had a few days to practice ;-)

Reasonable reviews too Abbott!

Saturday, December 22nd, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 9:00am to 12:15pm

Including 9.30 Building a Library: Richard Osborne with a personal recommendation for Rossini's opera on the Cinderella story, La Cenerentola. Andrew also talks to Adrian Thomas about recent recordings of music by Witold Lutoslawski. 11.45 Disc of the Week: Bach: Cantatas from Leipzig 1727-32. Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki (conductor).

Saturday, December 22nd, 2012 on BBC Radio Three from 6:00pm to 8:30pm

Rossini's the Barber of Seville.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, Rossini's great comic opera, in Bartlett Sher's English adaptation, with Isabel Leonard as Rosina, Rodion Pogossov as Figaro and Alek Shrader as Count Almaviva. Rossini's prequel to The Marriage of Figaro focuses on Count Almaviva's attempts at persuading the beautiful Rosina to love him for himself, rather than for his money. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with commentary by Ira Siff. Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia. Isabel Leonard, contralto (Rosina), Alek Shrader, tenor (Count Almaviva), Rodion Pogossov, baritone (Figaro), John del Carlo, baritone (Dr Bartolo), Jordan Bisch, bass (Don Basilio), Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Yves Abel (conductor).

Robert le Diable proved to be a very entertaining evening. I thought Bryan Hymel did very well - he is somewhat chunkier than when I first heard him, probably good for his voice - and Sofia Fomina was fine. Marina Poplavskaya very graciously didn't hang around at her curtain call so that Fomina could get her well-deserved audience approval. I reckon Laurent Pelly had more than half an eye on the opera's pre-Christmas timing with a pantomime-like production. The villan - John Relyea, excellent lower register - didn't quite twirl his moustache but had a nice stovepipe hat. There was a sexy dance from dead lapsed nuns in their shrouds and even a performing bear!

The performance was filmed, possibly for DVD rather than streaming, which may have accounted for the rather disconcerting variable amplification of the voices. I can understand miking up the singers - it helps to exclude some truly disgraceful coughing - but I don't see why they need to share it with the auditorium.

Coughing! Now, here is a subject - some people seem completely unconcerned about the impact of their behaviour on others - the number of times I've had my concentration and pleasure destroyed by continuous coughing in the quietest passages. Some years ago the BBC used to offer mints at the door at its broadcast performances in an attempt to reduce coughing. I wonder if they still do this?

This evening:

Saturday 5th January 2013 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 22:30 (5 hours and 30 minutes long)

Berlioz's Les troyens: Live from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, a performance of Berlioz's epic opera based on Virgil's poem The Aeneid, about the Trojan War. The Greeks have departed Troy after ten years of siege, leaving behind a huge wooden horse. While the Trojans see it as an offering to the goddess Athena, only King Priam's daughter Cassandra suspects it signifies impending disaster for Troy. Presented by Margaret Juntwait and Ira Siff. Berlioz: Les troyens. Deborah Voigt, soprano (Cassandra), Susan Graham, mezzo (Dido), Karen Cargill, mezzo (Anna), Marcello Giordani, tenor (Aeneas), Eric Cutler, tenor (Iopas), Dwayne Croft, baritone (Chorebe), Kwangchul Youn, bass (Narbal), Troy Cook, baritone (Soldier), Richard Bernstein, bass (Panthus), Eduardo Valdes, tenor (Helenus), Julie Boulianne, mezzo (Ascanio), Theodora Hanslowe, mezzo (Hecuba), Julien Robbins, bass-baritone (Priam), Connell C Rapavy, actor (Astyanax), David Crawford, bass-baritone (Ghost of Hector), Kwangchul Youn, bass (Voice of Mercury), Paul Appleby, tenor (Hylas), The Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Fabio Luisi (conductor).

The Royal Opera House does indeed offer cough sweets (my wife has found them effective) and advertises the fact in the cast list, although in small print which is probably missed by most people.

I carry my own cough drops to performances. I haven't had to use one in a long time, and there is still the difficulty of the noise of unwrapping them. But I have seen that there are people who don't even cover their mouths when they cough. My last cold may have come from a theater with such a patron.

I am off in a few minutes to see Les Troyens live in high definition. It is fearsomely long.

Robert

Coughing in concerts reminds me of a poem - What I heard on the radio today by Marc J. Straus, a medical oncologist and poet, who describes with Sherlockian detail the cough, and it's perpetrator, he hears on a 1928 Horowitz recording of a Schumann piece.

...a persistent cough from the audience,
loud, in two parts, both exhaled sounds,
(B flat, then C sharp)...

....This man coughing,
not covering his mouth, no handkerchief muffle.

On the strength of this characteristic cough Straus diagnoses TB which he suggests will kill the cougher in 1932.

I don't know if those recordings are still available but I suppose the unimaginative sound engineers will have deleted the cough.

Yes, sound engineers have a lot to answer for indeed (-:

Today:

Saturday 26th January 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Tom Service presents. Starting our broadcasts of all of Benjamin Britten's operas in this, his centenary year, is a new production of Billy Budd, recorded last year at the English National Opera in London. Director David Alden sets the events at the HMS Indomitable, based on Herman Melville's novella, in a claustrophobic and dark world where good and evil, innocence and betrayal clash with tragic consequences. Edward Gardner conducts a stellar cast, including the debut of Benedict Nelson in the title role, the ever pure and charismatic, but eventually doomed young sailor; Kim Begley as the tormented Captain Vere, seeking redemption from his moral dilemma, and Matthew Rose as the evil Master-at-Arms Claggart, who masterminds Billy's unfair downfall. Benedict Nelson, baritone (Billy Budd), Kim Begley, tenor (Captain Vere), Matthew Rose, bass (Claggart), Jonathan Summers, baritone (Mr Redburn), Darren Jeffery, bass-baritone (Mr Flint), Henry Waddington, baritone (Lieutenant Ratcliffe), Michael Colvin, tenor (Red Whiskers), Duncan Rock, baritone (Donald), Gwynne Howell, bass (Dansker), Nicky Spence, tenor (Novice), Daniel Norman, tenor (Squeak), Andrew Rupp, bass (Bosun), Marcus Farnsworth, baritone (The Novice's Friend), Oliver Dunn, bass (First Mate), Gerard Collet, bass (Second Mate), Jonathan Stoughton, tenor (Maintop). Chorus and orchestra of English National Opera/Edward Gardner.

Saturday 2nd February 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Rossini's Le Comte Ory.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Maurizio Benini conducts a performance of Rossini's comic opera Le comte Ory, which had its premiere in the 2011-season. Count Ory is determined to win the countess Adele, and will do anything to get access to the castle where the women are, including disguising himself and his men as nuns. With tenor Juan Diego Florez as the count, Pretty Yende as Adele and Karine Deshayes as Isolier. Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff. Rossini: Le Comte Ory. Pretty Yende, soprano (Countess Adele), Karine Deshayes, mezzo-soprano (Isolier), Susanne Resmark, mezzo-soprano (Ragonde), Juan Diego Florez, tenor (Count Ory), Nathan Gunn, baritone (Raimbaud), Nicola Ulivieri, baritone (The Tutor), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Maurizio Benini (conductor).

I saw this in the Met Live in HD series in the past couple of years. Joyce DiDonato played, I think, a page in it. Juan Diego Florez I believe is Peruvian and was discovered as a rock singer; I first saw him, again trusting to memory, with Natalie Dessay in The Somnambulist in the Met Live in HD series. Anyway I liked Le Comte Ory and will pick up bits and pieces of it on the car radio today.

Robert

Saturday 23rd February 2013 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:30 to 21:00 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Bizet's Carmen.

Live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, a performance of Bizet's celebrated opera Carmen, a work which centring on the downfall of Don Jose after he falls victim to the charms of the eponymous gypsy girl. Bizet: Carmen. Anita Rachvelishvili, mezzo-soprano (Carmen), Nikolai Schukoff, tenor (Don Jose), Ekaterina Scherbachenko, soprano (Micaela), Ildar Abdrazakov, baritone (Escamillo), Chorus and Orchestra of The Metroplitan Opera, New York, Michele Mariotti (conductor).

On coughs: through trial and error I found a brand of cough drops to take to the opera. They came in little cellophane packets that would pop open when you pressed the cough drop toward one end: no unwrapping, no crackling noise. They were my salvation through a couple of seasons. The wrappers have since changed, and I'm searching again.

Once a woman just behind the seat next to me at a performance unwrapped a cough drop and continued to play with the cellophane wrapper for at least ten minutes. Crackle, crackle, crackle. Maddeningly distracting. She ignored glares and pleading looks shot in her direction. Finally her husband responded to a loudly whispered "Please stop" and took the wrapper away from her. I cannot understand things like this.

I wonder if her husband understood her wish to punish him for taking her to the opera Meredy?

Today:

Saturday 23rd March 2013 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:00 to 21:00 (4 hours long)

Verdi 200 - La Forza del Destino: An historic performance of Verdi's La Forza del Destino given at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1977, featuring two of the great operatic singers of our times. Leontyne Pryce and Placido Domingo play the roles of the ill-fated lovers Leonora and Don Alvaro in Verdi's tragic tale of love, divided loyalties, revenge and death. Verdi: La Forza del Destino. Leontyne Price, soprano (Leonora), Rosalind Elias, mezzo-soprano (Preziosilla), Placido Domingo, tenor (Don Alvaro), Cornell MacNeil, baritone (Don Carlo), Renato Capecchi, baritone (Fra Melitone), Martti Talvela (bass (Padre Guardiano), Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, James Levine (conductor).

Saturday 18th May 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Charpentier's Medea.

Donald Macleod presents Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Medea at the London Coliseum in a new production for English National Opera by David McVicar. Sarah Connolly sings the title role, as the vengeful sorceress willing to sacrifice her own children to avenge her faithless husband Jason, performed by tenor Jeffrey Francis. Charpentier: Medea. Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano (Medea), Jeffrey Francis, tenor (Jason), Brindley Sherratt, bass (Creon), Katherine Manley, soprano (Creusa/Phantom I), Roderick Williams, baritone (Orontes), Rhian Lois, soprano (Nerina), Aoife O'Sullivan, soprano (Cleonis/Cupid), Oliver Dunn, baritone (Arcas/Vengeance), John McMunn, tenor (Corinthian/Jealousy), Sophie Junker, soprano (Italian woman/Phantom II), Jeremy Budd, tenor (Corinthian/Argive), Aoife O'Sullivan, soprano (Cupid's captives), Sophie Junker (soprano), John McMunn (tenor), Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera, Christopher Curnyn (conductor).

Saturday 25th May 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:00 to 21:30 (3 hours and 30 minutes long)

Berg's Lulu.

Louise Fryer presents David Pountney's new production of Alban Berg's operatic swansong, Lulu, a work left unfinished on the composer death in 1935. This performance includes the British broadcast premiere of Eberhard Kloke's recent completion of the final act. Soprano Marie Arnet debuts in the title role, with baritone Ashley Holland as the darkly complex Dr Schon. Berg: Lulu. Richard Angas, bass (Animal Tamer/Schigolch), Peter Hoare, tenor (Alwa), Ashley Holland, baritone (Dr Schon), Marie Arnet, soprano (Lulu), Mark Le Brocq, tenor (Artist/Negro), Michael Clifton-Thompson, tenor (Professor of Medicine), Alan Oke (tenor (Prince/Manservant/Marquis), Patricia Orr, mezzo-soprano (Wardrobe Mistress/Groom/Schoolboy), Nicholas Folwell, baritone (Theatre Manager/Banker), Natascha Petrinsky, mezzo-soprano (Countess Geschwitz), Julian Close, bass (Acrobat), Alastair Moore, baritone (Journalist), Julian Boyce, tenor (Servant), Louise Ratcliffe, mezzo-soprano (Designer), Jessica Handley Greaves, mezzo-soprano (Mother), Anitra Blaxhall, soprano (15-year old girl), Simon Crosby Buttle (Police Commissioner), Jasey Hall (Clown), George Newton-Fitzgerald (Stagehand), Onstage musicians: Heather Badke-Hohmann (violin), David Doidge (piano), Mario Conway (accordion), Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, Lothar Koenigs (conductor).

Sunday 26th May 2013 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 14:45 to 19:45 (5 hours long)

Wagner 200 - Lohengrin.

Live from the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, Donald Macleod and theatre historian Sarah Lenton introduce Wagner's epic fairytale Lohengrin, in a new production by Antony McDonald for Welsh National Opera. Described as the composer's 'Romantic opera', Lohengrin transports us to the tenth century where themes of chivalry, love and redemption collide. In the interval there is a Radio 3 Music Guide to the opera. Wagner: Lohengrin. Peter Wedd, tenor (Lohengrin), Emma Bell, soprano (Elsa), Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano (Ortrud), Claudio Otelli, baritone (Friedrich von Telramund), Simon Thorpe, baritone (Herald), Matthew Best, bass (Heinrich), Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, Lothar Koenigs (conductor). Including 4.00 Interval: Nicholas Baragwanath explores the issues of longing and distance which fill the work, with contributions from singer Petra Lang and conductor Semyon Bychkov. Plus a visit backstage with the costume department of WNO. 6.00 Interval: Could Wagner ever have been a great symphonist? Composer Matthew King is convinced he could have been, so much so that he is attempting to create a work based on a handful of late sketches. Donald Macleod meets him to discover whether the fragments might be clues to a Wagnerian revolution in symphonic music.