Don Carlo
An all-star cast sings Verdi's drama of personal, political and religious passion amid the Spanish Inquisition. Father is pitted against son, wife against spurned mistress, reason against religious fanaticism. This epic yet intimate opera, based on Schiller, is considered to be Verdi's most profound work and contains some of his greatest dramatic music. Presented from the New York Met by Margaret Juntwait.
Orchestra and Chorus of the New York
Metropolitan Opera, conductor James Levine Parti
7.40 Twenty Minutes: Let Distant Lands
Converse Radio 3 pays tribute to an unsung hero and marks the centenary of a historical event. On Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Aubrey Fessenden transmitted the first planned radio programme. Sean Street investigates the story of the broadcast from Brant Rock,
Massachusetts, of a speech, a gramophone record and a live violin solo.
8.00 Part 2
8.45 Met Opera Quiz
Send questions to: Met Opera Quiz, 30 Lincoln Center.
New York, New York 10023, or via www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
9.05 Part 3
RT DIRECT: Verdi's Don Carlo (3 CDs), with Czaba Airizer.
Roberto Alagna , Donna Brown , Anat Efraty , Eric Halfvarson , Thomas Hampson , Karita Mattila , Waltraud Meier , Jose van Dam, Scot Weir and the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Antonio Pappano , a recordinq of a 1996 live performance, is available for E29.00 including p&p. To order please send a cheque. payable to Selections to: [address removed] or call the orderline on [number removed], or visit www. selections.com/rtdirect Quote Ref [number removed]. UK delivery only