Mirella Freni and Jose Carreras head the cast in Umberto
Giordano's melodrama based on a play by Sardou. When Princess Fedora's fiance is assassinated, her attempts at revenge backfire. Sung in Italian. Presented by James Naughtie.
Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, conductor Edward Downes.
Actl
7.55 Realistically Speaking Michael Oliver sets the score straight on those composers conveniently bracketed under the heading "verismo", including
Giordano, Cilea, Mascagni and Leoncavallo. Their operatic plots, he argues, are hardly "realistic", their achievements undervalued.
8.10 Act 2
8.55 Italian Encounters
1: The Nobeldonna
David Mendel recounts meeting scientist and Nobel prize-winner Professor Rita Levi-Montalcini in the first of an occasional series.
9.15 Act 3
(Production sponsored by the Union Bank of Switzerland)