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Opera on 3

Music: Classical: Opera

Programme presenting rare and fascinating operatic performances

Programme presenting rare and fascinating performances and vividly communicating the immediacy of the live experience

Opera on 3: Gershwin's Porgy and Bess

Gershwin's Porgy and Bess

23/01/2010

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess

Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts Jonathan Lemalu in Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Arnold Schoenberg Choir and the Chamber Orchesta of Europe in Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. Featuring Jonathan Lemalu and Isabelle Kabatu.

Porgy and Bess isn't a work one would associate with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who has been in the forefront of the period instrument movement for almost 50 years. But in recent years his repertoire has moved into the 19th and 20th centuries. Last July at his own Styriarte Festival in Graz, Austria fulfilled a long held desire to conduct Gershwin's opera and this recording was made then. Harnoncourt is adamant that Porgy is an opera not a musical and in his performances has adopted many of the cuts Gershwin himself made during the initial run of the opera.
Presented by Suzy Klein.

Porgy: Jonathan Lemalu (bass-baritone)
Bess: Isabelle Kabatu (soprano)
Serena: Angela RenÃ©e Simpson (soprano)
Sportin' Life: Michael Forest (tenor)
Crown: Gregg Baker (baritone)
Clara: Bibiana Nwobilo (soprano)
Maria: Roberta Alexander (soprano)
Jake: Rodney Clarke (baritone)
Mingo/Robbins/Peter/Honeyman and Crab-man: Previn Moore (tenor)

The Arnold Schoenberg Chorus
The Chamber Orchestra of Europe
conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

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