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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: A Passion for Opera

The Essay: A Passion for Opera: Episode 2: Matt Peacock

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Music: Classical: Opera

A Passion for Opera

Episode 2

Episode 2: Matt Peacock

Matt Peacock

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Matt Peacock reflects on how opera can transform the lives of homeless people.

Charity worker Matt Peacock, who runs a community opera project for the homeless, considers the positive connections between these two worlds.

Matt Peacock is the originator of Streetwise, the community opera project for the homeless set up in 2002. A classically trained singer, he reflects on the way opera has changed the lives of people he's met during the past ten years. 

Whilst Matt certainly doesn't claim that Streetwise has solved the problems of homelessness, he speaks with passion about how opera is for everyone. He argues that the teamwork necessary in opera is a perfect way of engaging the 600 homeless people around the UK who undertake the weekly opera projects. If you can't sing a solo, you can join in the chorus. If you don't want to sing, you can make props or help with costumes. The massive scale of an opera means that, for his team, there's a role for everyone and a reason to turn up every week.

Over the years, his opera company have received warm reviews for their performances. And the somewhat surprising success of using opera as a means of support and rehabilitation of homeless people is now being tried in other countries.

Producer: Sarah Taylor.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Series in which people linked with the world of opera describe their relationship to it

Series in which five people associated with the world of opera describe their relationship to it. With contributions from writers, critics and those involved in staging opera

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A Passion for Opera

Episode 2: Matt Peacock

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