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

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Kate Molleson

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Composer of the Week: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Episode 5: Verdi and Shakespeare

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Episode 5

Episode 5: Verdi and Shakespeare

Verdi and Shakespeare

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), Verdi and Shakespeare

Donald Macleod introduces highlights from two of Verdi's Shakespearean operas.

Donald Macleod introduces highlights from two Shakespearean operas: Verdi's finest tragic opera, and his only comedy, based on Shakespeare's absurd fictional character Falstaf.

After Aida was performed in 1871, there was a gap of sixteen years before Verdi's penultimate opera found its way to the stage. He'd been lured back by the temptation of a new Shakespearean work - Otello. Donald Macleod introduces highlights from the work regarded by many as Verdi's finest tragic opera, and he takes a look at Verdi's final contribution to the stage, based on Shakespeare's comic fictional character - Falstaff. 

Otello (extracts)
Otello ..... Placido Domingo (tenor)
Desdemona ..... Cheryl Studer (soprano)
Iago ..... Sergei Leiferkus (baritone)
Orchestra and Chorus of Bastille Opera
Conductor, Myung-Whun Chung

Falstaff (extracts)
Falstaff ..... Bryn Terfel (baritone)
Bardolph ..... Anthony Mee (tenor)
Pistol ..... Anatoli Kotscherga (bass)
Mistress Quickly ..... Larissa Diadkova (mezzo) 
Alice Ford ..... Adrianne Pieczonka (soprano)
Meg Page ..... Stella Doufexis (contralto)
Nanetta ..... Dorothea Röschmann (soprano)
Ford ..... Thomas Hampson (baritone)
Dr Caius ..... Enrico Facini (tenor)
Berlin Radio Choir
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor, Claudio Abbado.

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.

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Giuseppe Verdi

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Giuseppe Verdi, a leading figure in 19th-century Italian opera

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Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Episode 5: Verdi and Shakespeare

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