Original version

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

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Migrated podcast image for: Radio 3 Opera Guides

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: Britten's Gloriana

Performances & Events

Music: Classical

Britten's Gloriana

29/06/2013

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Britten's Gloriana

Britten's opera on Elizabeth I, Gloriana, live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

In his centenary year, Britten's Gloriana, depicting the relationship of Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex, live from the Royal Opera House. Starring Susan Bullock and Toby Spence.

Commissioned by the Royal Opera House and 'dedicated by gracious permission to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in honour of whose coronation it was composed', Britten's 'Gloriana' is the story of an old queen's infatuation with a hot-headed younger man.

At its premiere, there were mutterings that the opera's emphasis on an ageing, ungracious monarch was an inappropriate way to celebrate the coronation. But sixty years later it's easier see that with its masterly exploration of the tension between public and private, heart and duty, and its contrasting scenes of grandeur and intimacy, 'Gloriana' is in fact among the finest of Britten's operas.

Broadcast live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, starring Susan Bullock as the Virgin Queen and Toby Spence as the impetuous Earl of Essex.

Presented by Louise Fryer in conversation with John Bridcut, including comments from performers and director Richard Jones. Plus the Radio 3 Opera Guide to Gloriana, with the Britten experts Paul Kildea and Philip Reed, and the soprano Dame Josephine Barstow.


Elizabeth I, Queen of England.....Susan Bullock (soprano)
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.....Toby Spence (tenor)
Frances Devereux, Lady Essex.....Patricia Bardon (mezzo-soprano)
Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy.....Mark Stone (baritone)
Penelope, Lady Rich.....Kate Royal (soprano)
Sir Robert Cecil.....Jeremy Carpenter (baritone)
Sir Walter Raleigh.....Clive Bayley (bass)
Henry Cuffe.....Ben Bevan (baritone)
Lady-in-Waiting.....Nadine Livingston (soprano)
Blind Ballad Singer.....Brindley Sherratt (bass)
Recorder of Norwich.....Jeremy White (bass)
Housewife.....Carol Rowlands (mezzo-soprano)
Spirit of the Masque.....Andrew Tortise (tenor)
Master of Ceremonies.....David Butt Philip (tenor)
City Crier.....Michel de Souza (baritone)

Chorus and orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Paul Daniel, conductor.

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.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Opera on 3

Britten's Gloriana

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3