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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Castaway guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

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Kirsty Young

Jonas Kaufmann

Cathy Drysdale

Desert Island Discs: Jonas Kaufmann

22/02/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Jonas Kaufmann

Kirsty Young interviews opera singer Jonas Kaufmann.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the tenor, Jonas Kaufmann.

Frequently referred to as one of the greatest singers of his generation, both his parents fled East Germany for Munich between the end of the war and the Berlin wall being erected. Jonas was brought up singing in choirs, playing the piano and listening to a range of classical music. When he was seven, he was enthralled by seeing his first opera - Madam Butterfly. He studied Maths at university, but soon changed to music and quickly started getting professional singing work.

Since then he has taken on many of the great roles for tenors, at opera houses around the world - Don Carlo, Don José (Carmen), Alfredo (La Traviata), and Cavaradossi (Tosca). He is also known as a singer of 'Lieder' & renowned not only for the beauty of his voice but for his musical range.

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

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