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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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Afternoon Concert

Music: Classical

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Afternoon on 3: Thursday Opera Matinee

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Afternoon Concert: Thursday Opera Matinee: Rufus Wainwright - Prima Donna

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Music: Classical: Opera

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18/06/2015

Rufus Wainwright - Prima Donna

BBC Radio 3 - Afternoon Concert

Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright's opera Prima Donna, starring Janis Kelly.

For Radio 3's Classical Voice season, Verity Sharp presents singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright's opera Prima Donna, about an ageing opera singer preparing her comeback.

For the Classical Voice season on Radio 3, today's Thursday Opera Matinee is Prima Donna by the singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, who first developed an interest in opera as a teenager. It centres on a day in the life of an ageing opera singer who is anxiously preparing for her comeback in 1970s Paris. Once a soprano with a powerhouse voice and a reputation to match, she's been discarded - disdained by critics and forgotten by audiences. But the diva is determined to prove her doubters wrong: all she asks is a chance to reprise the role that made her reputation all those years ago. Presented by Verity Sharp.

Composer: Rufus Wainwright
Libretto: Rufus Wainwright and Bernadette Columine 

2pm:
Rufus Wainwright: Prima Donna
Régine St Laurent ..... Janis Kelly (soprano)
Marie ..... Kathryn Guthrie (soprano)
Philippe ..... Richard Morrison (baritone)
André Le Tourner ..... Antonio Figueroa (tenor)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jayce Ogren (conductor).

Afternoon Concert: Thursday Opera Matinee

Thursday Opera Matinee

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.

Afternoon on 3

Series of fifteen operas recently recorded at some of world's greatest opera houses

Series of operas performed at venues around the world. Singers such as Bryn Terfel, Anna Netrebko, Simon Keenlyside and Joyce DiDonato perform under conductors including Seiji Ozawa and Simon Rattle

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