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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

Unique performances with BBC Orchestras, Choirs and other great orchestras

Unique performances with BBC Orchestras, Choirs and other great orchestras from around the world

Afternoon on 3: Thursday Opera Matinee

Afternoon Concert: Thursday Opera Matinee: Rameau - Zoroastre

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Music: Classical: Opera

Afternoon on 3

20/10/2016

Rameau - Zoroastre

BBC Radio 3 - Afternoon Concert

A performance of Rameau's opera Zoroastre given at the 2016 Montpellier Festival.

Penny Gore presents a performance of Rameau's opera Zoroastre given at the 2016 Montpellier Festival. With countertenor Reinoud van Mechelen and bass Nicolas Courjal.

Today's Opera Matinee is a recording from this year's Montpellier festival of Rameau's Zoroastre.The story takes place in the ancient kingdom of Bactria and deals with the forces of Good, led by Zoroastre, contending with the forces of Evil, led by the sorcerer Abramane. Unusually for operas of the time the story is not taken from Classical mythology but from Persian religion. The historical Zoroaster was an important figure in Masonic circles and as with Mozart's The Magic Flute, there are obvious connections between the opera and Freemasonry. Presented by Penny Gore

Zoroastre.....Reinoud van Mechelen (countertenor) 
Abramane.....Nicolas Courjal (bass) 
Erinice .....Emmanuelle de Negri (soprano)
Amélite.....Katherine Watson (soprano) 
Zopire/Oromasès.....Christian Immler (baritone) 
Céphie.....Léa Desandre (mezzo-soprano) 
Pygmalion Ensemble
Raphaël Pichon

2.00pm Acts 1 and 2

3.10pm Act 3 

3.35 Acts 4 and 5.

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.

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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