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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

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: Stories That Sing: Garth Greenwell

1. Julian Barnes: Opera - Coming to it Late

Garth Greenwell

Stories That Sing

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Stories That Sing, Garth GreenwellClose menu

The journey of an awkward teenager in Kentucky towards opera and literature.

Novelist Garth Greenwell grew up in a small town in Kentucky. His family were not the sort of people who listened to opera, but destiny led him towards singing.

In an attempt to demystify this huge and multifaceted genre, five creative individuals examine their own encounters with opera. These personal essays reveal the variety of ways in which opera can seduce, fascinate, baffle, frustrate and excite, as well as its potential powers of healing and redemption.

Garth Greenwell is a poet, critic and educator. His first novel, What Belongs to You, was published in 2016. He lives and works in Iowa City. 

Written and read by Garth Greenwell
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company Production for BBC Radio 3.

The Essay: Stories That Sing

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.

Five creative individuals examine their own encounters with opera as an art form

In an attempt to demystify opera, five creative individuals examine their own encounters with the genre

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