Opera on 3

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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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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: From the Met

From the Met

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, From the Met

Fire Shut Up in My Bones, by Terence Blanchard

Fire Shut Up in My Bones, by Terence Blanchard. Will Liverman stars as Charles, with Angel Blue as Destiny, Latonia Moore as Billie and Walter Russell III as Char’es-Baby

From the Metropolitan Opera in New York: Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a new production of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, by Grammy Award–winning jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard. His adaptation of Charles M Blow’s moving memoir was first performed in 2019 at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Featuring a libretto by film-maker Kasi Lemmons, the opera tells a poignant and profound story about a young man’s journey to overcome a life of trauma and hardship.

Baritone Will Liverman stars as Charles, alongside soprano Angel Blue as Destiny, soprano Latonia Moore as Billie and Walter Russell III as Char’es-Baby.

This broadcast of the first opera by a Black composer ever to be performed by the Met is presented by Debra Lew Harder in conversation with Ira Siff.

Terence Blanchard: Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Charles ..... Will Liverman (baritone)
Char’es-Baby ..... Walter Russell III (treble)
Destiny/Loneliness/Greta ..... Angel Blue (soprano)
Billie, Charles's mother ..... Latonia Moore (soprano)
Spinner, her husband ..... Chauncey Packer (tenor)
Uncle Paul ..... Ryan Speedo Green (bass-baritone)
Chester ..... Chris Kenney (baritone)
Evelyn ..... Brittany Renee (soprano)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Image: Ken Howard / Met Opera

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