Opera on 3

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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: Verdi's Don Carlos

Verdi's Don Carlos

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Verdi's Don Carlos

From the New York Metropolitan Opera: Verdi's Don Carlos conducted by Patrick Furrer.

From the New York Metropolitan Opera: Matthew Polenzani sings the title role in Verdi's Don Carlos in its original five-act French version, first performed in Paris in 1867.

From the New York Metropolitan Opera: the original 1867 five-act French version of Verdi’s epic opera of doomed love among royalty, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition. 

Patrick Furrer leads a world-beating cast of opera’s leading lights, including tenor Matthew Polenzani in the title role, soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Élisabeth de Valois, and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Eboli. Bass-baritones Eric Owens and John Relyea are the King of Spain Philippe II and the Grand Inquisitor, and baritone Etienne Dupuis rounds out the all-star principal cast as Rodrigue. 

Verdi’s longest and most ambitious opera offers a profound look at the intersection of the personal and the political spheres. The opera features a number of complex one-on-one confrontations, and the chorus, when it appears, is imposing, most notably in the central auto-da-fé. The grandeur of the score telescopes in Acts 4 and 5 to the individuals, with magnificent and melodically rich solo scenes.

Presented by Debra Lew Harder with commentator Ira Siff.

Verdi: Don Carlos
Élisabeth de Valois ..... Sonya Yoncheva (soprano)
Eboli ..... Jamie Barton (mezzo-soprano)
Don Carlos ..... Matthew Polenzani (tenor)
Rodrigue ..... Etienne Dupuis (baritone)
Phillippe II ..... Eric Owens (bass-baritone)
Grand Inquisitor ..... John Relyea (bass-baritone)
Thibault ..... Meigui Zhang (soprano)
Count of Lerma ..... Joo Won Kang (baritone)
Monk ..... Matthew Rose (bass)
Royal Herald ..... Eric Ferring (tenor) 
Flemish Deputies ..... Vladyslav Buialskyi, Jeongcheol Cha, Paul Corona, Christopher Job, Samson Setu (bass-baritones), Msimelelo Mbali (bass)
Voice from Heaven ..... Amanda Woodbury (soprano)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera House
Patrick Furrer (conductor)

Read the full synopsis at the Met Opera website: https://bit.ly/37QZAIR

Image: © Ken Howard / Met Opera

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