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.

BBC Radio 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: George Benjamin's Picture a day like this

George Benjamin's Picture a day like this

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, George Benjamin's Picture a day like this

UK premiere production of George Benjamin's latest opera, conducted by Corinna Niemeyer.

Picture a day like this, a fable of human nature and self-discovery, is George Benjamin's latest opera. Corinna Niemeyer conducts the UK premiere at the Linbury Theatre.

Consumed by grief after the death of her child, a woman is promised the opportunity to bring the infant back to life: during the course of one day she has to find a happy person. It proves harder than she (or we) would like. But towards the end of her increasingly desperate journey, will her final encounter, with the enigmatic owner of a splendid garden, change her fate?   

Picture a day like this, which contains language and themes that some might find offensive and disturbing, is George Benjamin's eagerly awaited fourth opera with librettist Martin Crimp, a moving fable of human nature and self-discovery. 

Recorded at the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Opera House and presented by Andrew McGregor.

George Benjamin: Picture a day like this

Woman ….. Ema Nikolovska (mezzo-soprano)
Zabelle ….. Jacquelyn Stucker (soprano)
Lover 1/Composer ..... Beate Mordal (soprano)
Lover 2/Composer's Assistant ….. Cameron Shahbazii (countertenor)
Artisan/Collector ….. John Brancy (baritone)

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Carden
Corinna Niemeyer (conductor)

Read the full synopsis on the Royal Opera House website: https://bit.ly/46mkrgy

7.45 pm
George Benjamin introduces his favourite opera, Janáček's Káťa Kabanová. 'A perfect opera' he calls it, at once violent and painful, compassionate and touching.

Janáček: Káťa Kabanová

Káťa ..... Amanda Majeski (soprano)
Boris ..... Simon O’Neill  (tenor)
Kabanicha .....Katarina Dalayman (mezzo-soprano)
Tichon ..... Andrew Staples (tenor)
Kudrjaš ..... Ladislav Elgr (tenor) 
Varvara ..... Magdalena Kožená  (mezzo-soprano) 
Dikój ..... Pavlo Hunka (bass-baritone)
Glaša; Fekluša ..... Claire Barnett-Jones (mezzo-soprano) 
Kuligin ..... Lukáš Zeman (baritone)
 
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)
(Recorded in January at the Barbican Hall, London)

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