BBC’s Radio 3 will broadcast all of Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi’s operas this year to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Radio 3’s ‘Verdi 200’ season sees it air recordings of Verdi productions from opera houses across the globe, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera, London’s Royal Opera House and English National Opera, Austria’s Vienna State Opera and Milan’s La Scala. Broadcasts will feature current productions aired live, as well as those from the archives of the BBC and Italian radio. Many of the operas will be broadcast on Radio 3’s ‘Opera on 3’ Saturday evening programme and ‘Afternoon On 3’ Thursday opera matinee show.
Added features supporting the broadcasts include podcasts, interviews and synopses. Every opera will include an introduction guide that explores the themes and issues around it. The guides will be available to download free via the BBC Radio 3 website after each broadcast.
The organisation also announced that the BBC National Orchestra of Wales will hold a St David’s Day gala concert at St David’s Hall in Cardiff that includes a performance of Verdi’s ‘Requiem’ sung by the BBC National Chorus of Wales and the National Youth Choir of Wales on 1 March. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is the Orchestra-in-Residence at St David’s Hall. Many of the concerts performed at St David’s Hall are broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 as part of the station’s ‘Live in Concert’ series.
UK listeners who missed the introduction to the ‘Verdi 200’ season, can listen to broadcasts online using iPlayer.
