Opera on Television

BBC Music has commissioned a wealth of programming across BBC Two and BBC Four as part of the opera season, showcasing the history, drama and talent behind this unique art form.

Lucy Worsley’s Nights at the Opera on BBC Two will highlight the cities and social context behind some of opera’s greatest works, whilst BBC Four documentary Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor For The Ages shines a light on one of the greatest opera stars of our time. These documentaries are complemented by world class performances of Verdi’s Otello from the Royal Opera House and Brett Dean’s Hamlet from Glyndebourne, both set to be broadcast on BBC Four.

Jan Younghusband, Head of Commissioning, BBC Music TV, says: "I am delighted to be working in collaboration with the V&A, the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne this autumn to present a specially-curated season of television programmes from BBC Music.

"These broadcasts will take our audiences behind the scenes, to delve into the history and stories behind some of opera’s pivotal works, give unprecedented access to one of opera’s greatest stars and shine a spotlight on some of the acclaimed productions and performances taking place in the UK today."

BBC Two: Lucy Worsley’s Nights At The Opera

In this two-part series, historian Lucy Worsley visits the great European cities where some of the most famous operas were written. She tells the stories of the colourful characters who composed them, and identifies how they often reflected the turbulent times in which they were written. Lucy’s investigations are complemented by insights from Sir Antonio Pappano, Music Director of London’s Royal Opera House, who sheds light on some of opera’s greatest musical moments.

Episode one - 14 October
Lucy investigates the operatic history of four cities and four operas which were embedded in European politics between the 17th and 19th centuries: Venice, where Claudio Monteverdi invented modern opera with The Coronation of Poppea; then to Vienna, where Mozart’s subversive masterpiece The Marriage Of Figaro held a mirror up to a society where the Enlightenment was beginning to break down the old feudal order and where Beethoven wrote Fidelio, an opera that embraced the radical French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and brotherhood.

Finally, Lucy travels to Milan, where Verdi’s Nabucco captured the hopes and dreams of the Italian people as they moved towards independence and a united nation.

Episode two - 21 October
Lucy travels to France and Germany, visiting four different cities to investigate the new kinds of operatic works that swept away conventions in the 19th and early 20th centuries. They delved into the realities of people’s lives and their deepest desires, especially those of women: freedom, identity and sexuality.

She visits Paris, where two operas captured the spirit of Bohemianism that swept the city: Bizet’s Carmen, that showed the gritty realities of life for Parisian lower class - and the upper classes’ fear of them; and Puccini’s classic opera La bohème, which follows the lives and loves of a group of young people exploring the newly available personal and sexual freedoms.

Then to Bayreuth, Germany, where Wagner’s monumental Ring Cycle set out to create a ‘total work of art’ that would tap into and transform German identity. Finally Lucy arrives in Dresden, where Richard Strauss premiered Salome, a work that explored female pleasure in a way that was hugely controversial at the time.

Lucy Worsley's Nights at the Opera has been produced and directed by Guy Evans. The executive producers are Ben Weston and Elizabeth Hartford.

Over the past five years Reef Television has built an enviable reputation for landmark music documentaries, ranging from the award-winning Messiah at the Foundling Hospital, to La Traviata, The Women Of London and Leningrad And The Orchestra That Defied Hitler, as well as West Side Stories: The Making Of A Classic which told the story of the creation of the world’s favourite musical for the first time on television, from the people who were actually there. Reef’s music titles were all commissioned by BBC Two and have been sold around the world.

BBC Four: Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor For The Ages

15 October 2017

German tenor Jonas Kaufmann is one of the hottest properties in the operatic world. He captivates audiences with the power, emotion and beauty of his singing, the intelligence of his acting, his matinée-idol delivery, and his extraordinary range - from the heroic stage roles in Wagner to the intimate songs of Schubert on the concert platform.

Acclaimed film-maker John Bridcut has been given unique access to Kaufmann for the last two years, observing him in rehearsal, backstage during performances, and in his off-duty moments. It is by far the most intimate and extensive portrait yet made of Jonas Kaufmann, now at the peak of his career.

The film follows the singer from a period of five months of disruption to his schedule due to vocal injury to his recent triumphant return, notably in the production of Verdi’s opera Otello at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Kaufmann is filmed working with the Royal Opera’s Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano, and the production’s Stage Director Keith Warner. He talks freely about his earlier cancellations, about what keeps him going during a run of performances, and the challenges of being a star.

John Bridcut has previously made documentary portraits of Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Nureyev, Mstislav Rostropovich and Sir Colin Davis (which was named Best Arts Documentary at the Grierson Awards). His clutch of composer-portraits began with the award-winning Britten’s Children and continued with films on Elgar, Delius, Parry and Vaughan Williams. Last year he made the BBC One documentary for the Queen’s 90th birthday, Elizabeth At 90 - A Family Tribute.

A Crux Production for BBC Four

Pictured: Jonas Kaufmann. Image credit: Gregor Hohenberg

BBC Four: Royal Opera House - Otello

22 October 2017

Star tenor Jonas Kaufmann makes his role debut in one of opera's most challenging parts. Sir Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi's masterpiece, based on Shakespeare's tragedy, in a brand new production by the acclaimed British stage director Keith Warner, the Royal Opera House’s first in 30 years.

Based on Shakespeare’s tragedy, the opera is one of Giuseppe Verdi’s greatest works, and his final tragedy. Otello, a Moorish officer in the service of the Venetian army is married to his beautiful young Italian wife, Desdemona. His ensign, Iago, sows the seeds of jealousy in Otello's mind, fabricating a story of an affair between Iago’s rival Cassio and Otello’s wife Desdemona. Iago’s trickery cements Otello’s suspicion into mistaken certainty, leading Otello to murder the innocent Desdemona in a fit of jealousy.

Recorded at a recent performance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Jonas Kaufmann is joined on stage by soprano Maria Agresta as Desdemona and Marco Vratogna as Iago.

Presented from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden by Clemency Burton-Hill.

Pictured: Marco Vratogna and Jonas Kaufmann. Image Credit: ROH / Catherine Ashmore

BBC Four: Glyndebourne - Hamlet

November 2017

Australian composer Brett Dean’s new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet was described as the operatic event of the year when it premiered at Glyndebourne in June 2017.

Australian composer Brett Dean and librettist Matthew Jocelyn have reconfigured Shakespeare’s play (cutting and reordering, but keeping Shakespeare’s words) to create a new operatic work.

Dean has used a huge variety of instrumentation, from amplified sound and electronic keyboards to plastic bottles and an accordion, in addition to the traditional sounds of an orchestra, to create an extraordinary sound-world for this thrilling and moving take on the tale of the Prince of Denmark and his tragic quest to avenge the murder of his father.

The opera is directed by Australian director Neil Armfield, who gives it a contemporary setting which emphasises the theatrical nature of the play, with the assistance of Ralph Myers’ elegant set design. Vladimir Jurowski, former Music Director at Glyndebourne, conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

A stellar cast brings the story to life: leading British tenor Allan Clayton plays Hamlet; Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan, a key protagonist of new opera on the world stage, plays Ophelia; while the great British bass Sir John Tomlinson takes the triple role of the Ghost, the Gravedigger and the Player King. British mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly plays Gertrude; American baritone Rod Gilfry is Claudius and South-African baritone Jacques Imbrailo plays Horatio.

Presented from Glyndebourne by Katie Derham

Pictured: Allan Clayton as Hamlet. Image Credit: Richard Hubert Smith

Related Media Centre Links

• BBC announces major focus on Opera for 2017