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The opera singer's diet

What do the skilled performers eat to hit the high notes?

Opera is viewed as something of an endurance sport in the musical world. Hours spent on stage, in costume, doing a very physical job far away from home comforts can take its toll on the body if it’s not adequately fuelled.

As Ruth Alexander discovers in this programme, diet is of paramount importance to a professional singer.

Sopranos Rachel Nicholls and Lucy Schaufer, and Fred Plotkin - opera and food writer and friend of Luciano Pavarotti – share the secrets of the relationship between singing and sustenance, and what foods can help achieve a star performance.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]

The piece of music at the start and end of this programme is If Music be the Food of Love, by Henry Purcell. Performed by Rachel Nicholls.

(Picture: Pavarotti eating from a spoon. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Producer: Elisabeth Mahy

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Sun 15 Jan 202308:32GMT
BBC World Service except Europe and the Middle East

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  • Thu 12 Jan 202304:32GMT
    BBC World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, Australasia, East Asia & South Asia
  • Thu 12 Jan 202305:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean, South Asia & East Asia only
  • Thu 12 Jan 202311:32GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Thu 12 Jan 202321:32GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Thu 12 Jan 202323:32GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
  • Sun 15 Jan 202308:32GMT
    BBC World Service except Europe and the Middle East

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