Rachel Cooke

Available for over a year

Rachel Cooke examines the trappings that surround opera-going, and what makes it worth it. In an attempt to demystify this huge and multifaceted genre for the BBC's Opera season, five creative individuals examine their own encounters with opera. These personal essays reveal the variety of ways in which opera can seduce, fascinate, baffle, frustrate and utterly overwhelm. Rachel Cooke trained at The Sunday Times as a reporter and now writes for the Observer and New Statesman. Her first book, Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties was published in 2013. Opera, written and read by Rachel Cooke Produced by Jill Waters A Waters Company Production for BBC Radio 3.