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The People vs Verdi

Kate Molleson explores Verdi's battles with authority and societal expectations.

Success only makes Verdi more defiant. Kate Molleson explores a period in which the composer repeatedly challenged convention, taking on censors, scandalising polite society and testing the limits of what opera could portray. As his relationship with Giuseppina Strepponi attracts gossip and disapproval, Verdi fights battles both on and off the stage. From Rigoletto to La Traviata, he turns controversial subjects into some of the most enduring works in the operatic repertoire.

Rigoletto: La donna 猫 mobile
Jonas Kaufmann, tenor
Orchestra dell'Opera di Parma
Pier Giorgio Morandi, conductor

Rigoletto, Act I scenes
Sherrill Milnes, baritone
Joan Sutherland, soprano
Gillian Knight, mezzo-soprano
London Symphony Orchestra
Richard Bonynge, conductor

Luisa Miller, Act I: Ti desta, Luisa
Marina Rebeka, soprano
Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ivan Repu拧i膰, conductor

Stiffelio: Overture
ORF Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Lamberto Gardelli, conductor

La Traviata, Act I scenes
Maria Callas, soprano
Francesco Albanese, tenor
RAI Chorus and Orchestra Turin
Gabriele Santini, conductor

Produced by Ellie Ajao for 麻豆社 Audio Wales

Release date:

59 minutes

Broadcast

  • Thu 22 Oct 2026 16:00

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