Afternoon on 3 - Thursday Opera Matinee - Janacek - Katya Kabanova

2.20pm A performance of Janacek's powerful opera Katya Kabanova recorded at Chicago Lyric Opera. A dark story, set in Russia, about a woman caught between a weak husband, a cruel mother-in-law - and the man she really loves. A fine cast is headed by the leading Finnish dramatic soprano Karita Mattila in the title-role. The opera is followed by more recordings from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, this time performing on 'home territory' in South Wales. Presented by Penny Gore. Katya ........................ Karita Mattila, soprano Kabanicha ................... Judith Forst, contralto Boris .................... Brandon Jovanovich, tenor Varvara ...... Liora Grodnikaite, mezzo-soprano Kudrjá ..................... Garrett Sorenson, tenor Dikoj .. .......................... Andrew Shore, bass Tichon ..... ..................... Jason Collins, tenor Glasa . ......Kathryn Leemhuis, mezzo-soprano Kuligin ....................... Paul La Rosa, baritone Feklusa ........ Amber Wagner, mezzo-soprano Lyric Opera Chorus and Orchestra Markus Stenz, conductor Followed by the next instalment of our tour with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales . Today we join the orchestra closer to its Cardiff base. The Vale of Glamorgan Festival is the only festival of exclusively contemporary music in Wales, and each year the orchestra performs a concert to be broadcast in Hear and Now on Radio 3, at this internationally acclaimed event. The Festival director - and founder - is John Metcalf. John is also a respected composer, and in this week of programmes celebrating the orchestra out and about around Wales, we hear John's short harp concerto - Mapping Wales, from a concert given in the imposing setting of Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff. Principal conductor Thierry Fischer takes us further, from a concert of Second Viennese music given earlier this year at the orchestra's home in BBC Hoddinott Hall, part of the Wales Millennium Centre, in the heart of Cardiff bay. We finish an hour further west along the coast in Swansea, and the Brangwyn Hall, just across the road from the sandy beach. The orchestra appears here throughout the year, both at the Swansea Festival and in its own season. We hear the orchestra with conductor Sian Edwards (whose own family hails from West Wales) in a concert given earlier this year. 4.10pm John Metcalf: Mapping Wales Lucy Wakeford, harp Luke Dollman, conductor Webern: Variations for Orchestra Thierry Fischer, conductor Elgar: Wand of Youth Suite No.2 Sian Edwards, conductor.