Opera on 3 - Verdi's Don Carlo

From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Presented by Donald Macleod. Listen on demand with surtitles - see below for details. Semyon Bychkov conducts the first revival of Nicholas Hytner's Royal Opera production of Verdi's grandest opera, first heard in 2008. When Don Carlo of Spain surreptitiously contrives to meet his fiancee Elizabeth of France in the forest of Fontainebleau, he is enraptured, and the pair are thrilled at the idea of spending their lives together. But it is not to be - as part of a new peace treaty, Elizabeth is suddenly forced to marry Carlo's father, the severe old Spanish King, Philip II. Carlo is devastated, and searches for a new role as liberator of Flanders. The title role is taken by one of today's most admired tenors, Jonas Kaufmann, with Marina Poplavskaya as Elizabeth of Valois, and Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II of Spain. Around this tragic central triangle is a wider confrontation between authoritarian religion, represented by John Tomlinson's Grand Inquisitor, and political liberation, represented by Carlo's closest friend, the Marquis of Posa, sung by Simon Keenlyside. Verdi: Don Carlo Don Carlos ...... Jonas Kaufmann (tenor) Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa ...... Simon Keenlyside (baritone) Elizabeth of Valois ...... Marina Poplavskaya (soprano) Philip II ...... Ferruccio Furlanetto (bass) Princess Eboli ...... Marianne Cornetti (mezzo-soprano) Grand Inquisitor ...... John Tomlinson (bass) Count of Lerma ...... Robert Anthony Gardiner (tenor) Carlos V ...... Robert Lloyd (bass) Flemish Deputies ...... Daniel Grice, Dawid Kimberg, Changhan Lim, David Stout, John Cunningham (baritones), with Lukas Jokobski (bass) Voice from Heaven ...... Eri Nakamura (soprano) Royal Opera Chorus Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Semyon Bychkov (conductor).