Ariadne auf Naxos on BBC Radio 3 Saturday, 13th of November 6pm

Owen Webb (Harlequin) Gillian Keith (Zerbinetta) (Pictorial presentation Richard H Smith BBC)

Har, har! Avast ye opera lovers! Come circle round this here roarrrrrring fire while I tell ye a tale o’ stereophonic news that’ll have ye setting course f’r BBC Radio 3 t’morrow ev’ntime. Har, har, har, har, har, har, har-har-har-har!

The cap’n o’ the fair ship BBC Radio 3 has set the ship’s sails in search o’ a desert island called Naxos, that be in’abited by a fair damsel call’d Ariadne. T’arrive at this fair damsels shores ye need to tune in at 6pm UK time so ye can board the ship WNO with cap’n Baton Rouge Koenigs at the helm with ‘is fine crew the WNO orchestra. Paying their way be Sarah Connolly, Gillian Keith an’ Orla Boylan with Ricardo Tamura up in the crow’s nest. I did shiver me timbers with this lot in the ten month o’ this year! It awlso be a mystikal appointment as ye can ‘ear it f’r a whole sev’n o God’s days aft’r the show on i-Player.

Fare thee well me hearties! But look out f’r me parrot Polly, she be eatin’ a galley’s worth o’ mints today. Har, har, har, har, har, har, har-har-har-har!

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In addition to the performance you can also listen to Sarah Connolly, Orla Boylan and WNO’s dramaturg Simon Rees being interviewed by Donald Macleod on the Ariadne page. But hurry up – you only have until Saturday evening to listen to everything before it’s packed away.