Summary
Maria Callas (1823-1977) and Adelina Patti (1843-1914) are two of the performers whose images are on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum's Diva. Professor Peggy Reynolds and Dr Ditlev Rindom have been to visit the exhibition which runs from opera, through films like Cleopatra, to pop performers such as Grace Jones, Lizzo and Cher. But what about performers from an earlier era ? Brianna Robertson-Kirkland shares her research, whilst Michael Twaits shares what the idea of Diva means to drag performers. Naomi Paxton hosts.
Producer: Sofie Vilcins
Diva opens June 24th at the V&A museum. BBC Radio 3 broadcasts opera every Saturday evening except during the Proms season and discussions about the making of music each Saturday on Music Matters.
You can find other Free Thinking conversations about Women in the World collected on the programme website.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Can I just say? |
| 0:01.5 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | It's such a wonderful listen. |
| 0:05.6 | So nice. |
| 0:06.5 | There are loads more like it on BBC sounds. |
| 0:08.8 | Different paces, different heights. |
| 0:10.6 | The roof is buckling. |
| 0:11.9 | Where you can also listen to live sports commentary. |
| 0:14.2 | It's right foot goes for goal. |
| 0:16.7 | And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories. |
| 0:21.7 | The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession. |
| 0:25.2 | And she's had to live with that. |
| 0:26.8 | So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion. |
| 0:29.7 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.8 | Sort of expecting that every week now. |
| 0:34.7 | I'm Tom Service and on the listening service every week, I explore a universe of musical |
| 0:41.7 | connections, sounds, ideas and emotions that bind Gustav Marler to Miley Cyrus, Anna Meredith |
| 0:49.9 | to Wolfgang Amaday Mozart, classroom recorders to the Mandalorian soundtrack, Claude Debussy, to Freddie Mercury. |
| 0:57.9 | You've just got to lose your inhibitions about what genre it is, who wrote it, played it and when, |
| 1:04.5 | and realise that the whole musical universe is right there, that it belongs to all of us. |
| 1:12.9 | Rethink classical music with me, |
| 1:16.5 | Tom Service, on The Listening Service on BBC Sounds. |
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