You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy.

My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds.

The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that.

With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to

helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all

put together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life,

check out BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Krista Young.. Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4.

For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the radio broadcast.

For more information about the programme, please visit BBC.co.uk slash radio four.

My castaway this week is the opera director John Copley. Throughout his 60-year career, he's worked with all the greats at the major opera houses of the world.

His acclaimed production of Lab O.M is still performed after more than 30 years. He was 10 when he says he caught opera like the measles. Yet with parents who would lock up the piano to stop him playing, it seems remarkable he established a career

in music at all. They wanted him to be a priest. I was a little bit of a star, he says, and that's

what my family didn't like. You weren't supposed to be a star.

You'd end up getting a thick ear and being called a big girl's blouse. John Copley,

Desert Island Discs, in fact, holds a special place in your family folklore. Tell me about the music.

Well, the introduction to this program was used in a pantomime,

which my parents took me.

We went to the Panto always.

And it was da-da-da-la-di, da-da-da-da-da-di.

And it was the ballet sequence.

And I went home, and I was already theatre mad.

And I learned a little dance that went to it.

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