Main content

John Copley

Kirsty Young's castaway is opera director John Copley.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the opera director John Copley.

Throughout his sixty year career he's worked with all the greats at the major opera houses of the world. He introduced Luciano Pavarotti to a London audience, charmed Georg Solti with his piano playing and was even called upon to stand in for Maria Callas. He was just ten years old when he first saw an opera and he loved it straight away; "I caught opera," he says, "like the measles".

Record: Janet Baker singing Handel's Ariodante
Book: Grove's Operatic Dictionary of Music
Luxury: My 49-year-old double bed.

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Sun 6 Jun 2010 11:15
大象传媒 Radio 4 FM

More episodes

Previous

David Tennant

Next

Mary Portas

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Music Played

  • Maria Callas

    Vien, Diletto 鈥揅ome Beloved

    • Bellini: I Puritani.
    • EMI.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Rose Adagio

    Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra Conductor: Riccardo Muti

    • Swan Lake & the Sleeping Beauty.
    • EMI.

  • Ella Fitzgerald

    Have You Met Miss Jones?

    • Rodgers and Hart Songbook.
    • Verve.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • George Frideric Handel

      Dopo Notte 鈥� After a Dark Night

      Soloist: Janet Baker Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra Conductor: Raymond Leppard

      • Handel: Ariodante.
      • Philips.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Final Sonata in D Major

    Soloist: Martha Argerich, Alexandre Rabinvitch

    • Mozart: Piano Duets鈥�.
    • Teldec.

  • Benjamin Britten

    The Salley Gardens

    Soloist: Thomas Allen Orchestra: Northern Sinfonia Conductor: Steuart Bedford)

    • Complete Folk Songs.
    • Collins Classics.

  • Leontyne Price

    He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

    • The Essential Leontyne Price.
    • RCA.

  • Federico Mompou

    That Night an Identical Wind (from The Struggle in the Dream)

    Soloist: Victoria de Los Angeles Orchestra: Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire Conductor: Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos

    • The Fabulous Victoria de Los Angeles.
    • EMI.

  • Book Choice

    • Operatic Dictionary of Music - Sir George Grove

  • Luxury Choice

    • My 49-year-old double bed.

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest John Copley

Broadcasts

  • Sun 3 Jan 2010 11:15
    大象传媒 Radio 4 FM
  • Fri 8 Jan 2010 09:00
    大象传媒 Radio 4
  • Sun 6 Jun 2010 10:00
    大象传媒 Radio 4 LW
  • Sun 6 Jun 2010 11:15
    大象传媒 Radio 4 FM

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast