Opera on the BBC features newly-commissioned films, documentaries and performances on BBC TWO and BBC FOUR, which focus primarily on the world of Italian opera, BBC Radio 3 showcases productions from some of the world's greatest opera houses and BBC Radio 2 searches the UK for a new opera star with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Further programmes are planned for broadcast across TV and radio in the autumn.

Please note that broadcast dates and times may change.

• 24 September

  BBC Radio 3 at 6pm - Britten's Billy Budd from Glyndebourne Festival Opera. With Jacques Imbrailo (Billy Budd), John Mark Ainsley (Capt. Vere), Phillip Ens (Claggart) and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

• 30 September

  BBC Radio 3 at 2pm - Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses from the International Baroque Opera Festival in Beaune. With Furio Zanasi (Ulisse) and Sara Mingardo (Penelope)

• 2 October

  BBC Radio 3 at 6pm - Verdi's Rigoletto from Welsh National Opera, with Simon Keenlyside (Rigoletto), Gwyn Hughes Jones (Duke of Mantua), Sarah Coburn (Gilda), Leah-Marian Jones (Maddalena), and the Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Oera, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado

• 9 October

  BBC Radio 3 Oct at 6pm - Wagner's Lohengrin from the Bayreuth Festival, with Jonas Kaufmann (Lohengrin), Annette Dasch (Elsa), Georg Zeppenfeld (King Henry), Hans-Joachim Ketelsen (Telramund), Evelyn Herlitzius (Ortrud), conducted by Andris Nelsons.