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The opera singer's diet

What do the skilled performers eat to hit the high notes?

Opera is viewed as something of an endurance sport in the musical world. Hours spent on stage, in costume, doing a very physical job far away from home comforts can take its toll on the body if it’s not adequately fuelled.

As Ruth Alexander discovers in this programme, diet is of paramount importance to a professional singer.

Sopranos Rachel Nicholls and Lucy Schaufer, and Fred Plotkin - opera and food writer and friend of Luciano Pavarotti – share the secrets of the relationship between singing and sustenance, and what foods can help achieve a star performance.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

The piece of music at the start and end of this programme is If Music be the Food of Love, by Henry Purcell. Performed by Rachel Nicholls.

(Picture: Pavarotti eating from a spoon. Credit: Getty Images/Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ)

Producer: Elisabeth Mahy

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Sun 15 Jan 2023 08:32GMT
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Europe and the Middle East

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Broadcasts

  • Thu 12 Jan 2023 04:32GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, Australasia, East Asia & South Asia
  • Thu 12 Jan 2023 05:32GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean, South Asia & East Asia only
  • Thu 12 Jan 2023 11:32GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
  • Thu 12 Jan 2023 21:32GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Thu 12 Jan 2023 23:32GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
  • Sun 15 Jan 2023 08:32GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Europe and the Middle East

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