Rienzi in April/May 2009 and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Oper Leipzig in April/May 2010. In July 2013, the bicentennial year of Wagner's birth, performances of all three of Wagner's early operas, including "Rienzi", took place for the first time at Bayreuth, at the Oberfrankenhalle. This performance trimmed some parts, including the second-act ballet. The Australian premiere was a concert performance by Melbourne Opera in December 2013, as part of the bicentennial celebrations. The opera opens with a substantial overture which begins with a trumpet call (which in act 3 we learn is the war call of the Colonna family)
Composer of the Week Composer of the Week Composer of the Week is a long-running biographical music programme broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Originally This Week's Composer, it was first broadcast on 2 August 1943 on the BBC Home Service, transferring to the BBC Third Programme in 1964 and changing title to "Composer of the Week" in 1988. In terms of longevity, it is only surpassed by "Desert Island Discs" (first heard on 29 January 1942). The programme is broadcast daily from Monday to Friday, each week being a series of five programmes dedicated to a particular composer or a group of related composers.