Well-known operas were retold by a narrator and actors, punctuated with their most tuneful arias, performed by some of Australia's best singers, backed with a symphony orchestra.
[1] The program was broadcast on 3DB, from 19 November 1946 to 20 March 1949; 21 operas were presented in this format, most were played twice — whether fresh productions or old recordings replayed was not divulged.
Crawford ran an Opera for the People quest in Sydney, broadcast 3DB and 53 other stations throughout Australia – the largest commercial radio hookup to that date — 27 June 1947.
[2] The first public concert in the series was held at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens on Saturday 3 March 1947, with singers Glenda Raymond, John Lanigan, William Laird, David Allen, and Ailsa MacKenzie reprising their parts in the radio adaptation of Rigoletto.
Soloists included John Lanigan, Maxwell Cohen, Glenda Raymond and Noella Cornish; accompanist, Eunice Garland.