Music to the masses: BBC plans opera by stealth

LONDON (AFP) - If the people won't go to the opera, bring the opera to them -- and when they least expect it.

In a somewhat unorthodox addition to its autumn television schedules, the BBC has announced that next month it will surprise commuters by staging an opera at an unnamed London rail station, without any warning.

The 65-strong orchestra and three opera singers will swoop unannounced, with selected members of the public joining in as a chorus after being contacted at the last minute by mobile phone text message.

The event, to be broadcast on the BBC3 satellite channel, is based on the concept of "flashmobbing", an Internet craze in which people agree to converge in a public area and join in a seemingly random act.

"Flashmob -- The Opera" had been specifically designed to make opera more appealing to younger audiences, said BBC3 controller Stuart Murphy.

"We were trying to work out how we could do something that is a big event and that audiences would find entertaining," he said.

"We want this to work for audiences who might only recognise opera music from TV adverts," he explained.

Murphy said he hoped the sudden appearance of the singing spectacle, which melds classic music from the likes of "Madame Butterfly", "Don Giovanni" and "La Traviata" with a new, modern love story, would "baffle commuters".

"I like the idea of someone commuting and suddenly there's an opera singer belting out an aria and a massive concert orchestra performing," he said, adding that it was unlikely people's commutes would be delayed.

"The train times will still be up on the screens so, unless they are monumentally stupid, I don't think they will miss their trains," he said.