Although Poland undoubtedly boasts a rich and varied operatic repertoire, few have been performed outside the country with any frequency; however, one particular opera has just started gaining the attention it deserves. Karol Szymanowski's Krol Roger is now recognized as a towering masterpiece. Telling the story of a Sicilian king who seeks to maintain control over a people swayed by a Christ-like figure known as no more than the Shepherd, Szymanowski's opera on power and fanaticism presents a sonic world of extraordinary variety, from late Romanticism to Arabic idioms. Saturday's broadcast features a modern classic, a 2003 recording from the Polish National Opera with tenor Piotr Beczala in a star-making turn as the Shepherd. Stepan Atamian hosts.