Scarcely a month since I whinged about the BBC's lack of opera coverage compared to Germany, they've announced A Passion For Opera, a season of opera-themed TV programmes airing in late spring.
Final dates and schedules are to be announced, but here's what's on the menu.
The meatiest chunk of operatic programming is Opera Italia! - and don't forget that '!'.
As announced last year, this features Opera, Italy, and Antonio Pappano in one mindblowing three-programme series. Maestro Pappano explores the central role that opera plays in Italian history and culture. Behind-the-scenes footage will feature him rehearsing the likes of Renee Fleming, Juan Diego Florez and Sir Thomas Allen. Full details at the foot of the page.
Another previously announced programme is Verdi - The Director's Cut. This traces the creation of Graham Vick's recent productions of Aida at Bregenz and Othello in Birmingham. Othello itself will be shown in full in a separate programme.
Diva Diaries will follow Danielle de Niese as she prepares for her first big Met role, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro.
Stephen Fry On Wagner promises to do what it says on the tin, featuring the emperor of Twitter himself poking around last year's Bayreuth festival. Advance gossip suggests you should plan your drinking game around the word 'Nazi'.
In Gareth Goes To Glyndebourne, Britain's favourite chorus master Gareth Malone picks and trains an amateur youth chorus for Glyndebourne's new - c'mon, it's not Tosca, so can we please say Zeitoper? - Knight Crew by Julian Philips.
In the tenuously-linked Rick Stein – Food Of The Italian Opera, Rick Stein "traces the role that food played in the creation of Italian opera and discusses this with experts from the opera world". At a guess, not one for Rossini-haters.
In What Makes A Great Soprano and What Makes A Great Tenor Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Rolando Villazon will investigate the secrets of their craft.
Rounding off the operatic feast is another opportunity to see Alan Yentob's unrevealing Placidoc, Imagine - Placido Domingo.
As well as the documentaries, there are three full-length opera broadcasts.
The big one is Simon Boccanegra, baritone-impersonator Placido Domingo's debut at Covent Garden.
Jonathan Kent's new Glyndebourne production of Don Giovanni features full-time baritone Gerald Finley in the title role.
Finally, Covent Garden's David McVicar production of Le Nozze Di Figaro is conducted by Antonio Pappano. It's not clear yet which baritone stars - if they're shooting this season's revival, it should be Erwin Schrott.
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More about Opera Italia
Here's the full spec, pinched word-for-word from the press release:
Programme 1: The Birth Of Opera: Monteverdi To Rossini
Antonio Pappano's journey begins by looking at the origins of opera as entertainment in the palaces of Italy. He visits the Ducal Palace in Mantua where Monteverdi worked as court musician, and plays extracts on the harpsichord of what is considered to be the oldest surviving opera, Monteverdi's Orfeo.
Back in London at the Royal Opera House he works with star singers, soprano Danielle de Niese and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, on Monteverdi's final masterpiece, L'incoronazione di Poppea, an opera so full of depravity and sensuality that it still shocks today.
Pappano explains how Handel brought Italian opera to London and shows, with examples from Handel's Giulio Cesare, how he developed the aria into a tour de force for singers. With Mozart, Pappano examines Le nozze di Figaro and demonstrates how Mozart's orchestral writing and brilliance with words bring a new dynamic to the developing operatic form.
Finally, Pappano visits the annual Rossini Festival in Pesaro, and discusses Rossini's writing for the voice with tenor Juan Diego Florez.
Back at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Pappano prepares to conduct Rossini's comic masterpiece, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, for the first time, and works on key arias from the opera with Florez, soprano Joyce DiDonato and baritone Pietro Spagnoli.
Programme 2: The Triumph Of Verdi
Antonio Pappano looks at Donizetti's legacy in workshop with soprano Diana Damrau and tenor Giuseppe Filianoti and examines footage of Dame Joan Sutherland in Lucia di Lammermoor.
He travels to Verdi's birthplace, to Naples to perform with the Orchestra and Chorus of Santa Cecilia, to Milan where he examines Verdi's original manuscripts held at his publishers Ricordi, and to Verona where he sees the spectacle of Verdi's Aida in the vast open air arena.
He is joined by Leo Nucci and Paolo Gavanelli to discuss Verdi's development of baritone roles with excerpts from Rigoletto taken from Gavanelli's performance at the Royal Opera House.
The programme follows Pappano as he rehearses Verdi's La traviata with the star-studded cast of soprano Renee Fleming, tenor Joseph Calleja and baritone Thomas Hampson, and includes interviews with the cast.
Programme 3: Puccini – Popular Genius
In the final programme of Opera Italia!, Antonio Pappano focuses on Puccini and uses examples from some of Puccini's best-known operas – La boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Gianni Schicchi and Turandot.
He visits Milan where Puccini's experiences, as an impoverished student earning money by playing piano in local bars, became the inspiration for La boheme. Pappano examines the central role of Mimi with one of the world's greatest divas of the past, soprano Renata Scotto.
Pappano visits at dawn the Castel St Angelo in Rome where the final tragic act of Tosca takes place and is joined by soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna talk about performing the roles of Tosca and Cavaradossi.
Pappano also travels to Italy to visit Puccini's home near Lucca, as well as visiting La Scala in Milan and Rome. He examines Puccini's original manuscripts and works with singers on specific arias from the operas. The programme will also follow him in rehearsals for Gianni Schicchi at the Royal Opera House.
