Music Matters

Tom Service talks to pianist and writer, Susan Tomes, about her new book Women and the Piano - a History in 50 Lives. Those lives include well-known names today, from Clara Schumann to Nina Simone, but also many women like Marianne Martinez who have been eclipsed from previous histories of pianists. Tom and Susan discuss how women went from being the Queens of the piano in domestic settings to being excluded from public performances and conservatoires during the development of the concert piano. Pianist, Lucy Parham, talks to Tom too about the impact that Susan's book has had on her, and she talks about life today for female pianists.

The Afghan Youth Orchestra is embarking on its first UK tour - Breaking the Silence. Currently exiled in Portugal, the young musicians live and study, having escaped the Taliban’s censorship of music. The orchestra's founder, Dr Ahmad Sarmast and two of his violinists, Sevinch Majidi and Ali Sina Hotak, talk to Tom about their hopes of keeping Afghanistan's situation on the international radar through their music, which fuses traditional and Western instruments into a bold new sound.

Tenor Allan Clayton and Aurora Orchestra join forces in a new and highly imaginative theatrical production of Hans Zender's composed interpretation of Schubert's Winterreise. Tom Service finds out more when he visits them in rehearsal. He talks to Allan alongside Aurora's conductor Nicholas Collon and creative director Jane Mitchell about Zender's interpretation of Schubert's original song-cycle.

Tom Service also talks to Kerry Andrew, multi-talented composer, singer, performer and writer. Kerry's third novel, We are Together Because, is out now and Tom talks to them about how music infuses their writing. Tom also talks to Kerry about their last album - Hare - Hunter - Moth - Ghost - recorded as You Are Wolf and in which they turn folk songs and myths inside out.

Presented by Tom Service.

This week, Tom talks to the American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato about her life in music, and her creative mission to challenge the status quo. From her work in refugee camps, to her long relationship with the maximum security prison SingSing in New York State, as well as in concert halls and opera stages, DiDonato confounds expectations of an international classical artist. She talks about the joy of engaging differently with young audiences, and of recording and touring projects like Eden, which makes real connections with the natural world and includes the publishing of new music for anyone to sing.

Conductor Edward Gardner and artist Ben Cullen Wiliams talk about their reimagining of Szymanowski's ballet Harnasie: a story of love, bandits, and how the robbers of the Tatra mountains in Poland win out over the civilisation below. Also featuring filmed choreography by Wayne MacGregor, the production has received its premiere in Katowice and comes to London this month, and uses human and digital intelligence to form a kinetic, sculptural video installation opening a portal to new worlds of dance.

And Caroline Potter reveals the mission behind her new book, 'Pierre Boulez: Organised Delirium', which aims to change perceptions about the French composer. A leading figure of the musical avant-garde in the mid-20th century, Boulez is known for the mathematical and structural elements of his music, but Caroline Potter places just as much importance on the influences in his early career from the worlds of literature, magic, surrealism and the music of other cultures.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch talks to renowned American pianist, Jeremy Denk, ahead of his Wigmore Hall recital of Bach Partitas. He discusses his passion for Bach and the profound impact and connection he has when he plays his music.

Sara talks to Grammy-nominated composer Missy Mazzoli ahead of the day-long immersion into her work with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Together they explore what it means for Missy Mazzoli to be a composer today and the stories that she likes to tell through her work.

Writer Gillian Dooley discusses her new discoveries when researching her new book, “She Played and Sang: Jane Austen and music”. She tells Sara more about the role music held in Jane Austen’s life and highlights the importance of it on the characters in her novels. With the help of film critic, Lillian Crawford, we are also taken on a journey through the pastiche film scores that have accompanied adaptations of Austen’s novels over the last 30 years.

Plus Donne foundation founder Gabriella di Laccio talks to Sara ahead of her record-breaking acoustic concert, 24 hours of continuous music by female and non-binary composers.

Tom Service talks to composer Anna Meredith as her soundtrack to the poetic British film The End We Start From, and starring Jodie Comer, is featuring in cinemas across the UK. She talks in detail about the compositional process; from the very beginning as she hums a tune and records it onto her phone, to the workings required to produce music that is full of irresistible energy.

Pianist Igor Levit talks to Tom about his new album featuring Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words. He talks about his admiration for Busoni and the deep emotion and connection he feels when he plays music by Mahler.

Kate Molleson talks to pianist Tamara Stefanovich. A champion of 20th and 21st century music, Tamara explains her deep connection with the music of now, how global politics have shaped her life in music, and her insatiable appetite for learning which meant she skipped seven years of school.

Kate meets Irish fiddler Martin Hayes who shares his thoughts on the meaning of tradition, putting traditional music on the concert platform, and how the musicians who played and ate around the kitchen table of his childhood home in County Clare continue to inspire his musical life.

Chief Executive of the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM) Deborah Annetts reflects on the new House of Commons committee report on misogyny in music and whether it can bring about lasting change in the music industry. Plus we hear from choir members in Hackney as they take part in Sing East - a showcase for talented choirs from across East London in which the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus joined over 200 local performers for a celebration of song.

Tom Service meets French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet during his recital tour where he performs both books of Debussy’s Préludes. His 1996 recording of the pieces has just been re-released on vinyl with artwork created by his friend Vivienne Westwood, shortly before she died. Jean-Yves talks to Tom about the need to collaborate, his love of Debussy, Gershwin and Bill Evans, and why challenging conventions and being yourself as an artist are the keys to success and happiness. He also shares his excitement about an upcoming multisensory performance of Alexander Scriabin’s 1910 tone poem 'Prometheus, The Poem of Fire' - a collaboration with Cartier in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and San Francisco Symphony which involves not only light and colour in addition to the music, but scent too.

Tom talks to pianist Alice Sara Ott and composer Bryce Dessner about a new piano concerto he's written for her, which receives its UK premiere in February. Inspired by Alice’s playing, the piece is also dedicated to Bryce’s sister Jessica, a dancer and choreographer who has shaped his musical life. Alice talks about her love of Bryce’s music and the challenges of getting inside a new piece. Bryce discusses his approach to the concerto, the power of acoustic music and how his work as a composer for the concert hall relates to his life as guitarist and writer in the band The National.

Tom Service meets Finnish soprano, Karita Mattila as she prepares for her role as Klytämnestra in Strauss’s Elektra at the Royal Opera House in London. She talks to him about the roles her voice now allows her to sing 40 years after winning the Cardiff Singer of the World competition.

Tom drops in on rehearsals at Song in Sign, the latest project from FormidAbility, the opera company founded to put accessibility at the centre of creativity. Tom talks to director, Caroline Parker and to founder and soprano, Joanne Roughton-Arnold ahead of the company’s forthcoming tour.

Musicians, Mary Dullea and Darragh Morgan and composer, Matthew Shlomowitz join Tom in studio to pay tribute to composer, John White who died earlier this month.

And finally, Tom talks to double-bassist, Edgar Meyer as he prepares for his visit to Glasgow to perform his Concertino with the Scottish Ensemble at this year’s Celtic Connections. He talks to Tom about his collaborations, his sound and how he is influencing the next generation.

Tom Service speaks to the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director of the Montreal Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He is one of the starriest and most sought-after conductors in the world. also one of the most loved by the musicians who work with him. Nézet-Séguin is guest conductor to some of the world's top orchestras, like the Vienna Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Berlin Philharmonic, and he has recorded cycles of symphonies by Brahms, Beethoven and Bruckner, plus operas by Mozart, Gounod and Wagner. Alongside the core repertoire, he's on a mission to perform new works that represent all of society and thereby draw new audiences to the orchestras that he leads and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He tells Tom about the richly fulfilling experiences of putting on Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut up in My bones and Kevin Puts' The Hours, and how these two new operas are both bringing in audiences who have never been to the MET before, whilst also refreshing the cherished classics traditionally staged there.

2024: what does the new year hold for the musical scene? What's the impact of cuts across classical music, from education in schools to opera companies, and what are the opportunities of the moment for those who run our orchestras and lead music education? Tom Service convenes a Music Matters counsel of musical sages to discuss their thoughts of the state of music as we step into 2024: Sophie Lewis, Chief Executive of the National Children’s Orchestras and Chair of the Association of British Orchestras; Gillian Moore, Artistic Associate of the South Bank Centre in London, writer and consultant; and Phil Castang, Chief Executive of Music for Youth.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch talks to one of the 21st-century's leading creative artists – the American composer and interdisciplinary artist, Meredith Monk.

Celebrating her 80th birthday the year before last, Meredith’s creativity spans decades and traverses site-specific works and happenings in the 60s, through films during the 70s and 80s, to an impressive catalogue of recordings - many of which involved the acclaimed Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble.

She tells Sara about her journey towards Buddhism, about approaching music as a ritual, and how her meditation practice has had a profound impact on her creative life. She shares, too, the process by which she found her own voice and describes how she traces her bloodline back from the cantors, through the popular ballads of her mother, to the folk music she sang.

Kate Molleson travels to Budapest to meet Hungary’s greatest living composer, György Kurtág, now 97 years old. Kurtag talks to Kate about the musical homages that he has made to friends, his early focus on the clarity of single notes at the time he wrote his Op.1 String Quartet, the influence of languages on his compositional style, and his new opera, a work based on the life of the German mathematician, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. Above all, he talks about his Marta, his wife of over 70 years, with whom he performed piano duets, and he reveals to Kate why he stayed in Hungary in 1956.

Kurtag once said that his mother tongue is Bartok, and Kate visits the Bela Bartok Memorial House where she talks to the curator, Zoltán Farkas, about the composer’s relationship with Hungary and the folk traditions that he collected both at home and in neighbouring countries. During a break in a busy rehearsal schedule, the conductor Ivan Fischer also shares his views on Bartok and the distinctive sound of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

Kate joins the director of the Hungarian Radio Choir, Zoltán Pad, and the composer Daniel Dinyes, to learn how the Hungarian language is expressed in music, and hear more about the unique sound of the choir. Kate also meets Hungary’s queen of song, Márta Sebestyén, who is at the very heart of Hungary’s folk music. Márta Sebestyén talks with pride about her mother, a celebrated student of Zoltan Kodaly, about her own travels in search of pure folk music. She treats Kate, too, to a traditional Christmas carol.

Tom Service talks to Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinettist with the New York Philharmonic, as he commences his tenure as Artist-in-Residence at Milton Court in London. They discuss his recent performances of Anthony Davis powerful and operatic work for clarinet and orchestra, You Have the Right to Remain Silent, and his Grammy nominated album, American Stories, on which he collaborated with the Pacific Quartet.

On the 400th anniversary of the death of the composer Thomas Weelkes, Music Matters visits Chichester Cathedral - the scene of some of his greatest music and noted misdemeanours. BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker, Dr. Ellie Chan, and Organist and Master of the Choristers at Chichester Cathedral, Charles Harrison, discuss how he advanced the English choral tradition.

Following the recent news that the Music Department at Oxford Brookes University it set to close, Professor of music at Oxford University, Jonathan Cross, shares his thoughts about the place of music education in our society.

And, Sara Mohr Pietsch sits down with the pianist Imogen Cooper to talk about her life in music, studying with Alfred Brendel, her love of Schubert, and how she’s curating darkness and light into her forthcoming concert programmes.

Ahead of the release of Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s long-awaited film about Leonard Bernstein, Sara Mohr-Pietsch talks to the conductor and composer’s daughters - Jamie and Nina - about their parents' relationship, listening to music with their father as children, and how it feels to see their lives recreated on screen. Sara is joined by critics Jessica Duchen and Lillian Crawford who share their thoughts, among other things, about Bradley Cooper’s conducting of Mahler’s Second Symphony in Ely Cathedral - a central scene in the film.

Sara talks to American/Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith about a new recording of her chamber works by long-time collaborators Thin Edge New Music Collective. Linda has become a leading voice in Canadian musical culture and she tells Sara about her love of spacious and sparse music, and how stepping away from her composition to weed or wash-up can inspire new ideas.

Tomorrow's Warriors is an organisation which has supported and nurtured young musicians in jazz for over 30 years, including artists such as Soweto Kinch, Nubya Garcia, Moses Boyd, Shabaka Hutchings and recent Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective. Sara meets its co-founders, Gary Crosby and Janine Irons, to talk about how Tomorrow's Warriors began, how they've gone on to have such a big impact on the UK jazz scene, and the vital need for young people to have access to musical experiences.

As his new recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra of the complete symphonies of Anton Bruckner - all eleven of them - hit the record stores, Tom Service speaks to the German conductor Christian Thielemann. He tells Tom about what had, for him, been a burning desire to embark on the journey to record all of the composer’s symphonies, as well as the consolations of working with one of the world’s greatest orchestras. Thielemann shares his vision, too, for audiences in the German capital following the recent news he’ll succeed Daniel Barenboim as the General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera.

With preparations well underway for this year’s London Jazz Festival, Tom catches-up with the ‘Queen of African Music’ - Angélique Kidjo. She describes her first encounter with Beethoven among the vinyl records of classical music her father had collected before the disruption of Benin’s dictatorships, and speaks about her escape to Paris in the 1980s, as well as the joyous spirit of defiance and power of music in the conflicts she’s witnessed in Sudan and Uganda.

And as ensembles around the country gear up for the finals of this year’s National Brass Band Championships, Music Matters eavesdrops on the preparatory rehearsals of last year’s winner’s, Foden’s Brass Band. With contributions from principal cornet, Mark Wilkinson, principal trombone and Chairman, John Barber, flugel horn player, Melanie Whyle, and conductor, Russell Gray, Tom also speaks to the composer of this year’s test piece, Edward Gregson, about his ‘Of Men and Mountains’, which will be performed by twenty bands at this year’s championships.

Presenter Sara Mohr-Pietsch speaks to one of the most treasured and celebrated British mezzo-sopranos, Dame Janet Baker. Following the recent celebrations of her 90th birthday, she reflects on her life in music, the physical and mental toll of performance, and a singer’s responsibility to always serve both the composer and the musical score.

Serving the score of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, the much-lauded conductor John Wilson joins Sara to discuss his sumptuous new album - the first ever complete recording of the musical’s original Broadway manuscript. He explains the painstaking research behind the restoration of Robert Russell Bennett’s original orchestrations, how he approaches the task of preparing repertoire for the stage, and how to create the magical sound of musical theatre during its ‘golden age’ in the 1940s.

Recently returned from filming concerts performed for soldiers fighting on the frontline, the BBC correspondent Mark Urban tells Music Matters about the current situation inside Ukraine. Sara speaks to composer and performer Ihor Zavhorodnii, and violinist Vera Lytovschenko, about their efforts to bring musical relief to residents in schools, hospitals and bomb shelters, and hears how they’re trying to reach and serve audiences inside their war-torn country. She hears, too, from the Chief Music Editor of Ukrainian Public Radio’s cultural station, Oleksandr Piriyev, who describes how he’s promoting Ukrainian music through the European Broadcasting Union.

Kate Molleson is joined by South African cellist, singer and composer Abel Selaocoe with his cello in tow, as he prepares to tour this autumn with The Bantu Ensemble. Abel talks about the "swirling cultures" from which he takes his inspiration, whether it's the different church traditions in South Africa or the music of JS Bach, and he treats us to a live improvisation.

Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes joins Kate for a walk on the windy slopes of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. With a new boxset featuring Leif Ove's recordings from 1990-2010 due out in October, he reflects on how his approach to music has changed over the years, why there are certain composers whose music he preserves for listening not performing, and how the natural world is at the heart of how he plays.

And as the new school year gets underway, we visit Acland Burghley School in Camden, North London, where three years ago the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment moved in. The orchestra's Chief Executive Crispin Woodhead gives us a tour of the school and explains how students, teachers, orchestral musicians and the wider community benefit from the collaboration and how he believes this model answers many of the problems faced by the arts and by education right now.

As Radio 3 marks the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death, Tom Service visits Lincoln Cathedral, the centre of musical activity where the composer held positions as organist and master of the basilica’s choristers early in his career. He talks to the scholar Magnus Williamson about how the building’s acoustics shaped Byrd’s compositional voice, and speaks to both the cathedral’s current Director of Music, Aric Prentice, and Lay Vicar, Thomas Wilson. He’s also joined by four leading British composers and musicians who have worked with Byrd's music: Cheryl Frances-Hoad, James Weeks, Gabriel Jackson and Laura Cannell. They each discuss how they have worked Byrd into their own compositional voices.

Ahead of her Prom with the BBC Symphony Orchestra later this month, Tom also hears from the conductor Elim Chan. Winner of the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition in 2014, she tells Tom about her journey at the helm of several of the world’s leading orchestras and why being on stage feels like being a rockstar.

Presenter Sara Mohr-Pietsch explores the musical legacy of the Windrush generation, as part of the BBC's coverage of the 75th anniversary of HMT Empire Windrush's arrival at Tilbury Docks on 22nd June 1948.

The composer Shirley J. Thompson joins Sara to discuss a new piano version of her one-singer opera with film, Women of the Windrush, and we hear specially recorded excerpts from the work by soprano Nadine Benjamin and pianist Caroline Jaya-Ratnam. The composers Errollyn Wallen and Des Oliver talk, too, about their own family connections and musical influences, and we hear the story of Belizean folk singer Nadia Cattouse as told by her son, Level 42 keyboardist Mike Lindup.

The French-Canadian conductor Nicole Paiement, Founder and Artistic Director of Opera Parallèle in San Francisco, speaks to Sara from her home over-looking the bay while preparing to give the UK premiere of Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer's opera Everest - a work which tells the harrowing story of climbers caught in a blizzard in 1996 - in what will be a semi-staged version with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Plus the conductor, composer and arranger Nigel Brooks discusses his life in music, from his first job during a Proms performance of music by Vaughan Williams with the BBC Singers in 1950, to his own group the Nigel Brooks Singers, and what drives him to continue writing music - including an orchestral piece inspired by that first Proms appearance - at the age of 96.

As the CBSO prepares for a summer of tours to Aldeburgh, Japan, and the BBC Proms, the orchestra’s new Chief Conductor Kazuki Yamada speaks to presenter Tom Service about the joy of music and the goosebumps he experiences while conducting.

Tom travels to the South Downs to speak to Australian director Barrie Kosky about a new production, opening this weekend at Glyndebourne, of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. He’s joined by sopranos Golda Schultz and Sally Matthews, as well as conductor Robin Ticciati, to talk about the story of sixteen nuns who meet their death at the hands of the French Revolution.

Amid rehearsals at the Royal Opera House, Music Matters hears about the World Premiere of a new ballet, Untitled 2023 – a collaboration between the Royal Ballet’s resident choreographer Wayne McGregor and composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir. They discuss the somatic relationship between body, dance and music, and why listening to Thorvaldsdottir’s compositions is not a passive experience.

And one hundred years after its premiere at the Aeolian Hall in June 1923, Tom speaks to the writer and broadcaster William Sitwell about his great-aunt Edith Sitwell’s creative relationship with the composer William Walton – a collaboration which resulted in the entertainment, Façade. He’s also joined by writer and researcher Lucy Walker. Together they discuss the work’s nonsensical parody of popular music, jazz, and poetry and knotty issues it presents to contemporary audiences.

With his new memoir ‘Formation - Building a Personal Canon, Part I’ hitting bookshops, and a new collaborative album with the tenor Ian Bostridge released this week, the American Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau joins Kate Molleson to discuss his childhood in small town New England, his forays into the New York Jazz scene of the 1990s, his encounters with kind musical heroes and future collaborators, and what it means to be a musician.

Telling the story the 18th-century “Irish giant” Charles Byrne, whose corpse was stolen to order and put on public display, Kate speaks to composer Sarah Angliss about the World Premiere of her new opera Giant at this year’s Aldeburgh Festival. She explains how she’s treating this surprisingly tender tale of grave robbing and dissection.

As Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month gets under way, Music Matters learns about a new project to highlight the invaluable recorded collection of gypsy and traveller voices archived within the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. We speak to the University of East Anglia’s Dr. Hazel Marsh about the impetus to make collections, housed at the English Folk Dance and Song Society, more accessible to Gypsy and Traveller people seeking engagement with their cultural heritage, and hear from the Scottish Traveller Ian McGregor.

Celebrating two decades of music making with Les Siècles, Kate hears from conductor François-Xavier Roth as he prepares to tour with the orchestra to the Barbican, Edinburgh International Festival and BBC Proms. With new albums of works by Ravel and Ligeti about to be released this month, too, he tells Kate about the energy of discovery which drives the ensemble’s prolific recording activity, and why performance needs to be dangerous.

Marking the centenary of Hungarian composer György Ligeti, Tom Service talks to musicians who knew him and who love his music. Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and composer and conductor Thomas Adès explore the musical universe of the Violin Concerto; pianist Tamara Stefanovich describes meeting the composer and the intensity and fragility required to perform his music; Tom joins composer Anna Meredith in her studio to listen to one of his last works, the Hamburg Concerto; and György Ligeti’s son, the composer and instrumentalist Lukas Ligeti reveals the passion he shared with his father for creating imaginary worlds, both musical and non-musical.

Tom also talks to conductor Iván Fischer - the founder of the acclaimed Budapest Festival Orchestra - ahead of his appearances at the BBC Proms and at Edinburgh International Festival this summer. They discuss the difficulties of changing how symphony orchestras work, how his orchestra’s mission to bring music to the communities of Budapest translates when they’re on tour, and why mistakes are a very good thing.

Plus musicians and noise. With recent stories about noise complaints against both musicians rehearsing at home and long-established music venues, we talk to Clara Cullen from the Music Venues Trust, Stuart Darke from the Independent Society of Musicians and Lisa Lavia from the Noise Abatement Society about the law, the psychology and how to balance the needs of musicians with the rights of communities for peace and quiet.

On the verge of receiving the coveted George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Dance in America, the trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard joins Sara Mohr-Pietsch. He discusses his ventures into the operatic world, the success of The Met’s recent production of his opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, and returning to the New York opera company’s hallowed stage for their current run of his first opera, Champion, which is based on the life of boxer Emile Griffith.

Sara travels to the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer, in Chelsea, to hear from a modern von Trapp family lineage of singers – the Bevan Family Consort. We hear from sisters Sophie and Mary Bevan about their new album, following in the musical footsteps of their parents’ generation, and singing together as a family.

David Price, Director of Analysis at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, gives Music Matters the latest news about how listeners access and engage with classical music recordings.

And, as his new collection of lyrics – Never Good with Horses – hits the bookshelves, the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage discusses the art of writing words that can be set to music. We hear too about a special speed-dating project, as part of the Leeds Lieder festival, which paired-up 12 poets from the city with 12 young composers to create a songbook. Sara talked to composers Georgia Barnes and Daniel Saleeb, and the poet Dalton Harrison.

Tom Services talks to German baritone Christian Gerhaher during rehearsals for Alban Berg's Wozzeck at the Royal Opera House. Having recently recorded all the songs of Robert Schumann as well as Mahler, Brahms and Schubert, Christian reveals how he sees the differing role of the singer when performing lieder and opera, and why he believes celebrating the complexity of classical music will secure its future.

Tom also meets singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer Rhiannon Giddens whose opera 'Omar' has just been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music. The opera tells the story of Omar Ibn Said, a scholar who was one of tens of thousands of enslaved Muslims who were taken to the United States in the 19th century. Rhiannon discusses the power of collaboration, the future of opera and her ongoing mission to reclaim the history of the banjo as an instrument created by black communities.

For Mental Health Awareness Week, we explore the world of gong baths to find out how sound therapy can be used to help reduce levels of anxiety and stress. Tom goes for a gong bath with sound therapist and musician Simone Salvatici and talks to British Academy of Sound Therapy Director Lyz Cooper.

Plus, Chris West, author of 'Eurovision! A History of Modern Europe Through the World's Greatest Song Contest', explores how the songs of Eurovision have reflected the traditional music and cultural identity of the countries taking part, as well as telling stories of peace, conflict and resolution since it was established in 1956.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch talks to violinist Nicola Benedetti as she prepares for her inaugural programme as Edinburgh International Festival director, becoming the first Scot to hold the position in the festival's 75-year history. Nicola discusses the challenges of balancing the festival job with life as a performer and sets out her vision for opening up music to a wider audience and deepening the culture of listening.

We visit English National Opera to find out about a new staging of Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, 30 years after the first commercial recording of the piece shot to fame reaching number six in the UK pop album charts. Sara talks to Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya and director/designer Isabella Bywater about their new production of the piece and how the operatic setting changes our experience of the music.

Baritone Lucia Lucas and composer Tom W Green discuss The World’s Wife - a chamber opera from 2017 for string quartet and singer which uses text from the poetry collection by Carol Ann Duffy, who presents world history through the eyes of the wives and partners of the men in the history books. They talk to Sara about the use of material by historic women composers, the power of the poetry, and what it means to rework the piece with a transgender opera singer in 2023.

And with stories in the media of a sector in decline, we look at what the numbers tell us about the state of classical music in the UK, with contributions from Anne Torreggiani at The Audience Agency on concert-going, Janis Susskind at Boosey and Hawkes on commissioning and audiences, and Dr Adam Whittaker at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on uptake of A-levels and grade exams.

Tom Service talks to conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner at his home in Dorset as he celebrates his 80th birthday later this week. His work as Artistic Director of his Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique has made him a central figure in the early music revival and a pioneer of historically informed performance. Together with the musicians from his performance groups, John Eliot Gardiner has performed and recorded repertoire which spans five centuries, from Monteverdi to Berlioz, Schutz to Schumann as well as the two composers he’s especially associated with – J.S. Bach and Beethoven.

Tom Service explores classical music's place in British society, in light of the current national debates around funding from Arts Council England and the proposed cuts to the BBC's performing groups. The programme asks questions about how classical music and opera is valued, and how it resonates with today's diverse communities, through perspectives from within the UK and from abroad, from former culture minister Ed Vaizey to multidisciplinary artist Nwando Ebizie.

Richard McKerrow, the producer behind Channel 4's The Piano, on classical music on TV and the impact he hopes the series will have on our musical life.

Sarah Price from Liverpool University, on her research into audiences: why do we return to the familiar when choosing which concerts to attend?

Kully Thiarai, creative director and CEO of Leeds 2023, on the importance of the arts and culture for community and belonging.

Andrew Mellor, a British journalist in Denmark, on the relationship the Nordic countries have with classical music, and why it's different in the UK.

Bobby Duffy from the Policy Institute at King's College London, on how the arts and classical music fit into the culture wars debate.

Nwando Ebizie, the multidisciplinary artist, on working with Aurora Orchestra on "Inside Beethoven" and making events work for D/deaf audiences.

Ed Vaizey, Member of the House of Lords and former culture minister, on perceptions and political decision-making around the arts and music.

Kate Molleson marks the 150 anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninov's birth. She visits his home in Switzerland - after years of renovation, the beautiful Villa Senar, on the banks of Lake Lucerne, is reopening to the public. This is the peaceful summer residence where Rachmaninov lived in in the 1930s and where he composed the Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini and the Third symphony.

Kate is shown around the Villa by its director Andrea Loetscher. They are joined by pianist Boris Giltburg, who is about to release his new Rachmaninov piano concertos disc, and who performs specially for Music Matters on Rachmaninov's original Steinway grand piano in the Villa's studio. Also joining Kate at the Villa is Fiona Maddocks: music critic and author of the upcoming book 'Goodbye Russia: Rachmaninoff in Exile'. Together they discuss Rachmaninov's life, work and his time spent at Villa Senar.

Kate Molleson talks to composer Anna Clyne, clarinettist Martin Frost and violinist Pekka Kuusisto together about the concertos Anna has written for the acclaimed soloists. The UK premiere of her clarinet concerto for Martin - Weathered - took place at the Royal Festival Hall this week, with Pekka conducting. Her violin concerto for Pekka - Time and Tides - will have its UK premiere in March 2024, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Also, Marques L.A. Garrett tell us about The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers, which he has edited. It features 35 pieces from countries including Brazil, Canada, Portugal, the USA and Britain, which span from the 16th century to the current day.

Kate visits a new musical opening in London this month about Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian former Prime Minister and tycoon. At rehearsals, Kate met composer Ricky Simmonds, director James Grieve, and actor Emma Hatton who plays Veronica, Silvio Berlusconi’s second wife.

Plus, we look into the business of music streaming ahead of the launch of the classical music streaming app, Apple Classical. We hear from Sophie Jones, Chief Strategy Officer and Interim Chief Executive of the British Phonographic Industry; Naomi Pohl, General Secretary of the Musicians' Union; and Chris O'Reilly, CEO of Presto Music.

Tom Service visits Evelyn Glennie to discuss her life and career. As a soloist and improviser, the profoundly deaf musician created a role that had never existed in the classical world before, that of a solo percussionist. Growing up on a farm in Aberdeenshire, Evelyn Glennie’s journey to musical stardom took her through the Royal Academy of Music to playing at the Proms in 1992; she was a household name on TV throughout the late 80s and 90s, and led hundreds of musicians at the Olympic Opening Ceremony in 2012. She's commissioned an entire repertoire of concertos, has a vast archive of percussion instruments and has a determination to make the most of every moment. With Tom, as she shows him around her many instruments, she explores the essential principle that's been the cornerstone of her life - listening.

As her career takes flight, the French-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre talks to presenter Sara Mohr-Pietsch about her love of baroque music, how her ballet training has influenced both her voice and stage presence, and the special musical alchemy that she experiences while collaborating with Thomas Dunford and the Jupiter Ensemble.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the late American composer Pauline Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations – a series of text-based scores that instruct groups of people to practice ‘sounding’ and listening together – Music Matters speaks to the improviser and saxophonist, Artur Vidal, and sound artist and researcher, Ximena Alarcón ahead of a weekend of performances at Café Oto in London. They describe how Oliveros’ works broke with the conventions that separate composer, performer, and audience, and discuss how her Sonic Meditations became the blueprint for the composer’s hugely influential Deep Listening school.

As China eases its Covid restrictions, Sara speaks to the Shanghai-based journalist Rudolph Tang to learn how the country’s classical music sector is returning to business after the pandemic.

And, during rehearsals for Richard Jones’ new production of Rheingold at English National Opera, Sara joins the musicologist John Deathridge backstage to hear more about his new translation of the first instalment of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. She asks the musicologist Barbara Eichner about the nuances of creating a convincing, contemporary translation of High German epic poetry, and is joined by ENO’s Head of Music, Martin Fitzpatrick, and music critic at the New York Times, Zachary Woolf, to discuss whether the enterprise of translating foreign language operas into an audience’s vernacular remains relevant.

Composer Dobrinka Tabakova talks to Tom Service about her artist residency at The Hallé in Manchester. She discusses her love of melody, the thrill of writing for youth orchestra, the importance of understanding the character of the musicians she writes for, and how meeting composer Iannis Xenakis when she was 14 shaped her musical path.

Tom visits the site of the new Shireland City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Academy in West Bromwich, which opens in September 2023. As the first state school in the country to be established in collaboration with an orchestra, the academy is built around a central performance space which will also be open as a venue in evenings and throughout the year for the wider Sandwell community and beyond. Tom takes a tour of the site with CBSO Chief Executive Stephen Maddock, Principal Designate David Green and architect Claire Mantle to find out more.

Emily MacGregor joins Tom to talk about her new book ‘Interwar Symphonies and the Imagination: Politics, Identity and the Sound of 1933’ which explores how symphonies in Europe and America reflect and shape the politics of their time, and how they resonate with us today. The book looks at symphonies by composers such as Kurt Weill, Hans Pfitzner, Roy Harris and Florence Price which were written or premiered in 1933 – a year in which Hitler came to power in Germany and the Great Depression reached its peak in the United States.

We explore the past, present and future of immersive performances with David Owen Norris who takes us on a whistle-stop tour of how composers and musicians have played with sound and space throughout the centuries. Tom also visits the d&b Audiotechnik demo facility in Stroud to find out about the latest technology being used to create immersive audio performances in halls, theatres and opera houses across the world.

Ahead of her performance in the Royal Opera House’s production of Tannhäuser, Tom Service joins the Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen backstage at Covent Garden during rehearsals for Wagner’s story of love, redemption, and mythical depiction of the Wartburg Song Contest. She tells Tom about inhabiting the role of her character, Elisabeth, and how opera is a space in which we can connect with world events.

As Celtic Connections celebrates its 30th anniversary in Glasgow, Tom is joined by musician, producer, and festival director Donald Shaw; Chief Executive of Fèis Rois, Fiona Dalgety; singer-songwriter, Karine Polwart; and the piper, fiddler, composer and instrument-maker, Malin Lewis, to discuss the festival’s impact in the Celtic musical world and beyond.

Music Matters talks to the American harpsichordist and author Leslie Kwan about her new book for toddlers, A is for Aretha, which features 26 portraits of inspirational black women in music.

And, Tom visits violinist Daniel Pioro and organist James McVinnie as they prepare for a deep-dive into the soundworld of the 17th century Austrian composer, Heinrich Biber, and his virtuosic Rosary sonatas. He hears about the series of performances and talks, Daniel and James have curated, which stretch from sunrise to sunset this weekend at the Southbank Centre in London.

Beloved by choirs and audiences all over the world, John Rutter is one of the most popular and successful choral composers of the last half-century. In particular, for many people, Rutter’s carols and carol arrangements are the sound of Christmas. The festive season would be unthinkable today without the joyful tunes of Shepherd’s Pipe Carol or Star Carol resounding in school halls, churches and concert halls.

Tom Service visits the composer at his home in rural Cambridgeshire to try to learn the secret of writing a great carol, and to chat about an illustrious career that has also included major choral works such as his Requiem and Gloria, and the large-scale Mass of the Children, written in 2003 following the sudden death of Rutter’s son Christopher at the age of 19. We also drop in on a rehearsal with the Bach Choir in London, as John prepares them for last year's gala Christmas Celebration concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

First broadcast in December 2022

As part of Radio 3's New Year New Music, Kate Molleson talks at length to one of the 21st-century's leading creative artists – the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho.

Celebrating her 70th birthday this year, Kaija describes music as a study of self and the human spirit. Kate meets her at home in Paris where she reflects on her life in music, describing the the conviction with which she pursued compositional classes with Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy, and the distinctive musical style she developed as a result. Kate hears how Saariaho found herself in the musical milieu of Paris and the draw of the city’s research institute for music and sound, IRCAM, where she cemented her place on the world stage with a dazzling work for small chamber orchestra and electronics inspired by the aurora borealis, Lichtbogen (1986). She tells Kate too about the challenges of writing her opera Innocence, whose subject matter deals with the legacy of trauma surrounding a shooting in a Finnish International School, and the inevitability of embodying the emotional pain of the story’s characters during the composition process.

And as 2023 commences, Kate is joined by the Managing Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, Kathryn McDowell, and the music journalist and author, Norman Lebrecht, to discuss the major challenges and opportunities awaiting the musical world in the year ahead.

Kate Molleson speaks to Irish soprano Ailish Tynan at home with her dog. She reminisces about growing up in Ireland, learning her craft as a young artist at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and working with students at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance in Greenwich where she has been recently announced as International Artist in Voice.

Kate travels to rehearsals to meet members of the Glasgow Senior Citizens Orchestra where she finds them preparing for their next concert; and she talks to music therapist, Grace Meadows from the Utley Foundation and David Cutler Director of the Baring Foundation about the benefits music brings to older people.

Author Frederick W. Skinner introduces his new book 'Beethoven in Russia: Music and Politics' which explores how the composer's music interfaced with politics in Russia and the revolutionary struggle that culminated in the Revolution of 1917. Marina Frolova-Walker, Professor of Music History and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge sets the context and describes the current musical climate in Russia.

Plus, Kate speaks to Ammo Talwar from UK Music about their newly published Diversity Report. And Charisse Beaumont joins us from Black Lives in Music to explain some of the findings of the report.

Produced by Marie-Claire Doris.

Ahead of her concert next week with the LSO, Tom Service speaks to the pianist Alice Sara Ott who is also preparing to embark on a tour which features lighting and images alongside performances of Chopin’s Op 28 preludes, and other contemporary works from her recent Echoes of Life album, to create a multi-media experience that extends the boundaries of what’s possible in concert halls.

As the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference concludes, Music Matters hears from Managing Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, Kathryn McDowell, Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Eakin, Executive Chairman of Harrison Parrott, Jasper Parrott, and Professor of Geosystem Science and leader of the group responsible for climate modelling at the University of Oxford, Myles Allen, about the degree to which the classical music industry is delivering its own promises to reduce its impact on the environment.

With all eyes on Qatar for the opening of the FIFA World Cup, Tom hears from the BBC’s Series producer for Arabic Digital Investigative Documentaries, Rosie Garthwaite, about the construction she witnessed of Doha’s opera house in the Katara Cultural Centre. He learns how the country has nurtured both Western art forms and cultural institutions, and the potential projection of soft power.

Tom joins the soprano Danielle de Niese and tenor Frederick Ballentine during rehearsals for a new production, by English National Opera, of Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life. The composer shares how he adapted the story behind Frank Capra’s classic movie, and Tom speaks to the journalist, broadcaster, and author, Matthew Sweet, about the phenomenon of setting operas from film, as well as different roles music plays on both the screen and the stage.

On the eve of the launch of her new album, ‘Seraph’, featuring works for trumpet and string orchestra by James Macmillan, Grieg, and Satie, Tom Service speaks to Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth about her diagnosis with cancer last year, her relationship with music during gruelling treatment, and the conscious decision she made after her recovery to commit again to a career in music.

As Arts Council England reveals its 2023-26 national portfolio of funded organisations, Music Matters speaks to ACE’s Director of Music, Claire Mera Nelson, about the body’s investment decisions. We hear from a cross section of organisations who’ve seen changes to their public funding, as well as first-time recipients, with contributions from Chief Executive of the Paraorchestra, Jonathan Harper; Artistic and Executive Director of MishMash productions, Liz Muge; and Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Britten Sinfonia, Meurig Bowen.

And as the EFG London Jazz Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary, Tom’s joined by jazz author and presenter, Alyn Shipton, former Director of Serious (the creative company who administer the festival) Claire Whitaker; and the British-Bahraini jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer, Yazz Ahmed, who discuss how the British jazz scene has evolved since the early 90s.

Producer: Marie-Claire Doris

The Labeque Sisters, Katia and Marielle Labeque, shot to fame in 1980 with their arrangements of Gershwin, including the Rhapsody in Blue, and for more than half a century have made a unique musical life together. Tom Service talks to Katia and Marielle about the broad range of music that they are creating, the boundaries that they are constantly pushing, and their sound-world within two pianos.

Before the release of their award-winning Gershwin disc in 1980, Katia and Marielle Labeque predominantly performed contemporary music, and encountered the composer Olivier Messiaen, who overheard them practising his Vision de l’Amen while they were still students at the Paris Conservatoire. They’ve since worked with Boulez and Berio, and it was on tour in Los Angeles, performing Berio’s Concerto for Two Pianos, that they happened across Gershwin for the first time. As students at the Paris Conservatoire, they had to fight to be accepted into the chamber music class, and they tell Tom about perceptions of piano duos and the mission to constantly seek new repertoire.

The sisters’ continual curiosity and creativity has led them on a journey, as Marielle describes it, where one chance encounter leads to another. They have commissioned new works from musicians of backgrounds from rock to classical, from Bryce Dessner to Nico Muhly, and they have worked alongside Giovanni Antonini who helped them to acquire two reproductions of Bach’s Silbermann keyboards, which they keep in their Palazzo in Venice.

The sisters speak to Tom at length about all their musical projects, delve into what keeps them going, and discuss how their distinct two-piano sound really works.

Presenter Tom Service visits the Pit Theatre at the Barbican to learn more about a new theatrical meditation on the bittersweet consolations of sorrow. He speaks to countertenor Iestyn Davies about the melancholy of John Dowland’s music and its power to process grief, while the director Netia Jones tells Tom how she’s weaved together creative visuals with philosophical musings of Robert Burton’s 17th-century treatise The Anatomy of Melancholy as well as those of Freud and other contemporary experts of the human condition.

As the BBC celebrates its centenary, Music Matters is joined by composers Matthew Herbert and Anna Meredith, and Artistic Associate of the Southbank Gillian Moore, to discuss the corporation’s role as a commissioner of contemporary repertoire during the past 100 years.

Tom catches-up with composer Tom Floyd, singer Sophie Goldrick, and Professor Marion Thain during rehearsals of a new opera, Veritable Michael, which charts the creative life and love affair of two women who operated together under the pseudonym Michael Field – a 19th century fictional author whose work was celebrated by the likes of Oscar Wilde and Robert Browning.

And Tom takes a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum where he’d joined by Harriet Reed, the co-curator of Re:Imagining Musicals – a new display of glittering costumes and musical memorabilia – to explore the craftmanship, creative renewal, and evolutionary impetus behind some of the most iconic musicals of the past seven decades.

Tom Service joins Rachel Podger and her violin for a walk in the Brecon Beacons to talk about her new album ‘Tutta Sola’ which features lesser-known solo violin music of the 18th century. Rachel discusses the new musical discoveries she’s made through making the album and what it means to play solo, and she treats us to some solo Bach live on a hillside.

Tom talks to Ukrainian musicians and musical leaders about their musical life in Ukraine right now and how music and music-making is both an escape from the trauma of everyday life during the war, and a strong representation of Ukrainian national identity. We hear from conductor Ivan Cherednichenko at Lviv National Opera, Tetyana Kostorna at Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, Sergey Didok at the National Operetta of Ukraine in Kyiv and pianist Antonii Baryshevskyi.

Edward Dusinberre, violinist and leader of the Takacs Quartet, discusses his new book ‘Distant Melodies - Music in Search of Home’ which explores ideas of home and exile through the lives and music of Elgar, Britten, Bartok and Dvorak, together with his own musical childhood in England and life as a touring musician living in America.

Gabriella Di Laccio, soprano and Founder of Donne, Women in Music, joins Tom to look at the latest Equality & Diversity in Global Repetoire Report which reveals that only 7.7% of pieces performed by 111 orchestras worldwide in 2021/22, were written by women. Artistic Director at London Philharmonic Orchestra Elena Dubinets reflects on the findings and shares her vision for change.

Producer: Matthew Dover

This week Kate Molleson focusses on Northern Ireland.

Kate visits pianist Ruth McGinley at her studios in The MAC in Belfast to chat about her upcoming album of Irish airs and her unique approach to music making.

Beyond Skin is an arts collective using music as a means for cultural education and exchange. Darren Ferguson explains how the collective has been working with musicians seeking asylum and refugee status through creative collaboration and social support. Kate meets with some of these musicians including Shiva, a guitar teacher from Iran.

The Lambeg Drum is one of the loudest acoustic instruments and Kate gets to hear one in Co. Antrim, in the company of Willie Hill and Dr Diana Culbertson. They talk about the role the drum plays in the Ulster-Scots community.

Back in Belfast fiddle player Kevin McCullagh talks about his journey into experimental improvisation and subverting audiences' expectations of traditional music.

Kate hears about the Ulster Orchestra’s new home embedded in the community at Townsend Street, Belfast and she takes a short walk to visit pupils at Malvern Primary School in the Lower Shankill as they begin their cello class as part of the orchestra’s Crescendo Project.

Producer: Marie-Claire Doris

To mark World Mental Health Day, Tom Service presents a special programme in collaboration with Professor Sally Marlow, a mental health specialist at King’s College London and BBC Radio 3’s first ever Researcher in Residence.

Composer Gavin Higgins talks to Tom about how his early musical life in brass bands helped him to deal with his symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. We visit Bethlem Gallery to meet composer and artist Gawain Hewitt and Fiona Lambert from City of London Sinfonia's 'Sound Young Minds' project, a music-making programme with young people under the care of psychiatric hospitals. Daisy Fancourt talks about a large-scale study looking at how singing can be used to treat postnatal depression, and James Sanderson from NHS England sets out what he sees as music's role in social prescribing.

We explore mental health among musicians with writer, musician and mental health advocate Tabby Kerwin reflecting on the situation in the brass band movement, and James Ainscough from the charity Help Musicians discusses the recent increase in the number of musicians from across the industry seeking help from their new charity Music Minds Matter. Plus we talk to soprano Patricia Auchterlonie, composer Oliver Leith and director Anna Morrissey about their new opera Last Days at the Linbury Theatre and how the mental health and wellbeing of the cast is being supported.

And we're in Crook in County Durham to catch up with the community arts organisation Jack Drum Arts, which provides music sessions to help support the mental health of children and young people in the local area.

Presenter Tom Service visits Blackpool to explore the iconic seaside town’s rich musical history and learn more about the energy of a musical ecosystem famed for its ballrooms, dance bands, and Wurlitzer organs; to hear from the those responsible for creating new musical opportunities for the area’s residents and visitors; and to speak those nurturing the next generation of musicians from across the town.

Tom starts at the world-famous Tower Ballroom, where he hears organist Phil Kelsall after his turn at the Wurlitzer Organ. He also tours the wider Blackpool area with Andrew White, Head of Blackpool Music Hub, who tells Tom about his organisation’s work to break down the barriers that often exist in providing all children with access to musical instruments as well as giving them memorable opportunities to perform in Blackpool’s many entertainment venues. Music Director Helen Harrison also joins Tom to discuss the role of Blackpool Symphony Orchestra and its place at the heart of the town’s musical community.

Tom speaks to luminaries of Blackpool’s long tradition in band music, including David Windle, who directed the Tower Circus Band, as well as Bandleader Albie Hilton, and discusses the legacy of music making within the town’s dance circuit. And, local resident Elaine Smith reminisces about tripping the light fantastic in Blackpool’s many dance halls.

We’ve contributions, too, from Blackpool brethren including singer Alfie Boe and the singer-songwriter Rae Morris, eavesdrop on the George Formby Society convention, and talk to the visiting guitarist Alexander Hacke reflects on how the town inspired his experimental band Einsturzende Neubauten while recently recording their new album on location.

Tom Service is joined in the studio by Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of UK Music; Kate Whitley, composer and founder of the Multi-Story Orchestra in south east London; and Olivia Giovetti, music journalist and editor of VAN Magazine, who joins the panel from Berlin. They deliberate on the pressing issues concerning the music industry this year.

They hear from Ukrainian musicians, Herman Makarenko and Valeriy Sokolov about how the war in Ukraine is affecting their lives and their music. The panel also responds to Arts Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay as he presents the new National Plan for Music Education, which applies to England only, and sets out the government's vision for music education running to 2030. Eight months after COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference, Tom talks to Luke Jenkinson, Managing Director of the climate conscious Global Music Vault in Norway about his commitment to safeguarding and preserving music on glass. And finally, the irrepressible violinist, Patricia Kopatchinskaja shares her thoughts on how to creatively safeguard classical music audiences as the industry continues to recover post-pandemic.

Tom Service talks to drummer, conductor and composer Tyshawn Sorey. A musician very much in demand across both classical and jazz circles, Tyshawn discusses his continuing mission to break down boundaries in music and his recent piece ‘Monochromatic Light’, written for the 50th anniversary of Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, for which he took inspiration not just from the artwork of Mark Rothko, but the piece Morton Feldman wrote for the opening of the space in 1971.

Tom also speaks to conductor and writer John Mauceri about his new book, The War on Music: Reclaiming the Twentieth Century, in which he argues the extent to which 20th-century music was shaped by World War I, World War II and the Cold War. John tells Tom why he believes a century of cultural politics has resulted in certain composers not being sufficiently appreciated, and thus not played enough in concert halls today.

We also hear from the composer Lavender Rodriguez who tells us how they’re inspiring young people across the north west of England to become the next generation of music creators through Manchester Camerata’s Hidden Histories project; and we turn to TikTok, speaking to some of the finest young musicians and classical institutions about how they are using the hugely popular social media app to take classical music to new audiences. Tom talks to violinist Esther Abrami, composer and conductor Alma Deutscher and London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Kath Trout.

Tom Service talks to Sir Bryn Terfel about an extraordinary life performing at opera houses and concert halls all over the world. He talks about how his career took flight after winning the Lieder Prize at Cardiff Singer of the World in 1989, as well as his partnerships with conductors like Georg Solti and Claudio Abbado and the composer Stephen Sondheim. Bryn Terfel brings drama to the stage through great characters such as Wotan, Scarpia, Sir John Falstaff and Leporello, with music by Wagner, Puccini, Verdi and Mozart. He tells Tom about the importance of being a great storyteller and gives advice on how to deal with the emotional intensity of the drama. Sir Bryn Terfel talks about how it all began, singing folksongs in Wales, and about how we can look forward to hearing him perform in the future as he prepares for The Flying Dutchman by Wagner at Grange Park Opera this summer and a UK tour in the autumn.

Tom Service meets the British Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso ahead of his starring role in Madame Butterfly at the Royal Opera House. Conductor André J Thomas, who has just been announced as LSO Associate Artist, tells Tom about his life in choral music and his project to unite the voices of gospel and community choirs from across London.

There's also a report on the innovative music programme to help rehabilitate inmates at Karachi Central Jail in Pakistan, and news of a project taking music into schools in Bristol.

Kate Molleson visits Glyndebourne Festival Opera to hear about its new production of Ethel Smyth’s ‘The Wreckers’ – the first major staging of this tale of a hostile coastal community in many, many years, heard, as the composer intended, with its original French libretto. This new edition of the opera was researched and typeset by Martyn Bennett, Head of Music Library and Resources at Glyndebourne, using source material from the original score, with missing fragments orchestrated by Tom Poster, and additional help from the British Library.

‘Briefly: A Delicious Life’ is a new novel by the writer Nell Stevens, a ghost story based around Fryderyk Chopin and his partner – the French novelist – George Sand, set in a monastery retreat in Mallorca. Kate meets the author to discover more about this tale of love, creativity and sexuality.

The folk singer Angeline Morrison, writer and broadcaster Kevin Le Gendre and folk singer and academic Fay Hield all join Kate to discuss the overlooked black history in English folk music.

And Tom Service meets conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, recovering from major surgery, still working, and in the UK recently to continue his long association with London Symphony Orchestra.

Tom Service is joined by Dan Grimley for a walk in the Surrey Hills where Vaughan Williams grew up to explore the ways in which the community, sound and landscape of this area shaped his music and his thinking. They also visit Dorking town centre where Vaughan Williams played a central role in the community, especially during World War Two and in the local music scene as conductor of the Leith Hill Musical Festival for almost 50 years.

Tom visits folk singer Shirley Collins at her home in East Sussex to talk about the folk songs Vaughan Williams collected and how his legacy continues today. Violinist Midori Komachi talks about taking Vaughan Williams’s music to Japanese audiences and a new dual language release featuring his works for violin and piano, including his tortured Violin Sonata from the 1950s; conductor Vasily Petrenko delves into what makes his music distinctly British; and writer Rob Young discusses the composer's patriotism, socialism and the lens through which we see him today.

Tom Service is joined by Russian music and history expert, Marina Frolova-Walker and BBC journalist, Olga Ivshina to discuss the effect the war in Ukraine is having on Russian music and culture.

Clarinettist and conductor, Martin Fröst talks to Tom about reshaping the classical musical arena through multi-media spectacular as he prepares to launch his newest project, Xodus.

Singers, Jess Dandy and Joanna Harries take Tom on a musical walk through a woodland in south east London ahead of their "SongPath" at RSPB St Aidan’s nature reserve near Leeds this week. They immerse themselves in the sounds of birds, rain and song as they talk about the benefits connections through nature and music have on mental health.

And Tom visits the Coronet Theatre in London where the theatre company, Gare St Lazare Ireland begins rehearsals for a production of Samuel Beckett’s novel, "How It Is." One of Beckett’s most experimental and beautiful works, "How it is" is an extraordinary exploration of language and this production explores the beauty, sound, rhythm and meaning of the words while the strains of the Irish Gamelan Orchestra enhance the dystopian atmosphere of Beckett’s writing. Tom is joined by director, Judy Hegarty Lovett; composer and sound designer, Mel Mercier, and performers, Stephen Dillane, and Conor Lovett.

Tom Service talks to virtuoso vocalist Bobby McFerrin about the latest chapter in his musical life and his ceaseless creativity. He’s been inspiring audiences to make music with him during concerts for decades, and now, following a Parkinson’s diagnosis, he is taking this further as he starts to perform live again. Bobby reflects on his early solo shows, the improvisation technique ‘circle singing’ which he developed in the 1980s and whether music can really bring peace to the world.

Folk musician Mari Kalkun comes to the studio with her kannel, a traditional Estonian plucked string instrument with a long history which plays a central role in much of her music. Mari talks to Tom about her personal and artistic response to the war in Ukraine and how musical activism is now an essential part of her role as an artist.

We visit English National Opera to find out more about a new production of Poul Ruders’s The Handmaid's Tale, based on Margaret Atwood’s seminal novel. Tom is joined by director Annilese Miskimmon, mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey who sings Offred and soprano Emma Bell who sings Aunt Lydia, to explore how the story is being brought to life on stage and why it is a shattering story of our times.

Plus conductor and harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini tells us about the irresistible theatrical energy of Vivaldi's 'L'estro armonico' concertos from 1711 and why placing them alongside reworkings by JS Bach on his new recording with his ensemble Concerto Italiano offers a new perspective and a thrilling ride.

Image: © Carol Friedman

Ahead of a new production of Britten's Peter Grimes at the Royal Opera House, Sara Mohr-Pietsch hears from members of the creative team bringing this compelling tale of an outsider to life, in a post-pandemic, 21st-century context.

The composer Anna Clyne also talks to Sara about her latest work, including a Handel-inspired piece to be premiered later this month by the Academy of Ancient Music and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.

As the situation in Ukraine continues, Sara looks talks to Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, about the company's parting of ways with Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, and to conductor Thomas Sanderling about the decision to leave his post at the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra, asking the question of how one effectively balances art and politics.

And the phenomenally successful Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi joins Sara from his home studio in the Italian Alps, where the pandemic allowed a break in his usual hectic schedule to reappraise his creative process.

Producer: Sam Hickling

Image: Ludovico Einaudi (c) Duet Postscriptum

As the Barbican Centre in London celebrates its 40th anniversary, Tom Service asks if the future of music venues and cultural hotspots is going big or small, and how should they engage with the communities around them. We talk to the Barbican’s Artistic Director Will Gompertz about the challenges they face with diversity and inclusion, and put those same questions to two other different sized arts centres – the CCA in Glasgow and the ARC in Stockport – in order to find out how arts centres can best serve the communities they are rooted in.

Tom takes a trip to The Holbeck in Leeds where, during the pandemic, Alan Lane’s ground breaking Slung Low Theatre company operated the venue as a food bank, serving the local community with a mission to ‘provide the best cultural life for the people of Holbeck’. Slung Low’s work has been an inspiration for Kate Whitley, the composer and founder of the Multi-Story Orchestra; she tells us how in making the connections between an arts organisation and the communities where they work, there are resonances for the whole of classical music culture.

Food and Music are undoubtedly two things that bring people together. We talk to author Pierpaolo Polzonetti about the importance of food in opera with reference to his new book, ‘Feasting and Fasting in Opera - From Renaissance Banquets to the Callas Diet’, and to mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston about her online resource and cookbook, ‘Notes from Musician’s Kitchens’. Plus, we find out what she really eats on stage…

And we talk to conductor Giovanni Antonini about his 'Haydn 2032' project, in which he aims to record all 107 Haydn symphonies by 2032, and immerse ourselves in the world of Haydn’s life-affirming music.

Producer: Martin Webb

Image: © Simon Fowler

The Italian pianist Beatrice Rana joins Tom Service to discuss her immersion in Beethoven’s late piano sonatas during Italy’s lockdown, and her relationship with one of the most famous works in the canon – the composer’s ‘Emperor’ concerto. She reflects on how the circumstances of Chopin’s life are articulated in his Scherzi, and on thanking audiences for being part of performances.

With Robert Nathaniel Dett’s Oratorio, The Ordering of Moses, receiving its first outing in the UK with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on Wednesday, some 85 years after the live broadcast of its premiere at Carnegie Hall, Music Matters is joined by the conductor Joshua Weilerstein, soprano Nadine Benjamin and researcher, horn player, and conductor Dwight Pile-Gray to explore what Dett’s music can tell us today.

As Lindisfarne Castle welcomes back visitors after its winter recess, we speak to the sound artist Paul Rooney and cellist Gyða Valtýsdóttir about their collaboration on a new project, Song (After Nature) – a contemporary soundscape installation which will be heard throughout parts of the 16th-century stronghold. They reveal how the calls of Lindisfarne’s resident grey seals provide the creative impetus for their work. We hear, too, from the scholar Hannah E. Collins about a frequent guest at the castle, Guilhermina Suggia, and the role the cellist played as a trailblazer for female performers in the early 20th century as well as the legacy she left.

And, we speak to the pianist Lucy Parham and author Gillian Opstad, ahead of the launch of her new book Emma and Claude Debussy – The Biography of a Relationship, and learn more about the composer’s marriage to one of the titans of early 20th-century Parisian life, Emma Bardac, and the role she played in supporting his creative output.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch talks to Ruth Slenczynska, the last living pupil of Rachmaninoff, from her home in Pennsylvania ahead of releasing a brand new solo piano album entitled My Life in Music. She reminisces about her childhood as a prodigy, connecting with her audiences, and performing still in her ninth decade.

The writer, musician and composer Richard Thomas, and contemporary BAFTA and multi award-winning artist, photographer and filmmaker Alison Jackson, join Sara to discuss their new collaboration at the Birmingham Rep – The Covid Variations: A Piano Drama – which takes the form of a unique film-and-concert-in-one depicting everyone from Donald Trump to the Royal Family, and provides an imaginary glimpse into the lived experience of celebrities during the pandemic.

As Mali's military leaders expel the French ambassador for comments made by the French foreign minister about the transitional government, ethnomusicologist Lucy Duran and the BBC’s reporter Lalla Sy explain more about the fragile situation inside the former French colony following the imposition of sanctions by the Economic Community of West African States. We hear, too, from Malian musicians including the singer and guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, the balafon virtuoso Fodé Lassana Diabaté, and kora player Ballaké Sissoko, as they describe how years of civil war, military coups, and insurgencies by Islamist militants are collectively impacting music making in the country.

And, as we celebrate the centenary of the publishing of James Joyce’s modernist masterpiece, Ulysses, scholar Katherine O’Callaghan explains the musical references which litter the work and how music informs Joyce’s language, while the composer Betsy Jolas remembers accompanying James Joyce at the piano as he sang.

Photo credit: Marco Borggreve

Sara Mohr-Pietsch talks to viola virtuoso Tabea Zimmermann about her dazzling career on the concert platform. She first picked up a viola at the age of three, and in the decades since she’s performed with the world’s greatest orchestras and has become a hugely respected chamber musician and teacher. She discusses the music that means the most to her, the curiosity that comes from working with young performers, and the future of classical music.

Theatre artist Femi Elufowoju jr is making his debut as an opera director with a new production of Verdi’s gruesome tragic opera, Rigoletto at Opera North. He’s drawn on his own life as a British Nigerian to update the drama and the staging, dealing with issues of identity and discrimination, as a way to open up and illuminate the story. He joins Sara along with baritone Eric Greene (Rigoletto) and soprano Jasmine Habersham (Gilda) as they discuss the new staging and their relationship to Verdi’s music.

We explore the extraordinary story of the 20th century Russian pianist Maria Yudina, brought to life in a new biography ‘Playing with Fire’ by Elizabeth Wilson. Maria Yudina became one of the most respected and famous, but also controversial Soviet pianists and was a friend and champion to the great composers of her day such as Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Boulez. She was also an active revolutionary, an advocate for the oppressed, and a carer for the sick. Sara talks to Elizabeth Wilson and composer Gerard McBurney about the musician, her recordings, and the urban myths which surround her life.

Plus, Sara is joined by composer Nitin Sawhney and Coventry's Poet Laureate Emilie Lauren Jones to discuss 'Ghosts in the Ruins' - a new site-specific work to mark the 60th anniversary of Coventry Cathedral. The project was commissioned as part of Coventry UK City of Culture and takes Britten’s War Requiem, written for the consecration of the new cathedral, as the starting point. We find out about how the new piece brings together local musicians, choirs, poets and projections.

In the final episode of 2021, Tom Service meets mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and composer and pianist Jake Heggie whose album ‘Unexpected Shadows’ has been nominated for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album in the 2022 Grammy Awards. Jamie recently sang in Atlanta Opera’s production of Jake’s first major opera, Dead Man Walking, which tells the story of a nun who becomes the spiritual advisor to a convicted murderer on death row. They discuss the power of opera and song in tackling existential stories of life and death, engaging with new audiences and the need for greater representation and inclusion in opera and on the concert stage.

Since the major explosion in the Port of Beirut in 2020, Lebanon has been in crisis with economic collapse, severe poverty, fuel shortages and political instability. But musicians are continuing to make their voices heard there, including the players of the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra and their conductor Lubnan Baalbaki, despite a significant number of the orchestra’s players having to leave the country. Tom talks to the BBC Middle East correspondent in Beirut Lina Sinjab and conductor Lubnan Baalbaki about the fight to save the cultural life of Lebanon.

Tom is also joined by Morag Grant whose new book ‘Auld Lang Syne: A Song and its Culture’ traces the emergence of the song made famous by Robert Burns, and explores the traditions and rituals that emerged around its use as a song of parting, and as a song of New Year. Plus, we explore the sounds of Christmas and how they affect us with the BBC Big Band’s Barry Forgie, music psychologist Alex Lamont and record producer Chris Alder.

Tom Service talks to Lin-Manuel Miranda about making musicals, including Hamilton and tick, tick … BOOM! The soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn talks about the songs she has uncovered by composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. And two musicians who have had to leave their homes in Afghanistan share their hopes for the future.

Today Tom Service talks to superstar violinist and conductor, André Rieu about his passion for sharing the joy of music across the world with his Johann Strauss Orchestra. Tom also visits the Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikov, now a resident of London, whose recordings of Chopin and Bach have earned widespread acclaim. Bach's Goldberg Variations also feature in a radical new reworking, which has been occupying the pianist and composer Xenia Pestova Bennett. She tells Tom more about Gold.Berg.Werk.

Tom Service travels to the Monastery in Gorton, the new home of the Manchester Camerata, to find out how the orchestra is embedding in to the community. Gorton was once the engine-room of the world as it kickstarted the Industrial Revolution, building the engines for the cotton mills. Having since suffered from socio-economic decline, Gorton is now being regenerated and the Manchester Camerata is doing something very new in its move to The Monastery, providing a weekly Music Café for local residents living with Dementia, making lasting connections with a local youth charity, and providing affordable concert tickets for the local community.

Andreas Staier has just released a new disc of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2. Tom talks to Andreas about Bach’s decision to compile a second book of Preludes and Fugues for keyboard and how the work fits in his overall output, and especially his later works.

Tom also visits director of Dash Arts, Josephine Burton, and musicians Yuriy Gurzhy & Mariana Sadovska, as they rehearse for their new work, Songs for Babyn Yar. He finds out about the horrors of Babyn Yar and talks to the musicians about how they are creating a fitting musical memorial to this dark chapter in Ukrainian Holocaust history.

We also hear from Claire Mera-Nelson, Director of Music for Arts Council England, about the findings of a new 'Creating a more Inclusive Classical Music' report, launched as part of the Fair and Inclusive Classical Music project.

As the COP26 climate summit continues, Tom Service is joined by a panel of guests to discuss how musicians, orchestras and cultural organisations can respond to climate change. Live guests include violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto, London Symphony Orchestra Managing Director Kathryn McDowell and founder of the cultural and environmental charity Julie's Bicycle, Alison Tickell. We also hear from the environmental consultant Natalja Andersson about her work on Gothenburg Opera's sustainable production of Wagner's Ring Cycle.

Tom talks to Norwegian musician and composer Terje Isungset about his Ice Music project and gets his unique perspective on the changing planet after 20 years of making ice instruments. Inuk singer Tanya Tagaq discusses the relationship between her music and the natural environment and we explore environmental soundscapes with music writer Kate Galloway. Plus, journalist Zack Ferriday shares his thoughts on the limitations of musical activism.

Music clips from COP26 include: Brìghde Chaimbeul RSNO Junior Choir Musicians in Exile Emma Donald and Isbel Pendlebury

Following the death of Bernard Haitink this week, Tom revisits the last Music Matters interview the Dutch conductor gave at his home in 2017, a moving account of his beginnings in music, his love for the musicians he worked with in the world's top orchestras, and his thoughts on the power of music to transcend.

Also this week, Tom looks into the issues affecting young people transitioning from studying music at 16-19 to Higher Education, following a recent report by Adam Whittaker from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire showing declining numbers at A-level. Tom discusses with Adam, and with Bridget Whyte of Music Mark, and we hear how two universities are responding: Royal Holloway, University of London, and Keele University in Staffordshire.

Tom catches up with the contralto turned conductor Nathalie Stutzmann following her appointment as the next music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, hearing about her bold plans for the orchestra's repertoire and for its engagement with the city's many and varied communities.

And Daniel Grimley talks about his book, Sibelius: Life, Music, Silence, a new biography which explores the Finnish composer's relationship with nature, politics and culture. Sakari Oramo, the Finnish chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, reflects on his own experiences with the complex life and music of Sibelius.

In 1999 the musician Warren Ellis clambered onstage at the Royal Festival Hall to retrieve a piece of chewing gum. The gum was deposited there by Nina Simone, who had chewed it throughout her concert that night. Fast forward twenty-two years and Ellis has written a book inspired by the piece of gum, now enshrined in its own glass case, on a specially built gum plinth. Kate Molleson caught up with him to find out more about a story which goes to the heart of artistic belief, generosity and affirmation. It was a book he never really set out to write, but then couldn’t not write.

Following on from Music Matters’ meeting with Steve Reich two weeks ago, Kate delves further into the origins, development and lasting legacy of minimalism. She talks to composers Linda Catlin Smith, Nate Wooley and Julia Wolfe to find out how a disparate group with new ideas continues to inspire, and also hears from pioneers such as Philip Glass and Pauline Oliveros about the mentality of anti-hierarchy and participation which changed the musical landscape.

Laurence Crane is one of the most beloved figures in British contemporary music, his work is full of surprise, fondness, wit and wisdom. As a successor to a certain sort of minimalism, he lets us hear humble wonders in the everyday. Celebrating his sixtieth birthday this year, he met up with Kate at one of his favourite performance spaces to look over his constantly surprising career and oeuvre.

And as orchestras and musical institutions look at ways to represent diversity among their ranks, Kate talks to John Shortell of the Musicians’ Union, and Diversity and Inclusion consultant Chico Chakravorty, about what are the most effective ways to achieve this.

Kate Molleson presents a live edition of Music Matters from the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival in Coventry, featuring live music and a panel of guests discussing the parallel rhythms and sounds of music and language from the ancient oral tradition of folk music to right through to the contemporary sounds of today. Kate's guests include Netia Jones, Liz Berry, Martin Carthy and Andy Ingamells.

Pianist Igor Levit talks to Tom Service about his latest epic recording project – three and a half hours of music by Dmitri Shostakovich and the Scottish composer Ronald Stevenson. No stranger to large-scale works he live-streamed Erik Satie’s Vexations during lockdown playing 840 repetitions over 16 hours as part of his online House Concerts. He discusses the huge challenges on every page of Stevenson’s Passacaglia and the contradictions of his life as a pianist and his political beliefs.

Folk singer Martin Carthy and former High Court judge and part-time song collector Stephen Sedley join Tom to talk about their new book, ‘Who Killed Cock Robin: British Folk Songs of Crime and Punishment’, which explores the legal and moral basis of some of the most moving songs in the folk traditions of the country. We hear recordings by Martin Carthy, Shirley Collins, Rachel Newton and a 1953 archive recording of Ewan MacColl singing ‘McCaffery’, provided by the School of Scottish Studies Archives.

As Russians go to the polls, we look at what the recent decline in freedoms means for artists and musicians in and out of the country. Tom speaks to Masha Alekhina, co-founder of the musical and protest collective Pussy Riot, who has just been sentenced to a year of ‘restricted freedom’ for promoting protests in support of the jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny. We’re also joined by the BBC's Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford who was recently expelled from Russia after more than 20 years of reporting from Moscow, and pianist Katya Apekisheva who, alongside hundreds of other classical musicians, signed a letter to Vladimir Putin in February calling for the release of Alexei Navalny.

And composer Joseph Horovitz shares stories from his life in music. Having fled Vienna as a child in 1938, he began his musical career in Britain as a music lecturer for the army before working as a ballet conductor and finally a composer. His music draws on a huge range of styles, especially jazz, as can be heard in his Jazz Harpsichord Concerto which was performed by Mahan Esfahani and the Manchester Collective at this year’s Proms. He talks to Tom about how his deeply personal fifth string quartet reflects his experiences of escaping Vienna, and how he finds new inspiration every day from the music around him.

As Music Matters returns to the airwaves for the Autumn, and classical music emerges from Covid along with the rest of the world, Tom Service assesses the current state of play with musicians and industry leaders, and asks them how much has really changed in the last eighteen months and what the future holds. Gillian Moore, Director of Music at the Southbank Centre in London, and Roger Wright, Chief Executive of the newly-merged Britten Pears Arts in Suffolk, explain how they navigated the issues raised for their organisations by Covid restrictions, and what they take from these experiences moving forward.

Freelance trumpeter Chris Cotter spoke to Music Matters last year about finding a new living from painting and decorating when his concerts dried up in lockdowns, and he updates Tom now on his return to live music. Soprano Juliet Fraser talks, too, about her adventures with the TC Helicon during lockdown and her experiences of returning to the stage. Tom Service also speaks to Igor Toronyi-Lalic, arts editor of the Spectator and director of the London Contemporary Music Festival, who points out what went wrong for classical music in its digital online ventures.

To discuss the many issues raised by these experiences of the classical music world during the Covid era, Tom Service is joined by Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, Chief Executive of UK Music, Stephen Maddock, Chief Executive of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Sarah Willis, horn player with the Berlin Philharmonic.

When the Taliban held power in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, they banned music and persecuted musicians. Two decades later as they regain control of the country, we speak the Director of Afghanistan's National Institute of Music, Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, about his fears of a clampdown on music by the new regime. We talk to the BBC reporter Yalda Hakim about the evolving situation inside the country and hear from Afghanistan’s most famous pop-star, Aryana Sayeed, about why musicians’ lives may be endangered as they become political targets. We speak, too, to Massood Sanjer, who’s in charge of Afghanistan’s Tolo TV network, and hear how the Taliban’s disapproval of music affects their output.

Kate Molleson looks back on a year of musical connection and reflection as she revisits some of the guests we have featured on Music Matters.

Kate talks to American composer, vocalist, dancer and film artist, Meredith Monk and she shares her thoughts on nature, art and resilience through the age of pandemic.

Tom Service and South African soprano, Golda Schultz look back on Golda’s memorable appearance at the 2020 Last Night of the Proms.

Earlier this month, the celebrated opera director Sir Graham Vick died at the age of 67. He founded Birmingham Opera Company in 1987, and we hear Tom Service’s report from the community production of Verdi’s Otello.

And finally, Kate talks to Betsy Jolas, the French composer who moved to the US in the 1940s, as she approaches her 95th birthday in August. They talk about composition, analysis and how to start writing a new piece.

Kate Molleson talks to some of today's greatest writers about how music shapes their work and explores the ineffable intersection between words and music. Featuring Colm Tóibín, Elif Shafak, Ishmael Reed, Simon Armitage and Lavinia Greenlaw.

Best-selling Irish author Colm Tóibín’s writing is infused with sound and music. His latest book is a fictional account of the life of Thomas Mann and is steeped in Mahler and Schoenberg. He discusses the powerful role music plays in his fiction and reads from his book ‘Nora Webster’, in which the main character finds resilience through music after the death of her husband. Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak talks about the sound of Istanbul, the social implications of sound and silence and how her books can give voice to those in society who are otherwise voiceless. She reads from her acclaimed book ‘10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World’ and talks about the influence of heavy metal on her writing. US writer Ishmael Reed explores the role of improvisation and rhythm in his work, including his 1972 classic ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ and a new collection of poetry called ‘Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues’. Poet Laureate Simon Armitage discusses how music and words mix in the poetry he writes for his band LYR and the volatility of language when set to music. And poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw explores the fundamental way in which music has shaped her writing throughout her life, as well as the interconnectedness of music, memory and emotion.

Image credit: The Japan Art Association

As the celebrated violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter prepares for the premiere of John Williams’s new violin concerto, she talks to Tom Service about making music in and out of the pandemic. She reflects on how her relationship to music has changed over the past 18 months and the need for urgent change when it comes to supporting music and culture in German and beyond.

A New Topography of Love Part II is an animated video-game opera experience currently being developed by writer and director John McIlduff and composer Brian Irvine at Dumbworld productions, in collaboration with artists and game developers. Tom catches up with Brian Irvine and Vicky Potts from Whitepot Studios to find out how they plan to put opera inside arcade cabinets.

The Berlin-based Belarusian conductor Vitali Alekseenok travelled back to Belarus last August to join protests against the latest election of Alexander Lukashenko as the country’s leader – a result which has not been accepted by the EU or the UK. Vitali took part in daily musical protests on the streets of Minsk and has written a book about his experiences. He knows he can’t now go back to Belarus for fear of being arrested - something that’s already happened to many of his musician friends there. He talks to Tom about his hopes and fears for Belarus and the musicians and artists who speak out.

American musician Jessie Montgomery is one of the most distinctive and communicative voices in the US, as a player and a creator. She writes chamber works and orchestral music, as well as improvising with double bassist Eleonore Oppenheim in her duo Big Dog, Little Dog. As she begins her new role as Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence, she talks about her work and a newfound urgency to engage, connect and reflect through her music.

And from the Music Matters archives, interviews with two composers whom the world has lost in recent days – Frederic Rzewski and Louis Andriessen.

Linton Stephens is joined by the soprano Nadine Benjamin ahead of a performance of her autobiographical opera BEAM, part of the Summer at Snape season. She reflects on how music has the power to heal and why she finds strength in her voice.

The music psychologist Natasha Hendry talks to Linton about her research into race and racism in music education and the music industry.

As Radio 3 celebrates the London Festival of Architecture, Music Matters visits Bold Tendencies at its unique home in Peckham’s former multi-storey car park, and speaks to the organisation’s founder Hannah Barry, the acoustician Dave Parsons, the pianist Samson Tsoy and producer Fraser Smith, to learn how the building’s fabric impacts sound quality and informs artistry.

And, Linton also hears from soprano Stephanie Corley, director James Brining, and conductor James Holmes, about a new collaborative production of A Little Night Music by both Opera North and the Leeds Playhouse, and learns how Sondheim’s portrayal of human relationships speaks to audiences today.

Kate Molleson celebrates Coventry as UK City of Culture 2021, exploring the musical life there, its rich musical history, and talking about what the future holds for Coventrians.

She begins at the heart of Coventry in the ruins of the old cathedral, which was destroyed the November night in 1940 when the German Luftwaffe flattened the city centre. It is poignantly connected to the new cathedral by Basil Spence. With its consecration began a distinctive new choral tradition, particularly under music director David Lepine. Kate talks to one of the first choristers, David Sleath, who sang at the premiere of Britten's War Requiem, conductor Paul Daniel who joined the choir in the mid-60s, and organist Rachel Mahon who is the current music director.

Composer Dan Jones talks to Kate about his new work, Coventry Moves Together, which was commissioned by Coventry UK City of Culture for their inaugural day of events on 5th June, and which takes the ideas of the city's most pioneering composer, Delia Derbyshire. Kate talks to Chenine Bhathena, the Creative Director of Coventry UK City of Culture about the promises that she is making to the people of the city.

Birmingham-born conductor, and recently appointed Music Director of Birmingham Opera, Alpesh Chauhan, has made Coventry his home over the last few years and talks to Kate about his impressions of the city and its cultural significance.

Arguably Coventry's biggest musical export is 2-Tone Music, and Kate follows the 2-Tone Trail with Neville Staples of The Specials and visits the Coventry Music Museum set up by Pete Chambers, who has devoted his life to finding out about Coventry's music history from Roman Times to the now. Central to his museum is his homage to The Specials' chart-topping song, Ghost Town.

Tom Service is joined by the pianist Stephen Hough, and over a cup of coffee they discuss living in the moment during music during performance and how Stephen has spent much of the past year working as a composer.

Double-bassist and artist Kirsty Matheson talks about the challenge she set herself to create 100 paintings about 100 pieces of music in 100 days. Responding to works by Arnold Schoenberg and Steve Reich, she describes how their works shaped the images she created as well as restored her love for music during a time when live performance wasn’t possible.

Tom speaks to Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, about his ambitions for music in schools as the government announces a new Model Music Curriculum to support music education for 5 to 14 year-olds. Carolyn Baxendale, Head of Bolton Music Service, and James Dickinson, Head of Kingston-Upon-Hull Music Service, discuss how live music participation is returning for children across the country.

And, ahead of the release of his memoirs, Lowering the Tone and Raising the Roof, Raymond Gubbay shares a lifetime of stories about his time as a modern day music impresario!

Tom Service takes a look at the influence of horn player Dennis Brain in his centenary year - We hear from two of today's leading horn players Ben Goldscheider, who is releasing an album centred around Brain's legacy, and Sarah Willis who talks us through some iconic Dennis Brain recordings. Plus we speak to retired horn player Andrew McGavin, who played second horn to Dennis in the Philharmonia in the 1950s, for some first hand memories of the legend that was Dennis Brain.

As live music venues start to open their doors to audiences with the easing of COVID restrictions we take a look at the issues surrounding physical access for disabled and neurodiverse audiences. We speak to Susanne Bull, founder of 'Attitude is Everything', Andrew Miller co-founder of the UK Disability Arts Alliance, #WeShallNotBeRemoved and audience ambassador Vivien Wilkinson about the issues and also the potential for a hybrid form of concert going that includes live streaming.

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week writers Horatio Clare and Stephen Johnson reflect on how music, literature, art and nature have helped them through some of the darkest times imaginable, and Alex Smalley updates us on the results of The University of Exeter's Virtual Nature Experiment.

Composer Gerard McBurney and Ann McKay from the BBC Symphony orchestra pay tribute to composer Anthony Payne.

Producer: Martin Webb

Kate Molleson is joined by the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja as she releases two new albums of works by Schoenberg and Francisco Coll. She explains why the music education system should encourage young minds, and tells us why vulnerability is vital on the concert stage.

As the trustees of Mills College announce their decision to close admissions to the college’s courses, Kate learns about the school’s legacy of training musically free thinkers with the flautist, composer, and a former co-director of the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, Maggi Payne, as well as the cultural journalist Geeta Dayal.

We hear from the Grammy-nominated musician and scholar Benjamin Lapidus about the recent launch of his new book New York and the International Sound of Latin Music, 1940-1990. The ethnomusicologist Lucy Duran and the band leader, composer and pianist Gilberto ‘Pulpo’ Colón describe the unique sound world of the Big Apple.

And, Kate talks to lecturer Helen Reddington, author of a new book She's at the Controls: Sound Engineering, Production and Gender Ventriloquism in the 21st Century, and is joined by sound engineers Jo Langton and Úna Monaghan to discuss the role of female studio professionals in the UK music industry.

Tom Service talks to two world-class conductors of today, Sir Antonio Pappano and Sir Simon Rattle, as they swap roles at the London Symphony Orchestra, and looks back at one of music history's first great conductors, Richard Wagner.

Four weeks ago, Sir Antonio Pappano was announced as the new Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra - he will leave his current role of Music Director at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in 2024. Pappano also has a continuing role at the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - and it’s from the Orchestra’s home in Rome that he speaks to Tom about his early life growing up in London, his plans for the LSO, and his thoughts on conducting during lockdown.

Richard Wagner was one of the great conductors of his day, and he wrote extensively about the about the philosophy as well as the technique of conducting. Chris Walton has made a new translation of Wagner's Essays on Conducting - writings which influenced generations of conductors for the next hundred years, and that still resonate with conductors today. Wagner's orchestral players used to say that they felt he was watching them all the time - Chris will be revealing why he thinks this might be so.

Sir Simon Rattle shocked the musical world in January when he announced that he would be graduating his role as Music Director at the London Symphony Orchestra to take a lifetime position as their Conductor Emeritus, and joining the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra. He speaks to Tom about his relationship with the two ensembles, reflects on Wagner’s conducting legacy, and discusses the struggles of musicians during lockdown as well as the LSO’s recent special concert with and in support of freelance musicians.,He reveals who his number one composer is.

Tom pays tribute, too, to the German mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, who died last weekend at the age of 93, He introduces a highlight from his visit to her for Music Matters in 2016, where she made a fascinating comparison between some of the great conductors she had worked with.

Kate Molleson is joined Claire Booth, Juliet Fraser and Loré Lixenberg, three major contemporary music voices, as they pay tribute to the soprano Jane Manning who died this month. They discuss Jane's thirst for contemporary repertoire, her collaborative instinct which saw her premiere more than 350 new works by leading composers and her legendary fearless performances.

We hear from the writer and Managing Director of the Barbican Centre in London, Nicholas Kenyon. His new book The Life of Music is published this month. He describes how performance remains the life force of music, and how the classical music cannon is constantly evolving.

And finally, the composer and conductor Tania León speaks to Kate about her extraordinary journey from her native Cuba in 1967, to New York where she has become one of the leading music figures in the U.S.

Kate Molleson is joined by musicians in Kabul to discuss the new restrictions on women singing - the ban, from the Afghan Ministry of Education, has caused concern that the Taliban is increasing its influence in the Afghan government as western forces prepare to pull out of the country. With contributions from Ahmad Sarmast, Director of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, and pianist Maram Abdullah.

Following the death earlier this month of the conductor James Levine, Kate hears from the American music critic Anne Midgette and conductor Kenneth Woods as they discuss the moral questions surrounding Levine’s recorded legacy in the light of the controversy over his personal life.

Ahead of World Autism Awareness Week, Kate talks to Adam Ockleford, who has worked extensively in the field of autism and music, and to Joe Stollery, a composer who regards his own autism as both a help and a hindrance in his musical life.

And, the broadcaster Jennifer Lucy Allan speaks about her new book 'The Foghorn's Lament', which documents the role this coastal 'music' has played in our life and culture.

Photo credit: Dario Acosta

As the Countdown to Spring reaches zero, Tom Service hears from the South African soprano Golda Schultz as she looks back on a year where the few musical performances that have taken place have assumed a special importance, including her memorable appearance at the 2020 Last Night of the Proms, as well as last month's live stream of Weber's Der Freischutz from Munich. And she optimistically predicts a new flourishing of arts and music after the pandemic.

The sound artist Jez riley French introduces us to a range of alternative spring sounds as heard by species much tinier than ourselves: the creaks and groans of a tree as it bends in the wind and fills anew with sap; the sound of an apricot begin eaten from the perspective of an ant; and the remarkable noise made by pond weed photosynthesising.

And, one of the most charismatic of violinists around today, Gil Shaham joins the programme from New York to talk about his new recording of the Beethoven and Brahms Concertos with The Knights – a chamber orchestra collective who bring a fresh approach to these two familiar works. Gil describes the links and the contrasts between the two works with live demonstrations on his fiddle.

Tom Service presents the latest news from across the classical music industry. He speaks with the French soprano Sandrine Piau about her new CDs of music by Handel, Haydn and Strauss, and to cellist Steven Isserlis about his latest projects, including CDs of music by John Tavener and the music of Proust's salons. Tom also profiles Scottish composer Geraldine Mucha, who lived most of her life in Prague, with contributions from Mucha's son John, Chris Vinz of the Geraldine Mucha Archive, and Prague-based American pianist Patricia Goodson, who has played many of Mucha's works. Plus, a preview of the 2021 conference of the Association of British Orchestras this week with its Director Mark Pemberton, Vanessa Reed of New Music USA on programming new and underrepresented voices, and Sarah Derbyshire, Chief Executive of Orchestras Live, on a new UK report Orchestras in Healthcare.

Tom Service is joined by the artist Edmund de Waal and composer Martin Suckling as they discuss the relationships between the crafts of porcelain and contemporary composition. We hear how Edmund’s book, The White Road, and his work as a master potter, inspired Martin to pen his flute concerto.

The American composer, John Corigliano, speaks to Tom about writing music which chronicled the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, and looks forward to his new opera, The Lord of Cries.

Ahead of a year-long festival at Kings Place, London, the journalist, broadcaster and author Kevin Le Gendre, and the historian and writer Leanne Langley share their perspectives on the way migration has shaped music making in the capital city.

And the soprano Anna Prohaska tells Tom how, as well as making space for four recording projects during lockdown, she’s found room to concentrate on projects she might not otherwise have had time for.

Credit: Library of Congress, Carl Van Vechten Collection [LC-USZ62-94955]

Kate Molleson talks to Scottish writer and poet Jackie Kay about the extraordinary life of the pioneering blues singer Bessie Smith, and asks what Bessie's blues can tell us a century on.

Kate also hears from American composer Meredith Monk about the recurring nature of the big themes of her work, from plagues to dictatorships, and we hear about the piece she’s currently working on, Indra's Net – 10 years in the making and a work dedicated to humanity’s relationship with nature.

Plus, as part of the BBC's 'Soundscapes for Wellbeing' project, we look at how natural and musical soundscapes can affect mental health, including a groundbreaking study by the University of Exeter called 'The Virtual Nature Experiment', which explores how digital experiences of nature might impact wellbeing. Kate is joined by Alex Smalley from the University of Exeter, the sound recordist Chris Watson, and composer Nainita Desai.

Bleak news on the classical music front this week, including Sir Simon Rattle's departure from the London Symphony Orchestra in favour of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich; and reports that musicians touring in the EU will need work permits for each individual country they perform in. Tom Service talks to Charlotte Higgins of The Guardian, and Jamie Njoku-Goodwin of UK Music to make sense of it all.

We hear about the little-known Welsh chanting tradition of Can’r Pwnc, and how the Cardiff theatre company August 012 is remoulding the style as a frame for ancient love poetry.

The American scholar Rachel May Golden has written a new book on southern French troubadours during the time of the Crusades, showing how many of their songs were effectively pro-Crusader proaganda - and she follows the stories of troubadours such as Jaufre Rudel, who died during the Second Crusade, according to legend in Tripoli the arms of his lover.

American jazz composer Wynton Marsalis joins Tom to trumpet his views contemporary America, as reflected in his new album The Democracy! Suite, released in the week leading up to the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States. Marsalis hopes that jazz. as America's own music, can inspire Americans to find ways to heal the divisions.

Half a millennium after the composer's death, Tom Service explores the enduring appeal of Josquin des Prez with the scholar Bonnie Blackburn and soprano Kate Ashby.

Tom also catches-up with the 21 year-old conductor Stephanie Childress, recently appointed Assistant Conductor of the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, and hears her thoughts about why conducting matters in the world right now.

Professor of Musicology at Oxford University, Jonathan Cross; the Founder and CEO of Grange Park Opera, Wasfi Kani; and The Royal Opera’s Director of Opera, Oliver Mears join Tom to discuss whether opera is doing enough to reflect diversity of voice, repertoires, and composers.

And, Tom speaks to the Scottish-born composer Thea Musgrave at her home in Los Angeles about compositional decisions in a time of pandemic, and Light at the end of the tunnel.

With thanks to New York based Utopia Opera for their kind permission to feature music from their 2018 production of Thea Musgrave's 'The Story of Harriet Tubman', with MaKayla M. McDonald singing the title role. The production celebrated Thea’s 90th birthday with the orchestra of Utopia Opera conducted by William Remmers. Julian Grant was the orchestrator.

Tom Service talks to one of the most performed living composers by American orchestras - Jonathan Leshnoff. Based in Baltimore, much of his work is inspired by his Jewish faith, including Symphony no. 4 'Heichalos' – recently nominated for a Grammy award – which features a collection of string instruments recovered and rebuilt following the Holocaust - the Violins of Hope.

We hear from bassoonist Linton Stephens who shares his views about how classical music can be made more inclusive.

On the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, Tom hears what the work means to three violinists: the American violinist Tai Murray who has performed the work at the Proms; Thomas Gould who recorded the piece with the Sinfonietta Riga; and Jennifer Pike who recently released a recording of the original version with piano. And the author of a forthcoming biography about Vaughan Williams, Ceri Owen, also explains why she feels the shadow of the First World War hangs over the work.

And Tom talks to the Music Publishing Association’s General Manager, Lucie Caswell, and Managing Director at Boosey and Hawkes, Janis Susskind, about how the publishing industry is responding to challenges of COVID-19.

Tom Service talks to soprano, Claire Booth about a filmed production for Welsh National Opera of Poulenc’s La voix humaine. The monodrama was written in 1958 but the themes of isolation and lost connectivity are equally relevant today.

As Radio 3 marks a decade of New Generation Thinkers, Dr Daisy Fancourt describes how music and the arts are necessary for mental and physical health. Dr Joseph Sonnabend, one of the leading doctors during the early years of the AIDS pandemic, talks to Tom about those times in New York as well has his life as a composer and his love of music by Alban Berg.

Suzi Digby, Artistic Director & Founder of ORA Singers talks about what the future holds for our professional choirs and composers. And, Judith Webster, Chief Executive of Music for Youth, explains how young people are making innovative choices about how to celebrate music-making both live and online.

Producer: Marie-Claire Doris

Kate Molleson talks to folk singer songwriter Sam Amidon about his new album and breathing new life into his American folk heritage. We hear from the author Anne Searcy, too, about her new book on the role ballet played in US-Soviet Cold War relations. And Kate is joined by Allegra Kent, one of the prima ballerinas of New York City Ballet who toured to the USSR at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Aidan Moffat, vocalist and one half of the band Arab Strap, and songwriter Crispin Hunt, chair of the Ivors Academy, join Kate to discuss the economic impact of music streaming. . As this year's Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival adapts to lockdown, we’ve a series of postcards from new music programmers across the UK who describe how COVID-19 has affected the contemporary music scene. And we speak with the folk artist Martha Wainwright, who tells us about her new music venue in Montreal.

This week Tom Service focuses on freelance musicians. He hears from the violinist Daniel Hope about the collaborative Hope@Home concert series featuring performances with young freelance musicians from his own living room in Berlin, which have been broadcast by the German/French ARTE TV network since the start of the pandemic and have reached a staggering 8-million viewers. The composer and author Julian Anderson speaks to Tom about his life in music - from his very first symphony, to an opera specially commissioned for a socially distanced world, Eight songs from isolation, as well as his new book of conversations with the scholar and critic Christopher Dingle, Dialogues on Culture, Composing and Listening. The trumpeter Chris Cotter talks to Music Matters about the ongoing economic and artistic challenges facing freelance musicians as they supplement their income by taking on other jobs. Horace Trubridge of the Musicians' Union talks to Tom about access to income support schemes, and we hear too from folk musician Anna Massie who explains how she and her peers are trying to find new ways of connecting with their audiences, while the jazz guitarist Shirley Tetteh describes what has happened to her life as a session musician since the start of the first lockdown.

Tom Service asks what climate change means for classical music, and explores how cultural organisations, practitioners and institutions can respond to looming environmental challenges. We speak with the American composer, John Luther Adams, as he looks out over a freak wintry landscape of cactuses covered by snow in the Chihuahaun desert. He shares his thoughts about humanity’s relationship with the planet, his faith in future generations, and a lifetime’s work in the service of music. George Kamiya, Energy Analyst at the International Energy Agency, and the researcher and musicologist Kyle Devine, join Tom to discuss the environmental costs to how we consume music digitally. We hear, too, from the CEO and founder of Julie’s Bicycle, a charity which advises the creative industry about how to reduce its carbon footprint, and the leader of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Margaret Faultless, as they consider the environmental consequences of the classical music industry’s activity and what they’ve learned from different ways of working. And, the director Stephen Langridge shares how he’s put sustainability at the heart of the production effort behind Gothenburg Opera’s Ring cycle. Plus there’s another instalment of our ‘Musicians in our Time’ series with the members of the Castalian Quartet.

Kate Molleson looks at how music venues and institutions across the world are responding creatively to the programming and performance challenges of COVID-19. Kate talks to Deborah Borda, Chief Executive of the New York Philharmonic. The orchestra has cancelled all scheduled concerts until June 2021 but its musicians have been reaching every corner of the city by performing music on the back of a truck as part of their new live concert format, NY Phil Bandwagon. Composer and vocalist Jennifer Walshe has recently been elected into Aosdána, the affiliation of creative artists in Ireland whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the arts. Jennifer talks to Kate about her recent project involving artificial intelligence and how she is gathering source material during these uncertain times. The prize winning novelist and music journalist, Sean Michaels shares his thoughts on how Montreal’s vibrant venues and music makers have become silent again. We hear from Chief Executive of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Marcelo Lopes and composer, João Ripper about how they have been welcoming back live audiences and continuing to premiere new works. Finally in Kenya, Elizabeth Njoroge, Founder and Director of the Art of Music Foundation, she talks about her music education and social project, Ghetto Classics.

Tom Service hears from Ray Chen about the online videos he’s created during lockdown, which have attracted hundreds of thousands of followers, and Ray compares his ten million dollar Stradivarius with a $69 violin. We speak to the writer Stuart Clark about the ancient Greek theory that linked music with the stars, and his new book, Beneath the Night: How the Stars Have Shaped the History of Humankind. And, ahead of his performance as part of this autumn’s “Live from the Barbican” series, Orkney composer Erland Cooper reflects on the influence, in his music, of the islands' landscape and people. We also mark the centenary of the death of composer Max Bruch, with contributions from critic Wendy Thompson and violinists Tasmin Little, Elena Urioste and Jack Liebeck.

Kate Molleson speaks to the Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan about a new scheme to help support young artists share the stage with the world’s leading soloists, and grant young professional conductors opportunities to lead an orchestra during rehearsals. We also hear another instalment from our ‘Musicians in our time’ series, and are joined this week by guitarist Sean Shibe who shares his reflections about the impact of the pandemic on his life plans, the way he plays, and why he’s choosing alternative repertoire. The rock critic Paul Morley, who made his reputation in the 1970s and 1980s writing about Manchester punk, post-punk and New Pop, tells Kate what happened when he set out to rewrite the entire history of classical music. And Music Matters joins the sitar player Baluji Shrivastav and musicians from his Inner Vision Orchestra - the UK’s only professional ensemble of blind and visually impaired musicians – who describe how the mechanics of hearing and their experiences of making music have changed during lockdown.

Tom Service catches up with viola player Lawrence Power to talk about his filmed series of Lockdown Commissions from major composers, and his imaginatively re-worked West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival in Buckinghamshire. The newly installed Artistic Director of English National Opera, Annilese Miskimmon, revels in the return of live opera with ENO's new drive-in production of La boheme from the car park of Alexandra Palace in North London, and reveals her vision for the company's future. To mark National Alzheimer's Day on Monday, Tom talks to Dr Sylvain Moreno, one of the world’s leading researchers on how music can positively affect the brain, and to front line workers with people suffering from dementia - Camilla Vickers and soprano Francesca Lanza from Health:Pitch, and Rebecca Seymour from Celebrating Age Wiltshire. And Music Matters' Musicians in Our Time series, following leading musicians as they face the challenges of their lives and remake the musical world over the course of the next year, continues with flautist Jane Mitchell of the Aurora Orchestra, recent recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Salomon Prize.

Photo Credit: Jessie Rodger

Radio 3’s flagship magazine programme Music Matters returns this Saturday as Tom Service surveys the developments that have occurred in the musical world during an unprecedented summer period blighted by COVID-19. Discussing the significance of local performance, the role cities play in creating cultural energy, how music is serving audiences in both the community and online, and how freelance musicians might continue to support themselves as government support schemes are wound down, Tom is joined by the ISM’s Deborah Annett, Manchester Camerata’s Bob Riley, and the economist Gerard Lyons. We visit the organist and pianist James McVinnie and London gallerist and founder of Bold Tendencies, Hannah Barry, during rehearsals for their public concert series at Peckham’s Multi-Story Car Par, to see how living musical culture is returning in an of era social distancing. And the soprano Mary Bevan tells Tom how she created opportunities for performers to make live music outside a church tower in Hornsey. He also hears from the classical music critic Fiona Maddocks, and speaks to programmer, curator & producer, Toks Dada, about how the industry needs to adapt and innovate in order to survive.

Kate Molleson hosts an online panel discussion on issues relating to race and equality within the classical music industry with contributions from performers, composers, artistic leaders and programmers. The panel considers past histories and looks to the future through the lenses of education, economics and programming and deliberates on the current impact Covid-19 is having on diversity within the arts. Kate Molleson is joined by Founder, Artistic and Executive Director of the Chineke! Foundation, Chi-chi Nwanoku; experimental vocalist, movement artist and composer, Elaine Mitchener; composer and Professor of American Music at Columbia University, George E. Lewis; Chair of UK Music Diversity Taskforce, Ammo Talwar; and Head of Music at Manchester International Festival, Jane Beese; with contributions from writer, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason; Founder and Artistic Director of plainsightSOUND, Uchenna Ngwe and composer, Adolphus Hailstork.

Tom Service talks to Stephen Johnson about his new book, 'The Eighth: Mahler and the World in 1910', in which he explores the meaning and context of one of the most gigantic and profound symphonies ever written. Music Matters also hears from three UK music institutions, who reveal the financial and artistic challenges they face as they start to plan for life after lockdown. Tom speaks to internet guru Jaron Lenier, too, who explains why COVID-19 is likely to produce profound changes in the way we consume music online. We hear, as well, about recent research by British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow Bettina Varwig, as she describes how audiences’ auditory experience of music in 18th-Century concert halls became a more introspective, private and physical – and how the consequences of this shift during the Enlightenment are still felt to this very day. And we take a look at how new Geospatial information provided by the Ordnance Survey can be used to search the nation’s topography for spaces such as natural amphitheatres that may be suitable for performance in the era of coronavirus.

Major players in the classical music world congregate online and take part in a debate hosted by Tom Service. With practitioners from around the globe, this landmark programme examines how the classical music industry can rebuild and sustain itself following the Covid-19 lockdown.

With contributions from violinist Nicola Benedetti, founder of the Chineke! Foundation Chi-chi Nwanoku, the managing director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York Peter Gelb, the director of music at the Southbank Centre Gillian Moore, chief executive of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Stephen Maddock, general manager of the Berlin Philharmonic Andrea Zietzschmann, music programme manager at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall Neil Bennison, director of music at Arts Council England Claire Mera-Nelson, composer and clarinettist Mark Simpson, director of the London Contemporary Music Festival Igor Toronyi-Lalic and chief music critic of The Times, Richard Morrison.

As composer Mark-Anthony Turnage turns 60, Kate Molleson talks to him about the influences he received from Oliver Knussen, Gunther Schuller and Hans-Werner Henze. He speaks candidly about continuing to want to compose pieces that challenge, and shares his thoughts about how Covid-19 might change the music scene over the coming years. In light of the recent death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in the USA, Kate reflects on the discourses of solidarity we’ve heard from within the music world and the wider issue of racism in classical music with composer Eleanor Alberga. Kate also asks Heather Wiebe from King's College London to review a new book, 'Aaron Copland's Hollywood Film Scores', by the musicologist Paula Musegades who argues that the composer used movies to try out his new 'American sound'. And we talk to Maggie Rodford, managing director of one of UK's busiest recording studios, about the impact of Covid-19 on the film and TV music recording industry.

As Mental Health Awareness Week draws to a close, Kate Molleson surveys the musical world's responses to mental wellbeing. Opera star Renée Fleming talks about her 'Music and Mind Live' webinar series, which explores the impact of music on human health and the brain. Kate is joined, too, by the author, musician and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin who will also feature in the webinar series. The composer Nigel Osborne introduces his X-System, which examines how the brain and body respond to music, and the Irish accordionist and psychologist Cormac Begley shares his thoughts about music and mood. Reflecting on life during lockdown, Music Matters also hears from the performance poet Michael Pedersen, the cellist Zoe Martlew, and trumpeter Martin Hurrell.

Notes:

* Renée Fleming's 'Music and the Mind' webinars take place on Tuesdays at 10 pm UK time, via her Facebook page. * Professor Daniel Levitin's latest publication is 'Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives' (Penguin Random House 2020) * Zoë Martlew's audio diary included extracts from her own recordings and compositions, including her string trio Völuspá and Salat Babilya for solo cello. The recording of birds in a wood close to her home was made by Cato Langnes, Chief Sound Engineer from NOTAM studios in Oslo. * West Kerry musicians Brendan and Cormac Begley feature in a new traditional music television series, Slí na mBeaglaoich on TG4, starting Sunday 26 April and running for six weeks. For more, visit https://www.tg4.ie/ga/

Tom Service talks to pianist Jonathan Biss about how Beethoven can help us all through lockdown isolation, and to lutenist Elizabeth Kenny about the far-sighted Italian Renaissance pioneer, composer, lutenist and theorist Vincenzo Galilei - father of astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei. As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, Tom talks to author Adrian Wright about his new book Cheer Up! - British Musical Films, 1929-1945. And, from the Music Matters archive, another chance to hear Tom's 2018 interview with dynamic Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki.

Tom Service talks to author Oliver Craske about his new biography, which marks the 100th anniversary of one of the 20th century's most influential musicians, Ravi Shankar. Composer, Erkki Sven Tuur turned 60 last year. He speaks to Tom, from his home on an island in the Baltic Sea, about his Ninth Symphony and how his orchestral piece Sow the Wind is especially relevant during these times. We continue to mine the Music Matters archive and there is another chance to hear Angela Hewitt talk about Beethoven and Bach. And as lockdown continues to impact artists the world over, Tom talks to violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen, percussionist Claire Edwardes, and the composer Kamala Sankaram whose new opera “All decisions will be made by consensus,” was composed especially for live online performance premieres this week.