The Essay

In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American to publish a collection of poems. Jade Cuttle looks at the way her poems were described and asks what do we categorise as nature writing? Her essay considers the idea of "coining" and the work of a new generation of poets including Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, Khairani Barokka, Kei Miller and a collection called Nature Matters edited by Mona Arshi and Karen McCarthy Woolf.Jade Cuttle is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is studying for her PhD at the University of Cambridge, writing journalism and her first book called Silthood, which explores ancient connections between soil and self. She has also released an album of poem-songs called Algal Bloom.You can find examples of Essays written for Radio 3 by Kei Miller and Elizabeth Jane Burnett on the programme website.Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

What connects actors with baristas? In 1983, the American sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild published a book called The Managed Heart which studied the working world of airline stewards. Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal's essay considers what it means when a waiter smiles as they serve you and looks at some recent court cases over performing at work. Dr Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is based at Queen Mary, University of London. Her research focuses on performance and work, including how drama based methods are implemented in across other sectors and industries. She is a member of the research collective Performance and Political Economy.Producer: Lisa Jenkinson

The Japanese philosopher Yujin Nagasawa says the majority of people are what he calls ‘existential optimists'. What does this mean for ideas about evil and the creation of life? Jack Symes' essay takes us through the views of thinkers including Schopenhauer, Stephen Law and Camus. Jack Symes is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. He is based at Durham University. His books include Philosophers on Consciousness: Talking about the Mind and Talking about Existence and Defeating the Evil-God Challenge and he is working on a book about morality. Producer: Luke Mulhall

Having worked as a criminal and family barrister, Shona Minson has seen the effect on women and their children when a mother is sentenced to prison for committing a crime. Her essay considers the 1989 Children Act and what she sees as contradictory approaches to motherhood in British law. Dr Shona Minson is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is based at the University of Oxford, has researched the sentencing of women and has written a book Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child. She has also been appointed to the newly created government advisory body the Women's Justice Board. Producer: Lisa Jenkinson

If cinema is often associated with Hollywood or the European New Wave, since the 1970s activist-filmmakers around the world have been involving local people in telling their own stories. Co-creating films about land rights, food security, and pollution, these filmmakers pioneered what Becca Voelcker calls Land Cinema. In her essay, she shares examples made by Zhang Mengqi, Tsuchimoto Noriaki, Ogawa Productions and Enzo Camacho and Ami LienDr Becca Voelcker is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. At Goldsmiths, University of London she lectures on art, film and visual culture, particularly in relation to politics and ecology; and has written for publications including Screen, Frieze and Sight & Sound. Producer: Erin Downes

The would-be composer and philosopher Theodor Adorno played classical piano and came up with influential studies of authoritarianism, antisemitism and propaganda. He also wrote about the experience of listening to a radio voice. Jacob Downs's Essay for Radio 3 reflects on his insights and how far they remain relevant in a time of headphone listening, smart speakers and AI voices. Dr Jacob Kingsbury Downs lectures in Music at the University of Oxford and is an honorary research fellow at the University of Sheffield. He also works as a musician and arranger working with composers including Erland Cooper and Anna Phoebe. He is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to share academic research on radio. Producer: Kirsty McQuire

How have the first hours and days after childbirth changed in the NHS? Before the NHS, a 1932 publication describing mothers resting after labour, referred to lying-in as ranging from two weeks to two months, but attitudes have altered. In 1950 the book National Baby was published by Sarah Campion. Emily Baughan has been reading it and looks at the differences between childbirth then, memories of her mother and her own experiences. Dr Emily Baughan is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is a senior lecturer in 19th and 20th century British History at the University of Sheffield, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and is working on a book, Love's Labour, which is a history of childcare. Producer in Salford: Ekene Akalawu

What do we get from a good book? With a greater diversity of stories on offer from publishers and as exam set texts, Janine Bradbury looks at the arguments which are made in favour of reading as a way of encouraging empathy and understanding or as a place to find ourselves. She asks whether this is the right way to think about the value of reading and her essay considers examples including Toni Morrison's story Recitatif, Percival Everett's novel Erasure (which became the film American Fiction) and Nella Larsen's 1929 novel Passing, which Rebecca Hall has directed as a film.Janine Bradbury is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is a senior lecturer in Contemporary Writing and Culture at the University of York, and her first poetry pamphlet Sometimes Real Love Comes Quick & Easy (Ignition Press) was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. Producer in Salford: Ekene Akalawu

In 1852, a book of philosophical enquiry was discovered in Ethiopia. But what if the Hatata Zera Yacob is a forgery? Does it matter, if the message is inspirational? Debates over its authorship rage and Jonathan Egid's essay asks what these tell us about politics then and now. Jonathan Egid is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. He's been a Postgraduate Fellow at the British Society for the History of Philosophy and lectures at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is writing a book about the history of the Hatata Zera Yacob debate, and runs a podcast on philosophy in less-studied languages called Philosophising In ...Producer: Luke Mulhall

From The Wizard of Oz to Madame Mao, Kirsty Sinclair Dootson's essay explores the politics of making films in colour - specifically Technicolor - a process synonymous with American cinema that was the envy of political powers across Russia, Germany and China. The story takes us from Hollywood to Auschwitz to Instagram.Dr Kirsty Sinclair Dootson is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is a lecturer in Film and Media at University College London, and author of a book The Rainbow's Gravity.Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed

Irish poet Michael Longley, who died on 22nd January 2025, was described by Seamus Heaney as 'a keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders.' He devoted a lifetime to the art of poetry and won numerous poetry prizes.He is recognised as a very fine love poet and in this episode of Michael Longley's Life of Poetry, first broadcast in 2024, he reads poems that address the gift of a decades-long love and marriage and the inevitability of ageing. After a lifetime dedicated to poetry, he says, 'I can't imagine that I would be alive now if I hadn't had poetry propelling me forward.'He reads his poems The Pattern, The Linen Industry and Age from his collection Ash Keys: New Selected Poems (Cape Poetry), published to mark his 85th birthday on 27th July 2024, and Foam from his collection The Slain Birds.Presenter: Olivia O'Leary Producer: Claire Cunningham Executive Producer: Regan HutchinsMichael Longley's Life of Poetry is a Rockfinch production for BBC Radio 3.

The Irish poet Michael Longley, who died on 22nd January 2025, was described by Seamus Heaney as 'a keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders.' He devoted a lifetime to the art of poetry and won numerous poetry prizes.In this episode of The Essay, first broadcast in 2024, he described his refuge from the city streets of Belfast in County Mayo, in one of the most remote and beautiful parts of the west of Ireland. He had been writing about its nature and landscape for over 50 years and it provided endless inspiration for poems. In more recent years he recognised the threat of climate change and he expresses the hope that younger generations will take greater care of the world.He reads his poems The Leveret, Remembering Carrigskeewaun, Stonechat and The Comber from his collection Ash Keys: New Selected Poems (Cape Poetry), published to mark his 85th birthday on 27th July 2024, and Merlin from his collection The Slain Birds.Presenter: Olivia O'Leary Producer: Claire Cunningham Executive Producer: Regan HutchinsMichael Longley's Life of Poetry is a Rockfinch production for BBC Radio 3.

The Irish poet Michael Longley, who died on 22nd January 2025, was described by Seamus Heaney as 'a keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders.' He devoted a lifetime to the art of poetry and won numerous poetry prizes.In 1968, violence erupted in Northern Ireland, the beginning of 30 years of the Troubles. In the third episode of this series of The Essay, first broadcast in 2024, he talked about writing poems that remembered some of those who were victims of the the violence and his most famous poem, Ceasefire, which looks to Homer's great epic poem The Iliad as it reflects on the cost of peace.As well as Ceasefire, he reads his poems The Troubles, The Ice-cream Man, and All of these People from the collection Ash Keys: New Selected Poems (Cape Poetry), published to mark his 85th birthday on 27th July 2024. Presenter: Olivia O'Leary Producer: Claire Cunningham Executive Producer: Regan HutchinsMichael Longley's Life of Poetry is a Rockfinch production for BBC Radio 3.

The Irish poet Michael Longley, who died on 22nd January 2025, was described by Seamus Heaney as 'a keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders.' He devoted a lifetime to the art of poetry and won numerous poetry prizes.In the second episode of this series of The Essay, first broadcast in 2024, he talked with presenter Olivia O'Leary about his World War 1 poems, many of which were inspired by his own father's experience of having fought in the war, although he rarely talked about it. Michael's poems link the Great War and the Northern Ireland Troubles.He reads his poems Citation, Harmonica, The Sonnets and Wounds from the collection Ash Keys: New Selected Poems (Cape Poetry), published to mark his 85th birthday on 27th July 2024. Presenter: Olivia O'Leary Producer: Claire Cunningham Executive Producer: Regan HutchinsMichael Longley's Life of Poetry is a Rockfinch production for BBC Radio 3.

The poet Michael Longley, who died on 22nd January 2025 at the age of 85, was described by Seamus Heaney as 'a keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders.' He devoted a lifetime to the art of poetry and won numerous poetry prizes.In Episode 1 of this series of The Essay, first broadcast in 2024 and recorded to mark his 85th birthday, he talked with presenter Olivia O'Leary about his home town of Belfast and his love of jazz, saying that, 'Good poetry for me combines two things: meaning and melody.' He also loved the classics, which he studied at Trinity College Dublin, where he met his wife, Edna, a distinguished literary critic. He was one of a group of young poets that emerged from Northern Ireland in the 1960s and he describes the mutual support, rivalry and excitement of that time.He reads his poems Elegy for Fats Waller and an extract from his poem River and Fountain from a new collection, Ash Keys: New Selected Poems (Cape Poetry), published to mark his 85th birthday on 27th July 2024. He also reads Bookshops from his collection Angel Hill and Poem from The Slain Birds.Presenter: Olivia O'Leary Producer: Claire Cunningham Executive Producer: Regan HutchinsMichael Longley's Life of Poetry is a Rockfinch production for BBC Radio 3.

'Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears...'There is an idea that what Caliban is describing is gamelan music, and that Shakespeare had heard accounts of it as he wrote The Tempest from sailors who had recently returned from a voyage to the Spice Islands - Indonesia.The village of Tihingan in Bali is full of noises because the chief occupation there is making gongs for gamelans, the wonderful gong orchestras of Bali and Java. Ade Mardiyati, a journalist who reports for the BBC's Indonesian service, visits Tihingan - Indonesia's Tin Pan Alley - the learn about the craft. Two crucial skills are involved; that of the smith who forges the gongs, and that , the tuner who works them to ensure they give the right note. In a sonically rich essay, recorded while these masters work, Ade explores the past, present and future of gamelan making, and music.Presenter: Ade Mardiyati Producer: Julian May

Ochanomizu means 'tea water' because of its proximity to the Kanda River, which in the Edo period provided water for the Shogun's tea. Now it is a university area - Meiji University, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and Juntendo University all have campuses in Ochanomizu. Phoebe Amoroso reports on the way teahouses have given way to musical instrument shops. There are more than 70 in Ochanomizu's 'Guitar Street' . But you can buy harmonicas and accordions, too. In such a competitive space shops survive by specialising. Almost all the instruments sold are western, but made with Japanese materials, craftsmanship and attention to detail.Presenter: Phoebe Amoroso Producer: Julian May

The journalist Guy Hedgecoe, who covers Spain for the BBC, visits Felipe Conde's shop and workshop in Centro, Madrid. Conde is the fourth generation of his family to make classical and flamenco guitars. Many of the great flamenco musicians - Moraito, Paco de Lucia, Tomatito - have played Conde guitars, as have artists from other traditions - Leonard Cohen, Lenny Kravitz, Cat Stevens. And Paco de Lucia gave one to Michael Jackson. Guy meet Antonio Gonzalez, one of Conde's customers, who tell him what qualities he is looking for - and plays. And he watches while Felipe Conde works on a new instrument. Guy explores the state of the craft of making, the art of playing and the place of the classical guitar and flamenco music in Spain, and around the world, today. Presenter: Guy Hedgecoe Producer: Julian May

Galip Dede Street in Istanbul used to be famous for its antique, philatelic and book shops. But over the past 30 years more and more music shops have opened and now the street has more than 30. Esra Yalcinalp talks to the shopkeepers who sell instruments of all kinds, all the orchestral instruments. Here, too, she finds musicians who might buy a bağlama or saz, like a mandolin with a very long neck, and a kemençe or lyra, a bowed instrument, used in Ottoman classical and Turkish folk music. She gets a demonstration of the different rhythms a master can play on the darbuka, the goblet shaped drum used in Turkish classical music. She meets, too, a French musician seeking strings for her Syrian oud. Can she find these in Galip Dede? Of course. No problem.There is a problem, though - tourism. It's driving up rents and driving out specialist music shops, which are replaced by hotels and T shirt shops. Presenter: Esra Yalcinalp Producer: Julian May

The original Tin Pan Alley was in Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, New York, where music publishers set up shop in the late 19th century, attracting songwriters and coming to dominate American popular music. Since then Tin Pan Alley has come to mean a quarter where there are music shops and where musicians gather. Cities all over the globe have Tin Pan Alleys of their own. For instance, if you wanted to buy a bass guitar in London, you'd head to the UK's Tin Pan Alley, Denmark Street. In this week's series of the Essay BBC correspondents from Madrid to Tokyo explore the Tin Pan Alleys of their towns, talking to musicians trying out the instruments before they buy, and to the shopkeepers selling them. They explore the state of the musical culture, and culture more generally, of the countries they are reporting from.The series begins in Beijing where Stephen McDonell visits Xinjiekou Street, where the shops sell Chinese traditional instruments: the erhu, a two string fiddle; the pipa, a pear shaped lute; the guzheng, a zither...and several others. He discovers that there is renewed enthusiasm for them and their music, and meets some musicians playing in a tunnel, not for the acoustic but because, in an odd reversal of the norm, if they play in the street young people object to the noise and shop them to the cops. Presenter: Stephen McDonell Producer: Julian May

Scotland has been blessed with some of the most exciting of gemstones, but knowing where to find them is the secret. Kenneth Steven was given a piece of amber when he was a child, found supposedly on Iona. This is the story of amber and where it actually comes from.Kenneth tells the story of amber in Scotland and in Ireland. Amber necklaces from Ireland are somewhere in the region of three thousand years old. Those necklaces are usually found in bogland hoards and in caves. Perhaps they were kept there for safety, or as offerings to the river or to water deities. It's surely a sign of the value that was ascribed to them that these amber relics are most often found close to gold. This would suggest that amber was a status symbol for the wealthy and powerful.Presenter Kenneth Steven Producer Mark RickardsA Whistledown Scotland production

The first stone Kenneth Steven began collecting in childhood was serpentine from the beaches of the island of Iona. Here he tells the story of the search for the finest gems.It was Kenneth's mother who'd taught him to search for serpentine. She explained to him the difference between these waxy, much softer pebbles and stones made of marble. Those are duller; they don't polish the same, and once out of water they have a drabness about them. You can tell a piece of serpentine because as soon as it's absorbed the oils from your hand it's polished, glimmering.Presenter Kenneth Steven Producer Mark RickardsA Whistledown Scotland production

The great Victorian collector of minerals Matthew Heddle mentions two places in particular for the finding of aquamarine in Scotland, one the island of Arran and the other a mountain in the Cairngorms. But locating these gems is another story.The Cairngorm mountains are a kind of fortress. There is nowhere else like them in Scotland. You enter their world from one side or another and thereafter are inside them until you withdraw once more. You become aware of other noises than the ones that dominate our days: you hear streams, the breeze lifting the pine trees, the wind in the high hills once you have climbed into them. It's an elemental place: pure and to all intents and purposes undamaged, undisturbed.Kenneth Steven explores the history of this semi-precious stone and reflects in poetry on his finds.Presenter Kenneth Steven Producer Mark RickardsA Whistledown Scotland production

Scotland has been blessed with some of the most exciting of gemstones, but knowing where to find them is the secret. A rare edition of 'Scottish Gem Stones' by W J McCallien led Kenneth to the discovery of the riches to be found on Scotland's mountains and shores.The mineralogist Matthew Heddle, the great 19th century collector of Scottish gemstones. was particularly fond of agates. The wonderful thing about banded agate is that each one is unique; you'll never know from looking at the outside what the heart of it may reveal. The counties of Angus and Fife have fabulous banded agates on the shores and in the fields, but finding them is about more than just luck.Kenneth Steven goes in search of the precious stones and reflects on his finds in poetry.Presenter Kenneth Steven Producer Mark RickardsA Whistledown Scotland production

Scotland has been blessed with some of the most exciting of gemstones, but knowing where to find them is the secret. A rare edition of 'Scottish Gem Stones' by W J McCallien led Kenneth to the discovery of the riches to be found on Scotland's mountains and shores.In the first episode, Kenneth tells the story of Scotland's short-lived gold rush in 1869, when 600 gold miners made their way to Sutherland in the hope of a major find.Kenneth searches for the elusive treasure himself, and reflects on his experiences in poetry.Presenter Kenneth Steven Producer Mark RickardsA Whistledown Scotland Production

Phil Hebblethwaite examines five classical musical hoaxes and controversies, from the early twentieth century to the modern day. These are origin stories that have fooled and perplexed some of the greatest experts. In an age of misinformation, when faking it has never been more prevalent, the series unravels the stories of some of the most brazen and confounding composer controversies. What is the appeal of engineering a hoax? And why do we fall for them so easily? It's a journey that raises questions about scholarship, authenticity and our faith in expert opinion.Mamoru Samuragochi became famous in the 2000s as the ‘Japanese Beethoven' – a deaf composer whose music touched millions of classical fans and crossed over to a mainstream audience by being used in computer games. But was Samuragochi actually deaf and was he even composing his own works? In his last essay in the series, Phil considers the impact of hoaxes on our trust in authenticity and celebrity.Written and presented by Phil Hebblethwaite Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Joanne Rowntree Researcher: Heather Dempsey Studio Engineer: Dan King A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Phil Hebblethwaite examines five classical musical hoaxes and controversies, from the early twentieth century to the modern day. These are origin stories that have fooled and perplexed some of the greatest experts. In an age of misinformation, when faking it has never been more prevalent, the series unravels the stories of some of the most brazen and confounding composer controversies. What is the appeal of engineering a hoax? And why do we fall for them so easily? It's a journey that raises questions about scholarship, authenticity and our faith in expert opinion.More than 20 years ago, critics began to acclaim the recordings of the pianist Joyce Hatto. One described her as the greatest living pianist. When the fraud was later revealed, it turned out to be one of the greatest instances of plagiarism in the history of the record industry. Phil explores the story of a digital deception.Written and presented by Phil Hebblethwaite Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Joanne Rowntree Researcher: Heather Dempsey Studio Engineer: Dan KingWith thanks to Nicholas Cook and Jessica DuchenA Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Phil Hebblethwaite examines five classical musical hoaxes and controversies, from the early twentieth century to the modern day. These are origin stories that have fooled and perplexed some of the greatest experts. In an age of misinformation, when faking it has never been more prevalent, the series unravels the stories of some of the most brazen and confounding composer controversies. What is the appeal of engineering a hoax? And why do we fall for them so easily? It's a journey that raises questions about scholarship, authenticity and our faith in expert opinion.Thirty years ago, the classical music world hailed the discovery of six lost Haydn sonatas. Only it soon turned out that they probably weren't written by Haydn at all, and the finger of suspicion was pointed at an obscure German musician. In this third essay of the series, Phil explores the fallout from the scandal. Can a work of art still have value if it's not authentic?Written and presented by Phil Hebblethwaite Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Joanne Rowntree Researcher: Heather Dempsey Studio Engineer: Dan KingWith thanks to Michael Beckerman and Frederick ReeceA Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Phil Hebblethwaite examines five classical musical hoaxes and controversies, from the early twentieth century to the modern day. These are origin stories that have fooled and perplexed some of the greatest experts. In an age of misinformation, when faking it has never been more prevalent, the series unravels the stories of some of the most brazen and confounding composer controversies. What is the appeal of engineering a hoax? And why do we fall for them so easily? It's a journey that raises questions about scholarship, authenticity and our faith in expert opinion.The second essay explores the story of one of the most widely recognised pieces in classical music - Albinoni's Adagio in G minor. But was Albinoni even involved with the composition of the work? Phil gets to the bottom of a story that has perplexed classical scholars for years and asks how much authenticity actually matters.Written and presented by Phil Hebblethwaite Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Joanne Rowntree Researcher: Heather Dempsey Studio Engineer: Dan KingWith thanks to Michael Talbot, Donald Greig and Frederick ReeceA Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Phil Hebblethwaite examines five classical musical hoaxes and controversies, from the early twentieth century to the modern day. These are origin stories that have fooled and perplexed some of the greatest experts. In an age of misinformation, when faking it has never been more prevalent, the series unravels the stories of some of the most brazen and confounding composer controversies. What is the appeal of engineering a hoax? And why do we fall for them so easily? It's a journey that raises questions about scholarship, authenticity and our faith in expert opinion.In the first essay, Phil tells the story of Fritz Kreisler - the virtuoso violinist who passed his own works off as compositions by forgotten Baroque composers. It took 30 years before the hoax was revealed. How did Kreisler manage to fool so many people for so long?Written and presented by Phil Hebblethwaite Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Joanne Rowntree Researcher: Heather Dempsey Studio Engineer: Dan King A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Kate Kennedy meets musicians who, like her, had to stop playing after injury and reconsider their relationship with their instruments. We all know that listening to music can have a positive impact on wellbeing and mental health. But what about the performer? The truth is, for anyone wanting to turn professional, this is a highly competitive and pressurised environment often driven in part by fear and anxiety. It's a problem that can have a disproportionate effect on young people - which is why trumpeter Rebecca Toal and cellist Hattie Butterworth started their podcast, Things Musicians Don't Talk About, to try to break the taboo of not acknowledging the difficulties with mental illness that many musicians face. They talk to Kate about their personal experience of 'the system' for training musicians that can so easily break down, often resulting in crippling anxiety and burn-out. Obsessive behaviour and eating disorders are not uncommon as people try to gain some control over the endless cycle of practice and performance. By creating the podcast, Rebecca and Hattie have found a creative way to use their experiences to forge a new and less damaging path for themselves, but also to help others by sharing musicians' experiences honestly. Presenter: Kate Kennedy Producer: Erika Wright Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Healing Musicians is a TellTale Industries production for BBC Radio 3

Kate Kennedy meets musicians who, like her, had to stop playing after injury and rethink their lives. As principal cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic for three decades, Ludwig Quandt performed with conductors Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle until an injury unrelated to performing nearly ended his career. He reveals what being forced to confront silence means for a musician's relationship with their instrument and the innovative solution he found on the other side of the world from an unlikely source.Presenter: Kate Kennedy Producer: Erika Wright Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Healing Musicians is a TellTale Industries production for BBC Radio 3

Kate Kennedy meets musicians who, like her, had to stop playing after injury and rethink their lives. What does being forced to fall silent mean for a musician's relationship with their instrument? Robin Graham reached her dream as the first woman to earn a principal French horn position in a major American orchestra by audition. She shares her story of how painful injury caused her to leave in 2003 and the grief at being unable to play in the centre of a big orchestral sound.Presenter: Kate Kennedy Producer: Erika Wright Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Healing Musicians is a TellTale Industries production for BBC Radio 3

Kate Kennedy meets musicians who, like her, had to stop playing after injury and rethink their lives. What does this mean for a musician's relationship with their instrument? Aged 11, Stephen Marquiss was labelled an exemplary piano scholar. Gaining a music specialist place in 1990 Stephen promptly attained the highest ABRSM exam mark in the country and reached the televised semi-final of BBC Young Musicians. But then injury forced him to pull out. At 18, his career was all but over, having struggled with recurring RSI, musculo-skeletal issues, which destroyed his confidence and mental health. Ironically, this crisis forced him to address fundamental aspects of how piano is taught and played - and now at 45, Stephen has his own school of playing called Piano Portals, which seeks to rewrite how practice is approached. Kate takes him back to his practice rooms, to help us understand the intensity and the fear of failure that drove him to injury and we learn how his new approach to playing unfolded.Presenter: Kate Kennedy Producer: Erika Wright Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Healing Musicians is a TellTale Industries production for BBC Radio 3

Kate Kennedy meets musicians who, like her, had to stop playing after injury and reshape their lives. What does being forced to fall silent mean for a musician's relationship with their instrument? "My name is Julian Lloyd Webber and I am an ex-cellist". The internationally renowned performer, Julian Lloyd Webber talks for the first time in detail to Kate about the moment he realised his 40-year career could be over mid-recital: "Suddenly I lost power in my right arm - I thought I was going to drop the bow. I had never experienced anything like it - I didn't know what was wrong or what to do. I was genuinely frightened". Julian shares the sense of bereavement he felt after his prestigious career of four decades ended due to a herniated disc in his neck. Over the next few weeks, Julian tried to pretend everything was normal. His manager was calling him with engagements he had always wanted to undertake, such as a performance of Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto in Moscow. But the wear and tear of Julian's performing career on his body was too much - he learned that the herniated disc was pressing on a nerve which was causing a loss of power in his arm. Doctors told him that he could have an operation, but with little guarantee of success, and with high risks attached. He had a young family at the time, so chose to sacrifice the cello. He has never played since. Julian and Jiaxin, his wife and fellow cellist, reflect on the last fateful concert they played together and how they've found positives in silence. Presenter: Kate Kennedy Producer: Erika Wright Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Healing Musicians is a TellTale Industries production for BBC Radio 3

"Les petites girls Anglaises" was the nickname given by a French journalist to the elaborately costumed and rhythmic Tiller Girls troupe. Adjoa Osei is a research fellow at the University of Cambridge and a former performer herself, and she's been exploring the complexities involved in being a dancing girl in 1930s Paris, appearing on stage alongside the likes of Josephine Baker and French nude dancers. Her essay focuses on the lives of Marjorie Rowland and Mignon Harman. You can find another Radio 3 Essay building on Adjoa's research as a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker called A Brazilian Soprano in Jazz-Age Paris available on BBC Sounds. Producer: Katy Hickman

1574, and a baby girl on board a ship fleeing from France, arrives in London. Esther Inglis went on to become a successful Tudor bookmaker and artist and Eleanor Chan argues that the inclusion of psalm music in the self portraits created by Inglis is a coded way of symbolising belonging at a time of religious strife. The essay draws on research done by New Generation Thinker Eleanor Chan, who has been working as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Manchester and the Warburg Institute. Work by Esther Inglis is included in the exhibition Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520–1920 which runs at Tate Britain until October 13th 2024 You can hear more about Tudor music and art in a Free Thinking episode called a Lively Tudor World which features Eleanor Chan and Christina Faraday. It's available on BBC Sounds. You can also find Eleanor Chan's Essay about another Tudor composer - The discordant tale of Thomas Weelkes. Producer: Luke Mulhall

"Millons be Free" is a Jacobin song which originally celebrated the idea of the French Revolution, whose tune became the American national anthem. Oskar Jensen sings us the melody and tells us a story involving Alexander Hamilton, the advocate of women's rights Mary Wollstonecraft, Haydn and Hummel at a drinking society, a Liverpool lawyer William Roscoe and William Pirsson, a Chelmsford bookseller who immigrated to the USA. Oskar Jensen is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, based at Newcastle University working on a project called The Invention of Pop Music: Mainstream Song, Class, and Culture, 1520–2020. His books include Vagabonds: Life on the Streets of Nineteenth-Century London and he also worked on The Subversive Voice research project. You can find more from his research on BBC Sounds in episodes of the Arts & Ideas podcast called Victorian Streets, Napoleon in Fact and Fiction and Eliza Flower and non-conformist thinking.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

How musician Robert Hales and a witty song helped Robert Cecil, Elizabeth I's counsellor, win back the Queen's favour. Documents show us that Cecil supported many musicians, paid for a full-time consort, and had to temporarily dismiss one player for "lewdness". New Generation Thinker Christina Faraday tells the story and explores what we know about the role of music at the Tudor court. Christina Faraday is a Research Fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and is the author of the book Tudor Liveliness: Vivid Art in Post-Reformation England. You can hear her discussing Tudor history in several Essays and episodes of Free Thinking available as Arts & Ideas podcasts. Producer: Natalia Fernandez

Teresa del Riego's work was a staple of early Prom seasons but the anthem she premiered for the suffrage movement in 1911, at the Criterion restaurant Piccadilly Circus, which had 1,000 copies of the song distributed around the country, has not been heard recently. Naomi Paxton shares her research into the compositions of del Riego (1876-1968) and the music making of the suffrage circle. Singer Lucy Stevens performs The Awakening (with lyrics by American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox) alongside Elizabeth Marcus at the piano. Naomi Paxton is a BBC/Arts and Humanities Research Council New Generation Thinker on the scheme which helps early career academics share research on radio. You can find her more of her work on suffragette history as Arts & Ideas podcasts, Sunday features and Essays on BBC Sounds. Lucy Stevens and Elizabeth Marcus have recorded Songs and Ballads by Dame Ethel Smyth and rehearsed this del Riego song especially for The Essay recording. Producer: Lisa Jenkinson

In the depths of lockdown during 2020 multi-award winning musician Karine Polwart offered to play a private gig for neighbour and local legend Al Beck just weeks before he would die from cancer.The resulting correspondence became an unexpectedly rewarding collaboration as they shared their love of music through Al's choice of songs. In this final essay recounts the night of "Beckstival" and how this joyous night tinged with sadness made her reassess the scale and nature of her work. "More depth, less breadth. More local, less scattered. More conversational, less performative. And always, always more collaborative and connective."Written and Presented by Karine Polwart Producer by Peter McManus Mixed by Sean Mullervy

In the depths of lockdown during 2020 multi-award winning musician Karine Polwart offered to play a private gig for neighbour and local legend Al Beck just weeks before he would die from cancer.The resulting correspondence became an unexpectedly rewarding collaboration as they shared their love of music through Al's choice of songs. As the evening of the gig approaches Karine begins to understand how her discussions with Al are opening up conversations not just with her but also with his family. Written and Presented by Karine Polwart Producer by Peter McManus Mixed by Sean Mullervy