Podcast appearances and mentions of kate molleson

Kate Molleson explores the extraordinary life and music of Elisabeth Jacquet de La GuerreElisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665-1729) was a pioneer in the history of music, one of the first to bring sonatas and cantatas into the French repertoire, and the first woman in France to compose a performed opera. She explored and pushed further the possibilities of musical composition, as well as writing some of the most beautiful pieces of the Baroque era. She worked under the patronage of the most powerful figures of this Grand Siècle that saw the absolute reign of Louis XIV and the construction of his dreamed Versailles. And yet, there are still many elements of mystery and unknown in this composer's story. Kate Molleson invites you to (re)discover the extraordinary adventures of a gifted musician, with a soupçon of French flair and lots of gorgeous music.Music Featured: Harpsichord Suite in G major L'Isle de Délos ["The Island of Delos"] Harpsichord Suite in G minor Le Passage de la Mer Rouge ["The Crossing of the Red Sea"] Sonata No 1 in D minor Les Rossignols, dès que le Jour Commence Harpsichord Suite in D minor Sonata No 5 in A minor Sémélé ["Semele"] Harpsichord Suite in A minor Sonata No 2 in D major Sonata No 1 in G minor (transcribed for organ) Céphale et Procris ["Cephalus and Procris"] Harpsichord Suite in F major Sonata in D major Jacob et Rachel Harpsichord Suite in D minor Suite in G major Sonata No. 3 in F major Jonas Judith Le Sommeil d'Ulysse ["Ulysses' Sleep"] ( Le Raccomodement Comique de Pierrot et de Nicole Trio Sonata in G minor Air à boire La Provençale: 'Entre nous mes chers amis' ["Between us, dear friends'"]Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Julien Rosa for BBC Audio Wales & WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665-1729) nhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002b676 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson's recommendation for Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

Kate Molleson navigates through the personal and professional struggles of Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler: brilliant, fiery and tyrannical – leader of some the most prestigious musical institutions of his era – fought battles his whole life. He clashed with his colleagues, scrapped with critics and wrestled endlessly with his own desires and ambitions. This week, Kate Molleson navigates us through his many personal and professional struggles, and follows Mahler to the countryside hideaways where he sought (not always successfully) to escape the drama of his everyday life. Here, among the lakes and mountains, Mahler also found space to compose and he poured the whole world into his music in all its ugliness, mundanity and transcendent beauty.Music Featured:Symphony No 3 (excerpts) Symphony No 1 (excerpts) Symphony No 2 (excerpts) by Bernard Haitink Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Lob des hohen Verstandes) Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Symphony No 4 (excerpts) Symphony No 5 (excerpts) Symphony No 6 (excerpts) Symphony No 7 (excerpts) Kindertotenlieder (No 3, Wenn dein Mütterlein) Symphony No 8 "Symphony of a Thousand" (excerpts) Das Lied von der Erde (No 2, Der Einsame in Herbst) Symphony No 9 (excerpts) Das Lied von der Erde (No 4, Von der Schonheit) Symphony No 10 (ed. Deryck Cooke (excerpt)Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Chris Taylor for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00291fhAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Between new sounds and old songs, Kate Molleson shares the story of Ruth Crawford-SeegerRuth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) had multiple lives. As Ruth, she was an aspiring poet and teacher, who longed to become a mother. Crawford the composer wrote some of the most daring pages of 20th-century American music, granting her a place among the group of the 'Ultra-Modernists'. And, as the matriarch of the Seeger dynasty, she collected and arranged countless pieces from treasures of the folk tradition. With Kate Molleson, discover the extraordinary life and work of a major American composer, in a story of creative experimentations, of family bonds, and most of all, of joy in music-making, accompanied by the memories of Crawford's daughter and folk legend, Peggy Seeger.Music Featured: Little Waltz Five Songs to Poems by Carl Sandburg (1, Home Thoughts; 2, White Moon) Theme and Variations Selection from American Folk Songs for Children Diaphonic Suite No 2 for bassoon and cello Kaleidoscopic Changes on an Original Theme, Ending with a Fugue Diaphonic Suite No 3 for Flute Whirligig Preludes for Piano Caprice Sonata for Violin and Piano Trad: Prisoner Blues Music for Small Orchestra Marion Bauer: Four Piano Pieces Selection from 19 American Folk Songs for piano Three Songs to poems by Carl Sandburg Diaphonic Suite No 4 for oboe and violoncello Three Chants for Female Chorus String Quartet Diaphonic Suite No 1 for oboe Selection from Animal Folk Songs for Children Preludes for Piano Two Ricercare to poems by Hsi Tseng Tsiang Peggy Seeger: How I Long For Peace Selection from American Folk Songs for Christmas Andante for strings Trad: "New River Train” Trad: "Midnight Special" Trad: "Irene (Goodnight, Irene)" Charles Seeger: John Hardy Piano Study in Mixed Accents Suite No 1, for five wind instruments and piano Elizabeth Cotten: "Freight Train" Rissolty, Rossolty Piano Sonata Diaphonic Suite for two clarinets Piano Study in Mixed Accents (Version 3) Suite for Wind Quintet Five Canons, for piano Peggy Seeger: "Everything Changes"Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Julien Rosa for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0028k1vAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson journeys through the Christmas season in Latin America, introducing the composers who shaped local festivities across centuries and longitudes. From cathedrals to countryside to the deep heat of megacities, we revel in music for worship, friendship, family and fiestas.Music Featured: Trad: Esta Noche es Nochebuena Juan Garcia de Zespedes: Convidando esta la noche Gaspar Fernandes: Xicochi Conetzintle; Tleycantimo Choquiliya Gaspar Fernandes: A Belen me llego, Tio Manuel de Zumaya: Celebren publiquen Manuel de Zumaya: El de pedro solamente; Angelicas milicias Trad: Mañanitas guadalupanas Trad: Miren cuantas luces; De larga jornada; La Pinata Jose Alfredo Jimenez: Amarga Navidad; Se va diciembre Arturo Márquez: Conga del Fuego Nuevo Trad: Niño Lindo Vicente Emilio Sojo: Five Pieces from Venezuela Trad: Corre caballito; La mula Aldemaro Romero: Fuga con Pajarillo (from Suite for Strings) Teresa Carreño: Nocturne: Souvenir de mon pays Evencio Castellanos: Avilena Suite (excerpt) Trad: Huachitorito Alberto Ginastera: Villancico Astor Piazzolla: Invierno Porteño (Four Seasons); Milonga del Angel Guastavino: 3 Argentinian Romances: Baile Ariel Ramirez: Navidad Nuestra Luis Aguile: Ven a mi casa esta navidad Osvaldo Pugliese: Navidad João Gilberto: Presente de Natal Antonio Carlos Gomes: Sonata for Strings ‘O burrico de pau' (4th mvt) Chiquinha Gonzaga: As pombas; Saudade José Maurício Nunes Garcia: Missa Pastoril for Christmas Night Assis Valente: Recadinho de Papai Noel Assis Valente: Boas Festas Antonio Carlos Jobim: Anos Dourados; Wave M. Camargo Guarnieri: Flor de Tremembe Llego la Navidad La Fiesta de Pilito Rafael Hernadez: Triste Navidad Rafael Hernandez: Casitas de la Montana Chuito El de Bayamon: Los tres Santo Reyes Trad: A las Zarandelas Arbolito Amaury Vellay Torregrosa: Villancico Yaucano De la montaña venimos Pasteles y Lechon Canto a Borinquen; Aires de Navidad Sylvia Rexach: Lamento de Navidad José Feliciano: Feliz NavidadPresented by Kate Molleson Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales & West For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for A Latin American Christmas https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025ll7And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson explores the life and work of the amazing Bud PowellThis week Kate Molleson explores the life and work of a jazz giant in his centenary year: the amazing Bud Powell, in the company of Powell's biographer Peter Pullman. Focusing on Bud Powell as a performer, prioritising his own compositions but also appreciating the art of improvisation as spontaneous composition.Bud Powell was born in 1924 and grew up in Harlem, against the backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance. He was a gifted pianist from a young age and became a pioneer of bebop. But he was a troubled soul and the great paradox of Bud Powell is how there could be such joy and expression in his music while his life was so painful.Music Featured: Bouncing with Bud (from The Amazing Bud Powell) Oblivion (from The Genius of Bud Powell) Strictly Confidential (from Jazz Giant) Floogie Boo (from Cootie Williams and his Orchestra 1941-1944) Do Some War Work, Baby (from Cootie Williams and his Orchestra 1941-1944) Off Minor (from Bud Powell Trio) Dexter Rides Again (from Dexter Rides Again) Mad Bebop (from JJ Johnson's Jazz Quintet) Buzzy (from Charlie Parker, the Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes) Bud's Bubble (from Bud Powell Trio) I Should Care (from Bud Powell Trio) Tempus Fugit (from Jazz Giant) Celia (from Jazz Giant) Un Poco Loco (from the Amazing Bud Powell) Over the Rainbow (from the Amazing Bud Powell) A Night in Tunisia (from the Amazing Bud Powell) Dance of the Infidels (from the Amazing Bud Powell) So Sorry Please (from Jazz Giant) Glass Enclosure (from the Amazing Bud Powell, vol 2) Lullaby of Birdland (from Inner Fires) Sure Thing (from Inner Fires) Parisian Thoroughfare (from the Genius of Bud Powell) Polka Dots and Moonbeams (from the Amazing Bud Powell, vol 2) Hallelujah (from Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings) Hot House (from Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings) Willow Grove (from Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell) Nice Work If You Can Get It (from Bud Powell Trio) Elegy (from Blues in the Closet) Blues for Bessie (from Strictly Powell) Ornithology (from the Amazing Bud Powell) Bud on Bach (from the Amazing Bud Powell, vol 3) Buster Rides Again (from the Amazing Bud Powell, vol 4) John's Abbey (from the Amazing Bud Powell, vol 4) Cleopatra's Dream (from The Scene Changes) Getting There (from The Scene Changes) Buttercup (from Bud Powell's Moods) Round Midnight (from Bud Powell: Live at the Blue Note Café Paris 1961) How High the Moon / Ornithology (from Live in Lausanne 1962) Broadway (from Our Man in Paris) I'll Remember April (from Mingus at Antibes) I Can't Get Started (from Bud Powell in Paris) Blues for Bouffemont (from Blues for Bouffemont) All God's Chillun Got Rhythm (from Jazz Giant) Hallucinations (from The Return of Bud Powell) If I Loved You (from The Return of Bud Powell) Thelonius (from A Portrait of Thelonius) Like Someone in Love (from Ups and Downs) Bouncing with Bud (Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette, from After the Fall) Dusk in Sandi (Chick Corea, from Remembering Bud Powell) Wail (from the Amazing Bud Powell)Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Martin Williams for BBC Audio Wales & West For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Bud Powell (1924-1966) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024m2z And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson delves into the life and music of the “Yankee Maverick”, Charles Ives.Charles Ives is considered a leading American composer of the early 20th century. Known for many musical innovations, his was a unique voice, a pioneer who combined elements of Western and American music traditions. He's also been called a Yankee Maverick and much of his creative life was spent in obscurity. Marking the 150th anniversary since his birth, Kate Molleson shines the spotlight on the life and music of Charles Ives. This journey begins in Danbury where Ives grew up, going on to study at Yale, then working in Insurance in New York, and coming to a close in the mid twentieth century. In those final decades, and largely due to ill health, Ives had stopped composing. Ironically, it was at this point when his creative endeavours had ceased, that his music started to generate much interest.Music Featured: Memories (excerpt) Four Ragtime Dances for Theatre Orchestra, No 1 (Allegro moderato) String Quartet No 1 ‘From the Salvation Army' (excerpt) Variations on ‘America' Psalm 67, God Be Merciful Unto Us Symphony No 1 (excerpt) March No 6, with “Here's to Good Old Yale” The Circus Band Adeste Fideles Feldeinsamkeit Mists Symphony No 2 (excerpt) Central Park in the Dark The Children's Hour The Unanswered Question General William Booth Enters into Heaven Tom Sails Away (Three Songs of War) Orchestral Set No 1 ‘Three Places in New England' (Putnam's Camp) Sonata for Violin and Piano No 3 (Adagio - Cantabile) Symphony No 4 (excerpt) At the River Serenity Piano Sonata No 2: Concord, Mass., 1840-60 (Thoreau) A Symphony. New England Holidays (excerpt) Two Little Flowers Romanzo di Central Park Violin Sonata No 2 A Christmas Carol Three Quarter Tone Pieces (Allegro) Symphony No 4 (Allegretto) Sunrise Piano Sonata No 2: Concord, Mass., 1840-60 (The Alcotts) Symphony No 3 ‘The Camp Meeting'Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Luke Whitlock for BBC Audio Wales & West For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Charles Ives (1874-1954) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0023nw8And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson explores the twists and turns of Schoenberg's lifeIs there a more controversial, infamous figure in 20th Century music than Arnold Schoenberg? Arguably no other twentieth-century composer's ideas have been more influential among composers since, however his music is still neglected and misunderstood by programmers and audiences. Schoenberg was a revolutionary - one of the founders of musical Modernism - but he also recognised the importance of musical tradition. His music defined the times in which he lived, and whether you see Schoenberg as the most important innovator in 20th century music, or as a heretic who led his followers to an artistic dead end, he was absolutely dedicated to art – both musical and visual. This week, Kate Molleson explores the twists and turns of Schoenberg's life, and tracks the composer's changing relationship with art through the prism of 5 different visual works, from an image which terrified and obsessed Schoenberg as a child, through the composer's own paintings, and one of his practical twelve-tone selection dials, to a portrait of Schoenberg painted while he was in exile in America, by his friend and fellow composer George Gershwin.Music Featured:Strauss (arr. Schoenberg): Roses from the South 2 Gesange, Op , No 1 “Dank” 4 Lieder, Op 2, No 1 “Erwartung” Pelleas und Melisande, Op 5 (Langsam) Verklarte nacht, Op 4 6 little piano pieces (No 6) Mahler (by Schoenberg and Webern): Das Lied von der Erde (No 3, Of Youth) Gurrelieder (excerpt) String Quartet No 2, Op 10 (3rd mvt, Langsam, 'Litanei') Erwartung (excerpt) Friede auf Erden De Profundis Pierrot Lunaire, Op 21 (Act II excerpt) Die eiserne Brigade (The Iron Brigade) Bach (orch. Schoenberg): Gott Schopfer, heiliger Geist, BWV 631 Suite for piano, Op 25 (2nd mvt, Gavotte & 3rd mvt, Musette) Suite, Op 29 (3rd mvt, Theme and Variations) Accompaniment Music to a Film Scene, Op 34 Songs for male chorus, Op 35 (No 6 Verbundenheit "Man hilft zur Welt dir kommen") Die Jakobsleiter (Ob rechts, ob links) Kol Nidre, Op 39 Moses und Aron (Act II excerpt) Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (after Handel) Prelude to Genesis Suite for string orchestra (2nd mvt, Adagio) Brahms (orch. Schoenberg): Piano Quartet No 1 in G Minor, Op 25 (2nd mvt, Intermezzo) Chamber Symphony No 2, Op 38b A Survivor from Warsaw, Op 46 NotturnoPresented by Kate Molleson Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales & West For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022k1rAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson sheds light on the forgotten composer, Silvestre RevueltasSilvestre Revueltas was a blazingly energetic and politically charged musician, a whirlwind of a composer who lived through a time of great political and creative upheaval in Mexico. The French writer André Breton was stunned when he visited the country and found not one unified identity, but many strikingly different cultures existing side by side with all of their clashing values, creeds, and customs. This kaleidoscopic and sometimes jarring world is the musical universe of Revueltas, one of a generation of artists who, along with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, tried to encompass a true sense of Mexican identity in their works after the country's revolution. In his personal life Revueltas also lived a life of fiery extremes, before succumbing to an early death exasperated by alcoholism. This week, Kate Molleson tries to shed some light on this forgotten composer, guiding us through the rhythms of Silvestre Revueltas's colourful life with the help of Professor Alejandro Madrid of Harvard University. They track Revueltas's moves from revolutionary Mexico, to prohibition-era America, to the trenches of the Spanish Civil War, and back to his homeland. Although most of Revueltas's works date from the final decade of his short life, it is music which bursts with energy, colour, and humour. It is music which speaks with irony and passion about politics and people, about both the joys and hardships of life. It is music that speaks of Mexico.Music Featured:Toccata (sin fuga) Esquinas (1931 version) Tierra p'a las macetas Pieza para doce instrumentos La Noche de los Mayas – Suite (1st & 2nd mvts) Colorines Batik Cuauhnahuac String Quartet No 4 “Musica der Feria” Planos Redes (exerpts) Ventanas Janitzio Musica para Charlar I. Canto a muchacha negra El Renacuajo Paseador Second Little Serious piece Homenaje a Federico García Lorca Caminos Itinerarios Cinco canciones de ninos Este era un rey Ocho x radio 3 Sonetos La Noche de los Mayas – Suite (3rd & 4th mvts) La Coronela (excerpt) SensemayaPresented by Kate Molleson Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales & West For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00213lnAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson explores five windows onto Dvořák's soulAntonín Dvořák was one of the most heartfelt tunesmiths in classical music - a man who not only brought the sound of Czech folklore to the world, but also had an indelible impact on the musical nationhood of America. As a character he was sometimes shy, sometimes melancholy, routinely homesick and deeply passionate. This week, Kate Molleson explores five windows onto Dvořák's soul, aspects of life that were really central to his convictions and his music.Music Featured: Gypsy Songs Op 55 No 4: Songs my mother taught me (arr. for cellos by Kian Soltani) Berceuse (Two Piano Pieces, No 1) Symphony No 1 “Bells of Zlonice” (3rd mvt) Cypresses, Nos 1 and 2 Symphony No 9 “From the New World” (2nd mvt) Sonatine (1st and 2nd mvts) Humoresque in G flat major Forget-me-not Polka Silent Woods (From the Bohemian Forest) Serenade for Strings (1st and 2nd mvts) Rusalka (Act I, Song to the moon) The Wild Dove String Quartet No 12 in F major “American”, Op 96 (3rd mvt) Prelude in D major On the Holy Mountain (Poetic Tone Pictures) Stabat Mater (IV, Fac ut ardeat cor meum; V, Tui nati vulnerate) Symphony No 7 (2nd mvt) Requiem (Confutatis) Biblical Songs (Nos 1-5) ‘Possibility' (Moravian Duets, No 1) Slavonic Dances, Op 46 No 3 ‘My Home' Overture, Op 62 Serenade for Winds in D minor (1st and 2nd mvts) Piano Trio No 4 ‘Dumky', Op 90 (2nd mvt) The Noonday Witch Miniature in D minor, Op 75 No 2 String Quartet No 12 in F major “American”, Op 96 (4th mvt) Symphony No 7 (4th mvt) Scottish Dances, Op 41 New World Symphony (Finale) Cello Concerto in B minor (2nd mvt)Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00202zxAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson sets out so show us why Elizabeth Maconchy deserves much more of our attention Elizabeth Maconchy is surely the greatest composer of string quartets ever to emerge in the British Isles; and yet her music is often ignored in favour of lesser works by more famous British composers. So says Maconchy's biographer, Erica Siegel, who joins Kate Molleson to explore the life and works of this key figure in Britain and Ireland's musical story. Across the week, Kate and Erica set out to show us why Maconchy deserves much more of our attention. We'll hear stories of personal crises, public apathy and outrageous institutional sexism, and how Maconchy met each challenge with characteristic grace and perseverance. Her works fizz with invention and purpose and she described her own music as “impassioned argument”.Music Featured:String Quartet No 2 (4th mvt) Clarinet Quintet (3rd & 4th mvt) Four Shakespeare Songs (No 1, Come Away, Death) The Land - A Suite for Orchestra Concertino No 2 for Piano and String Orchestra String Quartet No 1 (4th mvt) Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra (2nd mvt) Oboe Quintet Sonata for Viola and Piano String Quartet No 3 Nocturne Dialogue for Piano and Orchestra (2nd & 4 mvts) Two Dances from Puck Fair String Quartet No 5 (2nd & 3rd mvt) Concertino for Bassoon and String Orchestra String Quartet No 7: (4th mvt, Scherzo I) Proud Thames Overture The Sofa (excerpts) The Departure (excerpts) Serenata Concertante There is no rose Trittico Epyllion Morning, Noon and Night String Quartet No 13 'Quartetto Corto'Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Chris Taylor for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yyf6And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson chooses her favourite recording of Stravinsky's The Firebird

Johannes Brahms, the bearded and magisterial Romantic composer, could certainly do grandeur when required. But really, he was more interested in what music meant in ordinary life - how it can whisper, joke and console. He was a man who tried to find a place to belong all his life, wrote for the people closest to him, and that fondness is writ large in his music. This week, Kate Molleson focuses on Brahms at home, revealing the subtle sides of this sometimes brawny composer – the tender heart behind the famous beard - through the music he wrote for himself and his friends to play.Music Featured:Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op 52a No 1 Ballade in G minor, Op 118 No 2 Sandmännchen WoO 31, No 4 (Children's Folk Songs) Scherzo in E flat minor, Op 4 An die Nachtigall, Op 46 No 4 Vier Gesänge für Frauenchor, Op 17 Piano Quartet No 1 in G minor Op 25 (3rd mvt – Andante) Einförmig ist der Liebe Gram, Op 113 No 13 Sonata in C major (4th mvt) FAE Sonata (3rd mvt – Scherzo) Piano Trio, Op 8 (3rd mvt – Adagio) Geistliches Lied, Op 30 Intermezzo, Op 117 No 2 Sextet No 2 (1st mvt – Allegro non troppo) Waltz in A flat Six Quartets, Op 112 (No 1, Sehnsucht) Piano Quartet No 2 in A major (3rd mvt – Scherzo) Ein Deutsches Requiem: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen; Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit Geistliches Wiegenlied Piano Concerto No 2 (3rd mvt - Andante) Wiegenlied, Op 49 No 4 Romance in F major, Op 118 No 5 String Quintet in F (1st movement) Wie Melodien zieht es mir; Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer Violin Sonata in A major (1st mvt) Clarinet Quintet (1st movement) Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op 52: Ein kleiner hübscher Vogel Hungarian Dance in D major, WoO1 No 18 Wo ist ein so herrlich Volk, Op 109 No 3 Denn es gehet dem Mennschen (Serious Songs, Op 121 No 1) Intermezzo in E flat major, Op 117 No 1 Intermezzo in B minor, Op 119 No 1 Piano Trio No 1 (1st mvt – Allegro con brio) Double Concerto for violin and cello (2nd mvt – Adagio) Intermezzo in A major, Op 118 No 2Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xvy4And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson travels to the Belgais Center for Arts in rural eastern Portugal, to meet pianist Maria Joao Pires, who celebrates her 80th birthday this year. Among the low buildings, olive groves and orange trees of the arts complex, education centre and home which Pires created in 1999, she talks about her lifelong journey with the piano the age of 3; sharing her views on the classical music industry, explaining how she channels her 'aggression' through music, and stressing how important the arts are, as a meeting point for humanity.Sitting at the piano she gives Kate an exclusive lesson, including tips on how to acquire the proper body posture to play, and demonstrating how she developed a technique of her own, to make the most of what she describes as her small hands. And walking around the site, Kate visits the centre's concert hall, and Pires explains why she cares so deeply about her social projects which use music to connect with children.Producer: Juan Carlos Jaramillo

Kate Molleson & Nastasha Loges explore the life and music of Johanna Senfter.If you know the name Johanna Senfter, it is probably in connection with her teacher, the composer, Max Reger. Senfter won the Arthur Nikisch prize for composition in 1910, and went on to be one of the most prolific of all late-Romantic female composers, writing at least 150 works, yet she has all but disappeared from our history books. In between the two World Wars she was very active within the world of music too, founding the Oppenheim Music Society, organizing her own concert series and founding the Oppenheim Bach Society. However, her personal life is shrouded in mystery with little information published about either her biography, or her music, and there are substantial gaps in her story when we know nothing about Senfter. Unsurprisingly then, there are also questions hanging over certain elements of her personal life, and her political allegiances. Over the course of this week, Kate Molleson is joined by Professor Natasha Loges to explore the life of Johanna Senfter. They also examine the tumultuous world of early 20th Century Germany in which Senfter was working, and speculate on the reasons for her anonymity today.Music Featured: Suite for two violins No 2 (Menuet) Symphony No 4 (2nd mvt) Drei Klavierstucke, op 77 Violin Sonata in G minor, Op 32 (4th mvt) Trio for clarinet, horn and piano (3rd mvt) Vogelweise Clarinet Quintet (2nd mvt) Symphony No 4 (3rd mvt) Viola Sonata No 1 in F minor, Op 41 (3rd mvt) Chorale Preludes, Op 70 (Nos 4, 2 & 9) Sonata for cello in A Major, Op 10 (4th mvt) Suite for two violins No 91 No 2 (1st mvt) 5 pieces for viola and piano, Op 76 (No 5) Piano Concerto in G minor, Op 90 (3rd mvt) 6 Little Pieces for violin and piano, Op 13 (No 3 Elegie) Sonata for cello and piano in E flat major, Op 79 (2nd mvt) Clarinet Sonata (3rd mvt) Drei Klavierstucke Op 83, No 1 Sonata for violin and piano in A major, Op 26 (4th mvt) Concerto in C minor for two violins and orchestra, Op 40 5 pieces for viola and piano, Op 76 (Weihnachten. In ruhiger Bewegung) Piano Concerto in G minor, Op 90 (1st mvt) Suite for two violins No 1 (Courante) Piano Concerto in G minor, Op 90 (2nd mvt) Symphony 4 (1st mvt) Quintet for clarinet and string quartet in B, Op 11 (3rd mvt) 6 Little Pieces, for violin and piano (No 1, Melodie) Mazurka: AllegrettoPresented by Kate Molleson Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales and West For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Johanna Senfter (1879-1961) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001wqp7 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins' practise notebooks, pianist Stephen Hough's account of tackling Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, the voice of Fairport Convention's Sandy Denny in the words of Scottish poet Don Paterson, and E. M. Forster's evocation of Beethoven's 5th Symphony in Howard's End: just some of the texts we'll hear on tonight's celebration of writing about music.Ian's joined by four Radio 3 presenters to discuss the challenges of all sorts of music writing, from concert reviews to programme notes, memoirs, poetry, fiction, and scripts for radio. His guests are Essential Classics Georgia Mann who pored over Oasis reviews in the N.M.E. in her teens, Hannah French from The Early Music Show who once read a biography of Pablo Casals in a day, Composer of the Week's Kate Molleson who started out writing concert reviews at University in Montreal, and Corey Mwamba who presents Freeness and immersed himself in jazz books at Southampton library whilst doing his A-Levels. Producer: Ruth Thomson

Kate Molleson talks to Kaouther Ben Hania about her Oscar-nominated documentary Four Daughters, which explores the impact of two sisters fleeing to join Islamic State, by bringing in actors to play them alongside the rest of their family in Tunisia. We look at two new plays about British composer Benjamin Britten and the light they shed on a life shrouded with mystery and controversy. Kate is joined by Erica Whyman, the director of Ben and Imo by Mark Ravenhill, which is on at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, and also by Kevin Kelly, the writer of Turning the Screw, which I son at the King's Head Theatre in London.Plus live music from Owen Spafford and Louis Campbell, two young musicians who play with the idea of "English" folk. Their forthcoming EP, 102 Metres East, was recently recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in less than a day.Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer Paula McGrath

Wim Wenders on his new Oscar nominated Japanese language film Perfect Days, about a toilet cleaner in Tokyo as he goes about his work. Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor Award when the film premiered at this year's Cannes film festival, and the film has been dubbed ‘slow cinema'. Len Pennie came to prominence as a poet on social media during the Covid pandemic. As she publishes her first collection, Poyums, the feminist performance poet talks about writing predominantly in the Scots language. Angus Robertson, SNP Cabinet Secretary for Culture, discusses the challenging situation facing the arts in Scotland, and his vision for the future. Kate Molleson also talks to arts campaigner Lori Anderson from Culture Counts. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Timothy Prosser

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.

Kate Molleson explores the legends and lore of Igor StravinskyMusic Featured: Rite of Spring Fireworks Three Movements from Petrushka (Russian Dance) The Firebird: Infernal Dance The Rite of Spring, Part 2: The Sacrifice Three Pieces for String Quartet (Excentrique) Four Russian Peasant Songs Song of the Nightingale (The Mechanical Nightingale) Renard (excerpt) Soldier's Tale (excerpt) Les Noces: The Wedding Feast Pulcinella Suite (Sinfonia) Suite Italienne Sonata for Piano Symphonies of Wind Instruments Octet Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments Oedipus Rex(excerpt) Serenade in A for piano (Romanza) Orpheus (excerpt) Apollo (excerpt) Duo Concertant Otche nash Symphony of Psalms Mass (Santus) Ode (iii Epitaph) In Memoriam Dylan Thomas Requiem CanticlesPresented by Kate Molleson Produced by Martin Williams for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vld7And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson talks to Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Caroline Shaw At the age of just 30, in 2013 American composer Caroline Shaw made the headlines when she became the youngest person to win a Pulitzer Prize for her vocal work "Partita for Eight Voices". It's a mind blowing, joyous celebration of every sound and technique the human voice can achieve. The unexpectedly gained Pulitzer could have pigeon-holed Shaw's future career, as a "composer", but central to her identity as a creator is the fact that Shaw regards herself as musician. She's a violinist, a vocalist, producer, and a composer and it's the sum of all these parts that make up the creative impetus for her music. Blending performance with composition, blurring the lines between different musical genres, Shaw has avoided categorisation in the multiplicity of her enthusiasms. She's worked with rappers Kanye West and Nas, and soprano Renée Fleming, and mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. Her more than one hundred works encompass classical works, film scores, vocal music, and performing and working collaboratively she continues to engage in a diverse range of multi-media projects.Shaw's passion for music formed early. Born in North Carolina in 1982, Shaw was taught the Suzuki method of violin by her mother from the age of 2. Her father, a specialist in respiratory disease, was a keen amateur pianist. Shaw grew up in a culture of community music-making, singing in the church choir and summer camp. Formal studies followed at Rice in performance and Yale in composition, after which she undertook a doctoral programme in composition at Princeton.Plan and Elevation (IV: The Orangery) And So Partita for 8 Singers (IV: Passacaglia) Gustave Le Gray Entr'acte (version for String Orchestra) Valencia Limestone and Felt Punctum Boris Kerner Thousandth Orange for violin, viola, cello, piano Fleishman is in Trouble (Beef Lo Mein) And the Swallow Partita for 8 Singers (I: Allemande) To the Hands (Seven Responses project) (excerpt) Narrow Sea (excerpt) Its motion keeps “The Listeners” (excerpt) Plan and Elevation (V: The Beech Tree) Three Essays (III: Ruby) The Isle (excerpt) Taxidermy Blueprint for String Quartet To the Sky Partita for 8 Singers (II: Sarabande) Fleishman is in Trouble (excerpts) Ritornello 2.sq.2.j.a for string quartetPresented by Kate Molleson Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for A Vaughan Williams Christmas https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001trhsAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

“I've always loved carols,” Vaughan Williams wrote to Cecil Sharp in 1911. Despite being called a “most determined atheist” by Bertrand Russell at University, and in later life “a cheerful agnostic”, the composer never lost his love for Christmas. It dated back to childhood memories of singing carols from Stainer and Bramley's Christmas Carols New and Old at his home at Leith Hill Place, Surrey. As an adult, his lifelong passion for the Christmas period was demonstrated in his music - the Fantasia on Christmas Carols, On Christmas Night based on Dickens's A Christmas Carol, the cantata Hodie and the nativity play The First Nowell. His passion for collecting folk tunes in various counties of England – armed with a trusty pencil and paper, or at times a phonograph - also led to a plethora of carol settings using these folk tunes, as Vaughan Williams himself said “Every day some old village singer dies, and with him there probably die half-a-dozen beautiful melodies, which are lost to the world for ever: if we would preserve what still remains we must set about it at once.” This week. Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams's experiences of Christmas across his life alongside some of his best loved pieces, and the music he wrote to celebrate the festive period.Music Featured:Dives and Lazarus The First Nowell (extract) Trad. The Murder of Maria Marten Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus' Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra – Group 1 The Wasps Overture I Saw Three Ships Come In Willow Wood Folk Songs of the Four Seasons: Orchestral Suite Trad. The High-low well The Holy Well (version 1) Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis As Joseph was Walking A London Symphony (III. Scherzo) Fantasia on Christmas Carols Symphony 3 (II. Lento) Trad. On Christmas Night Sussex Carol The Lark Ascending Hodie (This Day): The Oxen On Christmas Night (extract) Dona Nobis Pacem (III. Reconcilliation) Trad. Ploughboy's Dream O Little Town of Bethlehem Prelude: 49th parallel Symphony No 5 in D Major (III. Romanza) God rest you merry, gentlemen The First Nowell: IX: In Bethlehem City On Wenlock Edge (V. Bredon Hill) Epithalamion (the bridal day) – Procession of the bride Hodie (extract) Symphony No 7 (V. Epilogue) Trad. Seven Virgins (Leaves of Life) The Seven Virgins The First Nowell: XX. The First NowellPresented by Kate Molleson Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for A Vaughan Williams Christmas https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001t9wp And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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.

Kate Molleson chooses her favourite recording of Béla Bartók's The Miraculous Mandarin

Kate Molleson and Kevin Le Gendre dive into the lives and music of John & Alice Coltrane Coltrane is a name you're likely to have heard, even if you know little to nothing about jazz. More than half a century after his death, saxophonist and composer John Coltrane is hailed as a giant of American cultural history, and one of 20th-century music's greatest visionaries. But he's not the only Coltrane. His wife, Alice, was an accomplished keyboardist and harpist who made revolutionary music in her own right, and whose contribution to John's late output has not always been fully recognised. As soulmates and fellow seekers in sound, John and Alice both transcended cultural and genre boundaries, helping to pioneer avant-garde and spiritual jazz. But following John's premature death in 1967, Alice began her solo career and would take forward their journey of creative and religious expansion. This week, Kate Molleson is joined by journalist and broadcaster Kevin Le Gendre to dive into the lives and music of these monumental figures, and explore their contributions to the jazz world and beyond. Music featured: Straight Street (from Coltrane) Blue Train (from Blue Train) Miles Davis/John Coltrane: So What (from Kind of Blue) Giant Steps (from Giant Steps) Syeeda's Song Flute (from Giant Steps) Naima (from Giant Steps) Rodgers/Hart: It's Easy to Remember (from Ballads) Up ‘Gainst the Wall (from Impressions) Rodgers/Hammerstein: My Favorite Things (from My Favorite Things) Blues Minor (from Africa/Brass) India (from Impressions) Alabama (from Live at Birdland 1963) Bessie's Blues (from Crescent) Terry Gibbs: Sherry Bossa Nova (from Plays Terry Gibbs feat. Alice McLeod) Ogunde (from Expression) A Love Supreme, Pts 1 and 2 (from A Love Supreme) Expression (from Expression) Dear Lord (from Transition) Stopover Bombay (from Journey in Satchidananda) The Sun (from Cosmic Music) Lovely Sky Boat (from A Monastic Trio) Ohnedaruth (from A Monastic Trio) Blue Nile (from Ptah the el Daoud) A Love Supreme (from World Galaxy) Journey in Satchidananda (from Journey in Satchidananda) Spiritual Eternal (from Eternity) Sivaya (from Transcendence) Going Home (from Lord of Lords) Krishna Krishna (from Turiya Sings) Translinear Light (from Translinear Light) Rama rama (from The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda) Govinda Jai Jai (from Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana) Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Amelia Parker & Martin Williams for BBC Audio Wales For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for John and Alice Coltrane https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001s5st And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson explore the life and music of Afro-Brazilian composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia Composer of the Week shines the spotlight on the Afro-Brazilian composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia. Hailed by some as the Father of Brazilian Classical Music, and compared by others to Mozart and Haydn, this series delves into the life and music of this once hugely prolific and popular composer. Born in Rio de Janeiro, both his parents were children of slaves. Thanks to his exceptional musical talents, Garcia was able to move from his poverty-stricken beginnings to the very top of his society. He became Master of Music at the Cathedral. Later, when the Portuguese Court established themselves in the city, Garcia was appointed Master of Music at the Chapel Royal and Court Composer. Kate Molleson is joined by Professor Marcelo Hazan from the University of South Carolina and Professor Kirsten Schultz from Seton Hall University who help her explore Garcia's incredible life story and music. A hugely influential teacher of music from early on, Garcia established his own free music school and was invited into the homes of the elite to teach their daughters. His trajectory wasn't always plain sailing however and he frequently encountered racism. When it came to Garcia entering the Priesthood in the early 1790s, he had to undergo a number of tests to prove his worth, including providing impeccable references to offset the official concerns about his family background. Garcia was ordained, and with his musical skills finally recognised by the Church and Portuguese Court, he became the go-to composer for Saints Days, Royal occasions, and other commissions. However, many European musicians who came to Rio de Janeiro were not keen to be conducted by someone of his race. Eventually, Brazil gained independence from the Portuguese Empire and Garcia's Royal employers were returned to Portugal, leaving Garcia struggling during turbulent times. Music Featured: Missa pastoril para a noite de natal (Kyrie eleison) Tenuisti manum dexteram meam Missa pastoril para a noite de natal (excerpt) Fantasy No 1 Fantasy No 2 Lição No 7 da Segunda Parte Tota Pulchra es Maria Zemira, Overture Immutemur Habitu Sinfonia fúnebre Tenuisti Manum Crux Fidelis Popule Meus Francisco Manuel da Silva: Brazilian National Anthem Fantasy No 6 Requiem Mass (excerpt) Dies Sanctificatus Justus cum ceciderit Judas Mercator pessimus Missa pastoril para a noite de natal (excerpt) Overture in D major Marcos António Portugal: Cuidados, tristes cuidados Beijo a mão que me condena Laudate pueri In Monte Oliveti Josef Haydn: Piano Sonata No. 62 in E flat, Hob. WVI: 52 (Finale) Lição No 8 da Primeira Parte Lição No 4 da Segunda Parte Lição No 8 da Segunda Parte Laudate dominum Requiem Mass (excerpt) Creed No 9 in B flat (excerpt) Fantasy No 4 Missa de Nossa Senhora da Concição (excerpt) Lição No 3 da Segunda Parte Lição No 6 da Segunda Parte Requiem Mass (excerpt) Domine Tu Mihi Lavas Pedes Inter Vestibulum Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Luke Whitlock for BBC Audio Wales and West For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qvv7 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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.

Kate Molleson shares stories of Handel's music at summer soirees across the British Isles When he arrived in London in 1712, German-born George Frideric Handel was already one of Europe's most exciting musical minds. Over the next decades he would not only carve a living for himself, but transform British musical life, from the opera stage to the choir stalls, and hardwire his legacy into our culture. This week, Kate Molleson tells the stories of five summer soirees from across his life in the British Isles – golden evenings of 18th-century music making, and some of his most eventful performances. Music Featured: Water Music (Suite 2: i. Allegro) Water Music (Suite 2: ii. Hornpipe) Water Music (Suite 1: excerpt) Water Music (Suite 3) Qual nave smarrita (from Radamisto) Water Music (Suite 1: excerpt) Acis and Galatea (Overture) Chandos Te Deum (excerpt) Chandos Anthem No 4 ‘O sing unto the Lord a new song' Acis and Galatea, Act II: Nos 25-29 Keyboard Suite in E major ‘The Harmonious Blacksmith', HWV430 (Air & Variations) Esther, Act I, Scene 4: Tune your harps to cheerful strains; Praise the Lord Organ Concerto in B-flat major, Op 4 No 2 Jubilate Deo in D major ‘Utrecht', HWV279 Athalia, Act II Scene 2: My vengeance awakes me L'Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato: As steals the morn Alexander's Feast, Part I (excerpt) Messiah, Part 2 (excerpt) Messiah, Part 3: Amen Hornpipe compos'd for Vauxhall Acis and Galatea: Hush ye pretty warbling quire Semele: Where'er you walk Concerto Grosso in F major, Op 3 No 4b Zadok the Priest Music for the Royal Fireworks (excerpt) Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and West For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001q14p And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

The Cairngorms National Park has inspired writing by Merryn Glover, whose books include The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd. Writer and artist Amanda Thomson's book Belonging is on the longlist for the 2023 James Cropper Wainwright Prize for nature writing. As the BBC Proms broadcasts a concert from Perth, they talk to Radio 3's Kate Molleson about place and capturing Scottish nature in their work. Producer Ruth Watts You can find out more about Amanda Thomson at https://passingplace.com/home.html You can find out more about Merryn Glover at https://merrynglover.com/ This is part of a series of conversations about writing and place recorded for BBC Proms around the UK in summer 2023. You can find more conversations about writing and about nature and green thinking on the website for BBC Radio 3's arts and ideas programme Free Thinking.

Front Row is live from Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh for festival season, presented by Kate Molleson. Scotland's own Grammy award-winning violinist Nicola Benedetti will be with us to share her vision for this year's Edinburgh International Festival, as she makes her debut as Festival Director. Kate will also be joined on stage by the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Colson Whitehead to discuss Crook Manifesto, the latest instalment in his Harlem saga, set in 1970s New York. We'll have music from the Scottish folk singer Karine Polwart with pianist Dave Milligan, ahead of their appearance at the Book Festival. Glasgow comedian Susie McCabe will share stand-up from her new Fringe show exploring her womanhood, Femme Fatality. Novelist and fellow Glaswegian Andrew O'Hagan will reflect on making his directorial debut, as he brings his new play The Ballad of Truman Capote to the Fringe. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Kirsty McQuire

Kate Molleson explores the spry and subtly surprising music of Germaine Tailleferre Kate Molleson revels in the spry and subtly surprising music of Germaine Tailleferre, with guests Barbara Kelly and Caroline Potter. Germaine Tailleferre first made a splash in the heady atmosphere of 1920s Paris. She was part of a lively, bohemian scene in which poetry and exhibitions went hand in hand with performances of new music. Her career was given a bump start by the eccentric older composer, Eric Satie. He was an influential voice in avant-garde circles, and his support opened a door to wider recognition. Tailleferre became part of a like-minded set of young composers, along with Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Louis Durey and Georges Auric. Their energy and drive created exciting new outlets for performances of their music. It was a journalist, Henri Collet, who coined their eventual collective name "Les Six". While their artistic paths quickly diversified, the group remained friends for the rest of their lives. Tailleferre was a prolific composer, writing in all the genres from small scale chamber works to large scale works including cantatas, orchestral scores, ballets and operas. After enjoying considerable success, by the 1930s her prominence began to fade. There's some evidence to suggest that her two unhappy marriages, and the deprivations of living in occupied France, followed by a temporary exile in the States during the second world war all had an adverse impact on her career. Despite these setbacks, she continued to compose and would teach music almost to the very end of her life. She died in 1983 at the age of 91. Held back perhaps by her own retiring personality and historical views of a female composer, Tailleferre's music has been overshadowed by some of the other members of "Les Six". This week Kate Molleson brings Germaine Tailleferre's music firmly in to the limelight. She's joined in studio by two other Tailleferre enthusiasts, Barbara Kelly from the University of Leeds, and Caroline Potter, who's currently writing a book about Tailleferre. Music Featured: Deux valses Image for 8 instruments Jeux de plein air Quartet for Strings Romance in A major Le Marchand d'oiseaux Pas trop vite Piano Trio Ballade for piano and orchestra Chansons françaises, No 5 (excerpt) Chansons françaises (Nos 1, 2 & 5) Concerto No 1 for piano and orchestra Violin sonata No 1 (excerpt) Fandango La nouvelle Cythère (excerpts) Harp Concertino Chansons Françaises (Nos 3 & 4) Violin sonata No 1 (1st & 4th mvts) Partita for piano (excerpt) Chansons du folklore Sonata for Harp Concerto two pianos, chorus and orchestra La cantate du narcisse Larghetto Suite burlesque (1, Dolente) Ouverture trans. By John Paynter Il était un Petit Navire (arr for two pianos) Concertino for flute, piano and chamber orchestra (excerpts) Pancarte pour une porte d'entrée (song cycle) Sonate Champêtre for wind and piano Tu mi chamas Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Audio in Wales For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001nw40 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Robert Bound is joined in the studio by Ted Hodkingson, head of literature and spoken word at London's Southbank Centre, to discuss how he went about programming the venue's summer literary events. Plus: we hear from writer and broadcaster Kate Molleson and poet Lidija Dimkovska.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kate Molleson chooses her favourite recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

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.

Kate Molleson explores the life and music of Domenico Scarlatti Domenico Scarlatti was well placed to build himself a glittering career in the music business. He was prestigiously talented and born into a family with powerful connections in the music business. His home city of Naples was a major centre for the fashionable new art form of opera. But there were challenges, too. Competition was fierce and musicians often found their fates helplessly tied to the fickle fortunes of their aristocratic patrons. On top of all that, Domenico faced another, distinctly personal, test to his career aspirations; he was working in the shadow of a much more celebrated Scarlatti – his own father! It would take several decades, and more than a few changes of direction, before Domenico finally found his right path, becoming one of the baroque period's most significant composers. Today, he's rightly revered for the extraordinary catalogue of over 550 keyboard sonatas he left to posterity. This week, Kate Molleson traces Scarlatti's story and looks at what else there is to discover in his legacy alongside his celebrated keyboard works. Music Featured: Sonata in D, K 96 Sonata in Dm, K 9 Sonata in E, K 20 Antra, valles, divo plaudeant Sinfonia in C Sinfonia in G Sonata in Am, K 109 Sonata in A, K 279 Sonata in G, K 425 Amor d'un Ombra e Gelosia d'un'aura (excerpts) O qual meco: Sinfonia & Aria, ‘Per che non dirmial meno' Sonata in Dm, K 32 Sonata in C, K 308 Sonata in Gm, K196 Sonata in G, K 284 Messa breve 'La Stella': Kyrie La Dirindina (extract from Scene 1) Sonata in D, K 443 Sonata in F, K 17 Stabat Mater Contesa della stagione: VIII. ‘Giorno felice'…‘Sia dolce e caro e grato' Sonata in A, K 39 Sonata in A, K 208 Sonata in Am, K 175 Laetatus sum Sonata in Eb, K 434 Sonata in Eb, K 475 Missa quatuor vocum, Gloria, Sanctus & Benedictus, Agnus Dei Pur nel sonno almen tal'ora: (extracts) Avison: Concerto grosso after Scarlatti, No. 5 in Dm (extracts) Salve Regina in A Sonata in Cm, K11 Sonata in G, K547 Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Johannah Smith For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001m56g And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson explores the life of György Ligeti with guest, Danny Driver Known to millions through the film director Stanley Kubrick's use of his music in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ligeti's music reflects the seismic events taking place in central Europe in the mid-twentieth century - shifting borders, war, totalitarianism and for many, exile. These harrowing experiences all made a deep imprint on him and his music. He was born in 1923 into a Jewish Hungarian family in an area that had become part of Romanian Transylvania. After years of state repression, in 1956 at the onset of the Hungarian revolution, Ligeti made a dramatic escape on foot to the West. Freed from state intervention, he was to remain artistically and personally independent from any particular orthodoxies for the rest of his life. He died in 2006 at the age of 83. Ligeti regarded the whole world as the material for his music. He was fascinated by anything and everything: philosophy, science, the arts, literature - Alice in Wonderland was one of his favourite books. His music can be playful, at times wickedly macabre. He loved patterns, he loved rhythm, he dived into mathematical concepts of immense complexity but was equally curious about history, folklore, the cosmos and the natural world. From the piano, Danny Driver, a huge Ligeti enthusiast, opens up the magical universe Ligeti creates in his piano music, with a special focus on the three sets of piano studies. Music Featured: Musica ricercata (IV. Tempo de Valse (poco vivace - à l'orgue de Barbarie) Lux aeterna Three Wedding Dances for two pianos (Hàrom lakodalmi tánc) Romanian Concerto Piano Concerto (1st, 2nd & 3rd mvts) Musica ricercata (excerpt) Cello Sonata (2nd mvt, Capriccio. Presto con slancio) Apparitions (2n, mvt, Agitato) Musica ricercata (excerpt) Lontano Three Pieces for Two Pianos Études, Book 1 Chamber Concerto for 13 instruments Clocks and Clouds Three Fantasies after Friedrich Hölderlin Capriccio 1; Invention Capriccio 2 Études, Book 2 Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano (1st mvt, Andantino con tenerezza) Sonata for solo viola (1st mvt, Hora lungă) Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano (2nd mvt, Vivacissimo molto rítmico) Piano Concerto (4th mvt, Allegro risoluto - molto rítmico) Études Book 3 Melodien Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Johannah Smith For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for György Ligeti (1923-2006) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001lzcn And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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.

Filmmaker Hassan Nazar talks to Kate Molleson about his new film Winners, a love letter to the art of cinema. Set in Iran, it follows two children who find an Oscars statuette. Playwright Calum L MacLeòid on his new Western, Stornaway, Quebec, which is set in 1880s Canada and performed in Gaelic, Québécois, and English. And to mark Neurodiversity Celebration Week, Front Row discusses neurodiversity and creativity with impressionist Rory Bremner, stand-up comedian Ria Lina, and psychologist Professor Nancy Doyle. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Paul Waters

On this episode, Marc talks with Kate Molleson, a journalist, documentarian, and radio presenter for BBC3. She's the author of the fascinating book Sound Within Sound: Radical Composers of the 20th Century, which focuses on ten composers left out of the standard histories of classical music. In her intro, Kate says she wrote the book out of “love and anger” - “the love because I want to shout from the rooftops that classical music is gripping, essential, personally and politically game-changing. The anger because I can't shout proudly about a culture that wilfully closes its doors on perceived outsiders.”We hope you enjoy our chat with Kate!

Groundbreaking musician, performance artist, and writer Cosey Fanni Tutti joins Jude on this week's episode of Songbook to delve in to Daphne Oram's An Individual Note of Music, Sound and Electronics- a remarkable study of the relationship between electronic music and technology, origninally published in 1972.Their conversation also takes in Cosey's memories of listening to pop music as a child, her relationship with her hometown of Hull, and the importance of abandoning pre-conceptions when listening to music.Cosey's 2022 book Re-Sisters: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti is a vital meditation on womanhood, creativity and self-expression, and a revelatory exploration into the lives of three visionary artists - Re-Sisters: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti a book by Cosey Fanni Tutti. (bookshop.org)Books mentioned in the podcast:Art Sex Music by Cosey Fanni Tutti Art Sex Music a book by Cosey Fanni Tutti. (bookshop.org)An Individual Note of Music, Sound and Electronics by Daphne Oram Daphne Oram - an Individual Note of Music, Sound and Electronics a book by Daphne Oram. (bookshop.org)Quantum Listening by Pauline Oliveros Quantum Listening a book by Pauline Oliveros. (bookshop.org)Sound Within Sound: Opening Our Ears to the Twentieth Century by Kate Molleson Sound Within Sound: Opening Our Ears to the Twentieth Century a book by Kate Molleson. (bookshop.org)Up Above the City, Down Beneath the Stars by Barry Adamson Up Above the City, Down Beneath the Stars a book by Barry Adamson. (bookshop.org)You can buy the paperback edition of Jude's The Sound of Being Human: How Music Shapes Our Lives here: The Sound of Being Human a book by Jude Rogers. (bookshop.org)Finally, White Rabbit's Spotify Playlist of 'booksongs' - songs inspired by books loved by our guests - is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7chuHOeTs9jpyKpmgXV6uo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 travels to Paris to join Olivier Latry, titular organist of Notre-Dame Cathedral, as he reflects on the possibilities of making music outside the iconic building following 2019's devastating blaze. He describes how the spirit of the cathedral has seeped into musicianship as well as its absence while the basilica is rebuilt and its congregation worship at a different site, as well as his hopes for the musical life of the building after it reopens in 2024, and how performing in religious ceremonies differs from recitals in concert halls. Kate is joined by the musicologist Roger Nichols whose new book, 'From Berlioz to Boulez', surveys the story of French musical history through the country's most important composers. The French music expert Caroline Potter shares her thoughts on Nichols' new tome too. Music Matters learns about a new archive of contemporary repertoire, commissioned by the Royal Academy of Music for students and people consulting their website, called 200 Pieces. We hear from 3 composers who've written material especially for the modern-day compilation: Helen Grime, Howard Skempton and Daniel Kidane. And Betto Arcos, whose journalism focusses on Latin American music, tells Kate about his favourite Mexican Christmas music traditions, including the rituals of Las Posadas, La Rama, and the villancicos which has echoed across Oaxaca Cathedral's interior since the time of the conquistadors.

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.

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

Kate Molleson talks to the German violinist Christian Tetzlaff as he prepares for a recital in London. They discuss the intensity of performing live, the joy of playing chamber music, and playing one last time with his musical partner - and soul mate - Lars Vogt, who passed away recently. Also, in light of rising living costs and of the latest Government measures, Kate is joined by critic and broadcaster Ivan Hewett, and Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, Chief Executive of UK Music, to assess how the music industry is being affected. There's also news of a recently launched orchestra in Colombia, consisting entirely of female players, the Women's Philharmonic Orchestra. Writer Mark Katz tells Kate about his new book 'Music and technology: a short introduction', in which he suggests music and technology have co-existed for much longer than we might think, to explain why technology can be used for good or evil, and how technology have empowered marginalised communities in societies across the world.

Kate Molleson talks to Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson about his concerts at the opening weekend of the Southbank Centre's new season, and about his new double album, From Afar, on which all the pieces are recorded twice, on two different pianos. And, as a new production of Verdi's Aida opens at the Royal Opera House, Kate talks to director Robert Carsen, and to opera historian Flora Willson about how the famous ancient Egypt-set opera by an Italian composer is viewed by Egyptians. We also hear from Egyptian mezzo-soprano Gala El Hadidi, and from Cairo-based journalist Ati Metwaly about music education in Egyptian schools. Plus, Tom Service visits the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff to investigate Welsh National Opera's new production of Janacek's opera about immortality, The Makropulos Affair. Producer: Graham Rogers

This week we hear from some of the international artists who've been taking part at this year's Edinburgh Festivals. It's the world's biggest arts festival, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Aboriginal Australian William Barton is an award winning composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and one of the country's leading didgeridoo players. His music has been performed from the Beijing Olympics to Westminster Abbey in London and he tells Tina Daheley about the language of this ancient traditional instrument and how he blends it with European classical music. Scottish writer Uma Nada-Rajah's play Exodus is set against the backdrop of a UK Conservative party leadership contest. In Uma's all female version, we met a would be Prime Minister who's staging a photo opportunity under the white cliffs of Dover to launch her anti-immigration policy, when a body washes up. Uma Nada-Rajah told Kate Molleson about the inspiration behind her topical satire. In the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by dominant Hutu forces in 100 days. For her piece, The Book of Life, Rwandan playwright and director Odile Gakire Katese, known as Kiki Katese, tells the story of that conflict through the letters of ordinary Rwandans. She tells us why she feels that the arts can help to bring reconciliation to the country. Circus Abyssinia is the first all Ethiopian Circus troupe. Created by two brothers, Bibi and Bichu, their latest show, called Tulu, is inspired by the Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu. She won the 10,000 meters in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the first black African woman to win Olympic gold. Bibi and Bichu spoke to The Cultural Frontline's Andrea Kidd and explained why they wanted to portray her story through circus skills. (Photo: An aerial silk performer from Circus Abyssinia. Credit: David Rubene Photography)

Writer and BBC Radio 3 presenter Kate Molleson joins Jude to talk about the book Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay.As well as digging into the life of Bessie they also discuss how music provides solace, childhood encounters with music, whether women are allowed to be straight up authorities on music, radical lyrics and the complications of discussing a female musician's clothes.Books mentioned in the podcast:Sound Within Sound: Opening Our Ears to the Twentieth Century by Kate Molleson https://bit.ly/3bZkZC2Us Conductors by Sean Michaels https://uk.bookshop.org/books/us-conductors/9781408868690The Musical Life of Gustav Mole by Kathryn Meyrick https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-musical-life-of-gustav-mole/9780859533331Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay https://bit.ly/3wddpuFYou can buy Jude's book The Sound of Being Human: How Music Shapes Our Lives here: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-sound-of-being-human-how-music-shapes-our-lives/9781474622929Finally White Rabbit's Spotify Playlist of 'booksongs' - songs inspired by books loved by our guests - is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7chuHOeTs9jpyKpmgXV6uo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Live from Edinburgh, with a review of Alan Cumming's one man show, Burn, which sets out to update the biscuit-tin image of Robert Burns. Plus Counting & Cracking - the epic, multilingual life journey of four generations, from Sri Lanka to Australia. To review the Edinburgh International Festival performances, Kate Molleson is joined by Arusa Qureshi, writer and editor of Fest Magazine, and Alan Bissett, playwright, novelist and performer. Plus we speak to Scottish film director Charlotte Wells about her critically acclaimed new film Aftersun, as she returns to her home town to open this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Emma Wallace Photo: Burn - Alan Cumming; picture credit - Gian Andrea di Stefano

You've heard about Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. But how about Carrillo, Maceda and Ustvolskaya ? In her new book, Sound Within Sound, writer and BBC presenter Kate Molleson tells the stories of 20th century composers whose work was groundbreaking, but who are underrepresented in history because what they made didn't sound like "traditional" classical music. Though conversations around race, gender, diversity, and classical music have seen progress in recent years, Molleson tells Talia Schlanger that there is still a significant gap in the canon when it comes to recognizing many of the trailblazing composers outside Europe and the United States.

Kate Molleson and guests live from Edinburgh Festival. Comedian and impressionist Matt Forde talks about capturing the essence of political figures in his show Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right. Mezzo Soprano Anne Sofie von Otter performs songs by Rufus Wainwright and Franz Schubert on the eve of her Edinburgh International Festival concert. Playwright Uma Nada-Rajah on her topical new farce for the National Theatre of Scotland. Exodus is about the race for political leadership and immigration policy. International festival director Fergus Linehan and Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society Shona McCarthy swap notes on innovation, survival and legacy for one of the world's biggest arts festivals. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Nicki Paxman Photo: the cast of Exodus. Picture credit: Brian Hartley

Guest host Talia Schlanger speaks with Lotfullah Najafizada about launching an independent media outlet in Afghanistan one year after the U.S. withdrawal from and Taliban takeover of his home country, Kate Molleson shares stories of classical composers overlooked in music history, and Doug Larson reveals lessons we can learn from an ancient forest.

Kein Kanon ohne blinde Flecken: Das beweist Kate Molleson in ihrem neuen Buch. Ihre Essays lassen zehn Musikpioniere leuchten, denen wir unbedingt unser Ohr schenken sollten. Auch so klingt das 20. Jahrhundert.

As Scottish Opera celebrates its sixtieth anniversary, Kate Molleson talks to key figures and artists from the company about its past, present and future including the company's General Director Alex Reedijk, Emerging Artist Lea Shaw, critic Ken Walton and conductor Donald Runnicles. Kate speaks to Josie Dixon, curator of the exhibition ‘Music and Migration in Georgian Edinburgh' which tells the story of Felix Yaniewicz, a Polish-Lithuanian virtuoso violinist who founded the first ever Edinburgh Festival, and to the satirist, writer and director Armando Iannucci who is giving a talk about music, migration and Scotland. Novelist, short-story writer, and community arts worker Jan Carson talks to Kate about her new collaboration with the Ulster Orchestra and children from Carniny Primary School in Ballymena, County Antrim. And as music venues across the UK prepare for a summer of live music free of covid restrictions, we look at the extent to which audiences are returning to the concert halls and what impact that has on a venue's programming. Kate speaks to David Dodd of the Hall for Cornwall, Jane Ann Purdy, co-director of the Soundhouse concerts which take place at the Traverse in Edinburgh, and Neil Bennison from the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. Producer: Graham Rogers

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.

Photo credit: Tom Zimberoff Ahead of this weekend's Tectonic's festival in Glasgow, Kate Molleson meets the pioneering electronic music composer at the centre of this year's programme, Janet Beat, and learns how the studios she inaugurated at universities in Birmingham and Glasgow – from the late 1950s – blazed trails for future generations. Following a performance of Matthias Pintscher's La Linea Evocativa at Wigmore Hall earlier this week, presenter Tom Service speaks to the American-Canadian violinist Leila Josefowicz about her life making music on the concert stage, her role championing contemporary repertoire for the instrument, and the inspiration she finds in Bach's mighty Chaconne. The composer Hannah Peel and conductor Charles Hazlewood join Tom to discuss their new album, The Unfolding. Written during lockdown especially for the Paraorchestra, the album has shot to number one in the classical music charts, and we hear from the musicians in the ensemble, Hattie McCall-Davies and Lloyd Coleman, as they tour with live performances of the project this spring. And, the composer Michael Zev Gordon tells Tom about his new chamber opera, Raising Icarus, which explores the harm parental expectations and aspirations can have on their children. It's staged by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group this week.

Presented by Kate Molleson from Glasgow. As the Burrell Collection reopens in Glasgow after a £68 million refit, Sunday Post art critic Jan Patience discusses the significance of the gallery, which includes rare Persian carpets, Chinese ceramics and sculptures by Rodin. Director Cora Bissett talks about Orphans – the new musical from the National Theatre of Scotland, adapted from Peter Mullan's 1998 cult classic film set in Glasgow. Belgian clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe is in Glasgow to perform the world premiere of Sutra with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She tells Kate about collaborating with composer Wim Henderickx to create a concerto inspired by Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the first scriptures of yoga, and how yoga can help musicians find their flow. Hannah Lavery is the recently appointed Edinburgh City Makar, the city's poet laureate. She discusses her new role and her debut poetry collection Blood, Salt, Spring, a seemingly real time meditation on where we are – exploring ideas of nation, race and belonging. Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Timothy Prosser Image: The Warwick Vase, a 2nd Century Roman marble sculpture, in The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Photo credit: Timothy Prosser

Kate Molleson talks to composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, a life-long Arsenal supporter, about his new piece 'Up for grabs' ahead of its premiere next week at the Barbican Centre in London. The work celebrates one of his team's most famous victories, back in 1989, and Kate learns about Mark's setting of the personnel who played during this much-famed football match, as well as his thoughts about the relationship between music and sport. We drop by on rehearsals of a new chamber opera, “Tomorrow's Wonder. . . A Window into Our Lives”, by the composer Electra Perivolaris written in collaboration with a family dealing with dementia. The work was commissioned by the fledgling opera company, Theatre of Sound, and accompanies their new production of 'Bluebeard's Castle' which retells the story of Bartok's psycho-drama through the lens of a long and happily married couple coming to terms with dementia. We hear, too, from the flautist and music journalist Eugenia Zuckerman, author of 'Like Falling Through a Cloud - a Lyrical Memoir of Coping with Forgetfulness, Confusion, and a Dreaded Diagnosis', who talks candidly about her book which documents her fight against memory loss. And 'Richard Wagner in Venice: A Symphony' – we hear how composer Matthew King has reconstructed sketches left by the German composer, and created the new orchestral piece Wagner wanted to write towards the end of his life.

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.

Allyson Devenish compares recordings of Schumann's Liederkreis, Op 39, and chooses her favourite. Schumann's Liederkreis, Op 39, is considered to be one of the greatest song cycles of the 19th century. Composed in 1840, Liederkreis comprises 12 songs which set poems by the German Romantic poet, Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff. Together, the 12 songs explore themes of loss, loneliness, nocturnal mystery, ecstasy and reverie. Schumann himself considered the Liederkreis, Op 39 to be the most romantic music he had ever written, and he wrote to his wife that the cycle had 'music of you in it, dearest Clara'. Presented by Kate Molleson

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 11:40:02 +0000 https://internationales-musikinstitut.de/ferienkurse/onair/podcast23 9021c2343fb6fb5c83c3d4f884b336fa Kate Molleson in conversation with Rebecca Saunders Interview with Christian Dierstein and Dirk Rothbrust on Rebecca Saunders' piece "dust": https://internationales-musikinstitut.de/ferienkurse/dossiers/dust More about Rebecca Saunders: https://www.rebeccasaunders.net/biography-detailed More about Kate Molleson: http://katemolleson.com/about 23 full Kate Molleson in conversation with Rebecca Saunders no Percussion,Composition,Contemporary Music,Neue Musik,Rebecca Saunders Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (IMD) & the episode authors

Russian composer Igor Stravinsky died 50 years ago this year. Yet his influence is still felt today, whether it's the pounding rhythms of The Rite of Spring or the musical borrowings of The Rake's Progress. Radio 3's Kate Molleson explains how Stravinsky changed the musical landscape, and just why we should be celebrating a composer born nearly 140 years ago. Aurora Orchestra are preparing for their appearance at this year's BBC Proms. And the preparations involve memorising The Firebird, to play on stage without sheet music. Conductor Nicholas Collon and bassoonist Amy Harman discuss what memorising adds to the performance, and whether learning Stravinsky has any extra challenges. Dancer Francesca Velicu earned an Olivier Award for dancing the role of the Chosen One in Pina Bausch's version of The Rite of Spring at English National Ballet. How does it feel to dance to the death? Conductor Sir Simon Rattle has had a lifelong love affair with Igor Stravinsky. He tells John Wilson how he got hooked at an early age, and recommends a playlist for Stravinsky beginners. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sofie Vilcins Main image: Igor Stravinsky at the BBC in 1965.

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.

The pianist Lars Vogt talks candidly to the presenter Kate Molleson about music making after his cancer diagnosis in February and his ongoing treatment to fight the disease. He tells Kate about his latest projects, including a recording of music by Janacek. We eavesdrop on rehearsals for a new production of Shakespeare's King Lear at The Grange Festival, set to music by the composer Nigel Osborne and directed by Keith Warner, which features singers in speaking roles – among them John Tomlinson as Lear and Susan Bullock as his daughter Goneril from whom we hear about the challenges and joys of this new project. We've a tribute, too, to pioneer Dutch composer Louis Andriessen who passed away last week – with contributions from composers Richard Ayres and Missy Mazzoli, as well as soprano Nora Fischer for whom he wrote one of his last works.

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.

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.

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.

Kate Molleson talks to the pianist Anne Queffelec about one of her life’s passions, Satie, the clarity she observes in French music, and how writing is helping her during lockdown. The musicologist Jillian C. Rogers, author of a new book ‘Resonant Recoveries: French Music and Trauma Between the World Wars’, describes how sound played a role in healing throughout the interwar period, and draws parallels with today's world during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Endellion Quartet announces its retirement, we speak to violinist Andrew Watkinson and cellist David Waterman about the joy of playing card games during concert intervals, arguments over concert attire, and more than four decades of life together inside the ensemble. And following the recent announcements of plans to ease lockdown restrictions, we ask musicians on the ground to share their expectations and fears for performance as well as what the roadmap might mean for musical activity. We hear from the Afrobeat band leader and educator, Dele Sosimi; solo horn with the City of Hull Band, Wendy Orr; and soprano with the Tallis Scholars, Amy Haworth.

Kate Molleson chooses her favourite recording of Bela Bartok's String Quartet No 5

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.

Coinciding with Radio 3's 'Light in the Darkness' season, Kate Molleson explores luminosity in music, among other topics, with the Australian composer Liza Lim. Clarinettist Kate Romano reflects on what was supposed to be a year of musical activity to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, and reassess the figure of the composer in light of this year's curtailed celebrations. We hear from celebrated violinist Hilary Hahn and the roboticist and expert on Artificial Intelligence Carol Reiley, who've just launched DeepMusic.AI - an initiative directed towards professional artists and musicians which is designed to enhance their creative processes. And, Kate is joined by the Revd. Lucy Winkett to review the new book 'Arvo Pärt: Sounding the Sacred' - a collection of essays exploring the spiritual dimension of the celebrated Estonian composer and how his music has been represented by society.

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.

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.

The 9th episode of Darmstadt On Air is dedicated to composer Annea Lockwood who is interviewed by music journalist and Darmstadt tutor Kate Molleson. Annea was born in Christchurch/New Zealand in 1939 and moved to England in 1961to study composition at the Royal College of Music in London. In the same year, she took part in the Darmstadt Summer Course for the first time. Registered as Anna Ferguson Lockwood in 1961, 1962 and 1963, she attended classes by Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio and others. In Darmstadt, Annea also met Franco Evangelisti who became a close friend and it was him who recommended that she asked Gottfried Michael Koenig if she might study with him which she went on to do from 1963 to 1964. A decade later, she moved to New York where she was in touch with Pauline Oliveros, John Cage, La Monte Young and members of the Sonic Arts Union. With Kate Molleson she talks about her life as a composer, her early important experience in Darmstadt, about her glass concerts and long durational river recordings, about DIYness and the small scenes in New York. Kate is a journalist and broadcaster, based in Edinburgh. She presents BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show and Music Matters. Her articles are published in The Guardian and The Herald, BBC Music Magazine or Gramophone. She teaches music journalism at Dartington and Darmstadt. Kate recommends: "It’s so worth spending time with Annea's music. 'Tiger Balm' is just wonderful, and the 'Glass World' album, and her later river maps. Also more recent pieces like 'Wild Energy' and 'Dusk'."

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.

Kate Molleson speaks to Alex Ross, the American music critic and writer, about his new book 'Wagnerism'. He shares his thoughts about why Wagner has been loved and loathed, appropriated and rejected, and co-opted to serve all manner of political and cultural agendas across the globe. Kate also joins the conductor Alondra de la Parra, who explains why she formed an orchestra of global superstars, called 'The Impossible Orchestra', in aid of the women and children of Mexico. In our new series, 'Musicians in our time', we’ll be following the journeys of personnel from across the musical work as they navigate the next stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. We hear this week from the tenor Allan Clayton, who speaks candidly about being a free-lance musician, the anxiety of not performing, and how the industry should change to adopt fairer conditions for artists. And as some aspects of live music take shape around the UK, we talk to venues and orchestras across the country to get the measure of how they’re responding to the latest set of regulations for performance and rules for audiences under coronavirus.

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.

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/

Kate Molleson hears from the author, musician, and researcher Matt Brennan about his new book, ‘Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit’. We speak to the Scottish singer, songwriter, and composer, Karine Polwart, as she shares her ideas about music’s power to communicate in today’s world. As she embarks upon a project to share all thirty-six movements of Bach’s six Cello Suites during the coronavirus outbreak, Music Matters revisits a discussion with the cellist Alisia Weilerstein. And as artists the world over find new ways to continue communicating with their audiences, Kate speaks to the soprano Soraya Mafi, producer of Café Oto, Fielding Hope, and conductor Ilan Volkov about their creative responses to our current reality.

Kate Molleson recommends recordings of Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3, Sz. 119, BB 127

Kate Molleson heads down to Covent Garden where rehearsals are under way for a new production of Beethoven's Fidelio at the Royal Opera House. She speaks to conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, director Tobias Kratzer and soprano Amanda Forsythe, who sings Marzelline. Fidelio is sometimes considered a problem opera, with its mix of comic and serious, but Kratzer emphasises the deep themes of political revolution and unjust imprisonment, while for Pappano, Beethoven's score opened a new world for German opera, not least for Wagner. Kate also talks to Marta Gardolinska, Young Conductor in Association at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, about the challenges of forging a career as a conductor, and about her love of Polish music. And Music Matters joins the composer Valgeir Sigurdsson and director Stewart Laing as they discuss We Are In Time, a new music-theatre piece for the Scottish Ensemble about a heart transplant. It's a profound exploration of the emotional and scientific aspects of this most risky operation, with the ensemble's string players also taking on dramatic roles and singing. Kate also investigates the effectiveness of mood-based music playlists, with James Foley from Spotify and Hugo Shirley from classical streaming site Idagio - and gets a concert programmer's point of view from Helen Wallace, programme director of King's Place in London. Are mood lists a gateway to the treasures of classical music, or just dumbing down the art form?

Music Matters speaks to the violinist Tasmin Little about her involvement in music education, life as a recording artist, and her plans as she prepares to step down from the concert platform after an illustrious career that has spanned more than three decades. Kate Molleson hears from music journalist Philip Clark as he reflects on the time he spent shadowing the Dave Brubeck Quartet during their British tour as well as the epic interview he recorded with the jazz legend – all the subject of his new book Dave Brubeck: A life in time. Philip speaks about Brubeck’s early career, the bandleader’s unique improvisation and compositional styles, and his creative relationships with fellow band members. Two current jazz composers – Liam Noble and Laura Jurd – also share their views about the man who is synonymous with Take Five. Kate also talks to David Dolan and Karen Chan Barrett about their respective research projects using the power of EEG and fMRI scanning techniques to uncover what happens in the brains of musicians and audience members during improvisatory performance. And the subject of the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Total Immersion Day at the Barbican later this month, Kate steps into the unique and emotive sound world of the maverick Swedish composer Anders Hillborg as he reflects on his musical style, his abandonment of electronica, and how the compositional process is rewarding but not always necessarily fun!

Kate Molleson visits the world’s largest island to explore the role of traditional and new music for its communities today. Between the capital of Nuuk and smaller fishing town of Maniitsoq, Kate encounters drum dancers resurrecting a traditional Inuit practice which almost died out on Greenland’s west coast, discovers the political and sonic influence of the Greenlandic language on music from hymn singing to hip-hop, meets artists using their lyrics to engage with issues from the climate to the country’s deep-rooted social problems, and visits a music school offering a safe space to young people.

This week Kate Molleson talks to one of the great mezzo-sopranos, Alice Coote as she prepares for her role as Orpheus in Wayne McGregor’s production of Orpheus and Eurydice by Christoph Gluck at English National Opera this season. As the curtain rises on English National Opera's Orpheus season Kate explores how myth of Orpheus has resonated through time with conductor John Butt, classicist Charlotte Higgins, singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and Netia Jones, director of Philip Glass’s opera Orphée. Orlando Figes talks about his new book "The Europeans, Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture" which tells how Europe's cultural life transformed during the course of the 19th century through the lives of the great singer Pauline Viardot, her husband Louis, and the writer Ivan Turgenev. Photography © Jiyang Chen

Radio 3 presenter Kate Molleson celebrates a composer whose music is particularly important to her: the Frenchwoman Eliane Radigue, whose calm and long-form sense of perspective Kate finds inspirational.

Kate Molleson recommends recordings of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1 in D major, Op.19

Professional bassoonist and professional boxer Hannah Rankin explains the connections between the two disciplines. Tom Service is in Dundee, exploring the town's musical heritage which ranges from the Scottish Ensemble and Simple Minds to the latest innovations in virtual reality and gaming. Kate Molleson reports from this month's Nordic Music Days festival in Helsinki, which has included the work of Scottish composers for the first time. Pictured is the new V&A Dundee (image © Hufton+Crow).

Kate Molleson recommends a recorded version of Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex.

Radio 3 presenter Kate Molleson celebrates a composer whose music is particularly important to her: the Frenchwoman Eliane Radigue, whose calm and long-form sense of perspective Kate finds inspirational.

Internationally-acclaimed opera star Ariunbaatar Ganbaataar was born into a family of nomadic herders on the immense Mongolian steppe. In this hypnotic audio portrait, journalist Kate Molleson visits his family's ger to discover whether Mongolia's unique traditional culture – perhaps even its landscape itself – is the secret of his extraordinary vocal alchemy. Kate is treated to a performance of Mongolian longsong - the nation's traditional classical singing art - as well as joining Ariunbaatar on horseback to hear the songs he sang as a young boy, alone in the vast wilderness.

From the nomads of the vast steppe - to the glamour and adulation of the stage. Kate Molleson unravels the story of Mongolia's remarkable rise to being an opera superpower. And, in this special double bill, producer Steven Rajam joins Rhianna Dhillon to discuss the making of the programmes. Mongolia is becoming a global leader in opera singing - and completely breaking the mould. Young nomadic herders and horsemen are being plucked from the vast plains and taken to Ulaanbataar - where they're transformed into the next generation of top-flight tenors and baritones. It's a fascinating synergy of young men with the perfect physique, often honed in a rugged, traditional outdoorsmen culture, and a superb Soviet-era music and arts education system that - just over half a century after its State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet first opened - is delivering the next generation of global singing superstars. Radio 4 brings you a hypnotic audio portrait, taking you from the open plains, horse lullabies and throat singing of the endless Mongolian landscape to the cultural melee of Ulaanbataar - a place of stark contrasts where gleaming 21st century skyscrapers rise, yet where around half the population live in traditional gers (tents). A nation numbering just 3 million people, yet the size of Western Europe, and sandwiched between the gigantic superpowers of Russia and China - how much can Mongolia harness its cultural might to have a voice in global geopolitics? In the first episode, journalist Kate Molleson documents the story of Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar - last year, the winner of one of the most prestigious prizes in global opera: the BBC Cardiff Singer Of The World Song Prize, whose previous winners include Bryn Terfel and Ailish Tynan. Ariunbaatar was born to a family of nomadic herders, who still live a traditional lifestyle in the immense Mongolian steppe. At his family's ger, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, Kate is treated to a performance of Mongolian longsong - the nation's traditional classical singing art - as well as joining Ariunbaatar on horseback to hear the songs he sang as a young boy, alone in the vast wilderness. Is Mongolia's unique traditional culture - perhaps even its landscape itself - the secret of its extraordinary vocal alchemy? In the concluding episode, Kate explores the political value of Mongolia's musical prowess. In the Soviet era, the communist government used the people's love of traditional song to advance opera, and with it a certain idea of "civilisation"; in 2017, the current government see Mongolia's operatic might as a way of punching above its weight in global geopolitics. The buzzword on everyone's lips is "soft power" - a way for Mongolia to be part of a global conversation with nations - like its neighbours Russia and China - they could never compete with militarily or economically. As Mongolia's foremost opera star prepares to take the stage in Ulaanbaatar, Kate explores the diversity of Mongolia's musical makeup in 2017 - from breakout indie acts and hip hop DJs to women throat singers causing ripples in the nation's venerable traditional classical singing art. Producer: Steven Rajam Presenter: Kate Molleson A BBC Wales production for BBC Radio 4.

Kate Molleson recommends a version of Berg's Violin Concerto