Podcast appearances and mentions of Norman Lebrecht

From the archives John Kelly chats with conductor Norman Lebrecht about Gustav Mahler

A brief meditation on loss, relativity, and the vagaries of show business.RESOURCES:Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry, documentary (2021)Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947, by Norman Lebrecht (2019)The War Room, documentary (1993) EXTRAS:“Is San Francisco a Failed State? (And Other Questions You Shouldn't Ask the Mayor)” by Freakonomics Radio (2025)“Ari Emanuel Is Never Indifferent,” by Freakonomics Radio (2023)

José Manuel Zapata nos habla de ¿Por qué Beethoven? de Norman Lebrecht, donde se relatan diversos datos de Beethoven, como icono de la música clásica. Escuchar audio

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, music critic Norman Lebrecht and conductor JoAnn Falletta discuss what makes it revolutionary and why it's so challenging to perform.Michael McManus spent most of his career as a political advisor but has subsequently become a playwright. His new play Party Games is a political comedy that questions the power of AI and the influence of unelected advisors.A new exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford - Write, Cut, Rewrite - looks at the drafts, additions and omissions behind key artistic decisions from great writers. Writer Lawrence Norfolk and poet Alice Oswald talk about the importance of rewriting and editing.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Torquil MacLeod

In the fourth and final part of our staff picks episodes the Intelligence Squared team continue their look back across 2023 to pick their favourite moments from all of the podcasts we've produced over the past 12 months. Intelligence Squared CEO Matt McAllester joins Executive Producer Hannah Kaye for this instalment to select their highlights. Matt is going for James Comey and Armando Iannucci, who appeared live onstage together at London's Union Chapel in summer 2023. Hannah selects Bach vs Beethoven: The Battle of the Great Composers, in which celebrated cellist Steven Isserlis was joined onstage at Cadogan Hall in London alongside music writer and critic Norman Lebrecht to debate two giants of classical music. If you'd like to get access to all of our longer form interviews and members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events - Our member-only newsletter The Monthly Read, sent straight to your inbox ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series ... Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more ... Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Evidence from Nazi Germany and 1940's America (and pretty much everywhere else) shows that discrimination is incredibly costly — to the victims, of course, but also the perpetrators. One modern solution is to invoke a diversity mandate. But new research shows that's not necessarily the answer. RESOURCES:"Discrimination, Managers, and Firm Performance: Evidence from 'Aryanizations' in Nazi Germany," by Kilian Huber, Volker Lindenthal, and Fabian Waldinger (Journal of Political Economy, 2021)."Diversity and Performance in Entrepreneurial Teams," by Sophie Calder-Wang, Paul A. Gompers, and Kevin Huang (SSRN, 2021)."Systemic Discrimination Among Large U.S. Employers," by Patrick M. Kline, Evan K. Rose, and Christopher R. Walters (NBER Working Papers, 2021).City of Champions: A History of Triumph and Defeat in Detroit, by Silke-Maria Weineck and Stefan Szymanski (2020)."The Allocation of Talent and U.S. Economic Growth," by Chang-Tai Hsieh, Erik Hurst, Charles I. Jones, and Peter J. Klenow (Econometrica, 2019).Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947, by Norman Lebrecht (2019)."And the Children Shall Lead: Gender Diversity and Performance in Venture Capital," by Paul A. Gompers and Sophie Q. Wang (NBER Working Papers, 2017)."The Political Economy of Hatred," by Edward Glaeser (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2005)."Statistical Theories of Discrimination in Labor Markets," by Dennis J. Aigner and Glen G. Cain (Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 1977).The Economics of Discrimination, by Gary S. Becker (1957).EXTRAS:"A New Nobel Laureate Explains the Gender Pay Gap (Replay)," by Freakonomics Radio (2023)."Edward Glaeser Explains Why Some Cities Thrive While Others Fade Away," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021)."What Are the Secrets of the German Economy — and Should We Steal Them?" by Freakonomics Radio (2017).

Saskia is the producer and presenter of her own programme ‘SaskiaUnreserved' for the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation's Radio 4, which has been recently named RIK Classic.Saskia was born in Famagusta, Cyprus. Following the completion of her BMus(Hons) from the University of the Witwatersrand, she joined the National Symphony Orchestra of South Africa as a violinist where she played under conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Victor Yampolsky, Yehudi Menuhin, Enrique Batiz, Efrem Kurz and Carlo Franci. Her entrepreneurial spirit and love of travel led her to open a tour operating company with its own aircraft and a cargo department.Due to continuing violence in South Africa, Saskia moved to Cyprus in 2000, and joined the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, where she developed her own daily, classical music programme, PM Classics. Saskia also worked as a music critic in Cyprus, and had her own column in major English-language newspapers such as the Cyprus Mail and Cyprus Weekly. Interviews over the years have included personalities such as Nelson Mandela, Placido Domingo, Grigory Sokolov, Mahan Esfahani and Norman Lebrecht amongst others.Saskia furthered her qualifications by attaining an MBA from Aspen University, USA in 2011. She was awarded the accolade Cyprus Business Woman of the Year in 2010 for the launching of an online ticketing system and for initiating the children's gardening programme “Green Fingers”, which to date, has been attended by over 8,500 children. She has been CEO of Apollon International Connections, which developed into a multi-faceted company dedicated to the organisation and promotion of international concerts and festivals, in prestigious venues such New York's Carnegie Hall and London's Cadogan Hall, as well as launching the Cyprus International Food Festival.In 2018, the ‘no-holds-barred' programme – ‘SaskiaUnreserved' was launched on the newly formed Classic Channel of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. As producer and presenter, she interviews high profile achievers across a broad spectrum of subjects interspersed with a selection of classical music.Saskia is passionate about gardening, basketball and travel, and takes every opportunity to do so with her daughter, Sandra.

Hosts Nate Wilcox welcomes Norman Lebrecht author of "Why Beethoven: A Phenomenon in One Hundred Pieces." Nate asks Norman about Beethoven's innovative business practices, his conflicts with royalty, his opposition to the sexual mores of imperial Vienna and more. Buy the book and support the show. CHECK OUT THE NEW LET IT ROLL WEB SITE -- We've got all 350+ episodes listed, organized by mini-series, genre, era, co-host, guest and more. Please sign up for the email list on the site and get music essays from Nate as well as (eventually) transcriptions of every episode. Also if you can afford it please consider becoming a paid subscriber to support the show. Thanks! Have a question or a suggestion for a topic or person for Nate to interview? Email letitrollpodcast@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook. Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lo largo de los siglos XIX y XX varios hombres y mujeres cambiaron la manera en que vemos el mundo. Algunos de ellos, como Marx, Freud, Proust, Einstein, Bernhardt, Kafka.., son recurrentes en el imaginario colectivo. Sin embargo, muchos otros nombres se han ido borrando de nuestra memoria, pese a que sus ideas e innovaciones son esenciales en nuestra vida cotidiana aún hoy en día. Este es el caso del patólogo y biólogo, Karl Landsteiner; o la química Rosalind Franklin. Todos estos celebres personajes tienen en común más que el éxito profesional gracias a sus ingeniosas ideas; si no que, además, comparten sus orígenes judíos. Sus historias son recogidas en la obra “Genio y ansiedad. Cómo los judíos cambiaron el mundo, 1847-1947”, que nos presenta su autor Norman Lebrecht. Le acompañan Juan Lucas, director de la Revista Scherzo y el escritor y miembro de la Real Academia Española Félix de Azúa. Lebrecht es uno de los comentaristas más leídos de temas musicales y culturales. Sus artículos se publican en regularmente en varios países, en España destacan sus artículos para El País. Ha escrito doce libros sobre música que se han traducido a diecisiete lenguas. Como comentarista de temas musicales y culturales ha sido columnista del "Daily Telegraph", presentador de "BBC Radio 3" y subdirector del "Evening Standard". Así mismo, es propietario del blog de música clásica Slipped Disc.

SynopsisOn today's date in 1971, jazz great Louis Armstrong died in New York City at the age of 69. He was born in New Orleans, and for years, all the standard reference books listed his birthday as the Fourth of July, 1900. Well, it turned out that wonderfully symbolic date was cooked up by Armstrong's manager Joe Glaser. Louis himself wasn't sure when he was born, so the 4th of July seemed as good a date as any, and was accepted as fact for many years. Eventually documents were discovered that proved Armstrong was actually born on August 4, 1901.Armstrong earned the nickname “Satchmo”—short for “Satchelmouth”—and in later years he was affectionately dubbed “Pops.” If the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is to be believed, Armstrong was the central figure in the development of jazz in the 20th century.The British music critic Norman Lebrecht offered this assessment: “Armstrong never bowed his head nor sang from anywhere but the heart. He was a figure of enormous dignity and a musical innovator of universal importance.” Acknowledging his influence in American concert music, composer Libby Larsen subtitled one of her works, a 1990 Piano Concerto, “Since Armstrong.”Music Played in Today's ProgramLouis Armstrong (1901 - 1971) Skip the Gutter Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five Columbia 44422I'm in the Barrel arr. David Jolley Windscape Arabesque 6732

Amy Andersson is an Internationally recognized, Grammy-winning conductor and producer. Named by British music critic Norman Lebrecht as “America's most watched Symphony Orchestra Conductor,” Andersson has been praised for her dynamic musicality, expressive technique and cross genre repertoire. She has toured to over twenty-two countries conducting concerts and recording sessions in symphonic, operatic, film, musical theatre and video game genres. She has appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS Morning News, CBS Evening News and has garnered press coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Variety, Forbes, and Huffington Post. Andersson is founder and conductor of Orchestra Moderne NYC, which debuted at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and has won critical acclaim for her charismatic and visionary accomplishments as creator and conductor of Women Warriors: The Voices of Change, a live-to-picture symphony production and documentary film. Women Warriors has won over twenty-four international film and music awards including four Telly Awards, a Hollywood Music in Media Award, a GRAMMY in “Best Classical Compendium, a 2022 BMI “Impact Award,” a 2023 SCL “Jury Award” and has screened at film festivals in more than twelve countries, including the Fimucité International Film Music Festival in Tenerife. Known for her commitment to the music of living composers, she has conducted the works of composers Neal Acree, Elitsa Alexandrova, Peter Boyer, Nathalie Bonin, Jessica Curry, Miriam Cutler, Anne-Kathrin Dern, Greg Edmonson, Isolde Fair, Sharon Farber, Steve Jablonsky, Grant Kirkhope, Penka Kouneva, Bear McCreary, Martin O'Donnell, Kol Otani, Starr Parodi, Lolita Ritmanis, Garry Schyman, Yoko Shimomura, Jeremy Soule, George Strezov, Chance Thomas, Nobou Uematsu, Jack Wall, and Austin Wintory, among others, either on the concert stage or in recording sessions. Andersson has made guest appearances the St. Louis Symphony, Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Spanish Philharmonic, Berliner Symphoniker, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Stockholm Concert Orchestra, Spanish National Youth Orchestra, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Classic FM Radio Orchestra of Bulgaria, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Neiderrheinsche Symphoniker, LOH Orchestra Sonderhausen, Giessen Philharmonic, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Macedonian Philharmonic, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, National Orchestral of Mexico, and at free-lance orchestras in Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and Ireland. Andersson regularly conducted opera productions in Germany at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, National Theater of Mannheim, Stadttheater Aachen, Weikersheim Opera Festival, Rheinsberg Chamber Opera, and Schlosstheater Schwetzinger. In 2017 Andersson completed a two year, world tour of the live-to-picture concert Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. Andersson is a devoted teacher and educator and known also for her work with youth orchestras. She was adjunct conducting faculty at the Universität der Künste Berlin, music director of the famed CPE Bach High School of Performing Arts in Berlin, and adjunct faculty in Media and Film Scoring at Brooklyn College/Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. In Germany she conducted the Rheinberg Chamber Opera Festival and Weikersheim Opera Festival for four summer seasons of productions that featured rising opera singers and youth orchestras. She is currently conducting faculty at the USC Thornton in the Screen Scoring department, and the Hollywood Music Workshop in Baden, Austria. Current projects include Andersson as co-Executive Producer on the soon to be released film (2023)Tahlequah The Whale: A Dance of Grief, by filmmaker Daniel Kreizberg, featuring the music of Lolita Ritmanis. She is also conductor and co-producer of the soon to be released soundtrack.

This episode is part two of our live Bach vs Beethoven. In April 2023, the BBC's Reeta Chakrabarti was joined by world-renowned cellist Steven Isserlis and acclaimed music critic Norman Lebrecht to discuss who was greater, Bach or Beethoven? Mishka Rushdie Momen accompanies this conversation on the piano. Part three of this event is available ad free, for subscribers now.  We'd love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.  Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.  And if you'd like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency.  Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven are without doubt two of the most sublime musical geniuses who ever lived. But which of the two was the greater?  To battle it out In part one of this live event, Intelligence Squared brought to the stage two celebrated figures from the world of music: world-renowned cellist Steven Isserlis for Bach and acclaimed music critic Norman Lebrecht for Beethoven.  The event was hosted by the BBC's Reeta Chakrabarti, with Mishka Rushdie Momen on the piano. Part two and three of this event are available ad free, for subscribers now. And for our listeners who don't subscribe part 2 will be available in our next episode.  This conversation took place in April 2023. We'd love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be.  Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2.  And if you'd like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency .  Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ludwig van Beethoven had a profound faith in God. He was born and raised a Catholic and on his deathbed he asked to receive the Last Rites. He told the priest, 'I thank you, ghostly sir – you have brought me comfort.' One of his closest friends, Archduke Rudolf of Austria, was made a cardinal (before being ordained priest and bishop, something inconceivable today). To mark Rudolf's enthronement as Archbishop of Olomouc in 1819, Beethoven wrote a great Mass, and took such trouble over the setting of the Latin words that he delivered the work three years late. Yet, so far as we know, not once did the adult Beethoven actually attend a church service. Why? Norman Lebrecht, my guest on this episode of Holy Smoke, offers an explanation in his magnificent new book Why Beethoven: A Phenomenon in 100 Pieces.

Entre mediados del siglo XIX y del siglo XX, un puñado de hombres y mujeres cambiaron la manera en que vemos el mundo. Algunos de ellos serán para siempre nombres de referencia: Marx, Freud, Proust, Einstein, Bernhardt, Kafka. El escritor británico Norman Lebrecht entrelaza las historias de muchos de ellos en su último libro “Genio y ansiedad. Cómo los judíos cambiaron el mundo, 1847-1947”. En esta conversación con Lebrecht analizamos las vidas, historias y aportaciones de algunos de estos nombres que marcaron un antes y un después en sus respectivos ámbitos de trabajo. Repasamos cómo alcanzaron sus logros y qué les motivo a aportar su genio y creatividad a la sociedad de su tiempo.

Beethoven's love life has long fascinated music scholars primarily because so little is known about it despite some tantalising clues. In his new book, Why Beethoven, music critic Norman Lebrecht, identifies the dedicatee of Beethoven's well-loved melody Für Elise, while Jessica Duchen has written a novel, Immortal, which provides one answer to the question, who was Beethoven's “Immortal Beloved”? Both join Front Row to discuss why their explorations bring us closer to the composer. Garry Lyons on his new play Blow Down at Leeds Playhouse, written to mark the demolition of the iconic cooling towers at Ferrybridge Power Station. It's based on stories collected from people in Knottingley and Ferrybridge in Yorkshire. Blow Down will go on tour with performances in theatres and community centres across Yorkshire and the North East. A new film about Mahatma Gandhi and his assassin Nathuram Godse has caused some controversy in India. Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh (War of Ideologies) imagines a world in which Gandhi survived and went on to debate with Godse, a premise that some have found offensive. Director Rajkumar Santoshi discusses the reaction to his film and BBC journalist Vandana Vijay explains why there's increased sensitivity around some movies in India at the moment. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Emma Wallace

Tár is a psychological drama about an imaginary conductor, Lydia Tár, which has already made waves both for its central performance by Cate Blanchett and for its striking, sometimes dreamlike story about the abuses of power. It is tipped for awards and Cate Blanchett has already won the Golden Globe for her performance. The writer and director, Todd Field, joins Front Row. The news that the celebrated opera company Glyndebourne has cancelled its national tour for 2023, due to the recent cut to its Arts Council funding, was received as the latest bombshell on the UK's opera landscape. Glyndebourne's artistic director, Stephen Langridge, and the music writer and critic Norman Lebrecht discuss the company's decision and explore what kind of support and vision opera in the UK needs. Jyoti Patel on winning musician Stormzy's Merky Books New Writer's Prize in 2021 and now making her debut as novelist with her book, The Things We Have Lost. Continuing Front Row's look at the shortlist for this year's TS Eliot Prize For Poetry, today Anthony Joseph reads from his collection Sonnets For Albert – poems exploring being the Trinidad-born son of a mostly-absent father. The poem is called El Socorro. Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Emma Wallace Main Image Credit: Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár - Universal

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.

In which I meet with music journalist and author Norman Lebrecht and who also runs the wonderful classical music blog, Slippedisc. In a fascinating discussion we talked about the business of the Prom and whether the BBC and Proms will always be interlinked. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/rainer-herschs-proms-in-the-pub.

After enjoying a career as a successful ballet dancer, Christina Salerno shifted into the field of arts administration where her work as Executive Director of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra earned her the 2022 title of "Executive Director of the Year"! She joins Garrett to talk about her experiences in "classical" dance, the successes she's seen with the IPO, and her thoughts on shifting programming toward equity and audience development. Scott honors Cinco de Mayo with music by Silvestre Revueltas, Garrett offers a complementary work by William Grant Still, and the guys unpack the latest from controversial arts columnist, Norman Lebrecht. Playlist: Philip Glass - Violin Concerto No. 1 (mov. 3) Jessie Montgomery - "Voodoo Dolls" (perf. LunART Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3WRczMP2tQ) Philip Glass - Violin Concerto No. 2 (mov. 4) Silvestre Revueltas - "La Noche de los Mayas" William Grant Still - "Inca Melody" (from Vignettes for oboe, bassoon, and piano) John Williams - "Parade of the Ewoks" William Grant Still - "Sahdji" Bueno Vista Social Club - "Chan Chan" More: Christina Salerno/Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra: https://ipomusic.org/staff/ Downbeat (Van Lathan on Social Justice Activism): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmbVbRpBzQc&t=2035s The Black Orchestral Network: https://www.blackorchestralnetwork.org Garrett McQueen Performs w/ Lakeville Arts Center Chamber Ensemble: https://www.facebook.com/coffeeconcerts/ MNSpin: https://hclib.musicat.co Jessie Montgomery on Classical Music Inclusivity: https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2022/04/28/1094807744/can-classical-music-really-be-inclusive-composer-jessie-montgomery-thinks-so Bring on the Big Beasts: https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/may-2022/bring-on-the-big-beasts/?fbclid=IwAR3Vr8CP2S9pMBXg7u6w2ofNyxtlfrOVVQmfia_OeuiFK_FYrw79oLDNvzc Into the Demon's Mouth: https://tricycle.org/magazine/demons-mouth/

John Kelly is joined by musical journalist and author Norman Lebrecht as they ponder, why Mahler?

Verdi created some of the most beloved operas of all time. Wagner's music is in an altogether more intellectual sphere. Back in 2013, Stephen Fry hosted a debate featuring cultural critic and author Norman Lebrecht, novelist and critic Philip Hensher and conductor Paul Wynne Griffiths, plus opera singers Dušica Bijeli and John Tomlinson, to decide which of the two highly influential composers take top billing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Synopsis On today's date in 1956, the English composer Gerald Finzi died in Oxford. He was just 55 years old. Finzi suffered from Hodgkin's disease, and shortly before his death had caught chickenpox from some children he had visited, an infection that proved fatal. Finzi was born into a wealthy, assimilated Jewish family. His mother was musical, and an amateur composer. Even with talent, wealth, support from the likes of Ralph Vaughan Williams and several golden opportunities for career advancement, Finzi proved to be a rather diffident soul who seemed to prefer to work in seclusion and relative obscurity. He collected rare books and scores by 18th century English composers but is most famous for his settings of poems by Thomas Hardy, a contemporary of his parent's generation. Himself an agnostic, Finzi produced a small body of sacred choral works, and two instrumental pieces that have endeared him to clarinetists: a set of  clarinet  “Bagatelles” from 1943 and this Clarinet Concerto from 1949. The British critic Norman Lebrecht offers this assessment of Finzi's appeal: “a confluence of Elgar without bluffness and Vaughan Williams at his most delicate. His concerto for clarinet and strings is a light and lovely lament for lost times.” Music Played in Today's Program Gerald Finzi (1901 – 1956) — Clarinet Concerto (Richard Stoltzman, clarinet; Guildhall String Ensemble; Robert Slater, cond.) BMG 60437

Norman Lebrecht, the well-known UK musical critic, has recently claimed that the appointment of chief conductors has little impact on the performance of orchestras. Music Director Gemma New joins the show to offer her thoughts.

Norman Lebrecht, the well-known UK musical critic, has recently claimed that the appointment of chief conductors has little impact on the performance of orchestras. Music Director Gemma New joins the show to offer her thoughts.

Music commentator Norman Lebrecht joins Rabbi Dweck to discuss why music moves us like nothing else can, the nature of genius, and how recent technologies like streaming are revolutionising the music world.Norman Lebrecht is a writer, broadcaster, and commentator on music and cultural affairs, known for his world-renowned classical music blog Slipped Disc and his extensive work for BBC Radio 3. He was formerly a columnist for The Daily Telegraph, an assistant editor of The Evening Standard, and is the author of twelve books on music and the Whitbread Award-winning novel The Song of Names.This episode is dedicated in memory of Samuel Adwar (Shmuel Ben Yosef) by Lauren and Keith Breslauer. CreditsHosted by Rabbi Joseph DweckProduced by Ben Weaver-HincksEdited, mixed and mastered by Audio CultureMusic by James CookDesign by Ellen Jane LondonMedia consultancy by Giselle GreenExecutive produced by James PontHumans Being is grateful for the support of The Sephardi Centre See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Join a cappella quintet Papagena (Abbi, Lizzie, Sarah, Suzie and Suzzie) as they discuss life in an all female UK ensemble: Choosing and writing repertoire for women's voices, programming their diverse concerts and celebrating the group's relationship with the wonderful Orchestra of the Swan. All of this chat is peppered with laughter and beautiful music from the group. Thanks for listening.“If Papagena were an all-male a cappella ensemble rather than an all-female group they would be household names in the UK” - Gramophone  “More even than the music it's the juxtapositions that deliver the thrills of discovery...I want to hear them live.”  Album of the week - Norman Lebrecht, Slipped Disc

Andrew Miller, the Government’s first Disability Champion for Arts and Culture, is stepping down after three years in the post. He discusses the challenges facing disabled people in the creative industries and his hopes for the future. Jenny Sealey is Artistic Director of deaf and disabled theatre company Graeae and Robert Softley Gale is Artistic Director of Birds of Paradise, Scotland’s first touring theatre company employing disabled and non-disabled actors. They discuss the impact of the pandemic on disabled theatre makers. The London Symphony Orchestra has announced that Sir Antonio Pappano will be their next Chief Conductor, starting in September 2024. He takes over from Sir Simon Rattle who made a surprise announcement in January that he would be returning to conduct in Germany. Norman Lebrecht - author of The Maestro Myth - discusses the significance of this appointment for classical music in the UK. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser Main image: Graeae Theatre Company's 2018 tribute to wounded British veterans, This is Not For You Image credit: Dawn McNamara

Join a cappella quintet Papagena (Abbi, Lizzie, Sarah, Suzie and Suzzie) as they discuss life in an all female UK ensemble: Breaking into the classical music industry, taking risks as a new group, building audiences, and the hilarious moments when things go wrong in concerts. All of this chat is peppered with laughter and beautiful music from the group. Thanks for listening.“If Papagena were an all-male a cappella ensemble rather than an all-female group they would be household names in the UK” - Gramophone  “More even than the music it's the juxtapositions that deliver the thrills of discovery...I want to hear them live.”  Album of the week - Norman Lebrecht, Slipped Disc@papagenasingerswww.papagena.co.uk

Join a cappella quintet Papagena (Abbi, Lizzie, Sarah, Suzie and Suzzie) as they discuss life in an all female UK ensemble: sharing experiences on releasing their brand new album 'Hush!', backstage banter within the group, working in the classical music industry and generally what it's like singing in a group like this. All of this chat is peppered with laughter and beautiful music from the group. Thanks for listening.“If Papagena were an all-male a cappella ensemble rather than an all-female group they would be household names in the UK” - Gramophone“More even than the music it's the juxtapositions that deliver the thrills of discovery...I want to hear them live.”  Album of the week - Norman Lebrecht, Slipped Disc@papagenasingerswww.papagena.co.uk

Join a cappella quintet Papagena (Abbi, Lizzie, Sarah, Suzie and Suzzie) as they discuss life in an all female UK ensemble: releasing their Christmas album 'The Darkest Midnight', programming their concerts, working with a record label and generally what it's like singing in a group like this. All of this chat is peppered with laughter and beautiful music from the group. Thanks for listening.“If Papagena were an all-male a cappella ensemble rather than an all-female group they would be household names in the UK” - Gramophone“More even than the music it's the juxtapositions that deliver the thrills of discovery...I want to hear them live.”  Album of the week - Norman Lebrecht, Slipped Disc@papagenasingerswww.papagena.co.uk

This week Larry Gentis takes on the role of Nicodemus, Malcolm Guite reads a poem on "Transposing", Michael Berkeley talks to William Sieghart about the power of poetry, and Damian Thomson quizzes Norman Lebrecht on his book about Jewish history. Finally Tim Carter discusses how we should celebrate the modern harvest.

Singing and Jewish prayer are inextricably connected, and yet, we are in a time when singing in public can be dangerous to our health due to Covid-19. Can Judaism exist without song? In today's podcast, I look at the origins as to why Jews sing - as a response to miracles. Today's Challenge - create a playlist of songs that fills you up - here's a start - a Rosh Hashanah Playlist - https://spoti.fi/3ibdq9uHere's an article to read - 'Without music, would we even be Jewish?' "Women's singing is taboo and so is listening to music in a time of loss – but song is part of every celebration and occasion. Norman Lebrecht explores the history of music and Jews, from King David to Leonard Cohen"https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/01/without-music-would-jews-be-jewish

Barbara Kingsolver talks about her new book, How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) which is only her second collection of poetry. As well as offering practical advice (on knitting, getting divorced, doing nothing) the poems are about family, and making peace with life and death. Barbara also reflects on the redemptive power of art and poetry itself and celebrates the natural world whilst mourning its desecration. All this week on Front Row, creative individuals from the arts are choosing one Lockdown Discovery, a cultural find that has given them pleasure in the dark months of Covid-19. We start today with production designer Es Devlin, who tells us about her discovery - The Tempest by Creation Theatre. Sculptor Thomas J Price will unveil his statue Reaching Out this Wednesday. Depicting an anonymous everywoman absorbed in silent communication, the statue stands at 9 feet tall and will be one of only three public sculptures of Black women in the whole of the UK. Norman Lebrecht discusses the extraordinary career of the American concert pianist Leon Fleisher, who has just died at the age of 92. Fleisher lost the use of his right hand and performed left-handed for several decades, before regaining the ability to play with both hands later in life. Presenter : Kirsty Lang Producer : Julian May Production Co-ordinator : Hilary Buchanan Main image: Barbara Kingsolver Image credit: Steven L. Hopp

Michael Shapiro in conversation with author, critic, and historian Norman Lebrecht about the foundations of his writings, the background of his latest book, "Genius and Anxiety, How Jews Changed the World 1847-1947," and the role of world Jewry in today’s society. www.michaelshapiro.com www.normanlebrecht.com

On today's date in 1971, jazz great Louis Armstrong died in New York City at the age of 69. He was born in New Orleans, and for years, all the standard reference books listed his birthday as the Fourth of July, 1900. Well, it turned out that wonderfully symbolic date was cooked up by Armstrong's manager Joe Glaser. Louis himself wasn't sure when he was born, so the 4th of July seemed as good a date as any, and was accepted as fact for many years. Eventually documents were discovered that proved Armstrong was actually born on August 4, 1901. Armstrong earned the nickname "Satchmo"—short for "Satchelmouth"—and in later years he was affectionately dubbed "Pops." If the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is to be believed, Armstrong was the central figure in the development of jazz in the 20th century. In the 1960s, radical blacks criticized Armstrong as an "Uncle Tom" too eager to please white audiences, forgetting that it was Armstrong, alone among his jazz peers, who courageously criticized President Eisenhower for not defending the black children attempting to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The British music critic Norman Lebrecht offered this assessment: "Armstrong never bowed his head nor sang from anywhere but the heart. He was a figure of enormous dignity and a musical innovator of universal importance." Acknowledging his influence in American concert music, composer Libby Larsen subtitled one of her works, a 1990 Piano Concerto, "Since Armstrong."

On today's date in 1971, jazz great Louis Armstrong died in New York City at the age of 69. He was born in New Orleans, and for years, all the standard reference books listed his birthday as the Fourth of July, 1900. Well, it turned out that wonderfully symbolic date was cooked up by Armstrong's manager Joe Glaser. Louis himself wasn't sure when he was born, so the 4th of July seemed as good a date as any, and was accepted as fact for many years. Eventually documents were discovered that proved Armstrong was actually born on August 4, 1901. Armstrong earned the nickname "Satchmo"—short for "Satchelmouth"—and in later years he was affectionately dubbed "Pops." If the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is to be believed, Armstrong was the central figure in the development of jazz in the 20th century. In the 1960s, radical blacks criticized Armstrong as an "Uncle Tom" too eager to please white audiences, forgetting that it was Armstrong, alone among his jazz peers, who courageously criticized President Eisenhower for not defending the black children attempting to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The British music critic Norman Lebrecht offered this assessment: "Armstrong never bowed his head nor sang from anywhere but the heart. He was a figure of enormous dignity and a musical innovator of universal importance." Acknowledging his influence in American concert music, composer Libby Larsen subtitled one of her works, a 1990 Piano Concerto, "Since Armstrong."

Join us as we go to the United Kingdom to drink and chat with Norman Lebrecht about the new normal, or "Indigo Period", in our industry and in our world. https://slippedisc.com/

With writer Norman Lebrecht, whose book Genius and Anxiety takes a look at the exceptional intellectual contribution of Jews from 1847 to 1947, to the worlds of medicine, music, philosophy, engineering and more. Presented by Damian Thompson.

Today on the Richard Crouse Show Podcast: Howard Shore has composed scores for over 80 films, including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. He has three Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and four Grammy Awards on his shelves and was the original musical director for the American show Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979.  He has also composed a few concert works including one opera, The Fly, based on the plot of Cronenberg's 1986 film.   Today we discuss his acreer and recent work on the Tim Roth film "The Song of Names."Based on the award-winning novel by music scholar Norman Lebrecht, "The Song of Names" is a bold journey through friendship, betrayal, and reconciliation.

This week on The Richard Crouse Show Podcast: Howard Shore has composed scores for over 80 films, including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. He has three Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and four Grammy Awards on his shelves and was the original musical director for the American show Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979. He has also composed a few concert works including one opera, The Fly, based on the plot of Cronenberg's 1986 film. Based on the award-winning novel by music scholar Norman Lebrecht, THE SONG OF NAMES is a bold journey through friendship, betrayal, and reconciliation.

New York-area listeners: Enter to win a spot at our first-ever Unorthodox Shabbat dinner, January 3rd at the Freehand New York. This week on Unorthodox, we’re getting into the Hanukkah spirit.  But first, a discussion of the terrifying anti-Semitic shooting at a Jersey City kosher market that killed four people. Then, Rabbi Ari Lamm explains the real story of Hanukkah, which is less about oil and miracles and more about Jews battling each other over assimilation. And since the holiday season is synonymous with movies, we talk to Clive Owen and Howard Shore, the star and composer of The Song of Names, which opens in theaters on Christmas. The film, based on the novel of the same name by Norman Lebrecht, features Owen as a Hasidic violin prodigy. We also chat with Rabbi Daniel Cohen of Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange, NJ, about how he incorporates the latest technology into his work. Let us know what you think of the show: email us at Unorthodox@tabletmag.com or leave a message at 914-570-4869. Come see us on tour! December 19 – St. Louis: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel January 8, 2020 – Westport, Connecticut: Book talk with Mark and Liel February 6, 2020 – Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Book talk with Stephanie & Liel February 9, 2020 – Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: Book talk with Mark and Liel February 26, 2020 – Naples, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Mark March 12, 2020 – Boca Raton, Florida: Book talk with Stephanie and Liel Copies of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia will be sold and signed at each event. Like the book? Leave us a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get new episodes, photos, and more. Follow Unorthodox on Twitter and Instagram and join our Facebook group. Get your Unorthodox T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baby onesies here. Sponsors: Hebrew College’s vibrant and pluralistic community trains aspiring rabbis, cantors, and educational leaders. Learn more at hebrewcollege.edu/explore. Applications for Fall 2020 are due January 15, 2020. Adeena Sussman’s cookbook Sababa shares the vibrant flavors of Israeli home cooking, and makes a great Hanukkah gift for the foodie in your life. Get a copy of Sababa online or at your favorite bookstore Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pictured: David Bellamy Matthew Bannister on David Bellamy, the botanist who became a household name through his popular TV programmes, but fell from prominence after describing man-made global warming as "poppycock". Nell Gifford, who founded and ran a circus company known for its retro styling and creativity. Yasuhiro Nakasone, the Japanese Prime Minister who formed a strong bond with US President Ronald Reagan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Mariss Jansons, the Latvian-born conductor noted for his interpretation of Mahler and Strauss. Interviewed guest: David Shreeve Interviewed guest: Chris Baines Interviewed guest: Cal McCrystal Interviewed guest: Dr Christopher Hood Interviewed guest: Norman Lebrecht Producer: Neil George Archive clips from: Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 01/01/1978; Profile, Radio 4 16/09/1983; Torrey Canyon and the Toxic Tides, Radio 4 18/03/2017; Today, Radio 4 12/12/2019; Backyard Safari, BBC One 09/07/1981; Bard on the Box, BBC Two 23/10/1994; Midweek, Radio 4 08/06/2011; Nell Gifford: Behind the Curtain, directed by Gem Hall, July 2019; The World Tonight, Radio 4 11/06/1984; Nippon: Risen Sun, BBC Two 09/12/1990; Reagan/Nakasone arrival ceremony, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, 30/04/1987; Mariss Jansons interviewed by Norman Lebrecht, Radio 3 29/08/2007.

The deaths of two giants of the arts were announced today. The Australian poet, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and essayist, Clive James, and the theatre and opera director, actor, author and medical doctor Sir Jonathan Miller. Shahidha Bari is joined by Ian McEwan, Eric Idle, Norman Lebrecht, Melvin Bragg and Pete Atkin to pay tribute. Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Tim Prosser and the Front Row team

Recently I had the great fortune to attend Women Warriors: The Voices of Change, at Lincoln Center in New York, led by Amy Andersson, conductor with Orchestra Moderne NYC, and to say that it was earth-shattering would be an understatement. From their description: “Women Warriors: The Voices of Change is a ground-breaking concert creation that honors the strength and heroism of global activists fighting for social justice, human and civil rights, environmental causes, minority rights, gender equality and for the right of every girl to have access to education.  A cultural tour de force whose time has come, this project highlights the achievements of past and current activists who have risked their lives in the name of women's rights.”This is a celebration of women activists over the centuries who have been fighting for social justice, and I was so moved that I knew I had to share this with my audience. In this episode I am truly honored to introduce you to Amy Andersson, the creative force behind Women Warriors, as she talks about how she came up with the idea for this event, why it's so important, and where she hopes to take it in the future.   It would really mean a lot to me if you would go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review (hopefully a great one!), leave a 5 star rating, subscribe to this podcast so you never miss an episode, and download the episodes! And please spread the word and help our community grow! Thank you so much spending your time with me! And if you aren't following me already, you can find me on Instagram and Facebook, and click here to receive my newsletter. May you live purposefully, may you love yourself, and may you love life. Bye for now! About Amy Andersson Conductor Amy Andersson is known most recently as founder and Music Director of Orchestra Moderne NYC, a game-changing new ensemble in New York City that recently made their successful debut at Carnegie Hall on October 7, 2017. Appearances on Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS Morning News, CBS Evening News, and press coverage in the Wall Street Journal have led music critic Norman Lebrecht to call her “America's most-watched Symphony Orchestra Conductor.” Amy's personal Twitter & IG: @amymaestra Amy's website: https://amyanderssonconductor.com Orchestra Moderne NYC's Twitter: @orchestramodern Orchestra Moderne NYC's IG: @orchestramodernenyc You can learn more about Women Warriors here: https://www.womenwarriorsthevoicesofchange.com  

Filmmaker Chanya Button talks about Vita & Virginia, which explores the relationship between Virginia Woolf and fellow writer Vita Sackville-West, the inspiration for the protagonist of Woolf’s novel Orlando. Based on the correspondence between the two women, the film stars Elizabeth Debicki and Gemma Arterton. Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, hailed as one of the funniest plays ever written, was first performed in 1982 at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, where a new production has just opened. It’s a farce about a touring production of a farce, in which the Assistant Stage Manager Poppy struggles to control her actors. Front Row talks to Lois Chimimba, who plays Poppy, and her real life counterpart, Caroline Meer. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, based on an ode by Friedrich Schiller, was adopted by the EU as its anthem. Following the Brexit party’s response to it being played at the opening of the European parliament, Norman Lebrecht discusses why this piece of music has had so much political resonance since its composition in 1824. Once upon a time, computer games - like much of the media - perpetuated negative stereotypes about mental health. Now they’re at the forefront of moves to tackle the stigma sometimes associated with conditions like depression and anxiety. Jordan Erica explains why the rise of the independent gaming sector and the mental health backgrounds of many developers makes modern gaming the perfect forum in which to boost empathy between sufferers and non-sufferers. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Rebecca Armstrong and Simon Richardson

In his new series After Life, Ricky Gervais plays a local journalist who tries to find humour as he struggles in the wake of his wife's death, with a dog as his closest companion. Gervais discusses how he copes with people's reactions and offence at his work and the controversy surrounding historical social media posts and celebrity redemption.Tom Walker, winner of this year's British Breakthrough Act at the Brits, performs his new single Just You and I live in studio. He describes his music as a mix of “hip hop, a tiny bit of blues, a bit of pop with a splash of reggae” and his debut album, What a Time to be Alive, has seen him collaborate with producers such as Naughty Boy and Steve Mac, who has worked with Ed Sheeran.Critic and broadcaster Norman Lebrecht looks at the life of the late composer, conductor and pianist Andre Previn.With the sales of young adult literature falling by a third in the last year, Charlotte Eyre of the Bookseller and publisher Crystal Mahey-Morgan discuss the reasons for the drop and where potential for the future lies for these books.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Harry Parker

The actor and one-time theology student James Norton discusses his role as Alex Godman in new TV thriller McMafia. His character begins the series as a public advocate of clean capitalism with his own hedge fund investing only in ethical business, but Alex can't escape his Russian family connections and slowly gets drawn into the dangerous world of international organised crime and corruption. Penny Martin, editor of The Gentlewoman, and Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, deputy editor of gal-dem magazine, discuss the agendas of their respective publications and the independent magazine landscape, which is vibrant and culturally significant.You love opera and would love to nurture such love in a loved one: music critics Norman Lebrecht and Alexandra Coghlan are at hand to help, offering their choices of a recording of an opera to entice the reluctant and a cracker available on a DVD. The Royal and Derngate Theatre in Northampton is staging The Jungle Book. It's impossible, but try to put 'I'm the King of the Swingers' out of your mind. This is a new musical with songs and a score by Joe Stilgoe (yes, son of...), which looks beyond Walt Disney to Rudyard Kipling and his stories about Mowgli, the boy brought up by wolves, and finds in them themes for our times: the complexities of cultural identity in a diverse world, what the Law of the Jungle means and where the Jungle might be. And Joe performs the song he has written for Baloo the Bear, live in the Front Row studio.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May.

Yesterday saw the announcement of the death Rodney Bewes, the actor most fondly remembered playing the aspirational Bob in the BBC sitcom The Likely Lads. His co-star from the series James Bolam talks about working with Bewes in one of sitcom's most famous double-acts and the supposed feud between the two.As Gilbert & George celebrate 50 years of living and working together, Kirsty visits them at their Spitalfields home and studio to discuss their career, a new exhibition called The Beard Pictures and a new book, What is Gilbert & George?Marnie, the book by Winston Graham that inspired Hitchcock's thriller of the same name, has now inspired composer and opera wunderkind Nico Muhly to create his third opera, also called Marnie. Music critic Alexandra Coghlan attended its world premiere at English National Opera and reviews. Plus we ask music critic Norman Lebrecht to discuss whether opera has become a derivative art form, and we pay tribute to Russian opera bass-baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who has died at the age of 55.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Julian May.

Möt Louise Pollock, kvinnlig trombon-pionjär. Hur är läget för kvinnor inom konstmusik 10 år efter att P2 sände den legendariska programserien Konsten att humla? Del ett av fem. Av Birgitta Tollan. Programserien Kvinnors musik på väg! vill undersöka hur det står till med kvinnor och konstmusik så här tio år efter det att P2 sände den legendariska programserien Konsten att humla, 2006. Har det blivit bättre för kvinnor inom konstmusiken? För tonsättarna, musikerna, dirigenterna av det "täcka" könet? Eller lever vi fortfarande i en värld så som den engelske musikkritikern och författaren Norman Lebrecht uttryckte det då: Klassisk musik är en konstform som tystar kvinnor. Halva mänskligheten utestängts från den kreativa processen. Det finns inga kvinnliga tonsättare i den symfoniska kanon. Karriärer har slagits i spillror. Självförtroenden har knäckts hos kvinnor. Den klassiska musiken styrs av en old boys club som stryper musiken. 2016 vann en kvinna för första gången någonsin trombonistpriset  den prestigefyllda tävlingen Aeolus Bläserwettbewerb i Robert Schumann Hochschule i Düsseldorf. Den skickliga och glada vinnaren heter Louise Pollock och hon är stämledare i Göteborgsoperans orkester. Louise vann också publikpriset! Hon har studerat i Schweiz och Tyskland och arbetat som stämledare och trombonist vid Stuttgartfilharmonikerna i tre år. Men har hon någonsin spelat en trombonkonsert av en kvinnlig tonsättare? Hur står det till med kvinnonärvaron på konstmusikutbildningarna i Sverige? Inte förrän 2009 fick Sverige sin första kvinnliga professor i musikalisk komposition. Det är tonsättaren Karin Rehnqvist, vid Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm. Hon berättar att kvinnor inte söker in i samma utsträckning som män vid utbildningen i nutida konstmusik. Så är det även vid Musikhögskolorna i Malmö och i Örebro samt vid Gotlands tonsättarskola. Däremot studerar kvinnor oftare vid de elektroakustiska utbildningarna. Vid Musikhögskolan i Stockholm är de i majoritet, nämligen sex kvinnor och fem män. - Jag tänker att det kanske har att göra med att man, när det gäller elektroakustiskt, har hand om allting från början till slut. Man är inte beroende av musiker, man är inte beroende av någon dirigent utan man har hand om uttrycksmedlen helt själv, säger Karin Rehnqvist. Positivt är dock att flera universitet och högskolor över hela landet arbetar med jämställdhetsprojekt. På Musikhögskolan i Stockholm t ex, finns Normkritiska Gruppen och Konstmusiksystrar, som är ett nätverk för unga kompositörer och ljudkonstnärer inom konstmusik som definierar sig som kvinnor eller transpersoner. I detta första program möter vi även norska tonsättaren Synne Skouen, Lo Kristenson och Kajsa Lindgren från Konstmusiksystrar och svenska violasten Mika Persdotter Svensson, som startar ett Damkapell i Köpenhamn. Tonsättaren och ljudkonstnären Kajsa Magnarsson är dotterdotter till Huldas Karin i Evert Taubes visa. Kajsa spelar bl a gitarr med en penisattrapp. Vi möter även tonsättarna Tebogo Monnakgotla och Ida Lundén, vilka tillsammans med Karin Rehnqvist 2008 bildade föreningen Kvast, med den humoristiska titeln Kvinnlig anhopning av svenska tonsättare. På hemsidan står det att läsa: Kvast är en ideell förening som verkar för att mer musik av kvinnor ska klinga i konserthus, på experimentscener, i aulor och allsköns musikhus runt om i landet, ja i världen. Ju fler konstnärliga uttryck, desto rikare musikliv! Kvast arbetar bl a med projektet Jämställd repertoar och har under de senaste åren regelbundet presenterat rapporter över andelen kvinnliga tonsättare i de största orkestrarna. Det visar sig att döda utländska män fortsätter att dominera repertoaren på de statsunderstödda svenska musikinstitutionerna. Andelen kvinnliga tonsättare är försvinnande liten fortfarande. Och det är ständigt samma tonsättare som spelas med Johannes Brahms i spetsen. Ja, som musikkritikern i The New Yorker Alex Ross skrev: Föreställ er Broadway med enbart döda dramatiker och förlag som endast ger ut nyutgåvor av Dickens. Men det finns ljuspunkter: - Kvast har betytt mycket. Frågan om kvinnliga tonsättare har lyfts, och vi är synliga. Vad det gäller festivaler med ny musik så finns alltid kvinnor med numera. När man beställer nya verk så är man noga med att också beställa av kvinnliga tonsättare, förklarar Karin Rehnqvist Stockholms Konserthus går i bräschen med att i sitt säsongsprogram 2016-17 ha med rekordsiffran 39 kvinnliga tonsättare på programmet. På sin hemsida har Kvast en repertoarbank, en av världens mest omfattande samlingar, av kompositioner av kvinnor med över 1670 verk! Du kan bläddra, söka och provlyssna på orkestermusik, kammarmusik av alla de slag elektronmusik och liveelektronik, kör, opera. Du kan söka verk av kvinnliga komponister efter genre, besättning, titel eller durata. http://kvast.org   En annan glad nyhet: Kvinnliga kompositörer får för första gången en större del av kakan när Kulturrådet delar ut sitt årliga stöd till tonsättare. - Det är tydligt att det lönar sig att trycka på om förändring kring jämställdhetsfrågor. Det är nu en bra balans bland de sökande när det gäller genusperspektivet, säger Magnus Lemark, handläggare på Kulturrådet, i ett pressmeddelande. Musiklista:Stensöta Karin Wiberg - Forest Food Kompositör: Corinne Von Dardel Lo Kristenson - Vridna, Vågsång Kompositör: Lo KristensonTove Bagge, viola Hanna Cronhjort, kontrabas Julija Morgan, violin Susanne Rosenberg, Lena Willemark, Agnete Christensen - Davids Nimm Kompositör: Karin Rehnqvist Bolag: PHONO SUECIA Sisu - Fair Play - Pocket Music For Percussion Ii Kompositör: Synne Skouen Bolag: Aurora David Geringas (Cello), Yasha Nemtsov (Piano) [rec On 06, 09, 13 At Klosterkirche, Traunstein As Part Of The 2013 Traunstein Summer Concerts] [3, 01, 14] - The Flight Of The Bumblebee (From The Tale Of Tsar Saltan) [Encore, Arr Joseph Stirmer] [Appl] Kompositör: Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai [1844-1908] Kajsa Lindgren - Coalesce Kompositör: Kajsa Lindgren Mika Persdotter Svensson - Selfie Kompositör: Mika Persdotter Svensson Kajsa Magnarsson - Strap-On Kompositör: Kajsa Magnarsson Evert Taube, Jerry Högstedt, Cupol-Orkestern - Huldas Karin Album: Svenska Favoriter: Här Är Den Sköna Sommaren Kompositör: Evert Taube Bolag: ANCHA Louise Pollock - Konsert För Alt-Trombon Och Orkester Kompositör: Marco Bordogni Christian Lindberg - Concerto For Trombone Kompositör: Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Bolag: Bis Juha Kangas, Österbottniska Kammarorkestern - Kast Album: Davids Nimm Kompositör: Karin Rehnqvist Bolag: PHONO SUECIA Geir Inge Lotsberg - Une Soirée D'Été Album: Apollyon Skouen And Åm Kompositör: Synne Skouen Bolag: AFONTIBUS Kronoskvartetten - All Those Strings Kompositör: Karin Rehnqvist Kronoskvartetten - All Those Strings Kompositör: Karin Rehnqvist Adolf Fredriks Flickkör/Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester (Stockholm)/Honeck, Manfred - Ljus Av Ljus Album: Musikstad I Europa Kompositör: Rehnqvist, Karin Kungliga Filharmonikerna, Stockholm, Dirigent Kazuki Yamada, - Light Years Away - Supernova! (Uruppförande) Kompositör: Tebogo Monnagkotla Hanna Dahlkvist Cello, Ida Lundén Elektronik - Songs My Mothers Taught Me Kompositör: Ida Lundén Syntjuntan - Atmosfärisk Drill Album: Syntjuntan Kompositör: Lise-Lotte Norelius Bolag: SCHHH RECORDS Ida Lundén - Pygostylia Akt1 Kompositör: Ida Lundén Lena Willemark, Susanne Rosenberg, Helena Gabrielsson - Puksånger - Lockrop Album: Sun Song Kompositör: Karin Rehnqvist Bolag: BIS Anna Eriksson - Sutra (Part I) Kompositör: Anna Eriksson Bolag: Lamour Göran W Nilson, Kungl Filharmoniska Orkestern (Stockholm) - Lamento - Rytmen Av En Röst Album: Davids Nimm Kompositör: Karin Rehnqvist Bolag: PHONO SUECIA Susanne Rosenberg, Lena Willemark, Agnete Christensen - Davids NimmAlbum: Davids Nimm Kompositör: Karin Rehnqvist Bolag: PHONO SUECIA Lena Willemark, Niklas Willén, Sundsvalls Kammarorkester, Maria Garlöv, Ninn Persson - SolsångenAlbum: Solsången Kompositör: Karin Rehnqvist Bolag: INTIM MUSIK

Möt Louise Pollock, kvinnlig trombon-pionjär. Hur är läget för kvinnor inom konstmusik 10 år efter att P2 sände den legendariska programserien Konsten att humla? Del ett av fem. Av Birgitta Tollan. Programserien Kvinnors musik på väg! vill undersöka hur det står till med kvinnor och konstmusik så här tio år efter det att P2 sände den legendariska programserien Konsten att humla, 2006. Har det blivit bättre för kvinnor inom konstmusiken? För tonsättarna, musikerna, dirigenterna av det "täcka" könet? Eller lever vi fortfarande i en värld så som den engelske musikkritikern och författaren Norman Lebrecht uttryckte det då: Klassisk musik är en konstform som tystar kvinnor. Halva mänskligheten utestängts från den kreativa processen. Det finns inga kvinnliga tonsättare i den symfoniska kanon. Karriärer har slagits i spillror. Självförtroenden har knäckts hos kvinnor. Den klassiska musiken styrs av en old boys club som stryper musiken. 2016 vann en kvinna för första gången någonsin trombonistpriset  den prestigefyllda tävlingen Aeolus Bläserwettbewerb i Robert Schumann Hochschule i Düsseldorf. Den skickliga och glada vinnaren heter Louise Pollock och hon är stämledare i Göteborgsoperans orkester. Louise vann också publikpriset! Hon har studerat i Schweiz och Tyskland och arbetat som stämledare och trombonist vid Stuttgartfilharmonikerna i tre år. Men har hon någonsin spelat en trombonkonsert av en kvinnlig tonsättare? Hur står det till med kvinnonärvaron på konstmusikutbildningarna i Sverige? Inte förrän 2009 fick Sverige sin första kvinnliga professor i musikalisk komposition. Det är tonsättaren Karin Rehnqvist, vid Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm. Hon berättar att kvinnor inte söker in i samma utsträckning som män vid utbildningen i nutida konstmusik. Så är det även vid Musikhögskolorna i Malmö och i Örebro samt vid Gotlands tonsättarskola. Däremot studerar kvinnor oftare vid de elektroakustiska utbildningarna. Vid Musikhögskolan i Stockholm är de i majoritet, nämligen sex kvinnor och fem män. - Jag tänker att det kanske har att göra med att man, när det gäller elektroakustiskt, har hand om allting från början till slut. Man är inte beroende av musiker, man är inte beroende av någon dirigent utan man har hand om uttrycksmedlen helt själv, säger Karin Rehnqvist. Positivt är dock att flera universitet och högskolor över hela landet arbetar med jämställdhetsprojekt. På Musikhögskolan i Stockholm t ex, finns Normkritiska Gruppen och Konstmusiksystrar, som är ett nätverk för unga kompositörer och ljudkonstnärer inom konstmusik som definierar sig som kvinnor eller transpersoner. I detta första program möter vi även norska tonsättaren Synne Skouen, Lo Kristenson och Kajsa Lindgren från Konstmusiksystrar och svenska violasten Mika Persdotter Svensson, som startar ett Damkapell i Köpenhamn. Tonsättaren och ljudkonstnären Kajsa Magnarsson är dotterdotter till Huldas Karin i Evert Taubes visa. Kajsa spelar bl a gitarr med en penisattrapp. Vi möter även tonsättarna Tebogo Monnakgotla och Ida Lundén, vilka tillsammans med Karin Rehnqvist 2008 bildade föreningen Kvast, med den humoristiska titeln Kvinnlig anhopning av svenska tonsättare. På hemsidan står det att läsa: Kvast är en ideell förening som verkar för att mer musik av kvinnor ska klinga i konserthus, på experimentscener, i aulor och allsköns musikhus runt om i landet, ja i världen. Ju fler konstnärliga uttryck, desto rikare musikliv! Kvast arbetar bl a med projektet Jämställd repertoar och har under de senaste åren regelbundet presenterat rapporter över andelen kvinnliga tonsättare i de största orkestrarna. Det visar sig att döda utländska män fortsätter att dominera repertoaren på de statsunderstödda svenska musikinstitutionerna. Andelen kvinnliga tonsättare är försvinnande liten fortfarande. Och det är ständigt samma tonsättare som spelas med Johannes Brahms i spetsen. Ja, som musikkritikern i The New Yorkers Alex Ross skrev: Föreställ er Broadway med enbart döda dramatiker och förlag som endast ger ut nyutgåvor av Dickens. Men det finns ljuspunkter: - Kvast har betytt mycket. Frågan om kvinnliga tonsättare har lyfts, och vi är synliga. Vad det gäller festivaler med ny musik så finns alltid kvinnor med numera. När man beställer nya verk så är man noga med att också beställa av kvinnliga tonsättare, förklarar Karin Rehnqvist Stockholms Konserthus går i bräschen med att i sitt säsongsprogram 2016-17 ha med rekordsiffran 39 kvinnliga tonsättare på programmet. På sin hemsida har Kvast en repertoarbank, en av världens mest omfattande samlingar, av kompositioner av kvinnor med över 1670 verk! Du kan bläddra, söka och provlyssna på orkestermusik, kammarmusik av alla de slag elektronmusik och liveelektronik, kör, opera. Du kan söka verk av kvinnliga komponister efter genre, besättning, titel eller durata. http://kvast.org   En annan glad nyhet: Kvinnliga kompositörer får för första gången en större del av kakan när Kulturrådet delar ut sitt årliga stöd till tonsättare. - Det är tydligt att det lönar sig att trycka på om förändring kring jämställdhetsfrågor. Det är nu en bra balans bland de sökande när det gäller genusperspektivet, säger Magnus Lemark, handläggare på Kulturrådet, i ett pressmeddelande.   Manus, regi och produktion: Birgitta Tollan.

Att humla - vad är det? Tonsättaren Synne Skouen: -Humlan är inte konstruerad för att flyga. Men det vet hon inte och flyger ändå. Kvinnor inom konstmusiken har ofta fått höra detta: kvinnor kan inte! Det första programmet i serien Konsten att humla.- Klassisk musik är en konstform som tystar kvinnor, skrev den engelske författaren, musikkritikern och radiomannen Norman Lebrecht år 2006. - Halva mänskligheten utestängts från den kreativa processen. Det finns inga kvinnliga tonsättare i den symfoniska kanon. Karriärer har slagits i spillror. Självförtroenden har knäckts hos kvinnor. Den klassiska musiken styrs av en old boys club som stryper musiken.Det handlar ofta om fördomar och omskrivningar som kvinnors tonsättningar har inte samma höga kvalitet eller kvinnors hjärnor passar inte till att komponera.I Sverige är 2006 inte ens var tionde yrkesverksam tonsättare kvinna. Vid konserterna ingår en försvinnande liten del verk komponerade av kvinnor. Detta särartstänkande vilar på en solid ideologi som använder faktisk diskriminering, men även osynliga normer och regler för vad som är passande för just kvinnor.I de sex programmen kommer kvinnor inom konstmusiken själva till tals - i Wien, Prag, Oslo, Stockholm, Göteborg och Köpenhamn. Kvinnorna är mellan 76 och 26 år gamla. Spänner över ett halvt sekel.I det första programmet möter vi två stora europeiska tonsättare: Karin Rehnqvist i Stockholm och Olga Neuwirth i Wien. Karin Rehnqvist har utvecklat en av de mest särpräglade rösterna inom ny musik sedan 1960-talets Ligeti och Penderecki. I början av 1980-talet skrev hon det verk som blev hennes genombrott: Davids Nimm för 3 sångerskor. Min David baklänges blir Davids Nimm- Jag sysslar med konst och det talar om livet. Och då är ju detta att vara kvinna en stor del av livet när man är kvinnaKarin Rehnqvist fick Läkerols kulturpris för sin förnyelse av förhållandet folkmusik - konstmusik, Christ Johnson-priset, Stockholms Stads Hederspris, Kurt Atterberg-priset, medaljen Litteris et Artibus och Hilding Rosenberg-priset. Karin Rehnqvist blev den första kvinnliga eleven i kompositionsklassen på Kungliga Musikhögskolan och  hon utnämndes senare till Sveriges första kvinnliga professor i musikalisk komposition vid Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm. - Man kan inte höra på den enskilda tonsättaren om det är en kvinna  eller en man som skrivit ett speciellt stycke musik. Men om man ser det stort, så tror jag att det kan leda till en förändring, ge fler uttryck och en större musikalisk palett, om fler kvinnor får möjlighet att skriva musik och få den framförd, säger tonsättaren Karin Rehnqvist. För 15 år sedan framstod den unga österrikiskan Olga Neuwirth som en av de ledande europeiska nutida tonsättarna. Hon motarbetades vid Musikhögskolan i Wien, och fick fly hemlandet. Studier i San Francisco och Paris samt stöd av professorn och rumänska tonsättaren Adriana Hölsky och nobelpristagaren i litteratur, Elfriede Jelinek, fick Olga Neuwirth att blomstra som tonsättare. Vi möter Olga Neuwirth på det välkända konstnärskaféet Eiles mitt i Wien. Wienklassicismens mecca. Med sina Mozart-look alikes, sina Mozartkugeln, Sachertårtor, hästdroskor och gatumusikanter. Wienklassicism är musik skriven av tonsättare som Haydn och Mozart som levde och verkade i Wien. Och Beethoven, som dog i staden. Även några av de största romantikerna bland de klassiska tonsättarna verkade i Wien, t ex Gustav Mahler, ja t o m Richard Wagner, som blev utslängd. Så det vilar en tung, manlig, konstmusikalisk tradition över Wien. På gott och på ont, framförallt för kvinnor inom musiken. Österrike är ett av de få länder där det aldrig funnits någon kvinnorörelse. -Jag blev öppet motarbetad på Musikhögskolan i Wien, berättar tonsättaren Olga Neuwrth. Som enda kvinnliga elev i klassen, som  bestod av idel unga män, blev jag utan både pris och pengar för sina  skolkompositioner. Idag är jag den enda av klasskamraterna som lever som tonsättare. Olga Neuwirth lämnade det konservativa Wien och sökte sig till andra tonsättare inom den nutida musiken. Hon reste till Paris och hade rumänska tonsättaren Adriana Hölsky, kompositionslärare i Stuttgart och senare professor i Salzburg, som rådgivare. Olga upptäckte musik av Boulez, Charinot, Fetdtman, Berio. Ja, alla män, men så tog hon lektioner för tonsättaren Elinor Armer, rektorn för kompositionsav­delningen vid Musikkonservatoriet i San Francisco, och hörde för första gången nyskriven musik av kvinnliga tonsättare. Något som då var helt omöjligt att höra vid Musikhögskolan Wien. Musiklista: Rimsky-Korsakov, transkr. Sergej Rachmaninov The Flight of the Bumblebee Simon Trpceski, piano CD-titel. Racmaninov: Piano Sonata No.2 ; Preludes EMI Classics 7243 5 57943 2 1 Olga Neuwirth I Bild Klangforum Wien, Johannes Kalitzke, dirigent CD-titel: Olga Neuwirth: Bahlamms Fest (Disc 1) Kairos KAI 1234 Karin Rehnqvist Lamento - Rytmen Av En Röst Sats II Chorale Furioso Kungliga Filharmonikerna. Göran W Nilson, dirigent. CD-titel: Davids Nimm Phono Suecia PSCD 85 Karin Rehnqvist Kast The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. Juha Kangas, dirigent. CD-titel: Davids Nimm Phono Suecia PSCD 85 Karin Rehnqvist Davids Nimm Lena Willermark, sopran. Susanne Rosenberg, sopran, Agnete Christensen, mezzosopran CD-titel:  Davids Nimm Phono Suecia PSCD 85 Karin Rehnqvist Puksånger - Lockrop Sats III Det Växte Upp En Lilja Lena Willermark, sopran. Susanne Rosenberg, sopran. Helena Gabrielsson, slagverk. CD-titel: Davids Nimm Phono Suecia PSCD 85 Karin Rehnqvist Puksånger - Lockrop Sats IV Naisell On Pitka Tukka Lena Willermark, sopran. Susanne Rosenberg, sopran. Helena Gabrielsson, slagverk. CD-titel: Davids Nimm Phono Suecia PSCD 85 Karin Rehnqvist Lamento - Rytmen Av En Röst Sats 1 Lamento Kungliga Filharmonikerna. Göran W NIlson, dirigent CD-titel: Davids Nimm Phono Suecia PSCD 85 Karin Rehnqvist Text: J-O Wallin, B S Ingeman, ur Psaltaren, Ordspråksboken och medeltida tradition. Ljus av ljus Adolf Fredriks flickkör, Radiosymfonikerna. Manfred Honeck Inspelad av SR i Berwaldhallen 17/9 2004. Karin Rehnqvist Till Ängeln med de brinnande händerna La Cappella. Susanne Rosenberg, röst. Sarah Lindloff, flöjt. Backa Katarina Eriksson, oboe. Leo Svensson, Mats Olofsson, cello. Karin Eklundh, dir.       Urufförande Västerås, 9/10 2005. Konsertdokumentation. Olga Neuwirth Vexierbilder (1993/94) CD-titel: Olga Neuwrth Accord 205232 Olga Neuwirth Vampyrotheone Klangforum Wien, Ltg. Peter Eötvös, Konstantia Gourzi (1995) CD-titel: Vampyrotheone  *  Instrumental-Inseln aus Bählamms Fest *  Hooloomooloo KAIROS 0012242KAI Olga Neuwirth VII Bild Klangforum Wien, Johannes Kalitzke CD-titel: Olga Neuwirth: Bählamms Fest (Disc 2) Kairos KAI 1234 Olga Neuwirth IX-X Bild Klangforum Wien, Johannes Kalitzke CD-titel: Olga Neuwirth: Bählamms Fest (Disc 2) Kairos KAI 1234 Olga Neuwirth Hooloomooloo Klangforum Wien, Ltg. Peter Eötvös, Konstantia Gourzi (1995) CD-titel: Vampyrotheone  *  Instrumental-Inseln aus Bählamms Fest *  Hooloomooloo KAIROS 0012242KAI

Norman Lebrecht is one of the foremost cultural writers and classical music reviewers today.  In addition to his columns for The Daily Telegraph and The Standpoint, he's been a host on BBC 3 Radio, and his first novel, “The Song of Names”, is in the process of being adapted into a major motion picture. Norman has written extensively on the business side of classical music, and his website, Slipped Disc, is one of the most widely read resources for classical music and art news. Journalist, writer, novelist, broadcaster, lecturer - Norman Lebrecht is easily one of the most prolific commentators on culture and the classical music arts. In addition to all his accomplishments and 12 books under his belt, Norman is an expert on the music of the 19th century Austrian-Jewish composer and conductor Gustav Mahler. I think you're going to really enjoy this fascinating conversation with a man who has spent his life exploring the meaning and message found in classical music. Links Norman's Website: http://www.normanlebrecht.com/ The Lebrecht Interview on BBC Radio 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tbt3

The new BBC drama series, Dickensian, sees Charles Dickens's most famous stories and characters co-existing on the same Victorian streets. John Wilson talks to Tony Jordan, the creator of the series.The German conductor Kurt Masur led both the London and the New York Philharmonic Orchestras and encouraged a peaceful reunification of Germany. Norman Lebrecht pays tribute to Masur who died at the weekend aged 88.Ron Howard has proved himself an extraordinarily diverse director, from his Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind to Frost/Nixon, Apollo 13, Parenthood, Splash and Rush. His latest film, In The Heart of The Sea, starring Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker and Ben Whishaw, he explores the true story that inspired Melville's Moby Dick.And if you're in need of some cultural inspiration this Christmas but have had enough of the obvious festive fare, Front Row have selected four arts experts to champion an alternative Christmas treat each day this week. Tonight, the art critic Waldemar Januszczak reveals his out of the ordinary Christmas image.

In a private room on the top floor of Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge, hordes of glamorous and mainly very young Chinese women (and the odd man) are packed around a Steinway piano on a stage in the middle of the room. Blow-dried, designer-clad with shopping bags at their feet, they’re drinking champagne and nibbling canapés, excitedly anticipating the evening's star attraction. ... Classical musicians have long been considered dusty, dry figures, but in China, 31-year-old Yundi and his more internationally known rival Lang Lang are treated as rock stars. They've inspired what's being called “piano fever; an estimated 50 million young Chinese now learn the instrument that until recently was banned as “decadent”. Hordes of fans follow Yundi (born Li Yundi) wherever he goes. In last year's Chinese classical music charts, he had 11 albums in the top 15, while his latest recording of Beethoven's sonatas went platinum – two feats unprecedented not just in the classical world, but in the entire Chinese music market. A one-billion-strong audience watched his televised performance at the Chinese Spring Festival Gala, with 10,000 in the auditorium. On Weibo (China’s Twitter) he has 14.5 million followers, who react in fury to anyone who dares even mildly criticise their hero, and is one of the top 10 Chinese celebrities discussed on the service. When he announced his idol was Chopin, the dead composer's biography began racing up the Chinese book charts. He advertises Rolex and Bang & Olufsen and is the “image ambassador” to Super Boys – China's answer to Pop Idol. Last year his Dream Tour – the largest classical tour in Chinese history – took in 33 cities, with tickets selling out in only 12 minutes. “Nobody had ever done anything like this before,” says Yundi, sitting in a hotel bar, the morning after the Harvey Nichols showcase. In China, Yundi leads a superstar lifestyle, even though he lists his hobbies as “drinking tea and listening to jazz. Based in Beijing, he hangs out with actors, models and singers (the Chinese media has long speculated about his alleged gay relationship with a Taiwanese pop star, though I'm reliably informed he has a girlfriend). ... Everything changed in 2000 when he beat 93 contestants to the Chopin prize. “Suddenly I was a national hero, meeting our prime minister and president, everyone’s attention is on me, it was all engagements, interviews, invitations.” He signed with Deutsche Grammophon, but refused the expected route of non-stop touring and recording, instead moving to Hanover for five years’ more study. “I wanted to slowly develop, to focus without disturbance.” DG was frustrated by his reluctance to cash in. Yundi smiles. “Practising for six hours a day, so much time alone with yourself, just with music. It makes me very strong.” While most classical musicians are pushed into playing any and every genre in an attempt to woo the masses, Yundi refuses to dilute his repertoire. “I don't do crossover, I don't change my style,” he says firmly. “I share what I do with young people; if they want different music they can find it in a different area.” It's hard not to read such comments as digs at Lang Lang, Yundi's long-standing rival and exact contemporary. Rumour has it that Lang Lang's father reportedly told one symphony orchestra manager that his son would not play with them if a future concert was booked with Yundi and in 2009 the boy from Beijing had Yundi dropped by Universal (Deutsche's parent label), saying the label only had room for one Chinese pianist. The following year, however, Lang Lang defected to Sony. In a counter-strike, Yundi returned to Universal for $3 million, the exact figure that tempted Lang Lang to defect. Lang Lang's “team” is said to be responsible for scurrilous rumours about Yundi's personal life. Now the Chinese media gleefully pits the pair against each other, like the Beatles versus the Stones. While flashy Lang Lang is the Party's and international favourite, the shyer – also seen as more poetic – Yundi is the Chinese people's favourite. As arts critic Norman ­Lebrecht summarises: “Lang Lang is a global brand, Yundi a national dish.” The mention of Lang Lang's name is the only time Yundi becomes mildly agitated. “I don't know him, we've been at the same event but we've never met, I've never seen him play,” he says. “Talent comes through the work. There's a lot of good talent out there and we support everybody.” He then adds, meaningfully, that his favourite pianists are Israeli. As I see it, Lang Lang relishes the spotlight – and the rivalry. Yundi, on the other hand, has become increasingly adept at playing the marketing game, but would be ­happier without it. “Only music can define me,” he ­says passionately. This may be so, but the flailing classical world is hyping him as a potential saviour, with all its focus being directed towards the Chinese market. Last year, 10 per cent of China's music sales were classical, and the figure is rising, compared with three per cent in the United States. “I'm very happy that so many children are learning the piano because of me,” Yundi says. “Music is magical and it shouldn't be something kept far away in a museum. It's like black and white in fashion, some people see it as boring, but it will never go out of style.”

Norman Lebrecht presents the last of three programmes examining the complex relationship between music and Jewish identity. Spanning thousands of years, from King David and the creation of the Psalms, to composers writing today including Steve Reich and Robert Saxton, Norman uncovers a wealth of fascinating stories about the role music has played at some of the key points in Jewish history. Taking as his starting point the moment at which the Jews were finally able to enter the Western classical music tradition in a professional capacity, in today's programme Norman investigates the idea of a "Jewish thumbprint" in the music of Mendelssohn and others. Leading Israeli composer Noam Sheriff and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas talk about why Mahler's Jewishness speaks so strongly to them through his symphonies, and Michael Grade explains how the Jewish art of being one step ahead impacted so strongly on the entertainment industry in the twentieth century.

Norman Lebrecht presents the second of three programmes examining the complex relationship between music and Jewish identity. Women, in the Jewish religion, are not meant to sing, and yet Jewish women have shrugged off that inhibition to become some of the most powerful figures in the popular imagination. We hear from some of the most successful women singing in Israel and indeed on the world stage today, including the eighth-generation Yiddish singer Myriam Fuks and Achinoam Nini, the latest in a long line of iconic Jewish women of Yemenite origin. Michael Grade remembers his grandmother's passion for Sophie Tucker, and the promoter Harvey Goldsmith explains why Jewish women have had such a huge impact on music over the past half century. We also hear from Dr Tova Gamliel about the extraordinarily powerful role of women in the religious practices of Yemen.

Norman Lebrecht presents the first programme in a three-part series examining the complex relationship between music and Jewish identity. Spanning thousands of years, from King David and the creation of the Psalms, to composers writing today including Steve Reich and Robert Saxton, Norman uncovers a wealth of fascinating stories about the role music has played at some of the key points in Jewish history. Today, the acclaimed Ladino singer Yasmin Levy explains why music and memory became so intertwined when the Jews were expelled from Spain at the end of the 15th century, rabbi Shlomo Levin tells the amazing story of how a marching tune sung by Napoleon and his troops in 1812 became an integral part of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jewish people, and the musicologist Gila Flam has some surprising revelations about the music sung by the Jews in the Nazi concentration camps.

With Mark Lawson. Last night Jude Law took to the London stage as Henry V in Michael Grandage's final play in his current West End season. Law, who previously played Hamlet under Grandage's direction, performs a paired-down text in a simple stage setting. Rachel Cooke was at the first night last night and gives her response. As the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls prepares to play a 'short but difficult' Schumann piano piece at a charity event this weekend, music critic Norman Lebrecht considers other politicians who have stepped up to the mic for a musical performance. David Steel, Bill Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Silvio Berlusconi are just a few who've performed in public, but is it always a good idea? Atiq Rahimi talks about his film, The Patience Stone, adapted from his award-winning novel of the same name. A powerful tale of one woman's resolve to break free from silence and oppression, he reveals the influence behind the story, and discusses the difficulties of turning his novels into films. The "...Up" series of documentaries, revisiting the same diverse group of children every 7 years began in Britain in 1964, with the original children reaching 56 in the most recent series. The format has also been adopted all over the world and tonight ITV broadcasts the most recent South African version, with the participants now aged 28. Gabriel Tate reviews the programme. Producer: Ellie Bury.

Rachel Cooke reviews Tate Britain's exhibition Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life; Writer Jonathan Dee discusses his latest work, A Thousand Pardons; Disco legend Giorgio Moroder in a rare interview, in which he reflects on his rise to fame and his recent comeback with Daft Punk; the pianist Mitsuko Uchida selects Piero della Francesca's Resurrection for Cultural Exchange; Peter Bowker and Patrick Spence reflect on the best and the worst notes screenwriters receive; as George Osborne announced a 7% cut in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's budget, Janet Street-Porter, Norman Lebrecht and Richard Mantle suggest cost-saving solutions; Actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste nominates Miles Davis's album Kind of Blue for Cultural Exchange.

With Mark Lawson. Natalie Haynes reviews the new West End stage musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Sam Mendes, and starring Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka. The Chancellor George Osborne today announced a 7% cut in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's budget, and a 5% cut to budgets for arts organisations, as part of the government's spending review. Broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, music commentator Norman Lebrecht and Richard Mantle of Opera North suggest areas of the arts which they believe should receive less funding. The playwright and screenwriter Lee Hall selects his Cultural Exchange. He explains why Briggflatts, an autobiographical poem by Basil Bunting, has revealed new layers of meaning over the 30 years that he has been re-reading it. The concert promoter AEG has been warned by the Advertising Standards Authority after they described a Kanye West gig as a "one off" London show, only to announce more dates. Lawyer Duncan Lamont discusses the legal issues around advertising "one offs" and "farewell tours." Producer: Olivia Skinner.

With Mark Lawson Stephenie Meyer is the author of the phenomenally successful Twilight series. The latest of her young adult books to be adapted for the screen is The Host. She reflects on how the success of the films affected her writing and why despite inspiring the 50 Shades series, she has never read it. Steve Carrell and Jim Carrey star as rival Vegas magicians in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Critic Mark Eccleston assesses the film's power to amaze. Simon Starling became one of the Turner Prize's most controversial winners when he took the 2005 title for his travelling hut, ShedboatShed. He discusses his creation for this year's Tate Britain Commission. Phantom Ride is inspired by early cinema, Blitz damage in London and ghost stories. Almost half of the musicians playing in the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra during World War II were also members of the Nazi party, according to new research. And 13 members of the orchestra at that time were driven out for being Jewish, or married to Jews. How far should this new information shape our understanding of the orchestra and its history? The cultural commentator Norman Lebrecht considers the issue with Mark. Producer Stephen Hughes.

Norman Lebrecht talks to the American composer and conductor John Adams in the week that he conducts his opera Nixon in China at the BBC Proms. Adams who was born in Massachusetts is one of the most celebrated composers alive. Many of his pieces are in the repertory, including his operas Nixon in China, the Death of Klinghoffer and his opera about Robert Oppenheimer, Doctor Atomic all of which receive stagings around the world and all of which he talks about in this interview. Adams also talks about his early years learning the clarinet, imagining music in his head as he did his paper round and starting to conduct and compose. Adams turned down the chance to go to Tanglewood to learn conducting and instead drove to the West Coast to broaden his experiences. Here he encountered some of the early minimalist composers and was involved in performing concerts of music by John Cage. As he developed his artistic personality Adams rejected both Cage's ethos and that of the modernists. Adams has always been concerned with music as expressing feeling and was as open to influences from rock and pop music as he was to music of classical composers. In this sense he believes his openness to a variety of influences makes him closer to a fellow New Englander, Charles Ives. John Adams also tells Norman about his experiences with the US Homeland security, and how he was blacklisted and about his political views in this honest conversation. Producer Tony Cheevers.

Norman Lebrecht talks to the great Italian conductor, Riccardo Muti, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Muti's career has spanned key orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the orchestra of La Scala in Milan and the Vienna Philharmonic. Elegant and erudite, this is the first extended interview Riccardo Muti has given the BBC. He reveals his thoughts and feelings about Verdi and Rossini, about his professional relationship with his mentor, Herbert von Karajan, and about his sense of being an 'outsider' in the world of music, a normal man with an extraordinary job.

Norman Lebrecht talks to the young Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons currently music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Born in Riga to musical parents Nelsons cites one of his earliest formative musical experiences as a performance of Wagner's Tannhauser which his parents took him to when he was just 5. He later took up the trumpet and eventually became a professional player in the Latvian National Opera Orchestra. He had conducting lessons with Neeme Jarvi and then came to the attention of Mariss Jansons whilst playing on tour with the Oslo Philharmonic and subsequently had lessons with him. He eventually rose to become chief conductor of the Latvian National Opera at the age of 25 and it was there he met his future wife the soprano Kristine Opolais. Nelsons has conducted at the Met, the Royal Opera House and at Bayreuth where he made his debut in 2010 with a new production of Lohengrin and where he returned this year. In 2007 he became Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra having previously only conducted them in a private concert and a recording session, never at any public concerts. His present contract with them runs to 2014 and he appears with them at the BBC Proms this week.

Norman Lebrecht talks to the British opera director Graham Vick whilst in rehearsals in Birmingham for Stockhausen's massive opera Mittwoch. Vick is one of the leading British directors. He works in all of the worlds' major opera houses directing the standard operatic repertoire and was for a number of years Director of Prodductions at Glyndebourne. But he is also director of the Birmingham Opera Company which he founded in 1987. It specialises in innovative and unusual productions of operas often in unusual venues such as factories or disused warehouses and this interview was recorded in Birmingham where Vick is currently in rehearsal for the British premiere of the complete version of Mittwoch part of Stockhausen's massive cycle, Licht. He talks to Norman about Stockhausen, about his approach to directing, his views on opera and about his background. Producer Paul Frankl.

Norman Lebrecht meets celebrated impresario Lilian Hochhauser, who along with her husband Victor, introduced British audiences to some of the greatest Russian musicians of all time, during the fraught period of soviet rule. Now in her eighties, Lilian - from a Jewish Ukrainian background - recalls the Cold War period which saw her and Victor pushing cultural and political boundaries to bring some of the most feted names in Russian music to Britain for the first time. Everyone from Rostropovich, Richter and Oistrakh through to The Borodin Quartet and the Kirov Ballet recieved their London debuts thanks to the Hochhausers.

The headlines from Europe this summer are as persistent as a bad sunburn: the Dutch government has slashed arts funding by 25 percent, Italy’s La Scala opera house has announced a $9 million shortfall, and Madrid and Barcelona's main opera houses have both implemented cuts in productions and staff. Portugal abolished its ministry of culture altogether. Yes, dire news about arts organizations isn’t just for Americans any more. Throughout much of Europe – most notably in Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain – generous public arts funding is being slashed as governments impose severe austerity measures. What will this mean for classical music? Will more arts organizations turn to private donors and corporations for support? Could there be an upside, as groups are forced to be more self-sufficient? In this podcast, three experts join host Naomi Lewin to debate the future: Johannes Grotzky, a journalist and director of the radio for the Bavarian Broadcasting System (Bayerischer Rundfunk) in Munich Norman Lebrecht, author, blogger at Artsjournal.com and a cultural commentator for the BBC Andreas Stadler, the director of the Austrian Cultural Forum here in New York and former president of the New York branch of the European Union National Institutes for Culture.   Weigh in: Would American-style funding best preserve Europe's cultural heritage? Please leave a comment below.

Norman Lebrecht meets Hungarian conductor Iván Fischer, who looks back on a career characterised by ground breaking musical achievements and occasional political controversy. Fischer recalls his elite musical education under communism, singing as a boy in the opera house where Gustav Mahler was once director. Being taught by both Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Hans Swarowsky during his studies in Vienna, where he initially set out to become a cellist, gave Fischer a unique musical perspective. He remembers what made both teachers great and how they impacted in his later decision to found The Budapest Festival Orchestra, alongside gifted pianist and countryman Zoltán Kocsis. Fischer describes the jealousy and bad feeling which initially greeted the new orchestra, and why his relationship with Kocsis deteriorated. He talks frankly about his discomfort with Kocsis's perceived closeness to Hungary's rightist political regime, and why he will continue to speak out against it. Iván Fischer has always been musically motivated by change: the desire to alter the status quo and unlock the potential of the musicians he conducts - he speaks passionately about what he sees as the crisis being faced by the modern symphony orchestra, and how they need to be reinvented or face extinction.

Norman Lebrecht meets pianist Menahem Pressler, founder of one of the most prolific and influential piano trios of all time: The Beaux Arts. Pressler looks back on a career which began in Nazi Germany, before he emigrated to Israel in 1939 and went on to win The Debussy Piano Competition in 1946. He recalls the teachers who helped him as a young pianist, including a German who defied the Nazi regime in continuing to teach him after it became illegal to do so, and his lessons with celebrated pianists Egon Petri and Leo Kestenberg. Pressler remembers how he formed The Beaux Arts Trio with violinist Daniel Guilet and cellist Bernard Greenhouse almost by accident while living in New York, before making their debut at Boston's Tanglewood concert hall in 1955. He reflects on the trio's changing personnel, which has seen Pressler as the one constant member while five violinists and two cellists have come and gone. Still performing now at the age of eighty eight and a renowned teacher and mentor to top chamber musicians like the Emerson and Ebène String Quartets - Menhem Pressler reflects on what makes a great chamber group and how music has sustained him throughout a long and distinguished career.

The Lebrecht Interview is the interview series that runs during the Proms season in which the writer and broadcaster Norman Lebrecht talks to key figures in the world of classical music. Today, Norman is in conversation with the Venezuelan conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. Dudamel is a walking advertisement for the success of the extraordinary El Sistema music education project in which poor children in Venezuela are given the opportunity and financial support to train in an orchestra. A product of that system, Gustavo Dudamel has become a byword for joyous, passionate music making, his concerts celebrated almost as religious events. In this interview, Norman Lebrecht talks to the man behind the hype. How heavily does Dudamel feel the weight of reputation?

P2 Musikmagasinet Konsten att humla - del 1. Att humla - vad är det? Norska tonsättaren Synne Skouen: -Det sägs om humlan att hon inte är konstruerad för att flyga. Men det vet hon inte och därför flyger hon ändå. Ja, kvinnliga tonsättare, men även dirigenter och musiker har under historien ofta fått höra just detta: kvinnor kan inte! Klassisk musik är en konstform som tystar kvinnor, skriver den engelske författaren, musikkritikern och radiomannen Norman Lebrecht. Det handlar ofta om fördomar och omskrivningar som kvinnors tonsättningar har inte samma höga kvalitet eller kvinnors hjärnor passar inte till att komponera. I de sex heltimmesprogrammen kommer kvinnor inom konstmusiken själva att komma till tals - i Wien, Prag, Oslo, Stockholm, Göteborg och Köpenhamn. Kvinnorna är mellan 76 och 26 år gamla. Spänner över ett halvt sekel. I det första programmet möter vi tonsättarna Karin Rehnqvist i Stockholm och Olga Neuwirth i Wien. Manus och produktion: Birgitta Tollan.

In the last edition in this series, Norman Lebrecht talks to the great English singer, Dame Janet Baker. The Yorkshire-born mezzo-soprano has mostly been known for her performances in operas by Mozart, Monteverdi, Purcell and Berlioz. In the concert hall she was renowned for her lieder singing especially Mahler, as well as English music, in particular the works of Benjamin Britten with whom she was much associated. The clarity of Janet Baker's voice and the dramatic intensity of her performances have given her a legendary status in the international worlds of opera and song.

Edward Gardner is the Music Director of English National Opera and about to become Principal Guest conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He talks to Norman Lebrecht about his career to date. Gardner was appointed to the post at ENO in 2007 while in his early 30s and began by conducting a new production of Britten's Death in Venice. He was born in Gloucester and began his musical life as a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral. He later went to Eton where he enjoyed the music making and education and then went to Cambridge where he says he enjoyed the conducting and performing that he did there rather than the more academic side of the course. The Royal Academy of Music followed but before leaving he was already working in the summer at the Salzburg Festival as a repetiteur encountering some of the leading conductors and operatic productions of the time. This experience has influenced some of his choices at ENO. He then worked with Mark Elder at the Halle Orchestra. So choral music and opera were both at the heart of his musical training. In 2004, before he was thirty, he was invited to be Music Director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera, an experience, he says which gave him the opportunity to conduct operas like La Boheme 20 times in different venues and acoustics around the UK. Since taking up the baton at ENO he has been involved with the planning of the company's repertoire and has conducted new productions of operas by Saariaho, Verdi, Bartok and Puccini. He talks about the challenges the company faces. How it has improved its image and work after a period of decline and argues with Norman about the continuance of the company's policy of performing operas in English. Producer Tony Cheevers.

Dame Monica Mason has spent all of her working life at the Royal Ballet in London. Now 70 she is about to start her final season as Director of the Royal Ballet. In conversation with Norman Lebrecht she talks frankly and warmly of the experiences her various roles in the company have given her. Born in South Africa she first encountered ballet in Johannesburg and began to dance. After the sudden death of her father when she was just 13 she tells Norman how her mother brought her to London where they lived frugally in a bedsit in Finsbury Park. Monica got a place at the Royal Ballet School and then unexpectedly was put in the company. Here she immediately encountered some of the great figures in international ballet whom she talks about in this interview.. The founder of the Royal Ballet was Dame Ninette de Valois who was then at the helm and a figure who fought for the company throughout the war years but who inspired fear in many. Frederick Ashton was the founder choreographer of the company and later held the post of Artistic Director. Monica Mason tells of dancing in his full length ballet Ondine to music by Henze which he found difficult to work to, but generally she was not one of his favourite dancers. Monica also talks about Margot Fonteyn who for many years danced many of the best roles and continued past the normal age when dancers retire partly due to the arrival of Rudolf Nureyev with whom she formed a memorable partnership. Mason also talks of dancing with Nureyev herself. She found a more direct working partnership with Ashton's successor Kenneth Macmillan who built his version of Rite of Spring around her . Macmillan was a troubled man subject to dark moods who, when he discovered Monica was considering leaving as her dancing years came to an end, persuaded her to stay as his assistant. She agreed and worked closely with him and was there when he died suddenly backstage during an evening performance. Monica Mason remained during the difficult years of the 90s when the Royal Opera House went through a troubled period, continuing as assistant to Norman Morrice, Anthony Dowell and then Ross Stretton. And it was only after Stretton's sudden dismissal that she went into the role of Director herself, at first she thought, on a temporary basis. Soon after she was offered the job. She reflects on her experiences as Director and how she has tried to move the company on, appointing Wayne McGregor as resident choreographer and commissioning a new full length ballet from Christopher Wheeldon. Producer Tony Cheevers.

Norman Lebrecht meets the conductor Valery Gergiev, head of the Kirov Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, and Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the World Orchestra for Peace. Gergiev also runs festivals in Russia, Holland, Israel and around the Baltic, and was recently charged with re-launching the historic Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and St Petersburg. Undoubtedly one of the busiest musicians on the planet, Gergiev has been criticised for skimping on rehearsal and detail; he has also been accused of having too intimate a relationship with Russian power. In this extended and wide-ranging interview recorded at Gergiev's Festival in Mikkeli, Finland, Gergiev tells Norman about his childhood in Ossetia and his reaction to the death of his father when he was just 14; his own very special method of fund-raising; his controversial relationship with Vladimir Putin; and just what drives him to live life at his famously frenetic pace. Producer Emma Bloxham.

Norman Lebrecht meets the German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, widely considered to be one of the finest lieder singers performing today. Although only four feet tall, with very short arms - Quasthoff's mother was prescribed thalidomide during pregnancy - Quasthoff is nevertheless a towering presence on the stage. In this extensive and wide-ranging interview, Quasthoff reflects on his happy childhood, his very close relationship with his brother Michael (who died of cancer last year), and the challenges of rebuilding his marriage after its apparent collapse. Having said some years ago that he wouldn't return to the operatic stage, Quasthoff tells Norman how he's been lured back, and how his fundamental optimism has remained intact. Producer Emma Bloxham.

Deborah Borda's is Chief Executive Officer of the hugely successful Los Angeles Philharmonic. Her career has also spanned a range of the great American institutions, including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Detroit and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras and the St.Paul Chamber Orchestra. She has a reputation of toughness and a creative approach to managing in often difficult circumstances. She talks to Norman Lebrecht about the future of the American symphony orchestra and reveals her approach to dealing with crises that frequently befall arts organisations.

In the first of a series of interviews with prominent musicians, writer and broadcaster Norman Lebrecht talks to one of the world's most sought after conductors, Semyon Bychkov. Born in Russia, growing up during the Soviet era, he finished his education in the United States. He talks about living in poverty in Leningrad, crammed into a single room with his parents and brother, and having to share a bathroom with several families. He describes himself as obsessive about music, yet denies ever being a control freak. Married to pianist Marielle Labeque, he also discusses his difficult relationship with his brother, Yakov Kreizberg who died earlier this year. Producer, Jeremy Evans.

Now 65, Patrice Chereau is one of the most highly regarded French directors. He began his career directing at his Lycee and running a theatre in the Parisian suburbs in the 1960s. Not long after he was invited to Italy and to Germany initially directing plays by the classic dramatists. His first job in opera was a work by Rossini at Spoleto but the occasion which caused the greatest controversy was in 1976 at Bayreuth when he directed Wagner's Ring Cycle with Pierre Boulez conducting. Chereau was not the first choice - Ingmar Bergman and Peter Brook were asked but both turned it down. Then, after Peter Stein accepted but then withdrew, Boulez approached Chereau. His production was deemed controversial in its setting, drawing as it did, heavily on the years of the 19th century Industrial Revolution and many staunch Wagnerites were incensed that the centenary Ring should be in the hands of a French production team. But the production is now seen as hugely influential in the effect it had on opera directors all over the world. It was widely seen on television in this country and abroad. Patrice Chereau talks candidly to Norman Lebrecht in this interview recorded at his home in Paris about the Bayreuth experience including the hostility of the audience and the problems caused by his late appointment as director. He also talks about the works which attract him: Wozzeck and Lulu by Berg and Janacek's From The House of The Dead, all of which deal with difficult and sometimes expressionistic subject matter. And about some of his films which deal with issues of sexuality including L'Homme blesse and Son Frere. Producer Tony Cheevers.

Sir Clive Gillinson began his musical life as a cellist, holding positions in the Philharmonia Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. When that orchestra got into financial difficulties in the 1980s he was asked to become Managing Director. He held the position for twenty years, turning around the fortunes of the orchestra and establishing relationships with some of the leading conductors like Michael Tilson Thomas, Mstislav Rostropovich and Sir Colin Davis. He also helped plan some of the most innovative and succesful concert series in London musical life, developed the orchestra's education department and established LSO St Luke's in a previously derelict church. Gillinson was also behind of the launch of the LSO's own CD label. In 2005 he became Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall in New York one of the leading concert venues in the world. It actually consists of three halls and presents hundreds of events every year. Clive Gillinson talks to Norman Lebrecht about his life and career, the challenges he's faced in his various orchestral roles and the differences between working in the arts in the UK and America. Producer Tony Cheevers.

Norman Lebrecht talks to the American born pianist Stephen Kovacevich in the year of his 70th birthday. Originally from Los Angeles, Kovacevich's father was Croatian and his mother American. After studying with the Russian pianist Lev Schorr he won a scholarship which brought him to London where he met and studied with Dame Myra Hess. She helped him develop the sound he made at the keyboard. In 1961 he hired the Wigmore Hall and made an acclaimed debut in music by Berg, Bach and Beethoven: the Diabelli Variations. This was the real start of his career in public which continues to this day. His recordings date back to the 1960s when he made acclaimed concerto recordings of the Beethoven and Bartok Concertos with Colin Davis and of Beethoven Cello Sonatas with Jacqueline Du Pre, both artists he admires greatly. More recently his latest recording of the Diabelli Variations has garnered praise. He has mainly confined himself to the great Classical pianist composers, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms with occasional forays into the twentieth century though he's never played the music of Rachmaninov in public, the pianist he most admires. Throughout his playing life Kovacevich has suffered badly from nerves and he talks frankly about this and the way his more recent conducting career has helped him to deal with them. Producer Tony Cheevers.

Norman Lebrecht meets the acclaimed American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. The sixth child of an Irish Catholic family in Prairie Village, Kansas, she married young and was almost thirty before anyone was prepared to back her talent. In the decade since then, she has taken on mezzo roles in Rossini and Handel with a wide-eyed zest that audiences find irresistible, and an openness that appears to be innate. The very model of a 21st-century communicator, Joyce DiDonato writes a chatty blog and decorates it with photographs that she snaps wherever she goes. She tells Norman Lebrecht about her early life in Kansas, her studies in Philadelphia and Houston, and how she bounced back from a string of rejections to become one of the world's great operatic stars.

Sir Roger Norrington has been one of the major movers and shakers on the classical music scene for nearly half a century. He founded the Schutz Choir and the London Classical Players, and was Music Director of Kent Opera for 15 years before taking his place on the podium with some of the great orchestras of Europe and America. The son of an Oxford Vice-Chancellor, Norrington was put to work in academic publishing before the musical imperative took over. His approach differed from other historically informed leaders, concentrating less on old instruments and more on texture of sound. He has outlasted many of his noisier contemporaries, a fact more remarkable since he was told two decades ago that he'd developed a brain tumour and had only months to live. Norrington talks to Norman Lebrecht about his early years growing up in Oxford and Canada, how he made the decision to become a musician, and how he battled ill health to come through fighting.

Norman Lebrecht talks to the American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, tracing her career from precocious Shirley Temple sound-alike, to pirate recordings of pop songs in the 1950s, to dubbing the title role in the movie of the Oscar Hammerstein musical Carmen Jones, and finally the breakthrough to the major mezzo Bel Canto roles of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti for which she was justly famed. She also talks about her experience of early masterclasses with the veteran singer Lotte Lehmann and how the sometimes unhappy experience of that has influenced her approach to helping young singers and teaching masterclasses in her retirement. She discusses her relationship with other musicians such as Stravinsky, Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge. In her frank and direct manner she also reveals to Norman Lebrecht the difficulties she had with her family when she married the black conductor Henry Lewis.