Classical Interviews
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Errollyn Wallen reflects on her career
7th Nov 2024
In the wake of receiving the Ivors Academy Fellowship, the Belize-born British composer discusses growing up in a musical family in Tottenham, how relocating to a lighthouse off the coast of Scotland transformed her creative life, and her new role as Master of the King's Music.
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Colin Matthews on NMC
5th Nov 2024
As the contemporary music label celebrates its 35th birthday with an album of works by Imogen Holst, its founder Colin Matthews reflects on their friendship, NMC's legacy and ongoing work, and the challenges and rewards involved in promoting new voices today.
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Sir Mark Elder and Roderick Williams on Delius's A Mass of Life
31st Oct 2024
The conductor and baritone reflect on their recording of Delius's Nietzsche-inspired Mass (made in Bergen following two live performances and released on LAWO last year), which was a finalist at this year's Gramophone Awards.
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Gregory Kunde on Then and Now
28th Oct 2024
As he makes his role-debut as Britten's Captain Vere in Vienna, the indomitable American tenor discusses returning to the music which formed the soundtrack to his childhood on his new album Then And Now - a collection of jazz standards, released on Delos earlier this month.
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Then And Now
Gregory Kunde (tenor)
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Hannah Ely on The Excellence of Women
27th Oct 2024
The manager of Fieri Consort talks about the group's new album of madrigals by Maddalena Casulana and Barbara Strozzi.
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The Excellence of Women: Casulana & Strozzi
Fieri Consort
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Adrian Sutton on his Violin Concerto
24th Oct 2024
The British composer discusses the inspirations behind his new concerto for Fenella Humphreys, his work for the theatre (including the score for the play War Horse), and how receiving a terminal diagnosis led him to channel his creative energies in new directions.
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Kathryn Stott - Five For The Road
22nd Oct 2024
Kathryn Stott is bringing her long performing career to an end this year, and releases her final recording with cellist Yo-Yo Ma on Sony Classical, this week. Matthew asked her to pick five highlights from her huge catalogue of recordings, and to offer a glimpse into what makes each so special to her.
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Alison Balsom talks about Baroque Concertos
21st Oct 2024
The trumpeter gives us the lowdown on her newly-released Baroque album - the inspirations behind it and the technical challenges it entails.
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Roberto Alagna at 60
16th Oct 2024
The French-Sicilian tenor discusses his sixtieth-birthday album on Aparté, learning his craft in Paris cabaret clubs, being Michael Jackson's warm-up act, and why he regrets not getting started on Wagner earlier in his career...
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Lawrence Brownlee on Donizetti's songs
9th Oct 2024
The American tenor introduces the inaugural volume of Opera Rara's mammoth Donizetti Song Project, which sees him joining forces with Carlo Rizzi to revive unpublished and previously-unrecorded songs - several of them written for the composer's friends to sing at parties...
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Kateřina Kněžíková on Strauss and Janáček
7th Oct 2024
The Czech soprano discusses her new recording of the 'Vier letzte Lieder' with her friend Jakub Hrůša, and reflects on her recent transition into more dramatic repertoire - beginning with Káťa Kabanová at Glyndebourne in 2021.
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Antonio Pappano on Mendelssohn's Elijah
3rd Oct 2024
The London Symphony Orchestra's recently-appointed Chief Conductor talks about his latest recording on LSO Live of Mendelssohn's oratorio, including how his experience as an operatic conductor helped him to bring out the drama and sense of narrative contained within the work.
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Dalia Stasevska on her Mixtape
26th Sep 2024
The Finnish conductor discusses her first project on Platoon, featuring orchestral music by contemporary composers including Anna Meredith, Caroline Shaw, Noriko Koide and SØS Gunver Ryberg - and explains her mission 'to become the Koussevitzky of my generation'...
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Dalia's Mixtape
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska
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Michael Spyres on In The Shadows
25th Sep 2024
Ahead of next week's Gramophone Awards and International Opera Awards, the baritenor discusses his shortlisted album (released on Erato in March) exploring early Wagner and the composers who influenced his writing.
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Huw Montague Rendall on Contemplation
18th Sep 2024
The British baritone discusses his debut album on Erato (released earlier this month), getting under the skin of Count Almaviva in the recent revival of David McVicar's production of Le nozze di Figaro at Covent Garden, and the joys of sharing a profession with his parents...
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Antonio Pappano on the London Symphony Orchestra
11th Sep 2024
Ahead of the opening concert of his first season as Chief Conductor of the LSO at the Barbican tonight, Sir Antonio Pappano talks about his history with the orchestra as well as his future plans with them, including his commitment to English music and new commissions.
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Carlos Simon on art and activism
10th Sep 2024
GRAMMY-nominated composer, activist and curator Carlos Simon has just released an album of orchestral works with the National Symphony Orchestra (where he's been Composer-in-Residence since 2021), and has a new commission being premiered at the 2024 Last Night of the Proms, on 14th September.
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James Heather on Pulse Music
28th Aug 2024
Ahead of his performance at Presto Music tonight, the British composer-pianist talks to us about forging his own creative path, how a near-death experience affected his relationship with the piano, and his musical inspirations (ranging from Nirvana to Michael Nyman).
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Lahav Shani on Prokofiev, Bruckner and Rotterdam
22nd Aug 2024
Ahead of his performance of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic at the BBC Proms tomorrow, the conductor and pianist discusses his dual career, musical upbringing and mentors.
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George Li on Movements
15th Aug 2024
The American pianist discusses his new album Movements, released on Warner last month and featuring Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze, Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales, and Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka.
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Movements
George Li (piano)
