How can recontextualising classical music help build a new audience for the genre? Classics Explained YouTube producer Ben Levy explores the opportunities he's discovered using animation to tell the story of some of classics most-loved works, a

176: Cellist Tim Posner

26 days ago 24m 7s

This episode spotlights a new release from cellist Tim Posner. Recorded weeks ago, this episode has I'm sorry to say been subject to all manner of technical challenges. Publication has been delayed as a result. But all good things come to those

175: Monteverdi Choir's Israel in Egypt

Mar 16th, 2024 28m 57s

Hailstones, frogs and sexy trills. Monteverdi Choir's director Peter Whelan joins Amy Wood and Nick Pritchard to introduce the detail and the colour in Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt.

174: On Conducting and Learning to Conduct

Mar 11th, 2024 18m 40s

LPO Principal Concductor Edward Gardner, and LPO Conducting Fellows Charlotte Politi and Luis Castillo-Briceño reflecting on their roles as conductors and the process of developing their conducting presence.

173: Reflections, Recommendations & Previews

Dec 29th, 2023 45m 36s

Lovely people from across the classical music industry share their reflections on the year gone by, and look forward to the year ahead. Hear thoughts and recommendations from violinist Fenella Humphreys, pianist Charles Owen, Roger Wright, Lond

172: Thomas Guthrie and Barokksolistene

Nov 23rd, 2023 19m 43s

Schubert's epic and much-revered song cycle Die Schoene Mullerin is given a folksy feel with a new recording released by Rubicon Classics featuring Barokksolistene and Thomas Guthrie (who you'll hear in this podcast episode). If you're pro-defe

171: Katharine Dain and Sam Armstrong introduce 'Forget This Night'

Nov 21st, 2023 33m 30s

Soprano Katharine Dain and pianist Sam Armstrong reflect on the recording of their latest ravishing duo album Forget This Night, featuring the music of Lili Boulanger, Karol Szymanowski, and Grażyna Bacewicz.

170: Ivors Award-Winners John Rutter & Tansy Davies

Nov 14th, 2023 20m 37s

Hear the thoughts and reflections of two Ivor Award-Winning composers - John Rutter and Tansy Davies. Both doing the same thing - writing music. Both creating entirely different work. At the 2023 Awards at the British Film Institute in London

169: Making Callas - Paris, 1958

Nov 10th, 2023 23m 34s

Producer and Director Tom Volf explores his fascination with soprano Maria Callas and the work involved restoring her 1958 Paris debut for cinema release.

168: Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht

Nov 3rd, 2023 15m 29s

Violinist Victoria Mullova and cellist Matthew Barley explore Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht.

167: Miloš Karadaglić introduces 'Baroque'

Oct 25th, 2023 19m 16s

Guitarist Miloš Karadaglić reflects on his work producing the new album 'Baroque' released October 2023.

166: Pianist Cordelia Williams introduces Cascade

Oct 4th, 2023 32m 53s

Cordelia Williams returns to the Thoroughly Good Classical Music Podcast to talk about her new album on SOMM 'Cascade', and to reflect on her experiences teaching in Kenya.

165: Pianist Lucy Parham

Oct 2nd, 2023 37m

Lucy Parham introduces selected piano works by Sergei Rachmaninoff ahead of her London Piano Festival appearance with actor Tim McInnery. For more information and tickets visit: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/london-piano-festival/

164: Composer Joseph Phibbs

Sep 29th, 2023 33m 1s

Composer Joseph Phibbs returns to the podcast to introduce two new pieces premiered at Hatfield Chamber Music Festival and Wigmore Hall on 29th October and 7th October.

163: Composer Matthew Taylor

Sep 6th, 2023 21m 13s

Ahead of the world premiere of Matthew Taylor's second horn concerto, Jon Jacob speaks to the composer about his work, his inspiration and the life force of Beethoven.

162: Benedetti's Call To Action

Aug 22nd, 2023 6m 32s

Nicola Benedetti announces the new Benedetti Baroque Sessions, a competition to participate in her Baroque orchestra, plus she pops up on Radio 4's Today to talk about what music education needs now.

161: Lost Voices with Prof Leah Broad and Violinist Fenella Humphreys

Aug 7th, 2023 36m 48s

Dr Leah Broad's book Quartet tells the story of four women composers who have received little or no attention by the classical music world. The lives of Ethyl Smyth, Dorothy Howell, Rebecca Clarke and Doreen Carwithen span the 20th century and

160: Horn player Felix Klieser

Jul 31st, 2023 25m 41s

Klieser plays the horn with his feet. This seemingly monumental achievement is of comparatively little consequence to Felix who sees himself not as a differently abled artist but as a musician who wants to make the audience happy. At a point

159: The Endz with Flame, Prince and the Multi-Story Orchestra

Jul 7th, 2022 21m 17s

The Endz is a production mounted by school children in South London, supported by the Multi Story Orchestra, a radical performance group well-known in the industry for mounting live performances in a former multi story car park (now known as Bo

158: Composer and vocalist Laura Bowler about her new opera 'The Blue Woman'

Jun 27th, 2022 29m 50s

RPS award-winning composer and vocalist Laura Bowler talks about her newest opera 'The Blue Woman', and her climate-change inspired collaboration with Cordelia Lynn, 'Houses Slide'.TICKETS: https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/the-blue-wo

157: Celebrating 50 years of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme

Jun 6th, 2022 31m 13s

This year Aldeburgh Festival celebrates 50 years of the artist development programme - a music-making experience rooted in the Suffolk countryside that has supported many of the world's leading musicians. In this episode, previous participants

156: Yaniewicz & Green Square Piano

May 28th, 2022 28m 16s

Josie Dixon the great great great great grandaughter of Polish Lithuanian violinist and composer Felix Yaniewicz explains how a chance discovery unearthed a series of discoveries about the man in her family she knew only from a portrait. https:

155: Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston introduces her new album Battle Cry

May 16th, 2022 32m 11s

Helen Charlston and Toby Carr release 'Battle Cry' in May 2022 - available from 27th on Delphian records featuring songs by Barbara Strozzi, Henry Purcell, John Eccles, Claudio Monteverdi & Owain Park. To coincide with the release, both perform

154: Composer Tom Coult introduces the new opera 'Violet'

May 11th, 2022 20m 36s

Written in 2019 and originally premiering at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2020, Tom Coult and Alice Birch's 'Violet' tells the 24-day story of a village discovering the gradual loss of time. Recorded at rehearsals in the Jerwood Space in London in

153: Composer Oliver Davis

May 1st, 2022 37m 7s

Released on Friday 6 May, 'Air' features a collection composer Oliver Davis' characteristically uplifting writing performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Kerensa Peacock, and Grace Davidson. Jon Jacob speaks to Davis about his dyslexia,