Music Matters Folgen

Tom Service talks to conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner at his home in Dorset as he celebrates his 80th birthday later this week. His work as Artistic Director of his Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique has made him a central figure in the early music revival and a pioneer of historically informed performance. Together with the musicians from his performance groups, John Eliot Gardiner has performed and recorded repertoire which spans five centuries, from Monteverdi to Berlioz, Schutz to Schumann as well as the two composers he’s especially associated with – J.S. Bach and Beethoven.

Tom Service explores classical music's place in British society, in light of the current national debates around funding from Arts Council England and the proposed cuts to the BBC's performing groups. The programme asks questions about how classical music and opera is valued, and how it resonates with today's diverse communities, through perspectives from within the UK and from abroad, from former culture minister Ed Vaizey to multidisciplinary artist Nwando Ebizie.Richard McKerrow, the producer behind Channel 4's The Piano, on classical music on TV and the impact he hopes the series will have on our musical life.Sarah Price from Liverpool University, on her research into audiences: why do we return to the familiar when choosing which concerts to attend?Kully Thiarai, creative director and CEO of Leeds 2023, on the importance of the arts and culture for community and belonging.Andrew Mellor, a British journalist in Denmark, on the relationship the Nordic countries have with classical music, and why it's different in the UK.Bobby Duffy from the Policy Institute at King's College London, on how the arts and classical music fit into the culture wars debate.Nwando Ebizie, the multidisciplinary artist, on working with Aurora Orchestra on "Inside Beethoven" and making events work for D/deaf audiences. Ed Vaizey, Member of the House of Lords and former culture minister, on perceptions and political decision-making around the arts and music.

Kate Molleson marks the 150 anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninov's birth. She visits his home in Switzerland - after years of renovation, the beautiful Villa Senar, on the banks of Lake Lucerne, is reopening to the public. This is the peaceful summer residence where Rachmaninov lived in in the 1930s and where he composed the Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini and the Third symphony. Kate is shown around the Villa by its director Andrea Loetscher. They are joined by pianist Boris Giltburg, who is about to release his new Rachmaninov piano concertos disc, and who performs specially for Music Matters on Rachmaninov's original Steinway grand piano in the Villa's studio. Also joining Kate at the Villa is Fiona Maddocks: music critic and author of the upcoming book 'Goodbye Russia: Rachmaninoff in Exile'. Together they discuss Rachmaninov's life, work and his time spent at Villa Senar.