World and new music

Music Planet will continue to bring audiences the world in music this autumn with sessions, a weekly Road Trip and mixtapes. Presenters Lopa Kothari (main image) and Kathryn Tickell (pictured below) will introduce some of the latest new releases and classic tracks from around the globe, from traditional music through to the most recent releases.

In November, Music Planet will present a special report from this year’s WOMEX - the World Music Expo - introducing some of the latest sounds to emerge on the world music scene.

In January the programme returns to Glasgow to bring highlights from Celtic Connections 2019. Upcoming studio sessions include the Dur-Dur Band from Somalia, Algerian Tuareg quintet Imarhan and sitar player Purbayan Chatterjee is joined by tabla player Gurdain Rayatt ahead of their Darbar Festival 2018 concert at London’s Southbank.

The Pankhurst Anthem

The Pankhurst Anthem, commissioned by BBC Radio 3 in March to mark the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the UK is BBC Radio 3’s most performed new commission to date. Today we can announce that the piece will be performed at the official unveiling of the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in central Manchester on the 14 December 2018.

The Pankhurst Anthem is a choral work with music by composer Lucy Pankhurst and text by women’s rights activist and writer Helen Pankhurst (main image), based on words by her great-grandmother Emmeline. Written in two parts, Echoes of Emmeline is followed by Anthem, which features an uplifting melody designed to be easily learnt, sung by a number of voices and especially composed with the view to encouraging music-lovers across the UK to perform the piece themselves to mark the anniversary together.

Late Junction

Late Junction is BBC Radio 3’s adventurous music programme, presenting an eclectic mix of music from a variety of genres.

In mid-September, Late Junction will present three programmes featuring highlights from End of the Road Festival. This August, Late Junction returned to curate a stage at End of the Road Festival for a second consecutive summer where it was announced that Radio 3’s Late Junction will be hosting its first dedicated festival in 2019. The upcoming Late Junction festival will run over two evenings at a thrilling new venue in East London and will continue the programme’s long heritage of showcasing the best exploratory music from right across the left field. It will be both a live event engaging with listeners and a subsequent series of broadcasts.

Speaking at a special event at End of the Road, Alan Davey said: "I want to let you in to a special secret. We’ve had so much fun curating a stage at End of the Road, that in addition to this, we’re going to dip our toes in the water and put on our own BBC Radio 3 Late Junction Festival for the first time. It will bring the very distinct flavour of the programme to those musically curious minds who enjoy hearing electronic and classical, jazz and world - all in one sitting.

“It will run in addition to the many external festivals BBC Radio 3 already covers across the length and breadth of the UK, from End of the Road in Dorset through to Edinburgh Festivals and many more in between. We want to bring extraordinary music and culture and the best of music-making now, to as many people as possible. The Festival will debut in 2019 and will be a chance for listeners to get closer to the programme.”

Other highlights coming up in the Autumn include mixtapes curated by composer Rhys Chatham and instrumentalist Ryichi Sakamoto. Listeners will also be treated to specially-recorded sessions by artists including pianist and innovative electronic sound designer Suzanne Cari and lead players from the London Contemporary Orchestra. The programme will also present a special edition at home with avant-garde artist and composer Laurie Anderson in New York.

New productions of iconic Angela Carter radio plays in An Evening with Angela Carter

Hear and Now

Amongst many highlights this autumn, BBC Radio 3’s flagship contemporary music programme will be broadcasting highlights from the UK’s leading new and experimental music festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Hear and Now will broadcast editions live from the festival, where the programme will include the rarely-heard music of Julius Eastman - an important composer in the 1970s New York minimalist scene whose untimely death meant much of his music vanished, only being revived now by passionate advocates of his music who have found long-lost scores and recordings.

In addition to live broadcasts, further recorded highlights from the festival will also be heard on the programme; Hear and Now will feature compositions by American turntablist, sound artist and composer Christian Marclay (including a brand new work for twenty pianos). Berlin-based British composer Rebecca Saunders’s compositions will also be heard on the programme; the Berlin-based British composer will have several UK premieres performed by the German ensemble Musikfabrik. Audiences will also have the opportunity to hear the UK premiere of Shri Camel by legendary minimalist composer Terry Riley.

Unclassified

Opera on 3

The resident home of opera at the BBC, Radio 3 broadcasts two operas a week and around 90 complete operas a year. Opera on 3’s autumn season continues this commitment to bringing some of the very best opera to listeners.

Highlights scheduled for broadcast on Opera on 3 this autumn include Verdi’s Falstaff from the Royal Opera House starring Bryn Terfel in the title role and Prokofiev’s War and Peace from Welsh National Opera. Radio 3 will also be broadcasting the entirety of Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle from the Royal Opera House, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano and presented by Tom Service.

As well as established classics, listeners will also have the opportunity to hear some of opera’s more recent works on Radio 3 this autumn, including David Sawer’s new opera The Skating Rink which premiered at Garsington Opera this summer, and William Bolcon’s 2017 work Dinner at Eight from Wexford Festival Opera.

Sound of Dance

Elizabeth Alker returns with another run of six Unclassified programmes trawling the underground world of genre-defying composers with roots in both pop and classical music. Unclassified is about music being made right now, and will feature exclusive first plays from artists including Bryce Dessner, Richard Reed Parry and Edmund Finnis.

Elizabeth will also bring the latest news and brand new recordings from live events such as the recent PEOPLE festival at the Funkhaus in Berlin and the Erased Tapes Neon Workshops showcase. Unclassified will also feature a special celebration of a pioneer of this music Johann Johannsson, featuring music made by a new generation of artists he inspired. There will also be the chance to hear all the latest releases from the likes of Aphex Twin, Anna Meredith, Ólafur Arnalds, Four Tet, Daniel Avery and many more.