The Cello and the Nightingale

Exactly 100 years ago, late in the evening, the BBC broadcast a live duet, from a wood in deepest Surrey, between the acclaimed cellist Beatrice Harrison and a nightingale that sang as she played. It was the first ever wildlife outside broadcast, and the first true radio hit that would become an annual spring event for over a decade.

Writer and musician Kate Kennedy examines the somewhat overshadowed career of “The Lady of the Nightingales” to whom British composers were queuing up to write for. She revisits the events surrounding that landmark broadcast, along with new archival evidence to counter any doubts that occasionally arise about the night's authenticity. And from an ancient wood somewhere in southern England, Kate attempts to recreate that intimate duet between cello and nature’s great songster, to explore the ways birdsong and music can become intertwined.

With contributions from cellist Julian Lloyd Webber; poet and BBC Head of History Robert Seatter; biographical editor Patricia Cleveland Peck; cellist Adrian Bradbury; communications historian Iain Logie Baird; nature writer Richard Mabey; musician and singer Sam Lee.

Producer: Adrian Washbourne
Technical Producer: Richard Courtice
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
A TellTale Industries production for BBC Radio 3