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Tom Service talks to composer Robin Holloway as he celebrates his 70th birthday. He visits Glyndebourne to meet director Fiona Shaw and explores Brass Band Competitions. Robin Holloway is 70 today and Tom catches up with him at his home to discuss his life and music. Britten's The Rape of Lucretia was first performed at Glyndebourne in 1946 and in Britten's centenary year the opera house is revisiting the work in a new production by acclaimed director Fiona Shaw. Tom visits Glyndebourne during final rehearsals and talks to Shaw about her vision for a piece Britten called a 'chamber opera'. Last weekend the Royal Albert Hall hosted the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain an event which for the last hundred years has had a test piece written especially for it by composers including Elgar, Holst and Ireland. Tom talks to Edward Gregson - the composer of this year's test piece about the history of composing for Brass Band and he hears from players about what competitions mean to them.
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