Spring lambs, blue sheep

Available for over a year

Music Matters marks the beginning of Spring, with an eclectic playlist from the music writer Luke Turner (see below) Tom meets the conductor Sofi Jeannin, Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers, and who also leads two choral institutions in Paris, the Matrise de Radio France, a specialist music school, and the Choeur de Radio France. Jeannin is a musician on a mission to breathe life into choral traditions and bring contemporary music to new audiences. As Handel's opera Berenice opens at Covent Garden for the first time since its premiere in 1737, Tom meets the director Adele Thomas and playwright Selma Dimitrijevic, whose English adaptation brings the dramatic story of an ancient classical love pentangle into modern times. And the 30th anniversary of NMC, the pioneering record label specialising in music by living British composers, whose marketing images have included an iconic and seasonally-appropriate blue sheep. With the label's founder Colin Matthews, the composers Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Emily Howard, and the writer and critic Tim Rutherford-Johnson. Luke Turner's Spring Playlist: Khachaturian: Ode of Joy (The Spring Sun Rises) Marina Domashenko (soprano), Spiritual Revival Choir of Russia, Philharmonia of Russia, Constantine Orbelian (conductor) Shirley Collins: May Carol (from album 'Lodestar') Simon Fisher Turner: Drowned In Time (from score to The Garden) Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending Tai Murray (violin), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Martyn Brabbins (conductor) (BBC Proms 2018) Chris Watson: extract from exhibition 'A Nightingale On The Western Front' Britten: Peter Grimes, Act 1 Scene 1 - Look, The Storm Cone! David Kempster (Balstrode), Chorus of Opera North, Britten-Pears Orchestra, Steuart Beford (conductor) Richard Skelton: Cresserelle