Impossible music

Available for over a year

Kate Molleson speaks to Alex Ross, the American music critic and writer, about his new book 'Wagnerism'. He shares his thoughts about why Wagner has been loved and loathed, appropriated and rejected, and co-opted to serve all manner of political and cultural agendas across the globe. Kate also joins the conductor Alondra de la Parra, who explains why she formed an orchestra of global superstars, called 'The Impossible Orchestra', in aid of the women and children of Mexico. In our new series, 'Musicians in our time', we’ll be following the journeys of personnel from across the musical work as they navigate the next stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. We hear this week from the tenor Allan Clayton, who speaks candidly about being a free-lance musician, the anxiety of not performing, and how the industry should change to adopt fairer conditions for artists. And as some aspects of live music take shape around the UK, we talk to venues and orchestras across the country to get the measure of how they’re responding to the latest set of regulations for performance and rules for audiences under coronavirus.