Barbara Hannigan

Available for over a year

Sara Mohr-Pietsch meets soprano-conductor Barbara Hannigan during rehearsals for her latest concerts as Associate Artist with the London Symphony Orchestra. It's a conversation which illuminates her approach to concert curation, music-making and live performance, as they discuss the previous evening's concert which placed music by Strauss and Haydn next to 20th century masterpieces by Gyorgy Ligeti, Claude Vivier and Luigi Nono. BBC Radio London’s Robert Elms talks about his lifetime passion for live music, from early experiences at pop and rock gigs to a love of jazz clubs and flamenco bars, as his new book "Live!: Why We Go Out" is published. The book was born out of Robert's reflections on the absence of live music-making during the pandemic, and that's also the inspiration behind "Mending Wall", a new work by pianist Stewart Goodyear, commissioned for Wigmore Hall's 'Voices of Today' series. Ahead of its premiere this weekend, in a recital which also includes Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" sonata, Sara heads to the London venue and sits with Stewart at the piano. Also today, Sara explores the phenomenon of large-scale light and sound shows taking place across in cathedrals across the UK, with the sculptor and artistic director of the production company Luxmuralis, Peter Walker, and Ruth Massey, a choral singer and Southwell Minster's head of fundraising.