Category: Radio 3
Date: 06.09.2006
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Listen Up! 2006 festival features more than 30 British orchestras and more than 20 living British composers
91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 broadcasts complete War Poems of Wilfred Owen in Owen season
Free Thinking, new festival of ideas and debate taking place in Liverpool
Radio 3's role as commissioner of new music and writing is celebrated across schedule with new works by Jonathan Dove, Michael Zev Gordon, Judith Bingham, Howard Barker and Simon Armitage
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On Friday 29 September 2006, 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 marks the 60th anniversary of the Third Programme.
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Landmark programmes throughout the autumn affirm the station's role as the UK's leading cultural broadcaster with new commissions by composers Judith Bingham and Jonathan Dove alongside new writing by Howard Barker and Simon Armitage.
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In October, Choral Evensong celebrates 80 years of live broadcasts and the London Jazz Festival returns to Radio 3 in November.
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The Third Programme was launched in 1946 and became 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 on 30 September 1967.
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Live music, new work, drama and arts debate have always formed the backbone of the station's programming and the current schedule builds on this heritage.
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The 60th anniversary evening features live broadcasts across the UK with the opening concert of the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra's new season in London, Night Waves live from Manchester and a special programme of Late Junction in Glasgow.
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Listen Up! 2006 plays an integral part in the anniversary celebrations.
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The 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra's concert launches the festival on 29 September and for 36 consecutive nights Radio 3 will broadcast live and specially-recorded performances featuring more than 30 British orchestras and works by more than 20 living British composers including world premieres by Judith Weir, Sally Beamish, Deirdre Gribbin and Michael Omer.
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One evening will also be dedicated to performances by non-professional orchestras in celebration of how music-making flourishes throughout the UK.
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New writing remains at the heart of Radio 3. Recent broadcasts have included special commissions by Anthony Minghella and Sir Arnold Wesker.
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The British playwright Howard Barker's new drama Let Me has been specially commissioned by Radio 3 (Barker was also born in 1946).
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Further highlights of drama programming over the autumn months include a new production for radio of Timberlake Wertenbaker's trilogy of plays translated from Sophocles, The Thebans, with all three plays broadcast in one evening (10 December); and The Violence of Silence (27 November), a drama-documentary about the Cambodian genocide including new writing from Cambodia and poetry from Simon Armitage.
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Radio 3's speech output continues to explore wide cultural perspectives around the anniversary.
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Kirsty Lang (former 91Èȱ¬ World correspondent in Budapest) presents Hungary Night (28 September) which marks 50 years since the Hungarian uprising and looks at the impact of the country's artists and intellectuals on British culture, including those who were involved at the start of the Third Programme.
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Later on this autumn, Radio 3 inaugurates a new weekend festival of talks and events from Liverpool in conjunction with 91Èȱ¬ Radio Merseyside.
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Free Thinking will be broadcast in special programmes each evening from 3 to 10 November with further highlights through the autumn.
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During November, in the week of Remembrance Day, a season of features and readings will focus upon Wilfred Owen during which his complete War Poems will be broadcast.
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Notes to Editors
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Roger Wright has been Controller of Radio 3 since 1998.
Previous controllers were:
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Nicholas Kenyon (1992-98)
Sir John Drummond (1987-92)
Ian McIntyre (1978-87)
Stephen Hearst (1972-78)
Howard Newby (1959-71)
John Morris (1953-58)
Harman Grisewood (1948-52)
George Barnes (1946-48)
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Sixty years on - The Anniversary Evening
(29 September)
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In Tune (5.00pm)
Sean Rafferty launches the evening with a special edition of In Tune featuring a selection of
the music played on the opening night of The Third Programme, including Vaughan Williams'
Serenade to Music and Nadia Boulanger performing Monteverdi madrigals.
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Listen Up! Performance on 3 (7.30pm)
91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra/ Jirà Belohlávek (live from the Barbican).
The first concert broadcast by the station featured Benjamin Britten's Festival Overture, specially composed to celebrate the occasion; and counter-tenor Alfred Deller performed Purcell's Come Ye Sons of Art.
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Counter-tenor David Daniels is the soloist in this programme, performing the world premiere of Dove's new work.
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Dvorak: Suite in A Major, Op. 98
Dove: Hojoki: An Account of my Hut (Radio 3 and Casa da Musica co-commission)
Beethoven: Symphony No.3 'Eroica'
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Night Waves (9.45pm)
Philip Dodd chairs a discussion of how the cultural landscape has changed in the last 60 years in a live broadcast from Manchester.
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In the week leading up to the anniversary evening, Night Waves features major artists reflecting on changes and landmarks in their art forms since 1946.
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Live from the Fruitmarket, a Late Junction special (10.30pm)
Verity Sharp presents a special evening of live music and poetry in performance from Glasgow's Fruitmarket.
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Guests include The Perfect Houseplants and I Fagiolini.
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Jazz on 3 (11.30pm)
Jez Nelson presents a special anniversary edition of the programme featuring extracts from rarely-heard Radio 3 jazz commissions, including saxophonist John Surman's extraordinary work, That's Right, which was recorded in Norwich Cathedral in 2000.
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Further Programme Information
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Sunday Feature: History Through the Ears (24 September, 9.30pm)
Christopher Frayling discovers how the act of listening (to material from balladry to hip hop) has changed dramatically.
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By exploring aspects of cultural history, including the evolving role of the audience, the invention of the printing press, gramophone and iPod, he reveals how our listening habits have undergone major transformations.
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Hungary Night (28 September, 7.30pm)
Kirsty Lang (former 91Èȱ¬ World correspondent in Budapest) presents an evening of features, discussion and music marking the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising in 1956.
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The evening will look back at the uprising, how the rest of the world saw the events and its meaning in modern Hungary.
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The cultural impact of Hungarian emigration will be explored, focussing upon the influence of Hungarian artists and intellectuals on British culture, including those involved at the start of the Third Programme.
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Between the Ears: Three and The Third (30 September, 10.15pm)
A creative and sometimes irreverent exploration of the recorded archives of Radio 3 and The Third Programme.
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Drama on 3: Let Me by Howard Barker (1 October, 8.00pm)
This new commission continues the association between Radio 3 and the British playwright who celebrated his 60th birthday this year on 28 June.
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Cast includes: Edward Petherbridge, Andrew Woodall and Barbara Jefford.
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Howard Barker has had a long association with the station and his acclaimed drama Scenes from an Execution was originally commissioned for Radio 3 in 1984, later transferring to the stage.
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Choral Evensong (11 October, 4.00pm)
The 80th anniversary of Choral Evensong will be celebrated with a broadcast from Westminster Abbey.
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The music will reflect a whole range of styles and riches in the Anglican tradition including works by Byrd, Purcell, Stanford, Walton and Patrick Gowers.
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Other special broadcasts during the 80th anniversary season including a Vespers from the Spanish monastery of Montserrat; an Evensong as part of the 175th anniversary celebrations of the University of Durham from Durham Cathedral with the 91Èȱ¬ Philharmonic; and a visit to the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester for Elgar's 150th birthday.
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The first live relay of Choral Evensong was on the National Programme on Thursday 7 October 1926 from Westminster Abbey. It remained a weekly broadcast from the abbey for ten years, later including St Paul's Cathedral and York Minster, and in 1981 it moved to Radio 3.
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Free Thinking (3-10 November)
Free Thinking is a festival of ideas staged by Radio 3 in association with Radio Merseyside in Liverpool from Friday 3 to Sunday 5 November 2006.
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Free Thinking will be broadcast in special programmes each evening with further highlights through the autumn.
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The programme includes debate, drama, film, visual arts and discussions and is interdisciplinary, featuring practitioners from the worlds of science, technology, philosophy and the arts.
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The London Jazz Festival (10-19 November)
The London Jazz Festival in association with Radio 3 goes from strength to strength.
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Now in its 14th year, it continues to be one of the UK's most dynamic and widest ranging festivals and broadcasts across the station both on-air and online, giving the chance for listeners to hear live performances from the established greats, trend-setters, international artists and the best homegrown talent.
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91Èȱ¬ Choir of the Year (11 & 12 November)
Radio 3 Choir of the Year is the UK's largest amateur group singing competition.
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More than 5,000 singers have already taken part in auditions across the UK and the finals will be broadcast on Radio 3 and 91Èȱ¬ Television, presented by Aled Jones.
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This year the competition has four categories: Children's Choirs (majority of singers aged 14 and under); Youth Choirs (majority aged 18 and under); Adult Choirs (single or mixed voices); and Open Choirs (a new category open to all choirs and singing groups from any musical background).
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Wilfred Owen: The War Poems (12-18 November)
This year marked the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
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In the week of Remembrance Day, Radio 3 looks at Wilfred Owen's works and letters. His complete war poems will be broadcast across the station over the following week and Performance on 3 will include a new commission by Judith Bingham around this theme.
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Programming will include features on German war poets of the First World War and how contemporary serving soldiers respond to Owen with readings of his works by the soldiers of today.
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La Stupenda! (22 November)
Radio 3's Martin Handley hosts an evening of programmes celebrating the life and artistry of Dame Joan Sutherland, who celebrates her 80th birthday this year.
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Plucked from the chorus at Covent Garden, in February 1959 Dame Joan leapt to international stardom with an appearance in what quickly became one of her signature roles, Donizetti's Lucia.
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She enjoyed a glittering career which finally drew to a close with an emotional farewell stage appearance in Sydney in 1990.
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The evening will include interviews with Dame Joan herself and Richard Bonynge, along with many other artists and colleagues from her long career.
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It will trace the course of her life, from her early struggles to establish herself as a professional opera singer back home in Australia, to her domination of the world's leading opera houses.
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The Violence of Silence (27 November)
An ambitious drama-documentary in which Simon Armitage responds to new dramatic writing and documentary testimony exploring the impact of the Cambodian genocide of 1975 to 1978.
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The Thebans - New Production of Sophocles' plays by Timberlake Wertenbaker (10 December)
Timberlake Wertenbaker's powerful versions of Oedipus Tyrannos; Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone by Sophocles were brought together under the collective title of The Thebans and first produced to critical acclaim by the RSC in 1991.
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In a new production for Radio 3, these three classic Greek tragedies will be broadcast over one evening with music composed by Gary Yershon.
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Timberlake Wertenbaker's recent work for Radio 3 includes The H File adapted from a novel by Ismail Kadare and a new short play celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Royal Court.
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Radio 3 Publicity
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