91Èȱ¬

• A vivid portrait of Mendelssohn drawn through performance, discussion, debate and talks
• Six new Songs Without Words by young composers commissioned by Radio 3
• Across the country, dozens of choirs perform O For The Wings Of The Dove
• A special, fully-staged production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Mendelssohn's incidental music, broadcast on air, online and via red button

Marking the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn's birth in a special weekend of programmes (8-10 May), 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 brings listeners an opportunity to hear some of his best-loved works with live broadcasts, specially-recorded performance and new commissions.

Providing further context to the music, presenters across the station also explore aspects of his personal and public life focussing on his relationship with his sister Fanny, his travels and the subsequent banning of his music by the Nazis.

The celebrations are part of Radio 3's Composers Of The Year, marking the anniversaries of Purcell, Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn.

Sean Rafferty launches the weekend of celebrations in Friday's In Tune, broadcast live from Birmingham Town Hall, where the composer's Elijah was premiered. The programme includes a performance by Thomas Trotter on the organ that Mendelssohn played in 1837 and Radio 3 New Generation Artist Tai Murray performs Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with the 91Èȱ¬ Philharmonic.

Six young composers have been commissioned by Radio 3 to write contemporary versions of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words for the anniversary celebrations. Pianist Andrew Zolinsky will play them in Songs Without Words For The 21st Century.

Dozens of choirs across the country from the Isle of Arran to Truro join Radio 3 to perform Mendelssohn's O For The Wings Of A Dove. In The Choir, Aled Jones interviews some of the many singers taking part and Radio 3's Choir of the Year, Scunthorpe Community Choir, will perform the complete Hear My Prayer.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment play Mendelssohn's incidental music for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in an acclaimed production directed by Tim Carroll. Recorded for broadcast at Middle Temple Hall in London, where Shakespeare himself played in 1602, the drama will be simulcast on 91Èȱ¬ Red Button and be available to view on bbc.co.uk/radio3.

Buckingham Palace is the location for a special interval programme Mendelssohn At The Palace in which Sean Rafferty explores Mendelssohn's relationship with the young Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

In Music Matters, Tom Service visits Scotland and follows in Mendelssohn's footsteps exploring some of the places he visited during a walking tour in the summer of 1829.

The composer's travels throughout Europe are reflected in Words And Music. Young British actor Edward Bennett reads the letters he wrote on his "Great Trip" of 1829-32.

John Sessions has written a script for Radio 3's Private Passions in which Felix Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny discuss their life, work and favourite pieces of music with Michael Berkeley. John Sessions performs the role of Felix and Rebecca Front is Fanny.

The work and life of both brother and sister is also explored by Donald MacLeod in Composer Of The Week.

Radio 3 presents an extensive survey of the composer's work across the schedule. Louise Fryer's Saturday and Sunday Salons feature many of Mendelssohn's great chamber works, while Rob Cowan explores classic recordings in Vintage Mendelssohn.

Highlights include a special Sunday Morning with Iain Burnside broadcast live from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London including performance by Daniel Hope – descended from Mendelssohn's teacher – pianist Sebastian Knauer and singers Sophie Bevan and David Stout.

The 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra and the 91Èȱ¬ Singers join the celebrations in Performance On 3 with works inspired by his visits to Britain in a programme which includes Fingal's Cave, Ave Maria and Symphony No.3, the "Scottish" Symphony.

In Mendelssohn, The Nazis And Me, Sheila Hayman – great, great, great, great-niece of Mendelssohn – explores the identity of the composer in his lifetime and after his death, the effect of Wagner's anti-semitic polemic on his reputation and the banning of Mendelssohn by the Nazis.

Tom Service discusses Mendelssohn today in Mendelssohn Revealed with the conductor Ben Parry, who is also a descendent of the composer, and the author Judith Chernaik, who explains her new research into Mendelssohn's life. Listeners are invited to contribute to this programme and share their thoughts about the composer.

The final programme in 91Èȱ¬ Two's The Birth Of British Music, televised during May, centres on Mendelssohn's works.

Presenter Charles Hazlewood hears O For The Wings Of A Dove played on a magnificent carillon overlooking Bournville village green; meets Mendelssohn's successor Riccardo Chailly at the Leipzig Gewandhaus; and makes a stormy journey to Staffa to visit Fingal's Cave in the footsteps of the composer.

Bringing this series to a close, a massed choir from across the West Midlands performs O For The Wings Of A Dove with the 91Èȱ¬ Concert Orchestra and soloist Andrew Shore in the newly-restored Birmingham Town Hall.

Radio 3's website around Composers Of The Year celebrates the anniversaries of Purcell, Handel, Mendelssohn and Haydn throughout the year. Listeners can read and comment on the Mendelssohn blog, and there is the opportunity to receive text updates of broadcasts and events around the anniversary celebrations.

91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 listings

Monday 4 to Friday 8 May

• Breakfast (7.00-10.00am) include a Song Without Words each day.
• Composer Of The Week (12.00noon-1.00pm) explores the work and life of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.
• Afternoon On 3 (2.00-5.00pm) broadcasts some of Mendelssohn's string symphonies.

Wednesday 6 May

• Choral Evensong (4.00-5.00pm) from Temple Church, London where Ernest Lough made his legendary recording of Mendelssohn's O For The Wings Of A Dove (repeated 10 May).

Friday 8 May

• In Tune (5.00-7.00pm) launches the Mendelssohn weekend live from Birmingham Town Hall with organist Thomas Trotter, Alice Halstead (91Èȱ¬ Chorister of the Year) and the 91Èȱ¬ Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Performance On 3 (7.00-9.15pm): Petroc Trelawny presents a recreation of the premiere of Elijah of 1846. Recorded at Birmingham Town Hall, with Ex Cathedra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Jeffery Skidmore.
• The Verb (9.15-10.00pm): Ian McMillan explores new writing on a Victorian theme.

Saturday 9 May

• Breakfast (7.00-10.00am) places Mendelssohn in the context of his historical heroes and contemporary admirers, including music by Handel and Gade.
• CD Review (9.00am-12.15pm): Harriet Smith and Ivan Hewett round up the latest Mendelssohn recordings. Building A Library surveys recordings of Mendelssohn's Octet, written when he was just a teenager.
• In Music Matters (12.15-1.00pm), Tom Service travels to Scotland in Mendelssohn's footsteps, retracing the composer's trip in the summer of 1829.
• The Early Music Show (1.00-2.00pm) explores Mendelssohn's role in the revival of Bach.
• In Radio 3's Saturday Salon (2.00-3.00pm) Louise Fryer presents a range of chamber music highlights to include recordings by Radio 3's New Generation Artists.
• In Vintage Mendelssohn (4.00-7.00pm) Rob Cowan showcases classic Mendelssohn performances.
• Louise Fryer presents the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra and 91Èȱ¬ Singers from Maida Vale for a Performance On 3 special (7.00-9.00pm) including Twenty Minutes: Mendelssohn at the Palace in which Sean Rafferty takes a trip to Buckingham Palace to explore Mendelssohn's relationship with the young Queen Victoria.
• In Mendelssohn, The Nazis And Me (9.00-9.45pm), Sheila Hayman, great, great, great, great-neice of Mendelssohn, explores the identity of the composer in his lifetime and after his death, the effect of Wagner's anti-semitic polemic on his reputation and the banning of Mendelssohn by the Nazis.
• Songs Without Words For The 21st century (9.45-10.15pm) sees Radio 3's six new commissions by young composers of Songs Without Words performed and discussed by pianist Andrew Zolinsky.
• In Words And Music: The Great Trip (10.15-11.30pm), there's a chance to hear about the composer's travels between 1829 and 1832 when he journeyed throughout Europe, visiting England, Austria, Italy and France.

Sunday 10 May

• Breakfast (7.00-10.00am) places Mendelssohn in context of his historical heroes and contemporary admirers, including music by Beethoven and Sterndale Bennett.
• Sunday Morning With Iain Burnside (10.00am-12.00noon) comes live from the V&A Museum in London with performances from Sophie Bevan, David Stout and Daniel Hope and Sebastian Knauer in a celebration of the works of the Mendelssohns. Hope is a descendent of Mendelssohn's influential teacher, Zelter, and he plays a violin sonata discovered by Yehudi Menuhin in the Fifties.
• On Private Passions (12.00noon-1.00pm), Felix Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny talk to Michael Berkeley about their life, work and their favourite pieces of music. With an original script specially written and performed by John Sessions.
• Sunday Salon (1.00-3.00pm) features a host of Mendelssohn delights, including two great works from the beginning and end of Mendelssohn's composing career, the Octet and String Quartet No.6.
• Tom Service chairs a discussion programme, Mendelssohn Revealed (3.00-4.00pm), with a range of panellists to discuss Mendelssohn's reputation today.
• Charles Hazlewood presents a special edition of Discovering Music (5.00-6.30pm) exploring Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony.
• Aled Jones presents a live edition of The Choir from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (6.30-8.00pm) with a complete performance of Hear My Prayer sung by the Radio 3 Choir of the Year – the Scunthorpe Community Choir – with support from Oldham Youth Choir. There will also be features and interviews on choirs participating in Radio 3's O For The Wings Of A Dove challenge which culminates today.
• Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (8.00-10.30pm), complete with Mendelssohn's incidental music played by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and conducted by Charles Hazlewood, in Tim Carroll's innovative production recorded at the Middle Temple Hall in London. The production is simulcast on the Red Button and will be available to view on the Radio 3 website for the rest of the year.

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