Main content

The tentacles of freedom

Pulitzer prize winning composer Du Yun, alumni of the 91Èȱ¬ Proms Inspire Competition, and Alexandra Wilson's new book Opera in the Jazz Age.

Tom Service meets the boundary-defying Pulitzer Prize winning composer Du Yun, as she prepares to curate a radical upgrade of ancient Chinese and Indonesian sound-worlds in 'The New Java and Shanghai', part of Southbank's new music festival Soundstate.

And in a further exploration of today's composers and their octopus-like creative minds, as the 91Èȱ¬ Proms Inspire Competition launches its 20th year Tom speaks to two of its alumni: Jack Sheen explains how the competition propelled him into a career as a composer, conductor and programmer of new music, and Shiva Feshareki gives Tom a turntabling masterclass in her studio.

Alexandra Wilson's new book 'Opera in the Jazz Age' explores the art form's tentacular connections with popular culture in 1920s Britain, countering today's assumptions that opera has always been considered elitist. Tom meets up with Alexandra in the Royal Opera House's new Open Up space.

Plus news of the latest trends in sales of classical music, with the BPI's Gennaro Castaldo.

Available now

44 minutes

Last on

Sat 12 Jan 2019 12:15

Broadcast

  • Sat 12 Jan 2019 12:15

Knock on wood – six stunning wooden concert halls around the world

Steel and concrete can't beat good old wood to produce the best sounds for music.

The evolution of video game music

Tom Service traces the rise of an exciting new genre, from bleeps to responsive scores.

Why music can literally make us lose track of time

Try our psychoacoustic experiment to see how tempo can affect your timekeeping abilities.

Podcast