Series One
(October 2020 – February 2021)
Episode 1 – Emily Hazrati
7pm, Thursday 1st October (repeated on Friday 2nd October)
The show’s very first guest is composer Emily Hazrati! This week we discuss composing during lockdown, female composers through the ages, and the relevance of ancient texts in the modern world.
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
Emily Hazrati
Emily Hazrati
Claudia Rusca
Episode 2 – Nacho Mañá Mesas and Katrina Toner
7pm, Thursday 15th October
This week’s guests are Nacho Mañá Mesas and Katrina Toner! In today’s episode we explore narrative in composing, tailoring a piece to suit an ensemble or venue, and the influence of the English choral tradition when setting religious texts.
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
Nacho Mañá Mesas
Katrina Toner
David Hurd
Episode 3 – Joanna Ward
7pm, Thursday 29th October (postponed until Thursday 5th November)
This week’s guest is composer and activist Joanna Ward! In today’s episode we discuss the significance of writing music by hand, how to interpret graphic scores, and new ways to address inequality and diversity in music, in both educational and professional spheres.
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
Joanna Ward
Joanna Ward
Joanna Ward
Kerry Andrew
Episode 4 – Rajan Lal
7pm, Thursday 12th November
This week’s guest is Rajan Lal! In commemoration of Remembrance Day, we discuss compositions related to war and peace.
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
Rajan Lal
from Letters That You Will Not Get: Women’s Voices From The Great War (2018)
Kirsten Volness
Episode 5 – Nat Jobbins, Louis Watkins, and George Herbert
7pm, Thursday 26th November
For a packed festive episode, this week’s guests are Nat Jobbins, Louis Watkins, and George Herbert! In celebration of “Bridgemas” (Christmas during Cambridge term time), we discuss arrangements of carols and Christmas tunes. Nat’s arrangement was written for the Charter Choir of Homerton College, while Louis and George discuss the music arranged by and for The Gentlemen of St John’s.
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
Harold Darke, arr. Nat Jobbins
Boudleaux Bryant, arr. Louis Watkins
[the original was made famous by The Everly Brothers]
J. Fred Coots, arr. Piers Kennedy
Episode 6 – Anna Semple
7pm, Thursday 10th December (postponed until Thursday 17th December)
This week’s guest is Anna Semple! In today’s episode we discuss setting Emily Dickinson’s poetry, creating sound collages, and composing at Christmas.
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
Anna Semple
Anna Semple (with animations by Lucy Harper)
Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco
Episode 7 – Sarah Cattley
7pm, Thursday 24th December
For the show’s Christmas Eve special, our guest is composer Sarah Cattley! In today’s episode we discuss medieval texts on festive greenery, the presence of works by female composers in the standard Christmas repertoire, and our favourite sounds of Christmas!
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
Elizabeth Maconchy
Sarah Cattley
Imogen Holst
Elizabeth Poston
Errollyn Wallen
Cecilia McDowall
Cheryl Frances-Hoad
Episode 8 – Pia Rose Scattergood
7pm, Thursday 7th January
The show’s first guest of 2021 is Pia Rose Scattergood! As we begin a new year, this week’s episode focuses on music and environmental activism.
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
from Mass for the Endangered (2020)
Sarah Kirkland Snider
[excerpt 1] (2020)
Pia Rose Scattergood
Judith Bingham
Cheryl Frances-Hoad
Episode 9 – Leia Devadason
7pm, Thursday 21st January (postponed until 10pm, Friday 29th January)
As a new term begins, Leia Devadason introduces the third annual Minerva Festival, which aims to amplify the voices of female and non-binary composers. Our conversation covers a variety of topics, from the fluid distinction between music, poetry, and language, to composition via Zoom!
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
Leia Devadason
Leia Devadason
Roxanna Panufnik
Episode 10 – Oliver Jones
7pm, Thursday 4th February (postponed until Thursday 25th February)
For the show’s tenth episode, Oliver Jones joins me to discuss the earliest known opera by a female composer within the tradition of Western art music––Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero––and connections between the Renaissance and the modern day.
If you missed the radio broadcast, you can catch up on snippets of our conversation and listen to the music featured below:
The Ricci Ensemble 