RADIO-LISTS: BBC RADIO 3
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC Radio 3 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/
SATURDAY 16 MAY 2026
SAT 00:30 Through the Night (m002w22z)
100 years of the Berlin Radio Chorus
The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, soloists and conductor Gijs Leenaars perform works by Mendelssohn, Robert Heppener, Vaughan Williams and Verdi. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Richte mich, Gott, Op 78 no 2
Berlin Radio Chorus, Gijs Leenaars (conductor)
12:35 AM
Robert Heppener (1925-2009)
Bruchstücke eines alten Textes
Gesine Nowakowski (soprano), Barbara Berg-Bretschneider (soprano), Sabine Eyer (alto), Jiwon Choi (alto), Holger Marks-Simonis (tenor), Georg Streuber-Chraniuk (bass), Berlin Radio Chorus, Gijs Leenaars (conductor)
12:48 AM
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Serenade to Music
Gesine Nowakowski (soprano), Barbara Berg-Bretschneider (soprano), Sabine Eyer (alto), Jiwon Choi (alto), Joohoon Shin (tenor), Holger Marks-Simonis (tenor), Bruno Meichsner (bass), Georg Streuber-Chraniuk (bass), Berlin Radio Chorus, Gijs Leenaars (conductor), Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
01:01 AM
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Quattro pezzi sacri
Gesine Nowakowski (soprano), Berlin Radio Chorus, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gijs Leenaars (conductor)
01:39 AM
Traditional, Philip Mayers (arr.)
Happy Birthday
Berlin Radio Chorus, Gijs Leenaars (conductor)
01:41 AM
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), Gordon Hamilton (arr.)
Nessun dorma
Berlin Radio Chorus, Gijs Leenaars (conductor)
01:44 AM
Percy Grainger (1882-1961)
Après un rêve (after Fauré)
Leslie Howard (piano)
01:47 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Symphony no 3 in A minor, Op 56 "Scottish"
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox (conductor)
02:31 AM
Louis Spohr (1784-1859)
Notturno for wind and Turkish band in C major, Op 34
Octophoros, Paul Dombrecht (conductor)
03:03 AM
César Franck (1822-1890)
Sonata for violin or cello and piano in A major (M.8)
Antonio Meneses (cello), Menahem Pressler (piano)
03:32 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
3 chorales from the Schemelli collection
Marco Fink (bass baritone), Bernarda Fink (mezzo soprano), Domen Marincic (gamba), Dalibor Miklavcic (organ)
03:39 AM
Henry Eccles (c.1675-1745)
Sonata for double bass and piano
Gary Karr (double bass), Harmon Lewis (piano)
03:47 AM
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Sonata in D minor: Fugue K.41; Presto K.18
Eduardo Lopez Banzo (harpsichord)
03:57 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Finlandia, Op 26
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard (conductor)
04:05 AM
Joan Baptista Pla i Agustí (1720-1773)
Sonata in D major, for flute, violin and basso continuo
La Guirlande
04:13 AM
Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
Seven Elegies - no 2, All' Italia
Valerie Tryon (piano)
04:21 AM
William Walton (1902-1983)
Johannesburg Festival Overture
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, David Atherton (conductor)
04:31 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Violin Concerto in F major, RV 291
Fabio Biondi (violin), Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi (director)
04:40 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op 60
Anastasia Vorotnaya (piano)
04:49 AM
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)
Kyrie from Missa Sancti Henrici (1701)
James Griffett (tenor), Michael Schopper (bass), Regensburger Domspatzen, Collegium Aureum, Herbert Metzger (organ), Georg Ratzinger (conductor)
04:58 AM
Wojciech Kilar (1931-2013)
Orawa
Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic, Kristjan Järvi (conductor)
05:07 AM
Balthasar Fritsch (1570-1608)
Paduan and 2 Galliards (from Primitiae musicales, Frankfurt/Main 1606)
Hortus Musicus, Andres Mustonen (director)
05:15 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Sonata in E, Op 1 no 15
Eszter Perényi (violin), Gyula Kiss (piano)
05:24 AM
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Rossiniana - suite from Rossini's 'Les riens'
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Mester (conductor)
05:51 AM
Jacques Gallot (1625-1696)
Pieces de Luth in C minor
Konrad Junghänel (lute)
06:01 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
String Quartet in G major, K.387
Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth (violin), Andrea Bischof (violin), Anita Mitterer (viola), Christophe Coin (cello)
SAT 06:30 Breakfast (m002w65w)
Start the day strong with classical music
Hannah French presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk
To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Morning (m002w65y)
Elite pianist Leif Ove Andsnes calls in to play live
Tom Service plays the best classical music alongside the latest stories in the arts world.
His guests this week include the celebrated pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, who joins Tom to play live and discuss his new recording of piano music by fellow Norwegian Geirr Tveitt. And in The Creators, composer and musician Jem Finer tells the story behind his 1,000 year long piece of music Longplayer.
SAT 12:00 Earlier... with Jools Holland (m002w660)
Jools with music for Saturday lunchtime
Jools shares his lifelong passion for classical music and the beautiful connections with jazz and blues. With fascinating guests each week, who bring their own favourite music and occasionally perform live in Jools's studio.
Today, Jools's choices include music by Jean Sibelius, Thomas Ades and Al Bowlly with performances by saxophonist Amy Dickson, the Danish String Quartet and conductor Susanna Malkki. His guest is the writer and critic Nicola Shulman, who introduces music she loves by Thomas Linley, Luigi Rossi and Barry Gray.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Earlier with Jools Holland".
SAT 13:00 Key Changes: Radio 3's Essential History of Classical Music (m002w662)
1521: Why should the devil have all the best tunes?
On the road to Worms in April 1521, Martin Luther approaches the imperial city under escort, summoned to account for his heretical teachings. As cheering crowds gather to greet him, Luther leads his companions in a hymn, in German – a small, human gesture that hints at the profound musical change to come. His defiance at the Diet of Worms will ignite the Protestant Reformation and Luther's love of music will influence the trajectory of Western music ever after.
Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new BBC Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1000 years of classical music history. For the first eight programmes, historian Michael Wood is in the chair, as together they explore the bold new sound worlds of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Producer: Chris Taylor
Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford
Story Consultant: Kate Leys
Series Editor for BBC Audio: Emma Harding
Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan.
MUSIC DETAILS
Martin Luther: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
BBC Singers
Sofi Jeannin, conductor
J. S. Bach: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (Cantata No.80)
Chorus Musicus Köln
Das Neue Orchester
Christoph Spering, conductor
Michael Praetorius: Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
Monteverdi Choir
John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
Heinrich Schütz: Jauchzet dem Herren, alle Welt, SWV 47
La Chapelle Rhénane
Benoît Haller, conductor
Elisabeth Cruciger: Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn (The Only Son from Heaven)
BBC Singers
Sofi Jeannin, conductor
Little Lucy Smith Singers: Jesus, Lover of My Soul
Little Lucy Smith Singers
J. S. Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Cantata No.147)
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki, conductor
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No.5 “Reformation” – IV. Andante con moto
London Symphony Orchestra
Claudio Abbado, conductor
SAT 14:00 Record Review (m002w664)
Andrew McGregor with the best of the week's new classical releases.
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2.10pm
Sarah Walker joins Andrew to showcase a batch of releases that have caught her ear.
3pm
Building a Library. The Chief Executive of St George's Bristol, Samir Savant, surveys recordings of Fauré's Requiem and makes a top recommendation.
The work was first performed in 1888 in La Madeleine in Paris, and of it the composer said "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest."
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3.50pm
Record of the Week. Andrew's top pick of this week's new releases.
SAT 16:00 Sound of Cinema (m002w668)
Edith is joined by conductor Hugh Tieppo-Brunt and Cerys Matthews
A weekly journey through the finest film scores and unforgettable movie music, with Edith Bowman.
This week, conductor Hugh Tieppo‑Brunt discusses Mica Levi’s score for the 2013 sci‑fi horror Under the Skin in Harmonising Hollywood, while Cerys Matthews shares her Pick of the Flicks, spotlighting music from a 1950s musical comedy.
There’s also music from documentaries over the years narrated by Sir David Attenborough, celebrating his 100th birthday, alongside our regular blend of new soundtrack releases and timeless cinema classics.
SAT 17:00 This Classical Life (m002w66b)
Jess Gillam with... Alex Mills
Jess Gillam shares music choices with the Welsh composer Alex Mills. Alex originally trained in fashion journalism before deciding to move into composing. He has since composed music for BBC National Orchestra of Wales, EXAUDI, the Ligeti Quartet, Juice Vocal Ensemble, the Welsh Chamber Orchestra and Grammy Award-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird. His debut album 'Look How Brightly', containing works for piano, strings, voice & percussion, is out now via Delphian Records. Alex's choices range from Debussy, Machaut, Meredith Monk and a track by Daft Punk and Jess picks music by Sibelius and Alice Coltrane.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3”.
SAT 18:00 Opera on 3 (m002w66d)
Britten's The Turn of the Screw
Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw from the Linbury Theatre, with Isabelle Peters as the Governess and Elgan Llŷr Thomas as Quint.
An operatic ghost story based on a literary classic. Benjamin Britten's adaptation of Henry James’s tense, classic novella follows the malign influence of two ghosts on two children. Marooned in a remote country house, their young Governess finds herself dangerously out of her depth as she uncovers more about the children's behaviour – and what is prompting it.
Britten's chilling The Turn of the Screw comes to life in an atmospheric new staging created by Natalie Abrahami and Michael Levine with Bassem Akiki conducting. This new production follows Billy Budd, Death in Venice and Peter Grimes in the cycle of Britten works from The Royal Opera.
Presented by Ian Skelly with guest Kate Kennedy.
Britten: The Turn of the Screw - an opera in a Prologue and Two acts with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper after the story by Henry James
The Governess .... Isabelle Peters (soprano)
Peter Quint .... Elgan Llyr Thomas (tenor)
Mrs Grose, the housekeeper .... Clare Barnett-Jones (mezzo-soprano)
Miss Jessel, the ghost of the former governess .... Kate Royal (soprano)
Miles, the young boy .... Glenn Tong (boy soprano)
Flora, his younger sister .... Fleur Mauxion (soprano)
Orchestra of the Royal Opera
Bassem Akiki (conductor)
SAT 20:10 New Generation Artists (m002wnm0)
Giorgi Gigashvili and the Chaos Quartet in Chopin and Haydn
Geneva Lewis plays Valentin Silvestrov’s Violin Sonata “Post scriptum” which he describes as “a postscript to Mozart and the whole classical tradition... The text has already been written. We simply add our annotations, thoughts, questions, consternation, astonishment and regret." And, after Haydn from the Chaos Quartet and Chopin from Giorgi Gigashvili, there are two tracks from Radio 3's current New Generation, Emma Rawicz. Cloudwalker, she says, "imagines a dreamlike journey, in an alternate reality where one can walk on clouds while watching the earth below," whilst Cowboys and Aliens was the result of "stumbling across a particularly 'wonky' feeling groove that turned out to be in the unusual time signature of 23/8. It also somehow reminded me of horses galloping, and the combination of that and the bizarre lilt of the piece led me to its whimsical title."
Valentin Silvestrov: Sonata (Post scriptum) for violin and piano
Geneva Lewis (violin), Llyr Williams (piano)
Haydn: String Quartet in D major Op.20 no.4
Chaos Quartet
Chopin: Two Nocturnes Op. 62
Giorgi Gigashvili (piano)
Emma Rawicz: Cloudwalker
Emma Rawicz: Cowboys and Aliens
Emma Rawicz (saxophone) with Rasmus Sørensen (piano) Asaf Sirkis (drums), Freddie Jensen (string bass)
SAT 21:30 Music Planet (m002w66g)
Tuareg blues from Imarhan in session
Kathryn Tickell shares an intimate session with Tuareg blues band Imarhan, who have recently left their studio in Tamanrasset, Algeria, to tour their latest album, Essam, across Europe. Plus, a track from a new compilation of guitar songs from Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and DR Congo, travelling gypsy music from Anjou-born improviser, composer, and poet Titi Robin, and a new single from British folk outfit Goblin Band.
Produced by Silvia Malnati
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Planet'.
SAT 22:30 New Music Show (m002w66j)
Tectonics Glasgow 2026: Oliver Leith, Nicole Mitchell and Naomi Pinnock
Kate Molleson presents more highlights from Tectonics 2026, including world premieres of music by Martin Smolka and Nicole Mitchell, plus works by Oliver Leith and Naomi Pinnock.
SUNDAY 17 MAY 2026
SUN 00:30 Through the Night (m002w66l)
BBC Proms: Shostakovich, Ravel and Walton
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra opens its first Prom under new Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth with Shostakovich’s jovial Suite for Variety Orchestra. Inspirational one-handed pianist Nicholas McCarthy is the soloist in Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, which is followed by Walton's First Symphony. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975), Levon Atovmyan (arr.)
Suite for Variety Orchestra no 1
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Mark Wigglesworth (conductor)
12:54 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major
Nicholas McCarthy (piano), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Mark Wigglesworth (conductor)
01:14 AM
Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915)
Nocturne for the Left Hand, Op 9 no 2
Nicholas McCarthy (piano)
01:20 AM
William Walton (1902-1983)
Symphony no 1 in B flat minor
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Mark Wigglesworth (conductor)
02:05 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Violin Sonata no 2 in G major
Johan Dalene (violin), Charles Owen (piano)
02:23 AM
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), William Walton (1902-1983)
Drop, Drop, Slow Tears
Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh (director)
02:31 AM
Carl Reinecke (1824-1910)
Flute Concerto in D major, Op 283 (1908)
Matej Zupan (flute), RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, David de Villiers (conductor)
02:52 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Kreisleriana, Op 16
Jakub Kuszlik (piano)
03:26 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Slavonic Dance no 12 in D flat major, Op 72 no 4
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Juanjo Mena (conductor)
03:32 AM
Charles Gounod (1818-1893), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Meditation sur le premier prelude de Bach (Ave Maria)
Kyung-Ok Park (cello), Myung-Ja Kwun (harp)
03:38 AM
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)
Eternal Father - 3 Motets, Op 135 no 2
BBC Singers, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)
03:44 AM
Anton Wilhelm Solnitz (c.1708-1753)
Sinfonia in A major, Op 3 no 4
Musica ad Rhenum
03:57 AM
Franz Grothe (1908-1982)
Illusion (from the film Illusion) (1941)
Robert Kortgaard (piano), Marie Bérard (violin), Joseph Macerollo (accordion)
04:02 AM
Jacques-François Halévy (1799-1862)
Gerard & Lusignan's duet: "Salut, salut, à cette noble France"
Benjamin Butterfield (tenor), Brett Polegato (baritone), Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Richard Bradshaw (conductor)
04:13 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Two Nocturnes, Op 32 (no 1 in B major; no 2 in A flat major)
Kevin Kenner (piano)
04:23 AM
Maciej Radziwill (1749-1800)
Divertimento in D major
Polish Radio Orchestra, Warsaw, Michal Klauza (conductor)
04:31 AM
Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962)
Sicilienne
Henry-David Varema (cello), Heiki Mätlik (guitar)
04:34 AM
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)
Rondeau, Op 28 no 4
Henry-David Varema (cello), Heiki Mätlik (guitar)
04:38 AM
Andrea Falconieri (c.1585-1656)
Alemana dicha la Ciriculia; Canciona dicha la Pretiosa
United Continuo Ensemble
04:48 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Music to a Scene
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste (conductor)
04:54 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata in E minor, Op 90
Xaver Scharwenka (piano)
05:07 AM
Michael Tippett (1905-1998)
Five Spirituals from the oratorio "A Child of our Time"
Vancouver Bach Choir, Bruce Pullan (conductor)
05:18 AM
Antonín Kraft (1749-1820)
Cello Concerto in C major, Op 4
Michal Kanka (cello), Prague Chamber Orchestra, Pavel Safarik (conductor)
05:41 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Estampes
Lars David Nilsson (piano)
05:56 AM
Joseph Jongen (1873-1953)
Elegie nocturnale (Tres modere), Op 95 no 1 - from 2 pieces for Piano Trio
Grumiaux Trio
06:08 AM
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
Requiem
Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh (director)
SUN 06:30 Breakfast (m002w8f6)
Wake up your senses with classical music
Mark Forrest presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’.
SUN 09:00 Sunday Morning (m002w8f8)
Three hours of classical sparkle
This week, Sarah Walker sets out on a musical journey that moves from Baroque Verona to the wide open landscapes of Scotland - with a few reflective pauses along the way.
There’s expressive piano music from Brahms, the magic of Bach played on the lute, and the lively finale from Dvořák’s American Quartet.
Sarah also heads to Estonia for this week’s Choral Reflection, with hauntingly beautiful music by Cyrillus Kreek.
Sarah will also swing by London’s Wigmore Hall for some Haydn from Denis Kozhukhin, before packing her musical passport for Scotland. Hamish MacCunn’s Land of the Mountain and the Flood sets the scene, with Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony as the morning’s centrepiece.
Also, there’s a splash of colour from Madeleine Dring, and to round things off, Beethoven brings the sparkle with the finale of his First Piano Concerto.
A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3.
SUN 12:00 Private Passions (m002w8fb)
Michael Wood, historian
The historian Michael Wood has shared his enthusiasms and expertise with television viewers and readers around the world for almost five decades.
He’s brought us complex individuals such as Alexander the Great, pivotal conflicts such as the Trojan War, and national histories, including the Story of India, the Story of China and a people’s history of Britain.
And here on Radio 3, he’s one of the distinguished historians joining Gillian Moore for Key Changes, a year-long series charting one thousand years of musical history, on air on Saturdays and on BBC Sounds.
Michael's musical choices include Monteverdi, Bach, Messiaen and Chopin.
SUN 13:30 Music Map (m002w8fd)
Arturo Marquez's Danzón No. 2
Sara Mohr-Pietsch hits the dancefloor, exploring the world of Marquez's Danzón No 2.
Mexican composers Juan García de Zéspedes and Manuel Ponce feature alongside music from Cuba - the home of the danzón. We also venture into music dedicated to children from Teresa Carreño and Shara Nova, before exploring unofficial national anthems with Heitor Villa-Lobos, Jean Sibelius, José Pablo Moncayo and Joseph Haydn.
Sara also digs into the rhythmic heartbeat of Danzón No 2 - the 'son clave' rhythm - which crops up everywhere from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story to the mega-hit children's TV show Bluey.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: “Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Map.”
SUN 15:00 Music Matters (m002w8fg)
Musical Minds
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya
Psychotherapist and broadcaster Nemone Metaxas delves into our psychological relationship with music, both as listeners and performers, with a particular focus on how this relationship is shaped by our childhood experiences and the people in our lives.
This week, she's joined by the conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya alongside resident psychologist Claire Renfrew.
SUN 16:00 Jazz Record Requests (m002w8fj)
Hymn To Freedom: Oscar Peterson, Mahavishnu Orchestra & Irene Kral
Alyn Shipton presents jazz music of all styles as requested by you including selections from Oscar Peterson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Irene Kral and Eva Cassidy.
Join our community of jazz lovers. Alyn Shipton is waiting for your requests: email jrr@bbc.co.uk or use #jazzrecordrequests on social.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Jazz Record Requests”.
SUN 17:00 The Early Music Show (m00066nf)
Schutz's Psalmen Davids
Hannah French explores Heinrich Schutz's 26 psalm settings, which were one of the first major collections of choral music in the German language.
To listen to this programme using most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play The Early Music Show".
SUN 18:00 Choral Evensong (m002vywn)
Bristol Cathedral
Live from Bristol Cathedral on the Eve of the Ascension.
Introit: Coelus ascendit hodie (Stanford)
Responses: Rose
Office Hymn: Eternal Monarch, King most high (Gonfalon Royal)
Psalms 15, 24 (Hayes, Barnby)
First Lesson: 2 Samuel 23 vv1-5
Canticles: St John’s Service (Jonathan Dove)
Second Lesson: Colossians 2 v20-3 v4
Anthem: God is gone up (Finzi)
Hymn: The head that once was crowned with thorns (St Magnus)
Voluntary: Épilogue (Laurin)
Mark Lee (Master of the Choristers and Organist)
Paul Walton (Assistant Organist)
To listen on most smart speakers, just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Choral Evensong”.
SUN 19:00 Sunday Feature (m002vvxl)
South African Arias
Lindsay Johns explores the flourishing of operatic talent in post-Apartheid South Africa.
The operatic voices emerging from South Africa are extraordinary. In recent years, Pretty Yende sang at King Charles’s coronation, and Cape Town hosted the world’s biggest opera competition, ‘Operalia’. In the two most recent editions of Cardiff Singer of the World, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha and Siphokazi Molteno have soared above other competitors.
Opera, a type of classical music often perceived as elite and the acme of white Western high culture, is now very much a black South African art form - and one of the country’s most successful exports. Yet in a nation still beset by racial and social inequality, not to mention poverty and an enduring lack of opportunity for the black majority, what accounts for it being embraced so enthusiastically by this, perhaps unexpected, demographic?
In Cape Town, Lindsay visits the Foundation Studio, Cape Town Opera’s training programme for the next generation of South African soloists. He also travels with the company’s Vocal Ensemble to performances in local neighbourhoods, including Langa, the city’s oldest township.
Set against these contemporary initiatives is a longer story of transformation – of opera’s survival through the turbulent renegotiation of the artistic landscape. Under Apartheid, opera was made for white people, by white people, and subsidised by the government. Post-transition to democracy, opera has had to compete on an equal footing with indigenous and black popular culture for state funding and has been forced to make itself relevant to the diversity of the ‘Rainbow Nation’.
Lindsay Johns meets singers, teachers, critics and locals to tell the story of a nation’s relationship with a colonial artform they have made their own.
SUN 19:45 Words and Music (m002w8fl)
Wildflowers and weeds
David Troughton and Sarah Lessore with readings from prose and poetry set alongside music, ahead of the opening of the world’s most famous flower show RHS Chelsea, inspired by humble plants as we look at wildflowers and weeds.
We mark one of the earliest flowers to appear each year, the lesser celandine, in poetry by Wordsworth accompanied by February from Tchaikovsky’s seasons (Celandine Day is February 21st). We pay tribute to the glorious carpets of blue flowering in April and May as Britain’s much-loved bluebell comes into its own, represented by poetry from Emily Bronte, fiction from Ka Bradley and Bartok’s Viragzas, meaning ‘In Full Flower’. The Secret Garden comes to life in a reading from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic. And we’re making room for more unloved plants too, with Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine and Edward Thomas’ Tall Nettles.
Throughout you’ll hear from the Language of Flowers, the Victorian method of using flowers to indicate messages.
Produced in Salford by Jessica Treen
SUN 21:00 Ultimate Calm (m002lmzb)
Erland Cooper: Series 5
Luminous music to warm the soul ft. Bat for Lashes
Gather by the fireside with Scottish composer Erland Cooper as he selects a variety of warming sounds designed for cooler days and nights. He reflects on how music can transport you elsewhere or bring inner warmth, and shares tracks from the likes of Agnes Obel, Daniel Avery and John Luther Adams.
Plus ethereal musician Bat for Lashes aka Natasha Khan shares her musical safe haven, transporting us with a selection that conjures up the warmth of the Mediterranean sun.
Produced by Connor Gani
A Reduced Listening production
SUN 22:00 Night Tracks (m002w8fn)
Meditative music for night owls
Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
SUN 23:30 Unclassified (m002w8fq)
Shore Lines
Join Elizabeth Alker with a selection of fresh music from genre-defying artists as we journey through landscapes of ambient and experimental sounds. Along the way, we'll hear from emerging independent producers whose work plays with orchestral textures and classical form as well as the latest sounds from a new generation of contemporary composers who look to embrace the spirit of rock, pop and electronica.
Produced by Geoff Bird
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
To listen on most smart speakers, just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Unclassified”.
MONDAY 18 MAY 2026
MON 00:30 Through the Night (m002w8fs)
Barber's Violin Concerto and Shostakovich's Sixth Symphony
The German Symphony Orchestra, Berlin plays Barber's Violin Concerto with the American violinist Randall Goosby. Ryan Bancroft leads the orchestra in a piece by Gabriella Smith inspired by the Californian coast. Shostakovich's intriguing and unconventionally formed sixth symphony completes the programme. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Gabriella Smith (b.1991)
Tumblebird Contrails
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ryan Bancroft (conductor)
12:43 AM
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Violin Concerto, Op 14
Randall Goosby (violin), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ryan Bancroft (conductor)
01:07 AM
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004)
Louisiana Blues Strut (encore)
Randall Goosby (violin)
01:10 AM
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Symphony no 6 in B minor, Op 54
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ryan Bancroft (conductor)
01:43 AM
Cyrillus Kreek (1889-1962)
Taaveti laul (David's psalm), "Onnis on inimene"
Tallinn Music High School Chamber Choir, Evi Eespere (director)
01:46 AM
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
La Notte (no 2 from 3 Odes funèbres)
Jos Van Immerseel (piano)
01:57 AM
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Variations on an original theme ('Enigma') Op 36 for orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo (conductor)
02:31 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Litaniae Lauretanae, K.195
Dita Paegle (soprano), Antra Bigaca (mezzo soprano), Martins Klisans (tenor), Janis Markovs (bass), Choir of Latvian Radio, Riga Chamber Players, Sigvards Kļava (conductor)
02:57 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
String Quartet in F major
Spirea Quartet
03:26 AM
Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
Concerto for violin and horn in A major
Agata Raatz (violin), Zora Slokar (horn), Berner Kammerorchester, Graziella Contratto (conductor)
03:55 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Partita no 1 in B flat major, BWV.825
Zhang Zuo (piano)
04:08 AM
Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)
Glory to Thee, My God, This Night
Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh (director)
04:11 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Trio no 6 from Essercizii Musici
Camerata Köln, Sabine Bauer (organ)
04:19 AM
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
Overture to La Gazza ladra (The thieving magpie)
RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Günter Pichler (conductor)
04:31 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), Alan Civil (arr.)
Suite for Brass Quintet
Brass Consort Köln
04:41 AM
Michael Haydn (1737-1806)
Cantata: Lauft, ihr Hirten allzugleich (Run ye shepherds, to the light)
Salzburger Hofmusik, Wolfgang Brunner (director)
04:51 AM
Jay Capperauld (b.1989)
Circadian Refrains (172 Days Until Dawn)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Alpesh Chauhan (conductor)
05:01 AM
František Jiránek (1698-1778)
Bassoon Concerto in G minor
Sergio Azzolini (bassoon), Collegium Marianum
05:15 AM
Ester Mägi (1922-2021)
Ballad 'Tuule Tuba' (House of Wind)
Tallinna Tehnikaülikooli Akadeemiline Meeskoor [Academic Male Choir of Tallinn T, Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Volmer (conductor)
05:24 AM
Susan Spain-Dunk (1880-1962)
Stonehenge
BBC Concert Orchestra, Anna-Maria Helsing (conductor)
05:43 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Sonata in A minor D.821 for arpeggione (or viola or cello) and piano
Lise Berthaud (viola), Francois Pinel (piano)
06:08 AM
Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758)
13 pieces from 'Drottningholmsmusiquen' (for the Swedish Royal Wedding of 1744)
Concerto Köln
MON 06:30 Breakfast (m002w8pn)
Brighten your day with classical music
Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’.
MON 09:30 Essential Classics (m002w8pq)
Your perfect classical playlist
Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites. Including the Playlister challenge: our regular listener-created sequence inspired by a different piece of music each day. Plus a new classical release in focus for Album of the Week.
1000 Playlister starter: listen and send us your ideas for the next step in today's musical journey. Text 83111 or email essentialclassics@bbc.co.uk.
1030 Album of the Week: an exciting new classical release in focus throughout the week.
1115 Playlister reveal: an uninterrupted sequence of music suggested by you in response to today's starter piece.
1200 Feast of a Piece: indulge your ears with an orchestral masterpiece.
To listen on most smart speakers, say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics".
MON 13:00 Classical Live (m002w8ps)
Trio Gaspard live from London's Wigmore Hall
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including a live concert from Trio Gaspard at London's Wigmore Hall. Schubert’s expansive Second Piano Trio, with its sublime slow movement (inspired by a Swedish folk melody) and monumental finale, blends the best qualities of an epic novel with those of the finest poetry to create a seemingly infinite world of contrasting moods and ideas. Trio Gaspard’s seasoned interpretation highlights the work’s noble lyricism, infectious energy and captivating panache.
Elsewhere in the programme, there is a focus on one of the finest orchestras in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Today, they perform two works: Weinberg's playful Suite No. 4 from the ballet 'The Golden Key' and Mendelssohn's broodingly atmospheric Hebrides Overture ('Fingal's Cave').
There is also chamber music recorded exclusively for BBC Radio 3. Sir Antonio Pappano, Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, performs with colleagues at LSO St Luke's. He is joined by Ian Bostridge for works by Beethoven, while Olivier Stankiewicz and Daniel Jemison join together to perform Poulenc's Trio for Oboe, Bassoon & Piano.
Also featured is an inaugural recital given by organist Olivier Latry recorded at St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Titular Organist at Notre-Dame de Paris, Olivier is one of the leading ambassadors for the organ. Today he performs Charles-Marie Widor's Gothic Symphony.
Live from Wigmore Hall and presented by Petroc Trelawny
Franz Schubert
Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat D. 929
Trio Gaspard
Jonian Ilias Kadesha (violin)
Vashti Hunter (cello)
Nicholas Rimmer (piano)
***
Mieczysław Weinberg
Suite No. 4 from the ballet 'The Golden Key', Op. 55d
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (conductor)
Ludwig van Beethoven
An die ferne Geliebte
Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Sir Antonio Pappano (piano)
Francis Poulenc
Trio for Oboe, Bassoon & Piano
Olivier Stankiewicz (oboe)
Daniel Jemison (bassoon)
Sir Antonio Pappano (piano)
Felix Mendelssohn
The Hebrides, Op. 26, Overture in B minor ('Fingal's Cave')
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Tugan Sokhiev (conductor)
Charles-Marie Widor
Symphonie gothique (Andante sostenuto)
Olivier Latry (organ)
To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers), just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".
MON 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002d9y8)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Rome, Here I Come
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) was one of the most influential composers in European classical music. With his countless masses, motets and madrigals, infused with a deep sense of spirituality and musical beauty, Palestrina was named the 'Saviour of Church Music' at a revolutionary time when Rome was rewriting the rules of music composition. But what do we know about this mysterious character, between historical fact and hagiographic myth? Donald Macleod follows the clues, to try and reconstruct the story of a fascinating composer, on the (approximately) 500th anniversary of his birth.
In this first episode, Donald Macleod invites you to Renaissance Rome, starting in a small town outside of the Eternal City, where our investigation into the origins of Giovanni da Palestrina begins...
Sicut cervus
I. Sicut cervus
II. Sitivit anima mea
Stile Antico
Laudate pueri
I. Laudate pueri Dominum
II. Quis sicut Dominus Deus
El León de Oro
Peter Phillips, conductor
Pueri hebraeorum (arr for dobro)
Noël Akchoté, dobro guitar
Puer qui natus est
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, conductor
Missa Assumpta est Maria
I. Kyrie
II. Gloria
La Chapelle Royale
Philippe Herreweghe, director
Josquin des Prez: O virgo prudentissima
I. O virgo prudentissima
The Gesualdo Six
Owain Park, director
Josquin des Prez: Fortuna d’un gran tempo
La Reverdie
Costanzo Festa: Sancta Maria succurre miseris
Cantica Symphonia
Kees Boeke, director
Sacred Madrigals, Book 2 (Delle madrigali spirituali libro secondo)
Città di Dio
Corvina Consort
Zoltán Kalmanovits, director
Ricercar del primo tuono
Jean Rondeau, harpsichord
Magnificat Primi toni
Voces8
Presenter by Donald Macleod
Produced by Julien Rosa
A BBC Audio Wales & West production for BBC Radio 3
MON 17:00 In Tune (m002w8pv)
Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee
Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee perform from their new release Or, The Whale, ahead of launching the album at London's Kings Place.
MON 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002w8px)
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical favourites.
MON 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002w8pz)
Tchaikovsky's Pathétique symphony from the London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is conducted by its Chief Conductor, Sir Antonio Pappano, in Tchaikovsky's Pathétique symphony, Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem and Leonard Bernstein's The Age of Anxiety.
Composed by the young Benjamin Britten in the midst of global conflict, his 1940 Sinfonia da Requiem is a grief-stricken cry, its turbulent music finally giving way to Mahlerian tenderness – and hope. Bernstein’s post-war symphony The Age of Anxiety, based on W H Auden’s poem, is a piano concerto in all but name, full of Shostakovich-inspired spirit and snatches of Broadway. And Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, the 'Pathétique’, is one of the most famous journeys to the depths of the soul; despite ending on a note of utter despair, the ‘Pathétique’ is among the composer’s most beautiful works. The LSO is sure to draw high emotion from Britten and Tchaikovsky, while pianist Denis Kozhukhin joins them for Bernstein’s fizzing symphonic concerto.
Presented by Ian Skelly and recorded Live at the Barbican Hall.
Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem Op.20
Bernstein: The Age of Anxiety (Symphony no.2)
Interval
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’
Denis Kozhukhin (piano)
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Antonio Pappano (conductor)
MON 21:45 The Essay (m0025tc5)
Full Moon on Progress St
Recasting Ella: Philanthropist
Full Moon on Progress Street takes a close look at a key moment and song to reveal the hidden lives and interests of some of the most important Black female artists of the 20th century – Ella Fitzgerald, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Dr Rommi Smith, life-long jazz and blues listener, considers a key moment in the creative life of each artist, reappraising what we think we know about them from popular culture. Each essay “flips the script”, to show a different hidden story. All these iconic women are broadly misrepresented - history and discrimination airbrushing their interests, politics, sexualities, creative legacy and passions.
Essay 1 - Recasting Ella: Philanthropist
Ella Fitzgerald was not the racist-caricature “mammy” figure of her popular image. She quietly worked as a political activist and social philanthropist e.g. chairing The Martin Luther King Foundation. In February 1960, Ella “corpsed” on stage, forgetting the words to Mack the Knife (by German-Jewish composer Kurt Weill), live on stage at the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin – the venue inaugurated by Hitler and symbolic of the Nazis. Ella used scat to resurrect her performance, producing an iconic soundtrack which earned her two Grammy Awards. This essay considers the power and politics of scat, and Ella’s brilliant use of it, as a defining expression of freedom.
Dr Rommi Smith is a writer, performer and academic, whose research centres the performances of historical Black jazz and blues women within the context of civil rights. Rommi’s academic work is published by, amongst others, New York University Press and Routledge. Contributors to her research include: five-time Grammy-winning NEA jazz master, Dianne Reeves and five-time Grammy-winning musician, Dr Esperanza Spalding.
A three-time BBC Writer-in-Residence, Rommi is a guest curator of the BBC Radio 4 programme, Poetry Please and a contributor to programmes ranging from Front Row to The Verb, The Essay to Woman’s Hour.
The inaugural British Parliamentary Writer-in-Residence and Poet-in-Residence for Keats House, Hampstead, Rommi was also the Poet-in-Residence for the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere. Rommi’s fifth collaboration as librettist with the baritone and composer Roderick Williams responds to the oratory of Dr Martin Luther King. It will be performed by the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral in December 2024.
www.rommi-smith.co.uk
@rommismith
Writer and Presenter, Dr Rommi Smith
Producer, Polly Thomas
Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore
A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3
MON 22:00 Night Tracks (m002w8q1)
Blissful sounds for after-hours
Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
MON 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002w8q3)
Saxophonist Soweto Kinch picks jazz from all eras, with a focus on new British artists.
TUESDAY 19 MAY 2026
TUE 00:30 Through the Night (m002w8q5)
Bells from Estonia
The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra performs Arvo Pärt's Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, Rachmaninov's The Bells, Thomas Adès's America: A Prophecy and Lepo Sumera's second symphony. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Arvo Pärt (b.1935)
Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Olari Elts (conductor)
12:37 AM
Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
The Bells, Op 35, choral symphony
Elena Brazhnyk (soprano), Mati Turi (tenor), Egils Siliņš (baritone), Latvian State Choir, Marika Austruma (choirmaster), Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Olari Elts (conductor)
01:13 AM
Thomas Adès (b.1971)
America: A Prophecy
Emma Bell (soprano), Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Olari Elts (conductor)
01:39 AM
Lepo Sumera (1950-2000)
Symphony no 2
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Olari Elts (conductor)
01:58 AM
Tõnu Kõrvits (b.1969)
Head ööd
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Olari Elts (conductor)
02:03 AM
Lepo Sumera (1950-2000)
Pala aastast 1981 (A Piece from 1981)
Kadri-Ann Sumera (piano)
02:10 AM
Eduard Tubin (1905-1982)
Ave Maria
Eesti Rahvusmeeskoor [Estonian National Male Choir], Andres Paas (organ), Ants Sööts (director)
02:15 AM
Ester Mägi (1922-2021)
Bucolic
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Volmer (conductor)
02:25 AM
Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918)
Vivit (motet)
Eesti Projekt Chamber Choir
02:31 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
String Quartet no 13 in B flat, Op 130 with Grosse Fuge in B flat, Op 133
Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti (director)
03:21 AM
Carl Czerny (1791-1857)
Marcia funebre sulla morte di Luigi van Beethoven, Op 146
José Gallardo (piano)
03:29 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Adagio and allegro, Op 70
Li-Wei (cello), Gretel Dowdeswell (piano)
03:39 AM
Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764)
Badinage & Chaconne from Deuxieme Recreation de musique d'une execution facile
Les Ambassadeurs, Alexis Kossenko (director)
03:48 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Premiere Rhapsodie
Camerata Variabile Basel
03:56 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
'Song to the Moon' from 'Rusalka', Op 114
Yvonne Kenny (soprano), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Kamirski (conductor)
04:03 AM
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1814-1865)
Variations on The Last Rose of Summer
Ju-young Baek (violin)
04:09 AM
Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
Vltava (Moldau), from 'Má vlast' (My Homeland)
Kotaro Fukuma (piano)
04:21 AM
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
Overture to L' Italiana in Algeri
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox (conductor)
04:31 AM
Alessandro Savioli (b.1544), Giovanni Battista Guarini (author)
Cor mio, deh non languire
Consort of Musicke, Anthony Rooley (director)
04:35 AM
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Sonata in G minor (K 88) arr. for 2 harpsichords
Dagmara Kapczyńska (harpsichord), Gwennaëlle Alibert (harpsichord)
04:43 AM
Leevi Madetoja (1887-1947)
Dance Vision (Tanssinaky), Op 11
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jorma Panula (conductor)
04:52 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Trio in E flat major, D.897 "Notturno"
Grieg Trio
05:02 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV.225
Roberta Invernizzi (soprano), Annemieke Cantor (alto), Gerhard Nennemann (tenor), Furio Zanasi (bass), Chorus of Swiss-Italian Radio, Ensemble Vanitas Lugano, Diego Fasolis (conductor)
05:16 AM
Gaspar Cassadó (1897-1966)
Cello Suite
Cameron Crozman (cello)
05:29 AM
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Piano Concerto no 3 (Sz.119)
Jane Coop (piano), Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
05:54 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Johann Sebastian Bach (arranger), David Baldwin (arr.)
Concerto in D minor
Brass Consort Köln
06:05 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet no 63 in B flat major, Op 76 no 4, Hob.III:78 'Sunrise'
Pacific Quartet Vienna
TUE 06:30 Breakfast (m002w6gw)
The best classical music wake-up call
Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’.
TUE 09:30 Essential Classics (m002w6gz)
Great classical music for your morning
Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites. Including the Playlister challenge: our regular listener-created sequence inspired by a different piece of music each day. Plus a new classical release in focus for Album of the Week.
1000 Playlister starter: listen and send us your ideas for the next step in today's musical journey. Text 83111 or email essentialclassics@bbc.co.uk.
1030 Album of the Week: an exciting new classical release in focus throughout the week.
1115 Playlister reveal: an uninterrupted sequence of music suggested by you in response to today's starter piece.
1200 Feast of a Piece: indulge your ears with an orchestral masterpiece.
To listen on most smart speakers, say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”.
TUE 13:00 Classical Live (m002w6h3)
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra perform Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet'
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including a focus on one of the finest orchestras in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Today, they perform two works: Josef Suk's Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra with soloist Christian Tetzlaff; and excerpts from Prokofiev's ballet 'Romeo and Juliet'.
There is also chamber music recorded exclusively for Classical Live. Sir Antonio Pappano, Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, performs music by Hindemith, Schubert and Shostakovich with colleagues at LSO St Luke's.
Also featured is an inaugural recital given by organist Olivier Latry recorded at St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Titular Organist at Notre-Dame de Paris, Olivier is one of the leading ambassadors for the organ. Today he performs Henri Messerer's transcription of Bach's famous Chaconne.
Josef Suk
Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra in G minor, Op. 24
Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski (conductor)
Paul Hindemith
Flute Sonata
Gareth Davies (flute)
Sir Antonio Pappano (piano)
Johann-Sebastian Bach (arr. Henri Messerer)
Chaconne pour violon
Olivier Latry (organ)
Serge Prokofiev
Excerpts from 'Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (conductor)
Franz Schubert
Schwanengesang, D. 957
No. 8 - Atlas
No. 14 - Die Taubenpost
Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Sir Antonio Pappano (piano)
Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Quintet in G minor
Benjamin Marquise Gilmore (violin)
Julián Gil Rodríguez second (violin)
Gillianne Haddow (viola)
David Cohen (cello)
Sir Antonio Pappano (piano)
To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers), just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".
TUE 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002d7cp)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
What a Mass
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) was one of the most influential composers in European classical music. With his countless masses, motets and madrigals, infused with a deep sense of spirituality and musical beauty, Palestrina was named the 'Saviour of Church Music' at a revolutionary time when Rome was rewriting the rules of music composition. But what do we know about this mysterious character, between historical fact and hagiographic myth? Donald Macleod follows the clues, to try and reconstruct the story of a fascinating composer, on the (approximately) 500th anniversary of his birth.
In this second episode, as young Palestrina makes a name for himself in Rome, Donald Macleod opens the venerable score of the Mass which is considered to have marked a turning point in music history.
Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus
from Missarum liber primus (First Book of Masses)
III. Sanctus
Coro polifonico dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Roberto Gabbiani, conductor
Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui
The King’s Singers
Pulchra es, amica mea (arr Volbers for recorder ensemble)
Max Volbers, Anne-Suse Enßle, Elisabeth Wirth, Felix Gutschi, Jonathan Volbers, recorders
Carl Nielsen: 3 Motets, FS139
No 1, Afflictus sum
Ars Nova Copenhagen
Paul Hillier, conductor
Missa Papae Marcelli
I. Kyrie
II. Gloria
The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips, director
Le Vergini (from Petrarch)
from Primo libro de madrigali, a 5 voci (First Book of Madrigals, for 5 voices)
Vergine bella… Vergine saggia…
Akademia - Ensemble Vocal Régional de Champagne Ardenne
Françoise Lasserre, conductor
Vestiva i colli
Les Sonadori
Third Book of Lamentations
Sabbato Sancto: Lectio III, Incipit oratio Ieremiae prophetae
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Martin Baker, conductor
Presenter by Donald Macleod
Produced by Julien Rosa
A BBC Audio Wales & West production for BBC Radio 3
TUE 17:00 In Tune (m002w6h7)
Madison Leonard and Oleksiy Palchykov on starring in Garsington Opera's La traviata
Petroc introduces live music from Ariana Kashefi & Petr Limonov.
Madison Leonard and Oleksiy Palchykov talk to Petroc about starring in Garsington Opera’s La traviata.
TUE 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002w6hc)
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical favourites.
TUE 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002w6hg)
St John's College Cambridge Organ Festival
The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, presents a concert as part of a five-day long festival to mark the installation of a new organ in the College Chapel.
The new Harrison & Harrison instrument has been built with historic pipework constructed in 1889 by pioneering Victorian organ builder ‘Father’ Henry Willis, which has been relocated to St John’s College Chapel to replace the Mander instrument, which was installed in the early 1990s.
Organ music has a rich history at St John’s – an organ has been owned by the College since it was founded in 1511, and the famous College Choir has been accompanied by the instrument throughout its 350-year history.
The programme features a range of works for solo organ, organ duet, and choir and organ. The College Choir is joined by acclaimed British organist, pianist, and conductor Wayne Marshall in his own Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, and by baritone Tom Butler in Vaughan William’s setting of the collection of poems titled ‘Easter’ by the seventeenth-century Welsh poet and Anglican priest George Herbert.
It also features the premiere of a new organ work, Swift Messengers, by Tim Watts, College Assistant Professor and Director of Studies in Music, and a Fellow of St John’s.
Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs
Tim Watts: Swift Messengers
Imogen Holst: A Hymne to Christ
Eleanor Daley: Upon your heart
Joanna Marsh: Worthy is the Lamb
Wayne Marshall: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis
John Rutter: Variations on an Easter Theme
Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb
Tom Butler, baritone
Wayne Marshall, organ
Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge
Tingshuo Yang, Herbert Howells Organ Scholar
Pascal Bachmann, Junior Organ Scholar
Christopher Gray, conductor
Presented by Ian Skelly, and recorded live in the Chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge, on 9th May 2026.
TUE 21:45 The Essay (m0025tyh)
Full Moon on Progress St
Big Mama Thornton’s Ball and Chain
Big Mama Thornton was a gender-fluid, masculine-presenting blues woman who first recorded Hound Dog (later recorded by Elvis Presley) and wrote the hit song Ball and Chain (popularised by Janis Joplin). But who was she? This essay examines and unpacks her identity, via a particular studio performance of Ball and Chain by Big Mama Thornton and the Buddy Guy Blues Band in 1970.
This essay series, Full Moon on Progress Street, takes a close look at a key moment and song to reveal the hidden lives and interests of some of the most important Black female artists of the 20th century – Ella Fitzgerald, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Dr Rommi Smith, life-long jazz and blues listener, considers a key moment in the creative life of each artist, reappraising what we think we know about them from popular culture. Each essay “flips the script”, to show a different hidden story. All these iconic women are broadly misrepresented - history and discrimination airbrushing their interests, politics, sexualities, creative legacy and passions.
Dr Rommi Smith is a writer, performer and academic, whose research centres the performances of historical Black jazz and blues women within the context of civil rights. Rommi’s academic work is published by, amongst others, New York University Press and Routledge. Contributors to her research include: five-time Grammy-winning NEA jazz master, Dianne Reeves and five-time Grammy-winning musician, Dr Esperanza Spalding.
A three-time BBC Writer-in-Residence, Rommi is a guest curator of the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry Please and a contributor to programmes ranging from Front Row to The Verb, The Essay to Woman’s Hour.
The inaugural British Parliamentary Writer-in-Residence and Poet-in-Residence for Keats House, Hampstead, Rommi was also the Poet-in-Residence for the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere. Rommi’s fifth collaboration as librettist with the baritone and composer Roderick Williams responds to the oratory of Dr Martin Luther King. It will be performed by the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral in December 2024.
www.rommi-smith.co.uk
@rommismith
Writer and Presenter, Dr Rommi Smith
Producer, Polly Thomas
Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore
A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3
TUE 22:00 Night Tracks (m002w6hl)
Immersive music for moonlight
Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
TUE 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002w6hq)
Saxophonist Soweto Kinch picks jazz from all eras, with a focus on new British artists.
WEDNESDAY 20 MAY 2026
WED 00:30 Through the Night (m002w6hv)
Vivaldi from Romania
From the Brașov Early Music Festival, the SEMPRE Early Music Ensemble plays music by Vivaldi. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Overture to L'Olimpiade, RV 725
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble, Melinda Béres (baroque violin), Rafael Butaru (baroque violin), Mircea Grigore Lazăr (baroque violoncello), Tamara Dica (viola), István Csata (viola da gamba), Filip Zsombor (archlute), Raluca Enea (harpsichord)
12:33 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Winter, Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, RV 297, from 'The Four Seasons'
Melinda Béres (baroque violin), SEMPRE baroque music ensemble
12:43 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto for Strings in G minor, RV 157
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble
12:48 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Trio Sonata in D minor, RV 63 'La Follia'
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble
12:59 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto for Two Violins in A minor, Op 3/8, RV 522
Melinda Béres (baroque violin), Rafael Butaru (baroque violin), SEMPRE baroque music ensemble
01:10 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
In furore iustissimae irae, RV 626
Cristina Vasilache (soprano), SEMPRE baroque music ensemble
01:23 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Peter Mönkediek (arr.)
Violin Concerto No 4 in F minor, RV 297 'The Four Seasons - Winter (Largo)
Brass Consort Köln
01:26 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Sonata in D minor HWV 367a
Bolette Roed (recorder), Allan Rasmussen (harpsichord)
01:41 AM
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Toccata per cembalo d'ottava stesa in D minor
Rinaldo Alessandrini (harpsichord)
02:01 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Gloria in D major, RV.589
Ann Monoyios (soprano), Matthew White (counter tenor), Colin Ainsworth (tenor), Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Ivars Taurins (conductor)
02:31 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Quartet for strings no. 13 (D.804) (Op.29) in A minor "Rosamunde"
Elias Quartet
03:09 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Piano Sonata no 2 in B flat minor, Op 35
Bruce Liu (piano)
03:34 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) - Overture, K.620
BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)
03:41 AM
Pierre Max Dubois (1930-1995)
Quartet for flutes
Valentinas Kazlauskas (flute), Lina Baublyté (flute), Albertas Stupakas (flute), Giedrius Gelgotas (flute)
03:49 AM
Benedict Anton Aufschnaiter (1665-1742)
Ouverture & Entree from Serenade No 3 in G minor
L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, Michi Gaigg (director)
03:55 AM
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Havanaise, Op 83, arr. for violin and piano
Vilmos Szabadi (violin), Marta Gulyas (piano)
04:04 AM
Johann Caspar Kerll (1627-1693)
Exulta satis - Offertorium for countertenor, tenor, two violins, viola and bc
Hassler Consort
04:13 AM
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
La Lugubre gondola S.200
Yulianna Avdeeva (piano)
04:21 AM
Louis Spohr (1784-1859)
Fantasia and Variations on a theme of Franz Danzi in B flat major, Op.81
László Horvath (clarinet), New Budapest Quartet
04:31 AM
Zygmunt Noskowski (1846-1909)
The Highlander's Fantasy, Op 17
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Łukasz Borowicz (conductor)
04:40 AM
Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918)
Sonatina no 2 in C major
Vardo Rumessen (piano)
04:49 AM
Piotr Moss (b.1949)
Wiosenno
Polish Radio Choir, Wlodzimierz Siedlik (conductor)
04:58 AM
Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912)
Fantasy on Two Ukrainian Themes for flute and orchestra
Yuri Shut'ko (flute), NRCU Symphony Orchestra, Vyacheslav Blinov (conductor)
05:06 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Sonata for arpeggione and piano in A minor, D.821
Toke Møldrup (cello), Per Salo (piano)
05:16 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Trio no 8 from Essercizii Musici
Camerata Köln, Michael Schneider (recorder), Rainer Zipperling (cello), Yasunori Imamura (theorbo), Sabine Bauer (harpsichord), Harald Hoeren (organ)
05:24 AM
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957)
Piano Trio in D, op. 1
Ilya Gringolts (violin), Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Alexander Lonquich (piano)
05:56 AM
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Prelude for guitar no 3 in A minor
Norbert Kraft (guitar)
06:03 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony no 44 in E minor, 'Trauer'
Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Michael Schønwandt (conductor)
WED 06:30 Breakfast (m002w7t2)
Start the day on the right note with classical music
Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’.
WED 09:30 Essential Classics (m002w7t4)
The best classical morning music
Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites. Including the Playlister challenge: our regular listener-created sequence inspired by a different piece of music each day. Plus a new classical release in focus for Album of the Week.
1000 Playlister starter: listen and send us your ideas for the next step in today's musical journey. Text 83111 or email essentialclassics@bbc.co.uk.
1030 Album of the Week: an exciting new classical release in focus throughout the week.
1115 Playlister reveal: an uninterrupted sequence of music suggested by you in response to today's starter piece.
1200 Feast of a Piece: indulge your ears with an orchestral masterpiece.
To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”
WED 13:00 Classical Live (m002w7t6)
The Berlin Philharmonic perform music by Grainger, Dvořák and Schumann
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including a focus on one of the finest orchestras in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Today, they perform three works: Frederick Fennell's arrangement of Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy; violinist Benjamin Beilman joins the orchestra for Dvořák's Violin Concerto in A minor; and to end the programme, Schumann's Byron inspired overture to 'Manfred'.
There is also chamber music recorded exclusively for Classical Live. Sir Antonio Pappano, Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, performs Beethoven's Quintet for Piano and Winds with colleagues at LSO St Luke's.
Also featured is an inaugural recital given by organist Olivier Latry recorded at St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Titular Organist at Notre-Dame de Paris, Olivier is one of the leading ambassadors for the organ. Today he performs works by Cesar Franck and Louis Vierne.
Percy Grainger (arr. Frederick Fennell)
Lincolnshire Posy
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)
Ludwig van Beethoven
Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat major, Op. 16
Gareth Davies (flute)
Olivier Stankiewicz (oboe)
Sérgio Pires (clarinet)
Daniel Jemison (bassoon)
Angela Barnes (horn)
Sir Antonio Pappano (piano)
César Franck
Choral No. 3
Olivier Latry (organ)
Antonín Dvořák
Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53
Benjamin Beilman (violin)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Andris Nelsons (conductor)
Louis Vierne
Carillon de Westminster
Olivier Latry (organ)
Robert Schumann
Overture to 'Manfred, op. 115', after Byron
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Kirill Petrenko (conductor)
To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers), just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".
WED 15:00 Choral Evensong (m002w7t8)
St Paul's Knightsbridge, London
From St Paul’s Church Knightsbridge, London, with the BBC Singers.
Introit: My heart, O God (Lucy Walker)
Responses: Lucy Walker
Psalm 104 (Lucy Walker)
First Lesson: 1 Kings 19 vv1-18
Canticles: St Martin’s Service (Lucy Walker)
Second Lesson: Matthew 3 vv13-17
Anthem: A hymn for St Cecilia (Lucy Walker)
Hymn: Angel voices, ever singing (Angel Voices)
Voluntary: Taking your leave (Cheryl Frances Hoad)
Anna Lapwood (Conductor – Artist in Association, BBC Singers)
Molly Hord (Organist)
To listen on most smart speakers, just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Choral Evensong”.
WED 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002d7gy)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Saving Music
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) was one of the most influential composers in European classical music. With his countless masses, motets and madrigals, infused with a deep sense of spirituality and musical beauty, Palestrina was named the 'Saviour of Church Music' at a revolutionary time when Rome was rewriting the rules of music composition. But what do we know about this mysterious character, between historical fact and hagiographic myth? Donald Macleod follows the clues, to try and reconstruct the story of a fascinating composer, on the (approximately) 500th anniversary of his birth.
In this third episode, Palestrina is employed by popes and princes, with his fame spreading beyond Rome: Donald Macleod sees how he is now working on the reformation of music after the Council of Trent.
Motecta festorum totius anni cum Communi Sanctorum – liber primus
Misso Herodes
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, conductor
Nicola Vicentino: Jerusalem convertere
Vox Hesperia
Romano Vettori, director
Cristóbal de Morales: Gaude et laetare, Ferrariensis civitas
The Brabant Ensemble
Stephen Rice, director
Motecta festorum totius anni cum Communi Sanctorum – liber primus
Fuit homo missus a Deo
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, conductor
Missa Papae Marcelli
IV. Sanctus
Oxford Camerata
Schola Cantorum of Oxford
Jeremy Summerly, conductor
Ricercar del secondo tuono
Jean Rondeau, harpsichord
Missa sine nomine a 6 (arr Johann Sebastian Bach)
II. Gloria
Concerto Palatino
Bruce Dickey, director
Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor, BWV 232
Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Dona Nobis Pacem
Thomas Hobbs, tenor
Collegium Vocale Gent
Philippe Herreweghe, director
Robert Morton: Il sera pour vous conbatu - L'homme armé (instrumental version)
Boston Camerata
Boston Shawm & Sackbut Ensemble
Joel Cohen, conductor
Missa L'homme armé a 5 (Masses, Book 3)
I. Kyrie
II. Gloria
San Petronio Cappella Musicale Soloists
Sergio Vartolo, director
Adoramus te Christe (arr Leopold Stokowski for orchestra)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
José Serebrier, conductor
O admirabile commercium
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Martin Baker, conductor
Presenter by Donald Macleod
Produced by Julien Rosa
A BBC Audio Wales & West production for BBC Radio 3
WED 17:00 In Tune (m002w7tb)
Daniel Pioro and David Gordon
Daniel Pioro and David Gordon play live on In Tune ahead of their Wigmore Hall recital.
Petroc speaks to Andrew Staples, director of a new production of Dido & Aeneas by the Monteverdi Choir, which is being performed beneath the hull of Cutty Sark.
WED 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002w7td)
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical favourites.
WED 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002w7tg)
Ulster Orchestra
The Ulster Orchestra presents a concert which brings together two powerful acts of musical reimagining.
Stravinsky’s Pulcinella reshapes Pergolesi's music through a modern lens, sparkling with wit, elegance, and neoclassical charm.
And after the interval, Schubert’s Symphony No. 9, The Great, expands Classical symphonic writing into something boldly new: a triumphant celebration of symphonic breadth and lyrical generosity.
Stravinsky: Pulcinella*
Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944, The Great
Gemma Summerfield, soprano*
Toby Spence, tenor*
Josef Jeongmeen Ahn, baritone*
Ulster Orchestra
Alpesh Chauhan, conductor
Recorded at the Ulster Hall in Belfast on 15th May 2026
Presented by John Toal
WED 21:45 The Essay (m0025tg1)
Full Moon on Progress St
Billie Holliday in Love at MoMA
Billie Holiday performed for rapt audiences at the Museum of Modern Art, bringing the music of night clubs to galleries of high society New York. In a lesser-known performance on June 4th 1941, she was described by the New York Tribune as a “specialist in singing various degrees of blueness.” The event curator was Louise Crane, the partner of celebrated poet Elizabeth Bishop. This essay presents the little-known story of the love triangle between Holiday, Bishop and Crane, through a recounting of that incredible night at MoMA.
This essay series, Full Moon on Progress Street takes a close look at a key moment and song to reveal the hidden lives and interests of some of the most important Black female artists of the 20th century – Ella Fitzgerald, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Dr Rommi Smith, life-long jazz and blues listener, considers a key moment in the creative life of each artist, reappraising what we think we know about them from popular culture. Each essay “flips the script”, to show a different hidden story. All these iconic women are broadly misrepresented - history and discrimination airbrushing their interests, politics, sexualities, creative legacy and passions.
Dr Rommi Smith is a writer, performer and academic, whose research centres the performances of historical Black jazz and blues women within the context of civil rights. Rommi’s academic work is published by, amongst others, New York University Press and Routledge. Contributors to her research include: five-time Grammy-winning NEA jazz master, Dianne Reeves and five-time Grammy-winning musician, Dr Esperanza Spalding. A three-time BBC Writer-in-Residence, Rommi is a guest curator of the BBC Radio 4 programme, Poetry Please and a contributor to programmes ranging from Front Row to The Verb, The Essay to Woman’s Hour.
The inaugural British Parliamentary Writer-in-Residence and Poet-in-Residence for Keats House, Hampstead, Rommi was also the Poet-in-Residence for the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere. Rommi’s fifth collaboration as librettist with the baritone and composer Roderick Williams responds to the oratory of Dr Martin Luther King. It will be performed by the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral in December 2024.
www.rommi-smith.co.uk
@rommismith
Writer and Presenter, Dr Rommi Smith
Producer, Polly Thomas
Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore
A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3
WED 22:00 Night Tracks (m002w7tj)
Music for the still of night
Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
WED 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002w7tl)
Saxophonist Soweto Kinch picks jazz from all eras, with a focus on new British artists.
THURSDAY 21 MAY 2026
THU 00:30 Through the Night (m002w7tn)
Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Fourth Symphony
Kent Nagano conducts the German Symphony Orchestra, Berlin in Mahler's Fourth Symphony, also featuring soprano Katharina Konradi. Mezzo-soprano Anna Lucia Richter joins the orchestra for Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, and the programme includes works by Peter Ruzicka and Iryna Aleksiychuk. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Peter Ruzicka (b.1948)
Requiem
Jakub Sawicki (organ), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano (conductor)
12:46 AM
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Kindertotenlieder
Anna Lucia Richter (mezzo soprano), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano (conductor)
01:11 AM
Iryna Aleksiychuk (b.1967)
Trisagion
Marina Grauman (violin), Girls' Choir of Berlin Singakademie, Boys of the Berlin State and Cathedral Choir
01:16 AM
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony no 4 in G major
Katharina Konradi (soprano), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano (conductor)
02:13 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Keyboard Sonata in C major, Hob.
16.48
Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano)
02:25 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Kirchen-Sonate no 15 in C major for 2 violins, bass and solo organ, K.328
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Kent Nagano (conductor)
02:31 AM
Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Elena Bashkirova (piano), Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, Lawrence Foster (conductor)
02:54 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
String Quartet no 14 in A flat major, Op 105
Stamic Quartet
03:27 AM
Robert Parsons (c.1535–1571/2)
Ave Maria for 5 voices
BBC Singers, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)
03:32 AM
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847)
Allegro moderato for piano, Op 8 no 1
Sylviane Deferne (piano)
03:37 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Concerto Grosso in B flat major, Op 3 no 1
Elar Kuiv (violin), Olev Ainomae (oboe), Estonian Radio Chamber Orchestra, Paul Mägi (conductor)
03:47 AM
Joseph Horovitz (1926-2022)
Music Hall Suite
Slovene Brass Quintet, Anton Grčar (trumpet), Stanko Arnold (trumpet), Boštjan Lipovšek (horn), Stanko Vavh (trombone), Darko Rošker (tuba)
03:58 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Die schöne Melusine - overture Op 32
Danish Radio Concert Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa (conductor)
04:09 AM
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op 22
Sascha Maisky (violin), Lily Maisky (piano)
04:20 AM
Oskar Lindberg (1887-1955), Johan Ludvig Runeberg (lyricist)
Morgonen (Morning)
Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Maria Wieslander (piano), Gustav Sjökvist (conductor)
04:23 AM
Alfred Grünfeld (1852-1924)
Soirees de Vienne for piano, Op 56
Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
04:31 AM
Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978)
Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia (from Spartacus Ballet Suite no 2)
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, David Measham (conductor)
04:37 AM
Anonymous
Branles de Bourgogne; A la claire fontaine
New World Consort, Susie Le Blanc (soprano), Peter Hannan (recorder), Nan Mackie (viol), Ray Nurse (lute), Salvador Ferreras (percussion)
04:45 AM
Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1896)
Capriccio for oboe and piano, Op 80
Wan-Soo Mok (oboe), Hyun-Soo Chi (piano)
04:56 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Rakastava (The lover), Op.14 arr. for string orchestra, triangle & timpani
CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
05:07 AM
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Aria "Sola perduta abbandonata" - from Act IV of 'Manon Lescaut'
Veronika Kincses (soprano), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ondrej Lenárd (conductor)
05:13 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Violin Sonata no 2 in G major, Op 13
Marianne Thorsen (violin), Håvard Gimse (piano)
05:33 AM
Niels Wilhelm Gade (1817-1890)
Symphony no 1 in C minor, Op 5 'On Sjølund’s Beautiful Plains'
St Gallen Symphony Orchestra, Modestas Pitrėnas (conductor)
06:07 AM
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c.1620-1680)
Sonata no 4 in D major for violin & bc
Daniel Sepec (violin), Hille Perl (viola da gamba), Lee Santana (theorbo), Michael Behringer (harpsichord)
06:17 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
3 Mazurkas, Op 56
Alexander Gadjiev (piano)
THU 06:30 Breakfast (m002w803)
Ease into the day with classical music
Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’.
THU 09:30 Essential Classics (m002w805)
The ideal mix of classical music
Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites. Including the Playlister challenge: our regular listener-created sequence inspired by a different piece of music each day. Plus a new classical release in focus for Album of the Week.
1000 Playlister starter: listen and send us your ideas for the next step in today's musical journey. Text 83111 or email essentialclassics@bbc.co.uk.
1030 Album of the Week: an exciting new classical release in focus throughout the week.
1115 Playlister reveal: an uninterrupted sequence of music suggested by you in response to today's starter piece.
1200 Feast of a Piece: indulge your ears with an orchestral masterpiece.
To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”
THU 13:00 Classical Live (m002w807)
The Berlin Philharmonic perform Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of great music-making including a focus on one of the finest orchestras in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Today, they perform three works: Prokofiev's lyrical first Violin Concerto with superstar violinist Janine Jansen; Berlioz's ground breaking Symphonie fantastique; and Gershwin's colourful Cuban Overture.
There is also chamber music recorded exclusively for Classical Live. Sir Antonio Pappano, Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, is joined by cellist David Cohen to perform muisc by Shostakovich from LSO St Luke's.
Also featured is an inaugural recital given by organist Olivier Latry recorded at St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Titular Organist at Notre-Dame de Paris, Olivier is one of the leading ambassadors for the organ. Today, he performs music by Bach, Litaize and Paulet.
Serge Prokofiev
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D, Op. 19
Janine Jansen (violin)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)
Johann-Sebastian Bach
Sicilienne (Transcription pour orgue de Louis Vierne)
Olivier Latry (organ)
Gaston Litaize
Scherzo
Olivier Latry (organ)
Vincent Paulet
Élégie
Olivier Latry (organ)
Hector Berlioz
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Tugan Sokhiev (conductor)
Dmitri Shostakovich
Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40
David Cohen (cello)
Sir Antonio Pappano (piano)
George Gershwin
Cuban Overture
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Kirill Petrenko (conductor)
To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers), just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".
THU 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002d7k9)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Father of the Chapel
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) was one of the most influential composers in European classical music. With his countless masses, motets and madrigals, infused with a deep sense of spirituality and musical beauty, Palestrina was named the 'Saviour of Church Music' at a revolutionary time when Rome was rewriting the rules of music composition. But what do we know about this mysterious character, between historical fact and hagiographic myth? Donald Macleod follows the clues, to try and reconstruct the story of a fascinating composer, on the (approximately) 500th anniversary of his birth.
In this fourth episode, a lifelong friendship, a papal jubilee, and a revamped St Peter's, but also some hard-hitting losses... Donald Macleod sees why Palestrina is considering becoming a priest.
Missa Ut re mi fa sol la (Hexachord Mass)
I. Kyrie
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, conductor
Io son ferito (instrumental version)
Oliver Webber, violin
Steven Devine, harpsichord
Missa Brevis
II. Gloria
III. Credo
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Sir David Willcocks, conductor
Canite tuba (arr for brass ensemble)
Onyx Brass
Felix Mendelssohn: 3 Motets, Op 39
No 1, Veni Domine (Hear my prayer, O Lord), MWV B24
St Albans Abbey Girls Choir
Peter Holder, organ
Tom Winpenny, conductor
Deh hor foss’io col vago della luna (on a text by Petrarch)
Dulces Exuviae
Roman Bockler, baritone
Bor Zuljan, lute
Offertoria totius anni
Jubilate Deo (arr A. Frackenpohl for brass ensemble)
Canadian Brass
The Berlin Philharmonic Brass
Stabat Mater
Gabrieli Consort
Paul McCreesh, conductor
Missa pro defunctis
IV. Sanctus - Benedictus
Chanticleer
Presenter by Donald Macleod
Produced by Julien Rosa
A BBC Audio Wales & West production for BBC Radio 3
THU 17:00 In Tune (m002w809)
Music news and live classical music
Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.
THU 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002w80c)
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical favourites.
THU 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002wmmf)
John Adams: Harmonielehre
The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Elena Schwarz performs Adams's pulsating Harmonielehre, Du Yun's Hundred Heads and, with soloist Steven Banks, Billy Child's Diaspora.
Recorded at the Barbican on Friday 8th May. Presented by Martin Handley.
Du Yun: Hundred Heads
Billy Childs: Diaspora: Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra (UK Premiere)
Interval
John Adams: Harmonielehre
Steven Banks (saxophone)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Elena Schwarz (conductor)
Billy Childs’s yearning sax sings of oppression and freedom. And a mythical Chinese monster somehow contains the spirit of jazz legend Ray Charles, in Du Yun’s Hundred Heads.
John Adams’s Harmonielehre is both a tribute to Schoenberg and a glittering celebration of West Coast counterculture. For Du Yun and Billy Childs, meanwhile, tales of Africa and China, the poetry of Maya Angelou and the deathless sound of Soul come together to create something powerful, personal and utterly new.
Every nation has a million stories: in America’s 250th year, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Elena Schwarz and saxophonist Steven Banks share some of the boldest.
THU 21:45 The Essay (m0025v45)
Full Moon on Progress St
Nina Simone’s Political Romance
This essay revisits Nina Simone’s apolitical, debut headline performance at Carnegie Hall on April 12th, 1963. Playwright Lorraine Hansberry attended and asked her afterwards what she was going to do to support the civil rights movement? Within six months, Simone was performing at the March on Washington and had composed the civil rights’ anthem Mississippi Goddam.
This essay series, Full Moon on Progress Street takes a close look at a key moment and song to reveal the hidden lives and interests of some of the most important Black female artists of the 20th century – Ella Fitzgerald, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Dr Rommi Smith, life-long jazz and blues listener, considers a key moment in the creative life of each artist, reappraising what we think we know about them from popular culture. Each essay “flips the script”, to show a different hidden story. All these iconic women are broadly misrepresented - history and discrimination airbrushing their interests, politics, sexualities, creative legacy and passions.
Dr Rommi Smith is a writer, performer and academic, whose research centres the performances of historical Black jazz and blues women within the context of civil rights. Rommi’s academic work is published by, amongst others, New York University Press and Routledge. Contributors to her research include: five-time Grammy-winning NEA jazz master, Dianne Reeves and five-time Grammy-winning musician, Dr Esperanza Spalding.
A three-time BBC Writer-in-Residence, Rommi is a guest curator of the BBC Radio 4 programme, Poetry Please and a contributor to programmes ranging from Front Row to The Verb, The Essay to Woman’s Hour.
The inaugural British Parliamentary Writer-in-Residence and Poet-in-Residence for Keats House, Hampstead, Rommi was also the Poet-in-Residence for the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere. Rommi’s fifth collaboration as librettist with the baritone and composer Roderick Williams responds to the oratory of Dr Martin Luther King. It will be performed by the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral in December 2024.
www.rommi-smith.co.uk
@rommismith
Writer and Presenter, Dr Rommi Smith
Producer, Polly Thomas
Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore
A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3
THU 22:00 Night Tracks (m002w80h)
Immersive music for after-hours
Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
THU 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002w80k)
Saxophonist Soweto Kinch picks jazz from all eras, with a focus on new British artists.
FRIDAY 22 MAY 2026
FRI 00:30 Through the Night (m002w80m)
Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky from Ljubljana
Violinist Rok Zaletel Černoš joins the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra and conductor Catherine Larsen-Maguire in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto which is followed by Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Vito Žuraj (b.1979)
Api danza macabra
RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Catherine Larsen-Maguire (conductor)
12:36 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op 64
Rok Zaletel Černoš (violin), RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Catherine Larsen-Maguire (conductor)
01:05 AM
Manuel Ponce (1882-1948)
Estrellita
Rok Zaletel Černoš (violin)
01:08 AM
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Symphony no 5 in E minor, Op 64
RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Catherine Larsen-Maguire (conductor)
01:56 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Venetian Boat Song from 'Songs Without Words', book II, Op 30 no 6
Jane Coop (piano)
02:00 AM
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
String Quartet no 1 in D major, Op 11
Tämmel String Quartet
02:31 AM
Pierre de la Rue (1452-1518)
Missa Sancto Job
Orlando Consort
03:06 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Sonata no 17 in D major, D.850
Francesco Piemontesi (piano)
03:45 AM
Janez Gregorc (1934-2012)
Sans respirer, sans soupir
Slovene Brass Quintet
03:51 AM
Károly Goldmark (1830-1915)
Scherzo for orchestra in E minor, Op 19
Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Adam Medveczky (conductor)
03:57 AM
Ciprian Porumbescu (1853-1883)
Ballade for violin and piano
Razvan Stoica (violin), Andrea Stoica (piano)
04:03 AM
Percy Grainger (1882-1961)
To a Nordic Princess (bridal song) vers. piano
Leslie Howard (piano)
04:10 AM
Victor Herbert (1859-1924)
March of the Toys from the operetta "Babes in Toyland"
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Uri Mayer (conductor)
04:14 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Ballade for piano no 3 in A flat major, Op 47
Valerie Tryon (piano)
04:22 AM
Willem De Fesch (1687-1761)
Concerto in D major, Op 5 no 1
Musica ad Rhenum
04:31 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Francesco Squarcia (arr.)
3 Hungarian Dances
I Cameristi Italiani
04:39 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Edvard Grieg (arr.)
Piano Sonata in C major, K.545
Julie Adam (piano), Daniel Herscovitch (piano)
04:49 AM
Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731)
Das Blut Jesu Christi
Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier (director)
04:58 AM
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Sonata no 7 for 2 violins in E minor, Z.796
Simon Standage (violin), Ensemble Il Tempo
05:06 AM
Tauno Pylkkanen (1918-1980)
Suite for oboe and strings, Op 32
Aale Lindgren (oboe), Finnish Radio Orchestra, Petri Sakari (conductor)
05:15 AM
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
Adagio for viola and piano
Manuel Hofer (viola), Alasdair Beatson (piano)
05:24 AM
Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Suite no 2 for 2 pianos, Op 17
Ouellet-Murray Duo (piano duo)
05:48 AM
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Gloria in excelsis Deo, SV 258
Collegium Vocale 1704, Collegium 1704, Václav Luks (conductor)
06:00 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Trio no 5 in D major, Op 70 no 1, 'Ghost'
Swiss Piano Trio
FRI 06:30 Breakfast (m002w6j3)
Rise and shine with classical music
Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’.
FRI 09:30 Essential Classics (m002w6j5)
Refresh your morning with classical music
Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites. Including the Playlister challenge: our regular listener-created sequence inspired by a different piece of music each day. Plus a new classical release in focus for Album of the Week.
1000 Playlister starter: listen and send us your ideas for the next step in today's musical journey. Text 83111 or email essentialclassics@bbc.co.uk.
1030 Album of the Week: an exciting new classical release in focus throughout the week.
1115 Playlister reveal: an uninterrupted sequence of music suggested by you in response to today's starter piece.
1200 Feast of a Piece: indulge your ears with an orchestral masterpiece.
To listen on most smart speakers, say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”.
FRI 13:00 Classical Live (m002w6j7)
Lang Lang joins the Berlin Philharmonic to perform Ravel
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of outstanding music-making, including a focus on one of the finest orchestras in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Today, they perform three works: Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Ravel's sunny G major Piano Concerto with virtuosic pianist Lang Lang; and the 19th-Century Austrian composer Hans Rott's passionate First Symphony. Rott was a musician of extraordinary promise until his life was tragically cut short at the age of twenty-five from TB.
There is also chamber music recorded exclusively for Classical Live. Sir Antonio Pappano, Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, is joined by tenor Ian Bostridge to perform Britten's Winter Words at LSO St Luke's.
Also featured is an inaugural recital given by organist Olivier Latry recorded at St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Titular Organist at Notre-Dame de Paris, Olivier is one of the leading ambassadors for the organ. Today, he performs Jehan Alain's Litanies followed by an improvisation of his own.
Igor Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
François-Xavier Roth (conductor)
Maurice Ravel
Piano Concerto in G
Lang Lang (piano)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Paavo Järvi (conductor)
Benjamin Britten
Winter Words, Op. 52
Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Sir Antonio Pappano (piano)
Jehan Alain
Litanies
Olivier Latry (organ)
Olivier Latry
Improvisation
Olivier Latry (organ)
Hans Rott
Symphony No. 1 in E major
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Paavo Järvi (conductor)
To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers), just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".
FRI 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002d7nf)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Crowning Gloria
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) was one of the most influential composers in European classical music. With his countless masses, motets and madrigals, infused with a deep sense of spirituality and musical beauty, Palestrina was named the 'Saviour of Church Music' at a revolutionary time when Rome was rewriting the rules of music composition. But what do we know about this mysterious character, between historical fact and hagiographic myth? Donald Macleod follows the clues, to try and reconstruct the story of a fascinating composer, on the (approximately) 500th anniversary of his birth.
In this fifth episode, Donald Macleod explores how Palestrina reinvents himself with a new marriage, new trades, and new music of course, but also by joining a collective that celebrates his legacy.
Il primo libro di madrigal (First Book of Madrigals)
Sestina. Mai fu piu crud’o spietata morte
Concerto Italiano
Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor
Ad te levavi
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Graham Ross, conductor/harpsichord
Johann Joseph Fux: Gradus ad Parnassum
Fugue
Andreas Staier, harpsichord
Francesco Soriano: Alpha à 6
Lambert Colson, cornett
Bernard Fouccroulle, organ
InAlto
Canticum Canticorum (Song of Solomon)
Osculetur me osculo oris sui
Ensemble Vocal Régional de Champagne-Ardenne
Akademia
Françoise Lasserre, conductor
Missa Memor esto verbi tui a 5
III. Credo
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Graham Ross, conductor/organ
Stabile/Soriano/Dragoni/Palestrina/Giovannelli/Santini/Mancini: Missa Cantantibus organis (from the motet Cantantibus Organis by Palestrina)
Sanctus (composed by Curzio Mancini)
Officium Ensemble
Wilfried Rombach, conductor
Sacred Madrigals, Book 2 (Delle madrigali spirituali libro secondo)
E questo spirto
Corvina Consort
Zoltán Kalmanovits, conductor
Libera me Domine
Hilliard Ensemble
Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina
Act III, Scene 3: Nun schmiede mich
Peter Schreier, tenor (Palestrina)
Chorus of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin
Staatskapelle Berlin
Otmar Suitner, conductor
Ave Maria
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, conductor
Presenter: Donald Macleod
Producer: Julien Rosa
Production Coordinator: Ellie Phillips
Sound Engineer: Jonathan Thomas
Studio Recording: Susan Thomas
Composer of the Week is a BBC Audio Wales & West production for BBC Radio 3
FRI 17:00 In Tune (m002w6j9)
Live classical music for your drive
Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.
FRI 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002w6jc)
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical favourites.
FRI 19:30 Friday Night is Music Night (m002jgcf)
Bridgerton and Beyond
Karen Ni Bhroin conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in music from TV period dramas, including Bridgerton, Downton Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Sanditon and others.
Recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London in September last year. Presented by Sarah Walker.
Kris Bowers: Bridgerton: ‘Main Theme’ and ‘We Could Form an Attachment’
Offenbach: Barcarolle from Gaite Parisienne
John Lunn: Downton Abbey Suite
Celeste arr George Moore: Strange
Carl Davis Arr. Mark Warman: Pride and Prejudice - Suite for Small Orchestra
Dario Marianelli: Concert Suite - Pride and Prejudice
INTERVAL
Prokofiev: Symphony No.1 ‘Classical’ - 1st Movt
Patrick Doyle: ‘My Father’s Favourite’ (Sense and Sensibility)
O’Hooley & Tidow, arr Fiona Brice: ‘Gentleman Jack' theme
Rachel Portman: Emma (End Titles)
Peter Brown & Robert Rans, arr Fiona Brice: Material Girl
Patrick Gowers: Holmes in Europe; The Death of Sherlock Holmes
Ruth Barrett: Sanditon - Suite for Orchestra
Ben Dawson (piano)
Alice Fearn (singer)
Nathaniel Anderson-Frank (violin)
BBC Concert Orchestra
Conductor Karen Ni Bhroin
Produced by Katy Ehrlich and Neil Varley
FRI 21:45 The Essay (m0025t7q)
Full Moon on Progress St
Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit
For her final televised performance in 1959, Billie Holiday chose to sing the iconic song Strange Fruit - a powerful anti-lynching anthem. This extraordinary performance, for the British television show 'Chelsea at Nine', shows a musician at her greatest power, barely a few months before her untimely death.
This essay series, Full Moon on Progress Street takes a close look at a key moment and song to reveal the hidden lives and interests of some of the most important Black female artists of the 20th century – Ella Fitzgerald, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Dr Rommi Smith, life-long jazz and blues listener, considers a key moment in the creative life of each artist, reappraising what we think we know about them from popular culture. Each essay “flips the script”, to show a different hidden story. All these iconic women are broadly misrepresented - history and discrimination airbrushing their interests, politics, sexualities, creative legacy and passions.
Dr Rommi Smith is a writer, performer and academic, whose research centres the performances of historical Black jazz and blues women within the context of civil rights. Rommi’s academic work is published by, amongst others, New York University Press and Routledge. Contributors to her research include: five-time Grammy-winning NEA jazz master, Dianne Reeves and five-time Grammy-winning musician, Dr Esperanza Spalding.
A three-time BBC Writer-in-Residence, Rommi is a guest curator of the BBC Radio 4 programme, Poetry Please and a contributor to programmes ranging from Front Row to The Verb, The Essay to Woman’s Hour.
The inaugural British Parliamentary Writer-in-Residence and Poet-in-Residence for Keats House, Hampstead, Rommi was also the Poet-in-Residence for the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere. Rommi’s fifth collaboration as librettist with the baritone and composer Roderick Williams responds to the oratory of Dr Martin Luther King. It will be performed by the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral in December 2024.
www.rommi-smith.co.uk
@rommismith
Writer and Presenter, Dr Rommi Smith
Producer, Polly Thomas
Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore
A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3
FRI 22:00 Late Junction (m002w6jg)
Marisa Anderson’s mixtape
Join Jennifer Lucy Allan to delve into the latest exclusive Late Junction mixtape from American guitarist, composer and researcher Marisa Anderson.
Anderson’s work looks to ‘channel the history’ of the guitar and incorporate and ‘stretch’ traditions present both in the American canon and worldwide. Her approach encompasses a wide variety of musical modes, from minimalism, electronic music, drone and 20th century classical music to compositions based on blues, jazz, gospel and country genres. We’ll hear sounds that have shaped her musical imagination and listening life as well as gain a unique insight into her latest work, ‘The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music’. Assembled from a collection of nearly one thousand songs that failed to make it into anthologies of acclaimed polymath Harry Smith, Anderson covers and embellishes this material to create a dialogue between herself and the recordings, recontextualising their historical significance for a modern audience.
Elsewhere, there’s the ‘feral’ wailing of Orcutt Shelley Miller and David Yow as they take a Captain Beefheart classic to task; the saintly sounds of the ever-shifting Glasgow collective Uzganc Choir; and a rushing wall of deftly-intricate sounds from Bolivian-American duo Los Thutanaka.
Produced by Alex Yates
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
FRI 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002w6jj)
Saxophonist Soweto Kinch picks jazz from all eras, with a focus on new British artists.
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
'Round Midnight
23:30 MON (m002w8q3)
'Round Midnight
23:30 TUE (m002w6hq)
'Round Midnight
23:30 WED (m002w7tl)
'Round Midnight
23:30 THU (m002w80k)
'Round Midnight
23:30 FRI (m002w6jj)
Breakfast
06:30 SAT (m002w65w)
Breakfast
06:30 SUN (m002w8f6)
Breakfast
06:30 MON (m002w8pn)
Breakfast
06:30 TUE (m002w6gw)
Breakfast
06:30 WED (m002w7t2)
Breakfast
06:30 THU (m002w803)
Breakfast
06:30 FRI (m002w6j3)
Choral Evensong
18:00 SUN (m002vywn)
Choral Evensong
15:00 WED (m002w7t8)
Classical Live
13:00 MON (m002w8ps)
Classical Live
13:00 TUE (m002w6h3)
Classical Live
13:00 WED (m002w7t6)
Classical Live
13:00 THU (m002w807)
Classical Live
13:00 FRI (m002w6j7)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 MON (m002w8px)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 TUE (m002w6hc)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 WED (m002w7td)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 THU (m002w80c)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 FRI (m002w6jc)
Composer of the Week
16:00 MON (m002d9y8)
Composer of the Week
16:00 TUE (m002d7cp)
Composer of the Week
16:00 WED (m002d7gy)
Composer of the Week
16:00 THU (m002d7k9)
Composer of the Week
16:00 FRI (m002d7nf)
Earlier... with Jools Holland
12:00 SAT (m002w660)
Essential Classics
09:30 MON (m002w8pq)
Essential Classics
09:30 TUE (m002w6gz)
Essential Classics
09:30 WED (m002w7t4)
Essential Classics
09:30 THU (m002w805)
Essential Classics
09:30 FRI (m002w6j5)
Friday Night is Music Night
19:30 FRI (m002jgcf)
In Tune
17:00 MON (m002w8pv)
In Tune
17:00 TUE (m002w6h7)
In Tune
17:00 WED (m002w7tb)
In Tune
17:00 THU (m002w809)
In Tune
17:00 FRI (m002w6j9)
Jazz Record Requests
16:00 SUN (m002w8fj)
Key Changes: Radio 3's Essential History of Classical Music
13:00 SAT (m002w662)
Late Junction
22:00 FRI (m002w6jg)
Music Map
13:30 SUN (m002w8fd)
Music Matters
15:00 SUN (m002w8fg)
Music Planet
21:30 SAT (m002w66g)
New Generation Artists
20:10 SAT (m002wnm0)
New Music Show
22:30 SAT (m002w66j)
Night Tracks
22:00 SUN (m002w8fn)
Night Tracks
22:00 MON (m002w8q1)
Night Tracks
22:00 TUE (m002w6hl)
Night Tracks
22:00 WED (m002w7tj)
Night Tracks
22:00 THU (m002w80h)
Opera on 3
18:00 SAT (m002w66d)
Private Passions
12:00 SUN (m002w8fb)
Radio 3 in Concert
19:30 MON (m002w8pz)
Radio 3 in Concert
19:30 TUE (m002w6hg)
Radio 3 in Concert
19:30 WED (m002w7tg)
Radio 3 in Concert
19:30 THU (m002wmmf)
Record Review
14:00 SAT (m002w664)
Saturday Morning
09:00 SAT (m002w65y)
Sound of Cinema
16:00 SAT (m002w668)
Sunday Feature
19:00 SUN (m002vvxl)
Sunday Morning
09:00 SUN (m002w8f8)
The Early Music Show
17:00 SUN (m00066nf)
The Essay
21:45 MON (m0025tc5)
The Essay
21:45 TUE (m0025tyh)
The Essay
21:45 WED (m0025tg1)
The Essay
21:45 THU (m0025v45)
The Essay
21:45 FRI (m0025t7q)
This Classical Life
17:00 SAT (m002w66b)
Through the Night
00:30 SAT (m002w22z)
Through the Night
00:30 SUN (m002w66l)
Through the Night
00:30 MON (m002w8fs)
Through the Night
00:30 TUE (m002w8q5)
Through the Night
00:30 WED (m002w6hv)
Through the Night
00:30 THU (m002w7tn)
Through the Night
00:30 FRI (m002w80m)
Ultimate Calm
21:00 SUN (m002lmzb)
Unclassified
23:30 SUN (m002w8fq)
Words and Music
19:45 SUN (m002w8fl)
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES ORDERED BY GENRE
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
Drama
Words and Music
19:45 SUN (m002w8fl)
Factual
Sunday Feature
19:00 SUN (m002vvxl)
Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media
The Essay
21:45 MON (m0025tc5)
The Essay
21:45 TUE (m0025tyh)
The Essay
21:45 WED (m0025tg1)
The Essay
21:45 THU (m0025v45)
The Essay
21:45 FRI (m0025t7q)
Factual: History
Key Changes: Radio 3's Essential History of Classical Music
13:00 SAT (m002w662)
Music
Late Junction
22:00 FRI (m002w6jg)
Music Matters
15:00 SUN (m002w8fg)
Ultimate Calm
21:00 SUN (m002lmzb)
Music: Classical
Breakfast
06:30 SAT (m002w65w)
Breakfast
06:30 SUN (m002w8f6)
Breakfast
06:30 MON (m002w8pn)
Breakfast
06:30 TUE (m002w6gw)
Breakfast
06:30 WED (m002w7t2)
Breakfast
06:30 THU (m002w803)
Breakfast
06:30 FRI (m002w6j3)
Classical Live
13:00 MON (m002w8ps)
Classical Live
13:00 TUE (m002w6h3)
Classical Live
13:00 WED (m002w7t6)
Classical Live
13:00 THU (m002w807)
Classical Live
13:00 FRI (m002w6j7)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 MON (m002w8px)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 TUE (m002w6hc)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 WED (m002w7td)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 THU (m002w80c)
Classical Mixtape
19:00 FRI (m002w6jc)
Composer of the Week
16:00 MON (m002d9y8)
Composer of the Week
16:00 TUE (m002d7cp)
Composer of the Week
16:00 WED (m002d7gy)
Composer of the Week
16:00 THU (m002d7k9)
Composer of the Week
16:00 FRI (m002d7nf)
Earlier... with Jools Holland
12:00 SAT (m002w660)
Essential Classics
09:30 MON (m002w8pq)
Essential Classics
09:30 TUE (m002w6gz)
Essential Classics
09:30 WED (m002w7t4)
Essential Classics
09:30 THU (m002w805)
Essential Classics
09:30 FRI (m002w6j5)
In Tune
17:00 MON (m002w8pv)
In Tune
17:00 TUE (m002w6h7)
In Tune
17:00 WED (m002w7tb)
In Tune
17:00 THU (m002w809)
In Tune
17:00 FRI (m002w6j9)
Key Changes: Radio 3's Essential History of Classical Music
13:00 SAT (m002w662)
Music Map
13:30 SUN (m002w8fd)
Night Tracks
22:00 SUN (m002w8fn)
Night Tracks
22:00 MON (m002w8q1)
Night Tracks
22:00 TUE (m002w6hl)
Night Tracks
22:00 WED (m002w7tj)
Night Tracks
22:00 THU (m002w80h)
Private Passions
12:00 SUN (m002w8fb)
Radio 3 in Concert
19:30 MON (m002w8pz)
Radio 3 in Concert
19:30 TUE (m002w6hg)
Radio 3 in Concert
19:30 WED (m002w7tg)
Radio 3 in Concert
19:30 THU (m002wmmf)
Record Review
14:00 SAT (m002w664)
Saturday Morning
09:00 SAT (m002w65y)
Sunday Morning
09:00 SUN (m002w8f8)
This Classical Life
17:00 SAT (m002w66b)
Through the Night
00:30 SAT (m002w22z)
Through the Night
00:30 SUN (m002w66l)
Through the Night
00:30 MON (m002w8fs)
Through the Night
00:30 TUE (m002w8q5)
Through the Night
00:30 WED (m002w6hv)
Through the Night
00:30 THU (m002w7tn)
Through the Night
00:30 FRI (m002w80m)
Ultimate Calm
21:00 SUN (m002lmzb)
Words and Music
19:45 SUN (m002w8fl)
Music: Classical: Chamber & Recital
New Generation Artists
20:10 SAT (m002wnm0)
Music: Classical: Choral
Choral Evensong
18:00 SUN (m002vywn)
Choral Evensong
15:00 WED (m002w7t8)
Music: Classical: Early Music
The Early Music Show
17:00 SUN (m00066nf)
Music: Classical: Experimental & New
New Music Show
22:30 SAT (m002w66j)
Unclassified
23:30 SUN (m002w8fq)
Music: Classical: Opera
Opera on 3
18:00 SAT (m002w66d)
Music: Easy Listening, Soundtracks & Musicals
Friday Night is Music Night
19:30 FRI (m002jgcf)
Sound of Cinema
16:00 SAT (m002w668)
Ultimate Calm
21:00 SUN (m002lmzb)
Music: Jazz & Blues
Jazz Record Requests
16:00 SUN (m002w8fj)
Music: Jazz & Blues: Jazz
'Round Midnight
23:30 MON (m002w8q3)
'Round Midnight
23:30 TUE (m002w6hq)
'Round Midnight
23:30 WED (m002w7tl)
'Round Midnight
23:30 THU (m002w80k)
'Round Midnight
23:30 FRI (m002w6jj)
Jazz Record Requests
16:00 SUN (m002w8fj)
Music: World
Late Junction
22:00 FRI (m002w6jg)
Music Planet
21:30 SAT (m002w66g)
Night Tracks
22:00 SUN (m002w8fn)
Night Tracks
22:00 MON (m002w8q1)
Night Tracks
22:00 TUE (m002w6hl)
Night Tracks
22:00 WED (m002w7tj)
Night Tracks
22:00 THU (m002w80h)
Religion & Ethics
Choral Evensong
18:00 SUN (m002vywn)
Choral Evensong
15:00 WED (m002w7t8)