Orchestral Theatre

Jane Mitchell is my guest for this episode, the last in the series. Jane is principal flute and creative director for Aurora Orchestra, and has been deeply involved in Aurora's programming, production, and devising of work since the orchestra began. Jane has played a key role in the development of the orchestra’s series for young people, Far Far Away, and the online platform Aurora Classroom. Jane...

My guests for this episode are Jonathan Morton and Jenny Jamison from Scottish Ensemble . Jonathan Morton is Artistic Director at Scottish Ensemble, where his eclectic and engaging programming has been enthusiastically praised by audiences internationally, offering fresh perspectives on familiar repertoire and championing new works. Under his leadership Scottish Ensemble has been collaborating inc...

Adam Szabo is my guest for this episode. Adam is the chief executive and co-founder of Manchester Collective . Formed in 2016, Manchester Collective has become known for their experimental programming and daring collaborations. They play in concert halls, warehouses and factory spaces across Europe and the UK, performing a combination of cutting-edge contemporary music, core repertoire of classica...

In this episode I speak with Yusuf Narcin, a bass trombonist, educator, and workshop leader, based in London. Yusuf works in a variety of genres, including jazz, folk, klezmer, and improvised music. Among the classical ensembles Yusuf plays with are Paraorchestra and Multi-Story Orchestra. Yusuf is also a member of the award-winning brass band/theatre troupe, Perhaps Contraption . In our conversat...

In this episode I talk with the production and design team Harry Ross and Helen Scarlett O'Neill about their collaboration with the London Contemporary Orchestra on their 2013 concert series entitled ' Imagined Occasions '. This series, which focused on the composer Claude Vivier, took place in unconventional performance sites around London, including an underground station. This conve...

My guest for this episode is the composer/performer Neil Luck . Neil runs the performance group ARCO – a company that focuses on experimental music-theatre. I talk with Neil about his 2018 piece Regretfully Yours, Ongoing , commissioned by the London Contemporary Music Festival. This experimental composition is written for orchestra, choir, table-top soloist, solo voice, solo guitar, solo viola, a...

My guest for this episode is Kate Wakeling , writer-in-residence with Aurora Orchestra . I talk with Kate about 'Far, Far Away', Aurora's series of storytelling concerts for children, which are part of the orchestra's exploration of theatrical approaches to performing music. Kate writes the scripts for these concerts. This conversation was recorded on October 14, 2022. The sound de...

In this episode I speak with Andrew Burke , Chief Executive and Artistic Director of London Sinfonietta . Andrew tells me about the Sinfonietta's history of artistic risk-taking -- engaging audiences with new music and unconventional approaches to performing music -- and how this relates to current funding models. This conversation was recorded on October 25, 2022. The sound design for this ep...

In this episode I speak with Rakhi Singh , co-founder of Manchester Collective . Rakhi tells me about how Manchester Collective originated and how it functions. I ask about some of Manchester Collective's collaborative projects involving artists from other disciplines. We also discuss how classical musicians present themselves in performance and how they are trained. This conversation was recorded...

This is the first episode of a podcast series that explores how orchestras are collaborating with artists from other disciplines and experimenting with how performance is presented. I talk with key players involved in exploring new performance possibilities. My first conversation is with Charles Hazlewood , Artistic Director of Paraorchestra , the world's only large-scale virtuoso ensemble of prof...