Countercurrent: conversations with Professor Roger Kneebone

Professor Andrew McPherson, Chair in Design Engineering and Music at the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London. He has undergraduate degrees in engineering and music from MIT, a Masters in Engineering in electrical engineering from MIT and a PhD in music composition from the University of Pennsylvania. Andrew has designed many unconventional musical instruments, including a...

Simon Wallace is a pianist, composer and record producer. As a performer he collaborates with many other jazz musicians, including the singer Sarah Moule. He is a prolific composer and for   nearly twenty years wrote songs with the late American lyricist Fran Landesman.   He has also written for a wide range of TV shows in collaboration with Simon Brint, and for the National Theatre, Young Vic and...

Finn Macpherson is race engineer at Hitech Grand Prix. An engineer by background, Finn has coached promising young racing drivers from their early experiences of go-karting up the motor racing pyramid with single-seater open-wheeled cars to F2 level. In this conversation we explore how mechanical and human perspectives come together in Finn's work.

David Gordon is a composer, harpsichordist, jazz pianist, improviser, teacher and much else besides. He has played with many of the world's leading musicians in a wide range of genres, was the harpsichordist of The English Concert, is the pianist in the London Tango Quintet and leads the David Gordon jazz trio.   In this conversation we explore many aspects of his work, including ideas around impr...

Gary Bridgewood has been making and restoring stringed instruments for over forty years - from violins and cellos to historic instruments such as the viola da gamba. In this podcast he describes his training at the London College of Furniture, followed by his partnership with the lute maker Tom Neitzert in establishing Bridgewood & Neitzert in 1982. We explore the complex nature of his work, which...

Dr Antranig Basman is a mathematician and computer scientist who studied at Cambridge University. After completing a PhD in Computer Vision at the Cambridge University Engineering Department's Machine Intelligence Laboratory he spent five years as Visiting Scholar at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In this podcast we discuss Antranig's many interests and avenues of work, especially around p...

Geoff Brown is Education Services Coordinator at Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court in central London. He trained as an actor before moving to the world of the law and now has a particular interest in advocacy training for those at the start of a legal career - especially the Moot. In this conversation we explore Geoff's many skills and interests, including improv theatre and stand-up co...

Lucy Skilbeck studied drama in Australia before coming to the UK in the 1980s and establishing herself as a director and teacher. For ten years she was Director of Actor Training at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in London. She is also Founder and Director of Being With Horses , where she offers equine-facilitated actor training and coaching. In this extended (2 hour) conversation we explore...

The distinguished barrister Angus McCullough KC has over 35 years of experience in public and private law. He has played a prominent role in many high profile cases - such as the phone hacking trial with Rebekah Brooks and proceedings against Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (otherwise known as Tommy Robinson).   Alongside his work as a barrister he has recently been appointed as a part-time judge of the Cou...

Hamish Brown is a pianist, composer and arranger with many strings to his bow. I first encountered Hamish in his capacity as collaborative pianist during a teaching session for Masters students in conducting at the Royal College of Music, where he is a staff accompanist. Hamish has collaborated with many leading singers as well as performing as a soloist across the world and as an orchestral keybo...

Nick Gold is managing director of the speaker bureau Speakers Corner . He works with clients to provide suitable speakers for corporate events and other gatherings, drawing on his extensive panel of contributors. In this podcast we discuss parallels with other kinds of live performing, including clinical consultations and scientific presentations at conferences.   https://www.speakerscorner.co.uk/...

David Juritz started playing the violin at the age of five. After winning the Royal College of Music's top award he joined the English Chamber Orchestra before becoming the Leader of the London Mozart Players - a role he held for seventeen years. He is well known for his recordings, including Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin and Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and for his work with the...

Rob Ryan studied Fine Art at Trent Polytechnic and specialised in printmaking at the Royal College of Art in London. For many years he has worked from his London studio. He has written and illustrated several books and he is particularly well known for his papercuts, which are instantly recognisable. In this conversation we explore the process by which he creates and executes his designs.   https:...

Roberto Trotta is Professor of Theoretical Physics at SISSA, the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, where he directs SISSA's Interdisciplinary Lab. He's also Visiting Professor in Astrostatistics at Imperial College London. His most recent book Starborn: How the stars made us and who we would be without them was published in 2023 and has received widespread acclaim.   In...

Dr Elisa Cunial trained as a psychotherapist and practised for many years in London. She now works in Trieste, Italy as a counselling psychologist and ecotherapist. In this podcast we discuss the nature of her work and explore her ideas for expanding the boundaries of her current practice.  

Taslim Martin is an artist whose work takes many forms, including portraiture, design and site-specific works for public spaces. He lives and works in London, exhibits internationally and has works in the permanent collection of the British Museum and the Horniman Museum. In this conversation we discuss how his career has unfolded and explore some of the influences which have helped to shape it.  ...

Sarah Hart is a mathematician whose research focuses on group theory.   She is Professor Emerita at Birkbeck and Provost of Gresham College. In this podcast we explore her fascination with patterns, both in mathematical thinking and in the physical world. Sarah is well known for her ability to connect with a wide range of public audiences and she is passionate about exploring parallels between mat...

Neal Peres Da Costa is Professor of Historical Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he founded the Historical Performance division in 2007. Before that he held academic posts in the UK.   Neal is an expert on performance on historical keyboard instruments including the harpsichord. Alongside his work as a soloist, chamber and continuo musician performing with leading ensembles...

Per Palmgren is Associate Professor in Medical Education at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden where he is the director of doctoral studies at the Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics. In addition to his work as an academic, Per is an award-winning ballroom dancer who has represented his country many times. He also teaches and adjudicates in dance competitions. In this...

Professor Ian Walmsley is Provost of Imperial College London and Chair in Experimental Physics. He has a distinguished career as a researcher, both in the UK and overseas. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and has many awards and honours, including a CBE.   Ian has a specialist interest in quantum information processing and leads a research group in this field. He is about to step down from his...

Dr Deborah Safron is a sociologist and independent scholar who was brought up in America. As part of her research she is documenting the now abandoned practice of 'reading vacations' at Oxford University, and exploring how long-form reading might be revived - both for young people and those in retirement. We discuss how these ideas might help disadvantaged young people to experience intensive read...

Dave Stachowiak is an expert in leadership. He established and directs the Coaching for Leaders Academy in the USA, drawing on his experience with Gale Carnegie and his doctorate in organisational leadership. He started his weekly podcast Coaching for Leaders in 2011 and recently invited me to take part in an episode. In this conversation we explore the nature of leadership before comparing notes...

Charles Hayter is a radiation oncologist, author and playwright. After an early career studying and teaching drama, Charles changed direction and became a medical student. He was inspired by radiation oncology's combination of technological precision with the human experience of patients coming to terms with cancer. His book Cancer Confidential was published in 2022. In this podcast we compare our...

Rachel Vickery is a human behaviour and high performance consultant. Initially an international gymnast on the New Zealand National Team, she retired from athletics at the age of nineteen. She trained as a physiotherapist and gained extensive clinical experience before specialising in supporting people from a wide range of high pressure professions and fields - including medicine, sport, the milit...

Sophie Yates is a distinguished harpsichordist - recitalist, broadcaster, recording artist and teacher. We first recorded a Countercurrent conversation in 2017. In this podcast we explore Sophie's ability to listen with forensic accuracy in her world of music - and compare this with the role of listening in clinical practice and other areas of performing.