SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2026
SAT 00:30 Through the Night (m002xfng)
The Epic of Gilgamesh by Martinů
From the Basel Martinů Days Festival, the Berlin Radio Chorus and New Orchestra Basel play music by Mozart, Dvořák and Martinů, conducted by Christian Knüsel. Jonathan Swain presents.
12:31 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791),Leopold van der Pals (1884-1966), Rudolf Steiner (author)
Sketches and fragments K.417d & K.587a & Songs for Soprano and Orchestra, Op 67b
Aphrodite Patoulidou (soprano), New Orchestra Basel, Christian Knüsel (conductor)
12:42 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
A Hero’s Song, Op. 111 symphonic poem
New Orchestra Basel, Christian Knüsel (conductor)
01:03 AM
Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)
The Epic of Gilgamesh, H315, oratorio
Aphrodite Patoulidou (soprano), Peter Lodahl (tenor), Douglas Ray Williams (baritone), Jan Martiník (bass), Theo Rüster (narrator), Berlin Radio Chorus, Benjamin Goodson (choirmaster), New Orchestra Basel, Christian Knüsel (conductor)
01:57 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Aria: Il mio tesoro intanto - from Don Giovanni
Michael Schade (tenor), Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Richard Bradshaw (conductor)
02:02 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
String Quartet no 12 in F major, Op 96, 'American'
Pavel Haas Quartet
02:31 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Symphony no 2 in C major, Op 61
Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Tamás Vásáry (conductor)
03:10 AM
Anton Arensky (1861-1906)
Suite no 3, 'Variations' Op 33
James Anagnoson (piano), Leslie Kinton (piano)
03:34 AM
Ferenc Farkas (1905-2000)
5 Ancient Hungarian Dances for wind quintet
Tae-Won Kim (flute), Hyong-Sup Kim (male) (oboe), Pil-Kwan Sung (oboe), Hyon-Kon Kim (clarinet), Sang-Won Yoon (bassoon)
03:44 AM
Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880)
Polonaise No.1 in D major (Op.4)
Reka Szilvay (violin), Naoko Ichihashi (piano)
03:50 AM
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Magnificat primi toni for 4 voices
Marco Beasley (tenor), Davide Livermoore (tenor), Fabian Schofrin (alto), Annemieke Cantor (alto), Daniele Carnovich (bass), Diego Fasolis (conductor)
03:57 AM
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Etude in D flat, Op 52, No 6 (Etude en forme de valse)
Stefan Lindgren (piano)
04:05 AM
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Variations on a Bavarian folksong, TrV.109
Daniel Dodds (violin), Dominik Fischer (viola), Alexander Kionke (cello)
04:13 AM
Frederick the Great (1712-1786)
Sonata in C minor for flute and basso continuo
Konrad Hünteler (flute), Wouter Möller (cello), Ton Koopman (harpsichord)
04:22 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Ballad from Karelia suite, Op 11
Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic, Kristjan Järvi (conductor)
04:31 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
The Four Seasons - Spring
Davide Monti (violin), Il Tempio Armonico
04:41 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
3 Pieces from Slatter (Norwegian Peasant Dances), Op 72
Håvard Gimse (piano)
04:49 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Laudate Pueri - motet, Op 39 no 2
Polyphonia, Ivelina Ivancheva (piano), Ivelin Dimitrov (conductor)
04:59 AM
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
8 Instrumental miniatures for 15 instruments
Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Raffi Armenian (director)
05:07 AM
Fernando Sor (1778-1839)
Introduction and variations on Mozart's 'O cara armonia' for guitar, Op 9
Xavier Díaz-Latorre (guitar)
05:16 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Siegfrieds Trauermarsch - from 'Gotterdammerung'
Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Lovro von Matačić (conductor)
05:24 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Trio for violin, French horn and piano in E flat major, Op 40
Martin Beaver (violin), Martin Hackleman (horn), Jane Coop (piano)
05:52 AM
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Sonata in G major, K.105 (Allegro)
Virginia Black (harpsichord)
05:57 AM
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Suite from 'Naïs'
Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (conductor)
SAT 06:30 Radio 3 Breakfast (m002xmrl)
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 (m002xmrn)
Tom Service introduces the best classical music and the latest stories from the arts world.
Tom talks to the South African-born musician Kristian Bezuidenhout about how he moves between fortepiano, harpsichord, modern piano and conducting, the inspiration he takes from his longstanding relationship with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, and why it's the fortepiano that makes him feel emotionally connected to the music of Mozart.
Poet Len Pennie chats to Tom about her upcoming appearance at the St Magnus International Festival in Orkney, why community is at the heart of everything she does, and the new album she's made in collaboration with the composer Paul Leonard-Morgan.
Our focus on Creators continues with composer Gavin Bryars who talks about his iconic composition Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet. Written in 1971, the inspiration for the piece came from the voice of an anonymous old man on a spool of discarded tape.
To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Saturday Morning”.
SAT 12:00 Earlier... with Jools Holland (m002xmrq)
The pianist and bandleader picks his favourite classical music
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 Antonio Vivaldi, Philip Glass and Percy Grainger with performances by La Serenissima, Freddie Slack and Peter Donohoe. His guest is the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sumudu Jayatilaka, who introduces music she loves by Saint-Saëns, Mancini and Mozart.
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 (m002xmrs)
1672: London Calling
30 December 1672, London. In a modest room above a tavern, a crowd gathers for something entirely new. For the price of a shilling, anyone can hear professional musicians perform. With John Banister’s concert, music escapes the court and church, and the age of the paying public begins.
This programme traces the rise of public concert life in Restoration London, as political upheaval, entrepreneurial musicians and a growing middle class reshape the way music is made and heard. From Puritan restrictions to the theatrical explosion under Charles II, and from taverns to coffee houses, a new musical culture emerges one driven not by patrons, but by audiences.
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 Episodes 9 to 16, Gillian welcomes Suzannah Lipscomb to help her explore the fascinating stories and rich sound worlds of the Late Renaissance and Baroque.
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
John Banister: The Musick att the Bath
The Parley of Instruments
Peter Holman, director
John Playford (ed. Edmund Taylor): Daphne or The Shepherds
Bellot Ensemble
Alehouse Sessions Medley arr. Playford
Barokksolistene
Bjarte Eike
Henry Purcell: Welcome Song – Fly, bold rebellion (Z324)
Jeremy Budd, tenor
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, conductor
Henry Purcell: Suite from Abdelazer
Bellot Ensemble
Anonymous: Diddle, diddle (Bawdy Ballad)
Matthew Locke: Suite No. 3 in D minor – Pavan
Bellot Ensemble
Benjamin Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor
SAT 14:00 Record Review (m002xmrv)
Bach's Cello Suites in Building a Library with Joseph McHardy and Andrew McGregor
Andrew McGregor with the week's best new classical releases, joined by guest reviewers Sarah Lenton and Joseph McHardy.
2.10pm Opera expert Sarah Lenton joins Andrew to showcase some new releases that have caught her ear.
3pm Building a Library: Harpsichordist and conductor Joseph McHardy joins Andrew to survey recordings of JS Bach's six Suites for solo cello, and make a top recommendation.
Bach probably wrote his six Suites for unaccompanied cello during his time as Kapellmeister in Köthen, 1717–1723. The technically demanding music is all based on baroque dances. The Suites were little known and rarely publicly performed until they were recorded by Pablo Casals in the early 20th century. They have grown in popularity ever since, and have been performed and recorded by the world's greatest cellists.
Top choice:
David Watkin (cello)
Resonus Classics RES10147
c
3.45pm Record of the Week. Andrew's top pick from the week's new releases.
SAT 16:00 Sound of Cinema (m002xmrx)
Edith is joined by Jess Gillam and composer Harry Escott
Join Edith Bowman for a weekly celebration of exceptional film scores and cinematic soundtracks. This week, Jess Gillam selects an iconic movie score by one of film music’s all-time greats, and Harry Escott delves into the work of John Williams in Harmonising Hollywood, highlighting one of his standout collaborations with Steven Spielberg.
Plus the freshest releases alongside timeless gems from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
SAT 17:00 This Classical Life (m00209mj)
Jess Gillam with... Seckou Keita
Jess Gillam is joined by Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita to swap some of their favourite music.
Nicknamed 'the Hendrix of the Kora', Seckou has worked with a wide variety of people over the years including Damon Albarn and the Africa Express; Welsh harpist Catrin Finch; Cuban pianist Omar Sosa and the BBC Concert Orchestra. This week Seckou shares with Jess his love for Albinoni's Adagio, the music of Fela Sowande, a beautiful Spell Song and the exciting new sounds of Faada Freddy, whilst Jess is offering up some classic Ella Fitzgerald, Strum by Jessie Montgomery and music by Saint-Saens and Mussorgsky.
SAT 18:00 Opera on 3 (m002xms1)
Britten's Peter Grimes
From the Royal Ballet and Opera, Benjamin Britten's breakthrough opera in a revival of Deborah Warner's compelling production. Fisherman Peter Grimes has been cleared of causing the death of his young apprentice, but the members of the Borough are not convinced. Only the school teacher Ellen and sea captain Balstrode are able to see his softer side. When a second apprentice dies on his watch his fate is sealed. The Peter Grimes of the moment, Allan Clayton, sings the troubled fisherman, with Maria Bengtsson as the woman who tries to save him and Bryn Terfel as Balstrode. Music Director Jakub Hrůša conducts.
Martin Handley presents, and is joined in the box by Britten expert Lucy Walker. Recorded at the Royal Ballet and Opera last month.
Britten: Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes ..... Allan Clayton
Ellen Orford ..... Maria Bengtsson
Captain Balstrode ..... Bryn Terfel
Swallow ..... Clive Bayley
Ned Keene ..... Jacques Imbrailo
Auntie ..... Catherine Wyn-Rogers
Mrs Sedley ..... Christine Rice
Bob Boles ..... John Graham-Hall
Hobson ..... Barnaby Rea
Rev. Horace Adams ..... James Gilchrist
First Niece ..... Jennifer France
Second Niece ..... Natalia Labourdette
The Apprentice ..... Johnny Imbrailo
Royal Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Jakub Hrůša (conductor)
SAT 21:30 Midsummer Dreaming (m002xms3)
Twilight
From sunset until sunrise on the solstice, Verity Sharp presents a special dream-like night of radio documentaries from Radio 3's archives, celebrating the imaginative possibilities of radio and accompanied by music for enchantment.
During nine hours of overnight programming, Between the Ears documentaries - including works by composers such as Jocelyn Pook and Delia Derbyshire - are interspersed with music that speaks to the theme of the night (midsummer, nighttime, dreams, the forest, enchantment...). Midsummer Dreaming also pays homage to the spirit of the Third Programme, Radio 3’s predecessor, which took to the air 80 years ago in 1946.
The evening light is beginning to fade and we're slipping back in time - starting our Midsummer Dreaming with two editions of Between the Ears that transform music and sound. The Prix Italia-winning Knoxville: Summer of 1995 and When Silence Sings from 2008...
21.33
Knoxville: Summer of 1995 (1995)
Produced by Alan Hall
The bittersweet impressions of time past and the actions of a century are reflected in this portrait of Knoxville, Tennessee, during the summers of 1915, 1947 and 1995. Samuel Barber 's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 lies at the programme's heart.
"It has become that time of evening
when people sit on their porches,
rocking gently and talking gently
and watching the street
and the standing up into their sphere
of possession of the tress,
of birds’ hung havens, hangars.
People go by; things go by..."
22.09
When Silence Sings (2008)
Produced by Dinah Bird (Loftus Media)
A sonic reflection on the city of Venice, which is portrayed through the ears of some of its residents, including Tonie, a Norwegian psychologist who has been deaf from birth. She leads us down alleyways and into hidden little pockets of the city, all the while meditating on what role not being able to hear has played in her life and, in turn, inviting us to reflect on how we listen to our everyday lives.
Midsummer Dreaming was produced by Alan Hall and Eleanor McDowall
Exec produced by Phil Smith from Reduced Listening
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3
SAT 22:40 Midsummer Dreaming (p0ns1jgt)
Before Midnight
From sunset until sunrise on the solstice, Verity Sharp presents a special dream-like night of radio documentaries from Radio 3's archives, celebrating the imaginative possibilities of radio and accompanied by music for enchantment.
During nine hours of overnight programming, Between the Ears documentaries are interspersed with music that speaks to the theme of the night (midsummer, nighttime, dreams, the forest, enchantment...). Midsummer Dreaming also pays homage to the spirit of the Third Programme, Radio 3’s predecessor, which took to the air 80 years ago in 1946.
Approaching the midnight hour, two radio compositions that dance - Jocelyn Pook's joyful, musical transformation of her answerphone messages from 1999 and a new Between the Ears created especially for tonight - Dancing on Air.
22.41
Portraits in Absentia (1999)
Composed by Jocelyn Pook
Produced by Marilyn Imrie
Our voices, with their tunes, rhythms and dynamics, are the most immediate and poignant objects of tenderness, recognition and regret. Composer Jocelyn Pook weaves musical portraits of people who leave the music of their voices in her memory and in her life.
23.09
Dancing on Air (2026)
Produced by Eleanor McDowall and Alan Hall
A choreography of dreams and dance steps from birth until death. Fragments of archival interviews with Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch and, from a recording in 2016, the poet and dancer Eve Pearce interweave with newly recorded interviews with dancer Reena Bhattacharjee, football choreographer Mike Delaney and the dancers Meryl Tankard and John Giffin, both of whom worked with Pina Bausch at the beginning of their careers. Meryl and John have recently returned to a performance they helped create with Pina back in the 1970s, dancing alongside footage of their younger selves in Kontakthof - Echoes of '78 (a Sadler’s Wells, Pina Bausch Foundation and Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch co-production).
Midsummer Dreaming was produced by Alan Hall and Eleanor McDowall
Exec produced by Phil Smith from Reduced Listening
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3
SAT 23:51 Midsummer Dreaming (m002yf2y)
The Witching Hour
From sunset until sunrise on the solstice, Verity Sharp presents a special dream-like night of radio documentaries from Radio 3's archives, celebrating the imaginative possibilities of radio and accompanied by music for enchantment.
During nine hours of overnight programming, Between the Ears documentaries are interspersed with music that speaks to the theme of the night (midsummer, nighttime, dreams, the forest, enchantment...). Midsummer Dreaming also pays homage to the spirit of the Third Programme, Radio 3’s predecessor, which took to the air 80 years ago in 1946.
As we reach midnight we find ourselves falling into a vivid dreamscape from 1964, before slipping into an unstable new world and a cascade of images emerging from a single line of a poem.
23.58
Inventions for Radio: The Dreams (1964)
By Barry Bermange with Delia Derbyshire
Produced by David Thomson
The first of four Inventions for Radio which musically and imaginatively interwove a cascade of voices exploring their inner landscapes. Interviewees spoke about their experience of the dream state, their imagination of the afterlife, their faith and finally - in the fourth Invention - their experience of ageing bodies. The Dreams appears in five movements - Running, Falling, Land, Sea, and Colour.
00.42
Disequilibrium (2012)
Made by Lisa Gee and Nick Ryan
Produced by Jeremy Mortimer
January 2010. Nick Ryan, award-winning sound designer, composer and binaural maven, wakes dizzy, nauseous, destabilised. Despite medication and his GP's assurances, the feeling persists. 'Disequilibrium' is a meditation on the nature of sound and hearing. It traces Nick's experience of his balance disorder as it morphs his world into a space nearly as alien as the one he's creating.
01.15
The Leaves (2016)
Produced by Jaye Kranz
Australian musician and radio producer Jaye Kranz delves into the therapeutic possibilities of poetry, using the line 'The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees' to tumble down the rabbit hole into a dreamlike space of memories.
Midsummer Dreaming was produced by Alan Hall and Eleanor McDowall
Exec produced by Phil Smith from Reduced Listening
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3
SUNDAY 21 JUNE 2026
SUN 01:30 Midsummer Dreaming (m002yf30)
The Heart of the Night
From sunset until sunrise on the solstice, Verity Sharp presents a special dream-like night of radio documentaries from Radio 3's archives, celebrating the imaginative possibilities of radio and accompanied by music for enchantment.
During nine hours of overnight programming, Between the Ears documentaries are interspersed with music that speaks to the theme of the night (midsummer, nighttime, dreams, the forest, enchantment...). Midsummer Dreaming also pays homage to the spirit of the Third Programme, Radio 3’s predecessor, which took to the air 80 years ago in 1946.
Things become more surreal in the early hours, as the boundaries between reality and fiction become porous. Meditation classes are upended by Hollywood stars, a documentary-fairytale tumbles us into multiple love affairs and radio signals bounce off the moon.
01.32
Everything, Nothing, Harvey Keitel (2013)
Produced by Pejk Malinovski (Falling Tree Productions)
In the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world, the city of lights and dreams and distractions, a man sits down and tries to meditate. Learning to meditate is hard. Emptying one's mind, focusing entirely on one's breath is hard. And it gets even harder for the man with the realisation that he's sitting next to the famous actor Harvey Keitel.
01.58
Heartsong (1998)
Written by Sarah Woods
Directed by Claire Grove
Produced by Sara Conkey
In this drama documentary by Sarah Woods, three men tell their real-life stories of love. When they meet three fictional women, obsession, betrayal and true love follow.
02.51
Space Ham ((2013)
Produced by Rose de Larrabeiti (Whistledown Productions)
Sound artist Caroline Devine presents a celebration of the amateur radio enthusiasts - or hams - who eavesdrop on space exploration and communicate with astronauts.
Midsummer Dreaming was produced by Alan Hall and Eleanor McDowall
Exec produced by Phil Smith from Reduced Listening
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3
SUN 03:23 Midsummer Dreaming (m002yf32)
Before Sunrise
From sunset until sunrise on the solstice, Verity Sharp presents a special dream-like night of radio documentaries from Radio 3's archives, celebrating the imaginative possibilities of radio, accompanied by music for enchantment.
During nine hours of overnight programming, Between the Ears documentaries are interspersed with music that speaks to the theme of the night (midsummer, nighttime, dreams, the forest, enchantment...). Midsummer Dreaming also pays homage to the spirit of the Third Programme, Radio 3’s predecessor, which took to the air 80 years ago in 1946.
Just before the light returns, we step into a nightmare, lose ourselves in the forest and ask if we can trust what we see...
03.30
Private Dreams and Public Nightmares (1957)
Sound by Daphne Oram and Desmond Briscoe
Produced by Donald McWhinnie
A radiophonic poem by Frederick Bradnum. This pioneering work was seen as the last step on the road to the formation of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Described by producer Donald McWhinnie as 'an attempt to convey a new kind of emotional and intellectual experience by means of radiophonic effects'. Featuring Joan Sanderson, Andrew Sachs and Frederick Treves.
03.56
Omay (2018)
Produced by David Waters (Phantom Productions)
A young anthropologist and her daughter enter the Amazon to live alongside a previously uncontacted tribe. Featuring an immersive binaural forest soundscape, recorded in the Amazon by multi-award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry and mixed with Laura's taped forest recordings, we journey deep under the forest canopy.
04.35
Sight-Reading (2023)
Produced by Jon Tjhia (Falling Tree)
In a series of instructions, speculative directions and personal knowledges – overlapping images composed of old light – we encounter a choreography of gestures that house the incalculable forms of our living. How are we displaced from what we see? And what kind of unstable authority do we wield over a world constantly evading our grasp?
Midsummer Dreaming was produced by Alan Hall and Eleanor McDowall
Exec produced by Phil Smith from Reduced Listening
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3
SUN 04:49 Midsummer Dreaming (m002yf34)
Dawn Chorus
From sunset until sunrise on the solstice, Verity Sharp presents a special dream-like night of radio documentaries from Radio 3's archives, celebrating the imaginative possibilities of radio and accompanied by music for enchantment.
During nine hours of overnight programming, Between the Ears documentaries are interspersed with music that speaks to the theme of the night (midsummer, nighttime, dreams, the forest, enchantment...). Midsummer Dreaming also pays homage to the spirit of the Third Programme, Radio 3’s predecessor, which took to the air 80 years ago in 1946.
Dawn is beginning to break as our night exploring the vast imaginative possibilities of the radio draws to a close with birdsong, the vocalisations of a forest choir of field recordists and a selection of music for midsummer morning.
04.58
Nightingales of Berlin (2021)
Produced by Jeremy Grange
In early summer, as darkness descends, Berlin resonates with the sound of nightingales. You can hear their haunting, ever-changing songs in parks, woodlands and gardens across the city. From Kreuzberg to Treptower, Tempelhof to Hasenheide, Berlin has become a refuge for one of the most celebrated and mythologised birds on earth. This programme gathers memories of the nightingale’s lingering, multi-faceted song and the sounds of city evenings to create an audio portrait of Berlin, its people and the bird to whom it’s given refuge.
05.26
Place-responsive vocal improvisation (2026)
Performed by murmuration 7’ vocal ensemble, led by Hanna Tuulikki
Recorded by Jez riley French on 2nd June 2026
murmuration is curated and led by Jez riley French & Pheobe riley Law
05.30
Aubade - a selection of music for a midsummer morning.
Midsummer Dreaming was produced by Alan Hall and Eleanor McDowall
Exec produced by Phil Smith from Reduced Listening
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3
SUN 06:30 Radio 3 Breakfast (m002xmtq)
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.
SUN 09:00 Sunday Morning (m002xmts)
Three Hours of Classical Sparkle for the solstice
Join Sarah Walker for a special edition of the programme, live from Glastonbury Abbey, with special guests the Ayoub Sisters performing live.
The Summer solstice happens at
9.24 this morning, and Dr Hannah Wakeford will be joining Sunday Morning to chat about the phenomenon.
Sarah will also be taking a trip to experience the mystical magic of Glastonbury Tor, exploring the ancient Abbey ruins and its grounds, and marking the Summer solstice with three hours of glorious classical music which celebrates light, warmth and the summer sun.
SUN 12:00 Private Passions (m002xmtv)
Ruth Ozeki, writer
Ruth Ozeki won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2022 with her novel The Book of Form and Emptiness. The judges called it a ’complete joy to read.’
She’s also a film-maker and a Zen Buddhist priest, and her books draw on her Japanese-American heritage.
They also convey her deep concern for our environment, taking on topics such as industrial agriculture, ocean pollution and mass consumerism.
Her most recent book, The Typing Lady and Other Fictions, is her first collection of short stories – and the Typing Lady of the title has more than a little in common with Ruth herself.
Ruth Ozeki's music includes Albeniz, Praetorius, Prokofiev and Benny Goodman.
SUN 13:30 Music Map (m002xmtx)
Alfvén's Midsummer Vigil
Sara Mohr-Pietsch explores the musical landscape of Alfvén's joyous summer all-nighter the Midsummer Vigil, aka the Swedish Rhapsody.
Inspired by the longest day of the year, Sara explores midsummer music from Felix Mendelssohn to Ella Fitzgerald, as well as other seasonal treats from Jean Sibelius and William Grant Still.
However, away from the glow of the midnight sun lies an intriguing link to the shadowy world of espionage. Sara uncovers connections between the Midsummer Vigil and music used to send coded messages in times of war.
We also venture into music from fellow Swedish composers Lina Sandell and Johan Helmich Roman, and we hear from perhaps Sweden's greatest musical export, ABBA.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: “Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Map.”
SUN 15:00 Music Matters (m002b7ck)
Music on the Front Line
Steve Rosenberg
Clive Myrie is in conversation with fellow journalists about the music they’ve heard whilst reporting from the front line. With his own extensive experience of covering wars, and his personal love of opera and jazz, Clive and Steve Rosenberg share stories to reveal something of the power and significance of music when working in extreme conflict situations.
BBC journalist Steve Rosenberg has been the BBC’s Moscow correspondent since 2003, except for being Berlin correspondent between 2006 and 2010. In 2022, he became the BBC News Russian editor.
Here Steve recalls the music that has accompanied his working life:
Romance from Georgy Sviridov’s The Snowstorm. The State Academic Large Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev.
Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits.
Bach’s Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland arranged by Wilhelm Kempff, played by Angela Hewitt.
Kupalinka by Uladzimier Teraŭski, played by violinist Caroline Adomeit and pianist Julian Riem.
Melody, from The High Pass by Myroslav Skoryk. The Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Hobart Earle.
Valentina’s Song by Steve Rosenberg performed by the BBC Singers conducted by David Hill.
Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto, 3rd Movement. Evgeny Kissin with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Producer: Rosie Boulton
A Must Try Softer Production
SUN 16:00 Jazz Record Requests (m002xmtz)
Jazz for Midsummer
Alyn Shipton celebrates the summer solstice with your suggestions for summer jazz. From Duke Ellington’s Shakespeare-inspired Such Sweet Thunder to Horace Silver’s Summer in Central Park, this special Jazz Record Requests captures the magic and laid-back enchantment of the season. With music for long midsummer evenings from Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd at Monterey, Ella Fitzgerald live in Chicago and Art Farmer.
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 (m002xmv1)
Christophe Rousset
Hannah French visits Paris to chat to the harpsichordist, conductor and founder of Les Talens Lyriques Christophe Rousset about his extraordinary career, which spans more than 4 decades.
Music includes pieces by Rameau, JS Bach, Mozart, Salieri, Royer, François Couperin and Armand-Louis Couperin.
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 (m002xfgz)
Clare College, Cambridge
Wednesday's service from the Chapel of Clare College, Cambridge.
Introit: A Ukrainian Prayer (John Rutter)
Responses: Joshua Pacey
Psalm 89 (Battishill, Russell, Battishill, Battishill)
First Lesson: Judges 6 vv1-16
Canticles: Westminster Service (Howells)
Second Lesson: Matthew 5 vv13-24
Anthem: Reaching Farther (Nico Muhly) (First Broadcast)
Voluntary: Nu la oss takke Gud (Hovland)
Graham Ross (Director of Music)
Evie Perfect, Jacob Costard (Organ Scholars)
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Choral Evensong”.
SUN 19:00 Sunday Feature (m002xmv4)
Leon Bosch, the Double Bass and the Children of Soweto
Fifty years after the Soweto Uprising, double-bassist and former anti-apartheid activist Leon Bosch explores how he learned to confront his own trauma and speak through the voice of his instrument.
For most of its history, the double bass has been the quietest figure in Western classical music: essential but overlooked, a labouring presence at the back of the orchestra. For the celebrated British-South African bassist Leon Bosch, son of prominent anti-apartheid activist Jonas Fred Bosch, it has been the opposite. It was the instrument that carried him out of apartheid; the refuge through which he survived exile; and now, unexpectedly late in life, the voice through which he can finally express a trauma he has never spoken aloud.
This Sunday Feature follows Bosch as he prepares Red Ink, an intensely personal concerto by the South African composer Shane Woodborne - Leon’s former youth-orchestra friend from the other side of apartheid’s racial divide, now an established Salzburg-based composer. Written as a gift, and commemorating the Soweto Uprising of 1976, the work becomes the lens through which Bosch revisits the uprising that shaped his generation, the activism and imprisonment that defined his youth, and the decades in which he refused all South African music because its emotional freight was too great to bear.
The documentary is the story of two boys who once played under the same cello teacher in Cape Town, whose paths split violently apart and who meet again, by chance, thirty years later on a Vienna street. It is the story of a concerto that tries to translate historical pain into musical form, and of a musician discovering that the lowest voice in the orchestra is the only one capable of carrying the story he has spent a lifetime running from.
Written and presented by Leon Bosch.
Producer: Fiona Clampin
Exec Producer: Steven Rajam
An Overcoat Media Production for BBC Radio 3
SUN 19:45 Words and Music (m0004s5l)
Out of My Head
Out of My Head is a binaural journey about intoxication and inspiration.
Like any good party, we begin with an invitation from Kurt Weill as he staggers from bar to bar in Alabama Song. He’s joined by Baudelaire and Rimbaud, but age and time are elastic, and before long we are battering down Huxley’s Doors of Perception and entering the psychedelic realm of Jefferson Airplane. It will sound like it too, particularly if you put on headphones, as the programme is a binaural transmission. You will hear the sun moving across the stereo picture talking to Frank O’Hara and nightingales jamming with Clive Bell’s shakuhachi flute; you will hear rain and footsteps as you enter the upside down world of Thomas Traherne's great metaphysical poem, Shadows in the Water. Imagination is our vehicle – the imagination that leads Sasha Dugdale to conjure the grieving spirit of William Blake’s wife, Catherine: or allows us to leap with Anne Sexton into the heart and mind of an old woman stricken with Alzheimer’s but still able to recall a favourite tune as writers conjure different images of mental health.
The voices you’ll be hearing in your head are those of the actors Grace Cookey-Gam and Toby Jones.
Producers: Zahid Warley, Christopher Rouse and Georgia Mann Smith
READINGS:
Baudelaire - Be Drunk
Aldous Huxley - Doors of Perception
Rimbaud - Deregulation of the Senses
Lewis Carroll - The Hunting of the Snark
Emily Dickinson - The brain is wider than the sky
James Merrill - Voices from the Other World
Shakespeare - Ophelia's soliloquy from Hamlet
Sasha Dugdale - From Joy
Anne Sexton - Mister Wait
Rumi - The Turn
Clare Shaw - Tree
Frank O'Hara - A True Account of Talking to the Sun on Fire Island
Thomas Traherne - Shadows in the Water
SUN 21:00 Sunday Selection (m002xsfp)
1. Alexandra Whittingham
In the first of two programmes, guitarist Alexandra Whittingham chooses a selection of music for Sunday evening and shines a spotlight on pianist Julius Asal. Alexandra shares two of the recordings Julius has made with the BBC during his time as a Radio 3 New Generation Artist.
SUN 22:00 Night Tracks (m002xmv8)
A bewitching night time soundtrack
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
SUN 23:30 Unclassified (m002xmvb)
We sleep, we dream
On solstice night, Elizabeth Alker offers up ambient and experimental sounds from today's new crop of genre-defying artists. 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.
This week: expansive dance-pop sounds from Iceland's Janus Rasmussen; a new collaboration between Mariam Wallentin and the West Norwegian Jazz Ensemble; and New York-based Frances Chang's delicate poetry settings.
Produced by Geoff Bird
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
MONDAY 22 JUNE 2026
MON 00:30 Through the Night (m002xmvd)
Midsummer Night from Sweden
Midsommar is one of the most celebrated holidays in Sweden, taking place every June during the summer solstice. We mark this with a concert from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra with soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan, performing Iranian composer Golfam Khayam's 'I'm not a tale to be told', Haydn's Symphony no 44 'Mourning' and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture. The rest of the night has a focus on Swedish composers and performers. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Golfam Khayam (b.1982)
I am not a tale to be told
Barbara Hannigan (soprano), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Barbara Hannigan (conductor)
12:42 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony no 44 in E minor, Hob.I:44 'Mourning'
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Barbara Hannigan (conductor)
01:03 AM
George Gershwin (1898-1937), Robert Russell Bennett (arr.)
Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Barbara Hannigan (conductor)
01:32 AM
Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783-1847)
Piano Quartet in E minor
Klara Hellgren (violin), Ingegerd Kierkegaard (viola), Åsa Åkerberg (cello), Anders Kilström (piano)
02:02 AM
Otto Olsson (1879-1964)
Gregorian melodies for organ, Op 30
Anders Bondeman (organ)
02:21 AM
Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927), Jens Peter Jacobsen (lyricist)
Three choral songs
Swedish Radio Choir, Gustav Sjökvist (conductor)
02:27 AM
Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927), Verner von Heidenstam (lyricist)
Sverige (Sweden)
Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson (conductor)
02:31 AM
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (1867-1942)
Frösöblomster for Piano, Book 2 (1900)
Johan Ullén (piano)
02:55 AM
Lars-Erik Larsson (1908-1986)
9 Songs to Poems by Hjalmar Gullberg, Op 35 (1946)
Carin Zander (soprano), Mårten Landström (piano)
03:12 AM
Dag Wiren (1905-1986)
Serenade for Strings, Op 11
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Niklas Willén (conductor)
03:27 AM
Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758)
O herre Gud, Gud's Lamm (Agnus Dei) from Svenska messan (Swedish mass)
Maria Sanner (contralto), Bolette Roed (recorder), Frederik From (violin), Hager Hanana (cello), Komalé Akakpo (psalter), Dagmara Kapczynska (harpsichord), Joanna Boślak-Górniok (organ)
03:31 AM
Franz Berwald (1796-1868)
Fantasia on 2 Swedish Folksongs for piano (1850-59)
Lucia Negro (piano)
03:40 AM
Ludwig Norman (1831-1885), Niklas Willén (arr.)
Andante Sostenuto
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Niklas Willén (conductor)
03:50 AM
Sven-Eric Johanson (1919-1997)
Fyra visor om arstiderna (4 songs about the Seasons)
Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson (conductor)
03:57 AM
Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792)
String Quartet no 2 in B flat major
Lysell String Quartet
04:12 AM
Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)
Nocturne in A flat major, Op 33 no 3
Stefan Lindgren (piano)
04:18 AM
Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929)
Concert Overture in D major
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Chloé van Soeterstèd (conductor)
04:31 AM
Adolf Fredrik Lindblad (1801-1878), Adolf Fredrik Lindblad (lyricist)
En sommerafton (A summer Evening) from 'Om vinterkvall' (Of a Winter's Eve)
Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson (conductor)
04:34 AM
Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962)
Praeludium and allegro in the style of Gaetano Pugnani for violin and piano
Tobias Ringborg (violin), Anders Kilström (piano)
04:40 AM
Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758)
Suite (sonata) for clavichord no 12 in E minor
Karin Jonsson-Hazell (harpsichord)
04:47 AM
Harald Fryklöf (1882-1919)
Eight minor piano pieces (1916)
Tore Uppström (piano)
04:59 AM
Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960)
King Gustav II Adolf, Op 49 (Suite)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Niklas Willén (conductor)
05:15 AM
Gösta Nystroem (1890-1966), Elmer Diktonius (author), Ebba Lindqvist (author), Vilhelm Ekelund (author)
Tre havsvisioner (3 Visions about the sea)
Swedish Radio Choir, Gustav Sjökvist (conductor)
05:26 AM
Valborg Aulin (1860-1928)
String Quartet in F major
Tale String Quartet
05:52 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Two arias from the opera 'Ariodante'
Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo soprano), Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski (conductor)
06:12 AM
Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927)
Sensommarnätter (Late Summer Nights), Op 33 (1914)
Dan Franklin (piano)
MON 06:30 Radio 3 Breakfast (m002xn6k)
The finest classical music to elevate your morning
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 (m002xn6n)
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”.
MON 13:00 Classical Live (m002xn6q)
Jess Gillam live at Wigmore Hall
Saxophonist Jess Gillam performs live from Wigmore Hall with friends, Sam Becker on double-bass and Zeynep Özsuca on piano. And Linton Stephens introduces a week of specially recorded performances from the recent Hay-on-Wye festival. Also on Classical Live this week, concertos for wind instruments. We have a late 18th century flute concerto by CPE Bach recorded by Il Pomo d'Oro in Madrid. And also, Tchaikovsky's triumphant 5th Symphony performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Tabita Bergland
LIVE FROM WIGMORE HALL
Introduced for Classical Live by Hannah French
Jess Gillam (saxophone)
Sam Becker (double bass)
Zeynep Özsuca (piano)
Arcangelo Corelli (arranged by Simon Parkin and Andy Poxon)
Violin Sonata in D minor Op. 5 No. 12 'La Follia'
Nadia Boulanger
Cantique
Barbara Thompson
The Unseen Way
Graham Fitkin
Gate
Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin
Tabhair dom do Lámh
Luis Bacavo arr. Kristina Arakelyan
Theme from Il Postino
Jeremy Wall
Elegy for Trane
Grigoras Dinicu arr. Alistair Vennart
Hora Martisorului
Phil Woods
Sonata for alto saxophone and piano, I. Allegro
Sidney Bechet
Petite Fleur
George Gershwin
Songbook:
Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) (arranged by Alfred J. Gallodoro)
*****
c
14:00 with Linton Stephens
Samuel Barber
Summer Music, Op. 31
Les Vents Français:
Emmanuel Pahud (flute)
Paul Meyer (clarinet)
François Leleux (oboe)
Gilbert Audin (bassoon)
Radovan Vlatkovic (horn)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Tabita Bergland (conductor)
HAY-ON-WYE FESTIVAL
Edvard Grieg (transc. Ullman)
Peer Gynt Suite
Alexander Ullman (piano)
Hildegard of Bingen
Hymn: Ave generosa
BBC Singers
Sofi Jeannin (conductor)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Flute Concerto in D major, Wq. 13
Eleonora Bišćević (flûte)
Il Pomo d’Oro
Francesco Corti (director)
MON 16:00 Composer of the Week (m0024x76)
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
A city in turmoil
Donald Macleod explores Henry Purcell’s childhood in London – at the time a city in turmoil – and Purcell’s youth as a chorister in the Chapel Royal.
Henry Purcell was the most important English composer of the era, described as the "Orpheus Britannicus" for his ability to combine Baroque counterpoint with dramatic settings of English words. He composed music for the church, the royal court, the theatre and for England’s newly emerging concert scene, with an intelligence and creativity that marked him out as one of the most original composers in all of Europe. More than anything, though, he composed music for London – the city where he lived all of his short life. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod explores the city during Purcell’s lifetime and London’s effect on a man who lays claim to being England’s greatest composer. During Purcell’s childhood, it was a city reeling from civil war, the disastrous spread of disease, and the destruction wreaked by the Great Fire. We’ll explore London’s churches, and music Purcell wrote for them, especially Westminster Abbey, where Purcell was organist, the state of London’s theatre scene in Purcell’s day, and the changing demands for music from the various monarchs of the composer’s lifetime. Finally, Donald explores London’s response to the shock of Purcell’s death in his mid-30s, and the tributes paid to the composer from his own Fairest Isle.
In Monday’s episode, Donald navigates through the scarcity of facts to explore Henry Purcell’s childhood in a very different London to the one we know today. It was a city in turmoil, with the restoration of King Charles II, the plague and the Great Fire of London all causing their own upheavals. He also explores London’s relationship with music and Purcell’s youth as a chorister in the Chapel Royal.
Fairest Isle from King Arthur
Andrea Haines, soprano
Voces8
Les Inventions
Hail Bright Cecilia (Symphony & Closing Chorus “Hail! Bright Cecilia”)
Collegium Vocale Choir & Orchestra
Philippe Herreweghe, director
Welcome Song from Swifter, Isis, Swifter Flow, Z 336
The Sixteen
The Sixteen Orchestra
Harry Christophers, director
What hope for us remains now he is gone?, Z 472
Julie Hassler, soprano
La Rêveuse
Benjamin Perrot, director
Suite from Abdelazer
Parley of Instruments
Peter Holman, conductor
Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales & West
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: "Ask BBC Sounds to play Composer of the Week."
MON 17:00 In Tune (m002xn6s)
The London Tango Quintet live in session
Composer Shirley J. Thompson talks to Katie about her Wigmore Hall concert, Mandela Tales.
Katie is also joined in studio by The London Tango Quintet, who play live ahead of their gig Upstairs at Ronnie's in July.
MON 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002xn6v)
Switch up your listening with classical music
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical favourites, including works by Jacques Offenbach, George Gershwin and Mel Bonis.
Producer: Kevin Satizabal Carrascal.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play The Classical Mixtape'.
MON 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002xn6x)
Aldeburgh Festival - Ravel's La Valse
An orchestral journey of bold originality from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the Aldeburgh Festival: Elizabeth Ogonek’s joyful, light-filled dances, Ravel’s jazz-inspired brilliance, and Ryan Wigglesworth’s time-bending concerto. Steven Osborne shines across playful Ravel and introspective Wigglesworth piano concertos.
Elizabeth Ogonek’s All These Lighted Things asks the orchestra to dance, drawing fascinating new sounds from every instrument. The composer remarks that the piece is about the casting away of darkness; that it expresses an “overwhelming…happiness and joy”.
Ravel had a revelatory visit to the United States in 1928, where he heard George Gershwin at the Cotton Club in Harlem. He gave a lecture the same year, instructing American musicians to “Take Jazz Seriously!”, and took his own advice by paying a generous tribute to it in his sassy, sumptuous Piano Concerto in G. A few years earlier, Ravel had composed La Valse, a kind of “biography” of the waltz from elegant beginning to increasingly wild end.
Ryan Wigglesworth’s Piano Concerto slowly awakens into an intriguing soundworld, then looks back through musical history. Piano and orchestra engage in a quizzical, sometimes combative conversation on the subject of folksongs, chorales, and gigues.
Steven Osborne’s versatile and responsive style is perfect for both concertos: the playful Ravel and the intriguing, understated Wigglesworth.
Presented by Andrew McGregor, recorded at Snape Maltings Concert Hall on 14 June.
Elizabeth Ogonek: All These Lighted Things (three little dances for orchestra)
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
interval
Ryan Wigglesworth: Piano Concerto
Ravel: La valse
Steven Osborne, piano
Ryan Wigglesworth, conductor
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".
MON 21:45 The Essay (m000pgbm)
Jazz Among the British
On Not Being a Jazzer
In April this year, the death was announced of the veteran Radio 3 jazz presenter Geoffrey Smith – who hosted Jazz Record Requests for over twenty years. To mark Geoffrey’s death, this week there’s another chance to hear a series of Essays from 2020 in which Geoff, as an American, explored his observations of the British relationship with Jazz.
In this first programme, Geoffrey questions the British term ‘jazzer’ and its jokey connotations, which are in sharp contrast to the genre’s more serious Stateside identity as American classical music. There, the genealogy and pedigree of the genre is more complex, going back to the rich musical mix of New Orleans. As John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet once said, "We didn't have Bach, Beethoven or Mozart, so we needed to create a music that could do all the things that music can do". But to the British, argues Geoffrey, the essential value of jazz is precisely that it isn't classical. Geoffrey reminds us that the two genres overlap in key expressive features, and that the immortal names in their respective pantheons have much in common.
MON 22:00 Night Tracks (m002xn6z)
Sublime sounds for nightfall
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
MON 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002xn71)
Moses Boyd sits in
This week on 'Round Midnight, drummer, producer and bandleader Moses Boyd is sitting in for Soweto. Moses is a pioneering figure in London’s jazz scene, who released his Mercury Prize nominated debut Dark Matter in 2020. He has worked with artists from jazz and beyond including Little Simz, Beyoncé, Four Tet and Sons of Kemet.
From Monday to Thursday this week, Moses welcomes bassist and singer Amy Gadiaga as his 4/4 guest. Hailing from Paris, she is an alumna of both London's Trinity Laban Conservatoire and Tomorrow’s Warriors, and recently released her second EP BabyGoated.
Amy will be choosing four albums from her collection that have been meaningful to her. To begin the week, she chooses a legendary jazz singer of the late 20th century.
Also in the programme, there’s music from Knats, Greg Foat and Ego Ella May.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Round Midnight".
TUESDAY 23 JUNE 2026
TUE 00:30 Through the Night (m002xn73)
Dvořák's Eighth Symphony from Madrid
Tabea Zimmermann performs Bartók's Viola Concerto with the RTVE Symphony Orchestra and conductor Christoph König. Suk's Scherzo fantastique and Dvořák's Eighth Symphony complete the programme. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Josef Suk (1874-1935)
Scherzo fantastique, Op 25
La Orquesta Sinfónica RTVE, Christoph König (conductor)
12:45 AM
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Viola Concerto, Sz.120
Tabea Zimmermann (viola), La Orquesta Sinfónica RTVE, Christoph König (conductor)
01:08 AM
György Kurtág (b.1926)
In nomine all'ongharese
Tabea Zimmermann (viola)
01:13 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Symphony no 8 in G major, Op 88
La Orquesta Sinfónica RTVE, Christoph König (conductor)
01:50 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Piano Quartet no 2 in E flat major, Op 87
Zhang Zuo (piano), Elena Urioste (violin), Lise Berthaud (viola), Guy Johnston (cello)
02:26 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Slavonic Dance in A major, Op 46 no 5
James Anagnoson (piano), Leslie Kinton (piano)
02:31 AM
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795)
Ino - solo cantata for soprano and orchestra
Barbara Schlick (soprano), Das Kleine Konzert, Hermann Max (conductor)
03:01 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Ma Mère l'Oye
Orchestre National de France, Hans Graf (conductor)
03:29 AM
Cipriano de Rore (1516-1565)
"Alma real, se come fida stella" (Royal lady, like the faithful star ...)
Consort of Musicke, Anthony Rooley (director)
03:34 AM
Cyril Scott (1879-1970)
Lotus Land, Op 47 no 1
Cristina Ortiz (piano)
03:39 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
2 Sonatinas for mandolin: C minor WoO 43/1 and C major WoO 44/1
Avi Avital (mandolin), Shalev Ad-El (harpsichord)
03:46 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Concerto fragment for horn and orchestra in E flat (K.370b and K.371)
James Sommerville (horn), CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
03:58 AM
Amy Beach (1867-1944)
Piano Trio in A minor, Op 150
Mithras Trio
04:13 AM
Imant Raminsh (b.1943)
Ave Verum Corpus
Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jon Washburn (conductor)
04:19 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Quartet in D minor, TWV.43:d2
Ensemble of the Eighteenth Century, Susanne Regel (conductor)
04:31 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Impromptu in G flat major, D899 no 3
Francesco Piemontesi (piano)
04:37 AM
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Andante molto, 3rd movement from the Symphonic Suite "Roma"
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oliver Dohnányi (conductor)
04:44 AM
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Love-sight (from 'The House of life' for voice and piano)
James Atkinson (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
04:49 AM
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
Quartet for flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon no 6 in F major
Vojtech Samec (flute), Jozef Luptacik (clarinet), Jozef Illéš (french horn), Frantisek Machats (bassoon)
05:00 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Sept chansons
Swedish Radio Choir, Pär Fridberg (conductor)
05:13 AM
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)
Sonata in C minor for violin and bass continuo
Salzburger Hofmusik, Wolfgang Brunner (director)
05:26 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Piano Concerto no 2 in F minor, Op 21
Alexander Gadjiev (piano), Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw, Michal Klauza (conductor)
05:58 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suite for Solo Cello no 6 in D major, BWV.1012
Guy Fouquet (cello)
TUE 06:30 Radio 3 Breakfast (m002xncr)
Kickstart your day with the best 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’.
TUE 09:30 Essential Classics (m002xnct)
A classical soundtrack 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 (m002xncw)
Richard Strauss Oboe Concerto from Stuttgart
Linton Stephens introduces further highlights from the recent Hay-on-Wye festival including a fiendishly difficult piano transcription of Wagner's Tannhauser Overture performed by the British pianist Alexander Ullman. Also today, more in our sequence of recordings from across Europe of concertos for wind instruments; the oboe is the featured instrument today in concertos by Bach and Strauss. Plus a rare chance to hear the 19th century German Romantic composer, Emilie Mayer's amazing first symphony performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Robin Wallington
HAY-ON-WYE FESTIVAL
Richard Wagner (transc. Franz Liszt)
Tannhauser Overture
Alexander Ullman (piano)
Guillaume de Machaut
Notre Dame Messe: Gloria
BBC Singers
Sofi Jeannin (conductor)
Arnold Bax
Summer Music
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Robin Wallington (conductor)
HAY-ON-WYE FESTIVAL
Benjamin Britten
Cello Sonata, Op. 65
Guy Johnston (cello)
Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano)
Richard Strauss
Oboe Concerto
François Leleux (oboe)
SWR Symphony Orchestra
Andrés Orozco-Estrada (conductor)
Edvard Grieg
Lyric Pieces, Book 10 Op 71:
Once upon a Time
Summer’s Eve
Puck
Peace of the Woods; Norwegian Dance
Gone
Remembrances
Alexander Ullman (piano)
Emilie Mayer
Symphony No. 1 in C minor
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Robin Wallington (conductor)
Olivia Belli
Limina Luminis
Anna Lapwood (organ)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for oboe, violin, strings and continuo in C minor, BWV. 1060
Andreas Helm (oboe)
Basel Chamber Orchestra
Stefano Barneschi (violin/conductor)
TUE 16:00 Composer of the Week (m0024x9k)
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
London's city spires
Donald takes a tour of the churches of Purcell’s London, and explores the impact on them of the civil war and the Great Fire of London.
Henry Purcell was the most important English composer of the era, described as the "Orpheus Britannicus" for his ability to combine Baroque counterpoint with dramatic settings of English words. He composed music for the church, the royal court, the theatre and for England’s newly emerging concert scene, with an intelligence and creativity that marked him out as one of the most original composers in all of Europe. More than anything, though, he composed music for London – the city where he lived all of his short life. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod explores the city during Purcell’s lifetime and London’s effect on a man who lays claim to being England’s greatest composer. During Purcell’s childhood, it was a city reeling from civil war, the disastrous spread of disease, and the destruction wreaked by the Great Fire. We’ll explore London’s churches, and music Purcell wrote for them, especially Westminster Abbey, where Purcell was organist, the state of London’s theatre scene in Purcell’s day, and the changing demands for music from the various monarchs of the composer’s lifetime. Finally, Donald explores London’s response to the shock of Purcell’s death in his mid-30s, and the tributes paid to the composer from his own Fairest Isle.
In Tuesday’s programme, Donald takes a tour of the churches of Purcell’s London, and explores the impact on them of the English Civil War and the Great Fire of London. We will hear music written by Purcell for Westminster Abbey, and for the private prayers of Charles II. Plus, a piece thought to have been composed by Purcell for his own wedding day.
An Evening Hymn ‘Now that the sun hath veiled his light', Z 193
Alexander Chance, countertenor
Toby Carr, lute
Voluntary in D minor, Z 719
John Butt, organ
O God, thou art my God, Z 35
Laurence Cummings, organ
Oxford Camerata
Jeremy Summerly, director
Beati Omnes qui timent Dominum, Z 131
Elin Manahan Thomas, soprano
Eamonn Dougan, bass
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, director
My Beloved Spake
Choir of Clare College Cambridge
Timothy Brown, conductor
Te Deum & Jubilate
Taverner Consort
Taverner Choir
Taverner Players
Andrew Parrott, conductor
Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales & West
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: "Ask BBC Sounds to play Composer of the Week."
TUE 17:00 In Tune (m002xncy)
Theodore Koumartzis and Lina Palera play the Ancient Greek Lyre
Theodore Koumartzis and Lina Palera play the Ancient Greek Lyre on In Tune.
Katie also chats to American soprano Sara Jakubiak ahead of performing in Tristan and Isolde with the London Symphony Orchestra in July.
TUE 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002xnd0)
The eclectic classical mix
An engaging mix of classical music for half an hour, featuring a clarinettist's take on Wagner’s dream-inspired Wesendonck-Lieder, mournful text from Isaiah set as sacred song by Byrd, and the resolution to Bernstein’s tragic West Side Story.
TUE 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002xnd2)
Aldeburgh Festival - Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances
Kevin John Edusei joins the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for the second of two concerts at the Aldeburgh Festival. Dreams pervade the first half, beginning with Elizabeth Ogonek's Sleep & Unremembrance, which was based on a Wisława Szymborska poem about a strange dream. Ogonek's work is a vivid dreamscape, full of twists, turns, and mysteries. The Dreamer follows, a world premiere and BBC co-commission by Freya Waley Cohen, which she wrote for her sister, Tamsin Waley-Cohen. Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances rounds off the concert, his dazzling last orchestral work, which is full of wit and modernism, but never loses the heart we associate with the Russian master.
Elizabeth Ogonek: Sleep and Unremembrance
Freya Waley-Cohen: The Dreamer
Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances, Op 45
Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Kevin John Edusei (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers, just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 In Concert”.
TUE 21:45 The Essay (m000pgdc)
Jazz Among the British
The British Audience
In April this year, the death was announced of the veteran Radio 3 jazz presenter Geoffrey Smith – who hosted Jazz Record Requests for over twenty years. To mark Geoffrey’s death, this week there’s another chance to hear a series of Essays from 2020 in which Geoff, as an American, explored his observations of the British relationship with Jazz.
In a culture obsessed with interpreting social signs, the British are fascinated by jazz as style, attitude, behaviour. In the 1920s, jazz was the vogue music of the Bright Young Things: the Prince of Wales himself was fond of sitting in on drums with visiting Americans. On the other end of the political spectrum, the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm saw the music as the epitome of working class art. And the fixation with the purity of jazz's folk roots drove the trad jazz boom of the 1950s, a playing style that was once seen as a sign of hip progressive politics. For Geoffrey, all this signifying makes it harder to get through to the music.
TUE 22:00 Night Tracks (m002xnd4)
Harmonious music for nighttime listening
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
TUE 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002xnd6)
A classic from The Keith Tippett Group
South London drummer, producer and bandleader Moses Boyd, sitting in for Soweto Kinch, spotlights some of the new jazz releases and classics that he has been enjoying.
He will also be welcoming back soulful singer and bassist Amy Gadiaga for 4/4. Tonight, Amy chooses another record from her collection, and this time it’s by one of the most important figures in the history of modern jazz.
There is also music from Nubya Garcia, Ian Carr and Alina Bzhezhinska.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Round Midnight".
WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 2026
WED 00:30 Through the Night (m002xnd8)
Ardeo Quartet and pianist Barry Douglas
At the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in Ireland, the Ardeo Quartet performs Saariaho's Terra Memoria and Janáček's String Quartet no 2 'Intimate Letters'. Pianist Barry Douglas plays Schubert's Piano Sonata no 16. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023)
Terra Memoria
Ardeo Quartet
12:51 AM
Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)
String Quartet no 2 'Intimate Letters'
Ardeo Quartet
01:18 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Sonata no 16 in A minor, D.845
Barry Douglas (piano)
01:53 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Symphony no 41 in C major, K 551 'Jupiter'
Camerata Ireland, Barry Douglas (conductor)
02:24 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Intermezzo in E major, Op 116 no 4
Barry Douglas (piano)
02:31 AM
Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745)
Te Deum in D major, ZWV.146
Martina Janková (soprano), Isabel Jantschek (soprano), Wiebke Lehmkuhl (contralto), Krystian Adam Krzeszowiak (tenor), Felix Rumpf (bass), Dresdner Kammerchor, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, Václav Luks (conductor)
03:00 AM
Charles Mouton (1626-1710)
Pièces de Lute in C minor
Konrad Junghänel (11 string lute)
03:29 AM
Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), Franz Liszt (arr.), Franz Liszt (transc.)
Etude no 2 in E flat major
Arthur Friedheim (piano)
03:35 AM
Paul Dukas (1865-1935)
Villanelle for horn and orchestra
Esa Tukia (horn), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Michael Adelson (conductor)
03:42 AM
Matthias Schmitt (b.1958)
Ghanaia for percussion
Colin Currie (percussion)
03:49 AM
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784)
Sinfonia in F major, F.67
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Stephan Mai (director)
04:02 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Fantasia in G major BWV.572 for organ
Tomás Thon (organ)
04:10 AM
Jacques-François Halévy (1799-1862)
Aria: "Quand de la nuit l'epais nuage" (from "L'eclair", Act 3)
Benjamin Butterfield (tenor), Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Richard Bradshaw (conductor)
04:15 AM
Jan van Gilse (1881-1944)
String Quartet (Unfinished, 1922)
Ebony Quartet
04:25 AM
Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
Gladiolus Rag (1909)
Donna Coleman (piano)
04:31 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Overture, L'Isola disabitata
Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Rolf Gupta (conductor)
04:39 AM
Camilla de Rossi (fl.1707-1710)
Duol sofferto per Amore' (excerpt Sant'Alessio )
Martin Oro (counter tenor), Musica Fiorita, Daniela Dolci (director)
04:45 AM
Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
Sonatina super Carmen (Sonatina no 6) for piano 'Kammerfantasie'
Valerie Tryon (piano)
04:54 AM
Philip Sparke (b.1951)
Pantomime for Euphonium in B major
Valerian Alfaré (euphonium), Edward Cervenka (piano)
05:00 AM
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Morgen from 4 Lieder (Op 27 no 4)
Christianne Stotijn (mezzo soprano), Joseph Breinl (piano)
05:04 AM
Zygmunt Noskowski (1846-1909)
The Steppe, Op 66 - symphonic poem
Santander Orchestra, Lawrence Foster (conductor)
05:23 AM
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837)
Trio for piano and strings in E flat major, Op 12
Hertz Trio
05:40 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), Jan Hemmer (author)
Jordens sang (Song of the Earth), Op 93
Academic Choral Society, Helsinki Cathedral Chorus, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ulf Söderblom (conductor)
05:59 AM
Santiago de Murcia (1673-1739)
Obra por 7 tono (suite)
Eduardo Egüez (lute)
06:18 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Water Music - suite in G major, HWV.350
Collegium Aureum
WED 06:30 Radio 3 Breakfast (m002xnf2)
Embrace the morning calm of classical music and birdsong
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 (m002xnf6)
The very best 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”.
WED 13:00 Classical Live (m002xnfb)
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto from Salzburg
Linton Stephen's with an afternoon of specially recorded music including two contrasting concertos for the clarinet and highlights from the recent Hay-on-Wye festival
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622
Lev Zhuravsky (clarinet)
Munich Chamber Orchestra
Yuki Kasai (conductor)
HAY-ON-WYE FESTIVAL
Frank Bridge
Four Short Pieces, No 2 'Spring Song'
Guy Johnston (cello)
Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano)
HAY-ON-WYE FESTIVAL
Gerald Finzi
A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14
Daniel Norman (tenor)
Anna Tilbrook (piano)
Grace Williams
Penillion
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Tadaaki Otaka (conductor)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestral Suite No. 4 n D, BWV 1069
Basel Chamber Orchestra
Stefano Barneschi (conductor)
Carl Nielsen
Clarinet Concerto, Op. 57
Martin Fröst (clarinet)
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
Paavo Järvi (conductor)
WED 15:00 Choral Evensong (m002xnfg)
Portsmouth Cathedral
From Portsmouth Cathedral.
Introit: Sing joyfully (Byrd)
Responses: Lloyd
Psalms 80, 82 (Howells, Lang)
First Lesson: Malachi 4 vv1-6
Canticles: Octavi toni (Bevan)
Second Lesson: Matthew 11 vv2-19
Anthem: This is the record of John (Gibbons)
Hymn: Hark a herald voice is calling (Merton)
Voluntary: Prelude and Fugue in E flat major 'St Anne', BWV552 (Bach)
David Price (Organist & Master of the Choristers)
Sachin Gunga (Sub-Organist)
Recorded 19 June.
To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Choral Evensong”.
WED 16:00 Composer of the Week (m0024xc1)
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
London's royal houses
Donald Macleod explores the changing role of Purcell within the royal household, and the music he wrote for the various monarchs who ruled during his lifetime.
Henry Purcell was the most important English composer of the era, described as the "Orpheus Britannicus" for his ability to combine Baroque counterpoint with dramatic settings of English words. He composed music for the church, the royal court, the theatre and for England’s newly emerging concert scene, with an intelligence and creativity that marked him out as one of the most original composers in all of Europe. More than anything, though, he composed music for London – the city where he lived all of his short life. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod explores the city during Purcell’s lifetime and London’s effect on a man who lays claim to being England’s greatest composer. During Purcell’s childhood, it was a city reeling from civil war, the disastrous spread of disease, and the destruction wreaked by the Great Fire. We’ll explore London’s churches, and music Purcell wrote for them, especially Westminster Abbey, where Purcell was organist, the state of London’s theatre scene in Purcell’s day, and the changing demands for music from the various monarchs of the composer’s lifetime. Finally, Donald explores London’s response to the shock of Purcell’s death in his mid-30s, and the tributes paid to the composer from his own Fairest Isle.
In Wednesday’s episode, Donald explores the changing role of Purcell within the royal household, and the music he wrote for the various monarchs who ruled during his lifetime. We’ll hear of a traumatic royal journey on the recently thawed Thames, and visit a haunted Whitehall, Kensington Palace, and hear of a money-making scheme Purcell implemented for the Coronations at Westminster Abbey, and its mixed success!
Cold Song ‘What Power art Thou’ (from King Arthur)
Andreas Scholl, countertenor
Accademia Bizantina
Stefano Montanari, conductor
They that go down to the sea in ships
David Thomas, bass
Matthew Bright, alto
Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock, director
Sighs for our late sovereign Charles the Second, Z 380 ‘If pray’rs and tears’
Gerard Lesne, countertenor
Il Seminario Musicale
My heart is inditing
Choir of New College Oxford
Academy of Ancient Music
Edward Higginbottom, conductor
Sefauchi's Farewell, Z 656
John Gibbons, harpsichord
Love's Goddess Sure Was Blind, Z 331 (VI May Her Blessed Example Chase)
Neil MacKenzie, tenor
Symphony of Harmony and Invention
Harry Christophers, director
Come ye sons of art (excerpt)
James Bowman, countertenor
Christopher Robson, countertenor
David Wilson-Johnson, baritone
Michael George, bass
Choir of the Age of Enlightenment
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Gustav Leonhardt, director
Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales & West
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: "Ask BBC Sounds to play Composer of the Week."
WED 17:00 In Tune (m002xnfl)
Bob Chilcott, The VIDA Guitar Quartet
The VIDA Guitar Quartet perform live on In Tune ahead of the Royal College of Music Strings Festival.
Composer Bob Chilcott also drops into the In Tune studio to chat to Katie about works he’s written for the Burford and Budleigh festivals.
WED 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002lq0s)
Find your focus with calming classical music
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.
WED 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002xnft)
Nielsen's Fifth Symphony
John Storgårds joins the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for a programme of Scandinavian music, painting a portrait of the far north, exploring the power of the natural world, and providing a vehicle for expressing human drama too.
Nielsen's gripping Fifth Symphony was written in the aftermath of the First World War and is music which this "born composer of symphonies", as Sibelius called him, struggled to write; "it is the most difficult task I have attempted yet..." Nielsen said. Its appeal to a listener is immediate and intense; its fight between romanticism and hard-hitting power and chaos is most clearly felt at the end of the first movement, where the side drum tries, and only just fails, to overwhelm the orchestra.
Simone Lamsma joins the orchestra for Sibelius's multi-layered violin concerto, music which he poured his heart and soul into. Soaring lyricism meets gutsy energy, and it ends with what has been called a "polonaise for polar bears".
The programme opens with music that includes recordings of birds from the Arctic; terns, swans, larks, ducks and waders were all recorded in their natural habitats by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara for his 'Cantus Arcticus'. This is breathtakingly atmospheric music - the orchestra and the birds collaborate as equals in the performance. Sometimes they happily share the limelight and at other times jostle for aural supremacy, in music which creates genuine wonder and goes straight to the heart.
Recorded at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on 16 May 2026 and presented by Elizabeth Alker.
Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
8.20
Interval music
Nielsen: Symphony No.5
Simone Lamsma (violin)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
John Storgårds (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "ask BBC Sound to play Radio 3 in Concert".
WED 21:45 The Essay (m000pgqc)
Jazz Among the British
Americans in Britain
In April this year, the death was announced of the veteran Radio 3 jazz presenter Geoffrey Smith – who hosted Jazz Record Requests for over twenty years. To mark Geoffrey’s death, this week there’s another chance to hear a series of Essays from 2020 in which Geoff, as an American, explored his observations of the British relationship with Jazz.
Britain has always been a favourite destination for American jazz stars. It played a key role in the career of Duke Ellington, whose visit here in 1933 generated such enthusiasm among the musical elite that it convinced him to attempt more ambitious musical works. Equally smitten by the mix of British history, culture and style was the legendary Chicago saxophonist Bud Freeman, whose British affinity took roots in the '20s when he and his fellow Chicago jazz pioneers adopted the Prince of Wales as their model for dress and behaviour, and honoured him with their composition, Prince of Wails. Bud settled in London in the late '70s, when Geoffrey became his regular companion for city strolls and got to know him well.
WED 22:00 Night Tracks (m002xnfw)
Blissful sounds for night owls
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
WED 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002xnfy)
New music from The Solomon Gundy Band
Moses Boyd, sitting in for Soweto Kinch, is back with another hour of the best in jazz from the UK and around the world. He also welcomes back Amy Gadiaga to share her third 4/4 choice of the week. Today she picks a Brazilian samba pioneer whose work has seen a resurgence in recent years.
There is also music from Dylan Jones, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, and Jemima Whyte.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Round Midnight".
THURSDAY 25 JUNE 2026
THU 00:30 Through the Night (m002xng0)
Slovenian National Day
Pianist Barry Douglas joins the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra and conductor Lio Kuokman in Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto. The orchestra also plays a work by the young Slovenian composer Leon Firšt. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Leon Firšt (b. 1994)
Symphonic Dances
RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Lio Kuokman (conductor)
12:46 AM
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Piano Concerto no 1 in B flat minor, Op 23
Barry Douglas (piano), RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Lio Kuokman (conductor)
01:21 AM
Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Dance of the Knights, from 'Romeo and Juliet', Op 64
01:25 AM
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Swan Lake (suite), Op 20a
RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Lio Kuokman (conductor)
02:06 AM
Traditional, Janez Gregorc (arr.)
N'mau cez izaro (folksong from Korosko region)
Slovene Brass Quintet
02:08 AM
Jacobus Gallus Carniolus (1550-1591)
Missa super Adesto dolori meo a 5 (SQM III/9)
Madrigal Quintett Brno, Roman Válek (director)
02:31 AM
Uroš Krek (1922-2008)
Sinfonietta
RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Rossen Milanov (conductor)
02:59 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Trio for piano and strings No.7 in B flat major, 'Archduke' (Op.97)
Arcadia Trio, Reiner Gepp (piano), Gorian Kosuta (violin), Milos Mlejnik (cello)
03:41 AM
Igor Dekleva (b.1933)
The Wind Is Singing
Ipavska Chamber Choir, Tomaz Pirnat (conductor)
03:47 AM
Pavel Mihelčič (1937-2026)
Nocturne for violin and guitar
Tomaž Lorenz (violin), Jerko Novak (guitar)
03:53 AM
André Jolivet (1905-1974)
Chant de Linos for flute and piano
Aleš Kacjan (flute), Bojan Gorišek (piano)
04:03 AM
Uroš Prevoršek (1915-1996)
Spanski Ples (Spanish Dance) (1939)
Dejan Bravnicar (violin), RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Samo Hubad (conductor)
04:07 AM
Jacques Ibert (1890-1962)
Trois Pièces Brèves for wind quintet
Ariart Woodwind Quintet
04:14 AM
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Keyboard Sonata in D minor no 9 L.412
Dejan Lazić (piano)
04:18 AM
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Sinfonia in D major, Wq.183 no 1
Slovenicum Chamber Orchestra, Uros Lajovic (conductor)
04:31 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)
04:41 AM
Marij Kogoj (1892-1956)
Two pieces from the 'Piano' Collection (1921)
Bojan Gorišek (piano)
04:49 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
4 Lieder from the Schemelli songbook (BWV.443, 468, 470 & 439)
Bernarda Fink (mezzo soprano), Domen Marinčič (gamba), Dalibor Miklavcic (organ)
04:58 AM
Louis Spohr (1784-1859)
Harp Fantasia no 2 in C minor, Op 35
Mojca Zlobko Vaigl (harp)
05:08 AM
Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
Roses from the South - waltz, Op 388
RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Rossen Milanov (conductor)
05:18 AM
Sven-David Sandström (1942-2019)
En ny himmel och en ny jord (A new heaven and a new earth)
Chamber Choir AVE, Andraž Hauptman (conductor)
05:26 AM
Lucijan Marija Skerjanc (1900-1973)
Harp Concerto (1954)
Mojca Zlobko Vaigl (harp), RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, David de Villiers (conductor)
05:43 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano Sonata in F major, K 533
Anja German (piano)
06:06 AM
Antoine Reicha (1770-1836)
Clarinet Quintet in B flat major, Op 89
Jože Kotar (clarinet), Slovenian Philharmonic String Quartet
THU 06:30 Radio 3 Breakfast (m002xn3z)
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 (m002xn43)
Relax into the day with classical
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 (m002xn47)
The Grieg Cello Sonata from the Hay-on-Wye festival
Linton Stephens with an afternoon of specially recorded music. Grieg's romantic Cello Sonata from the recent Hay-on-Wye festival makes a welcome appearance on today's programme in a performance by Guy Johnston and Mishka Rushdie Momen. Also, Linton's lineup of concertos for the wind section turns to an instrument with which he is very familiar: the bassoon.
Richard Strauss
Duet-Concertino for Bassoon and Clarinet
Johannes Schittler (clarinet)
Jan Hudeček (bassoon)
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Robert Jindra (conductor)
HAY-ON-WYE FESTIVAL
Edvard Grieg
Cello Sonata in A minor, Op. 36
Guy Johnston (cello)
Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano)
Franz Schubert
Symphony No.5 in Bb major, D. 485
WDR Symphony Orchestra
Christian Macalaru (conductor)
Josquin des Prez
Alma redemptoris mater
BBC Singers
Sofi Jeannin (conductor)
Johannes Brahms
Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8 (1854 verision)
ATOS Trio
Giacchino Rossini (atrrib.)
Bassoon Concerto
Valeria Curti (bassoon)
Swiss National Youth Orchestra
Johannes Schlaefli (conductor)
THU 16:00 Composer of the Week (m0024xds)
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
London's Theatres
Donald Macleod explores the composer’s role in London’s newly re-emergent theatre scene.
Henry Purcell was the most important English composer of the era, described as the "Orpheus Britannicus" for his ability to combine Baroque counterpoint with dramatic settings of English words. He composed music for the church, the royal court, the theatre and for England’s newly emerging concert scene, with an intelligence and creativity that marked him out as one of the most original composers in all of Europe. More than anything, though, he composed music for London – the city where he lived all of his short life. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod explores the city during Purcell’s lifetime and London’s effect on a man who lays claim to being England’s greatest composer. During Purcell’s childhood, it was a city reeling from civil war, the disastrous spread of disease, and the destruction wreaked by the Great Fire. We’ll explore London’s churches, and music Purcell wrote for them, especially Westminster Abbey, where Purcell was organist, the state of London’s theatre scene in Purcell’s day, and the changing demands for music from the various monarchs of the composer’s lifetime. Finally, Donald explores London’s response to the shock of Purcell’s death in his mid-30s, and the tributes paid to the composer from his own Fairest Isle.
Purcell, has been called Britain's 'musical Shakespeare'. In Thursday’s programme, Donald Macleod explores the composer’s role in London’s newly re-emergent theatre scene after the near-two decade restriction to stage entertainments forced by Thomas Cromwell’s Commonwealth. It could be a financially precarious and sometime physically violent environment, but London’s stages inspired some of Purcell’s most glorious music. We’ll hear from some of his greatest stage works, and a piece often cited as the first English opera, but which was likely never heard in a public theatre in Purcell’s lifetime - Dido and Aenaes.
Timon of Athens, Z. 632 (Curtain Tune on a Ground)
Lautten Compagney Berlin
Wolfgang Katschner, conductor
Dido and Aeneas, Act II (excerpt)
Felicity Palmer, mezzo-soprano (Sorceress)
Carys Lane, soprano (First Witch)
Rebecca Outram, soprano (Second Witch)
European Voices
Le Concert d'Astrée
Emmanuelle Haïm, conductor
Theodosius, or the Force of Love (Overture; Prepare the Rites Begin)
David Thomas, bass (chief priest)
Taverner Choir
Academy of Ancient Music
Christopher Hogwood, director
King Arthur (excerpt)
Claron McFadden, soprano (honour)
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie, director
The Fairy Queen (excerpt)
Roderick Williams, baritone (Hymen)
Mhairi Lawson, soprano (1st woman)
Anna Dennis, soprano (2nd woman)
Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Ashley Riches, bass-baritone
Gabrieli Consort
Paul McCreesh, director
Indian Queen, Act 4 ‘They tell us that you mighty powers above’
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano (Orazia)
Il Pomo d'Oro
Maxim Emelyanychev, conductor
Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales & West
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: "Ask BBC Sounds to play Composer of the Week."
THU 17:00 In Tune (m002xn4c)
Pianist Kasparas Mikuzis and double bassist Leon Bosch
Pianist Kasparas Mikuzis performs live in the studio. Double bassist Leon Bosch chats with Katie about his performance of Shane Woodborne's Concerto for Double Bass "Red Ink", at Wigmore Hall with the Ubuntu Ensemble as part of the African Concert Series. Shane joins Leon to play some of the concerto live in the studio.
THU 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002xn4h)
Your daily classical soundtrack
A musical journey spanning over 500 years from the French Renaissance to 21st century American minimalism. Along the way Jeremy Denk interprets the music of Monteverdi, Yehudi Menuhin plays Corelli, and Christopher Maltman sings Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel.
THU 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002xn4m)
Brahms and Bees
Chief Conductor Anna-Maria Helsing and the BBC Concert Orchestra are joined by cellist Senja Rummukainen in the premiere of a BBC Radio 3 commission from Swedish composer Tebogo Monnakgotla: Bombus, inspired by the life cycle of bees. In part 2, before Brahms' third symphony, Missy Mazzoli turns the orchestra in a giant hurdy-gurdy with her imaginative orchestration.
Recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on May 10th.
Presented by Sarah Walker.
Sibelius: Karelia Suite op. 11
Tebogo Monnakgotla: Bombus: Concerto for Cello & Orchestra (UK premiere. BBC R3 commission)
Missy Mazzoli: Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres (rev. 2016)
Brahms: Symphony No. 3
Senja Rummukainen (cello)
BBC Concert Orchestra
Conductor Anna-Maria Helsing
To listen on most smart speakers, just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 In Concert”.
THU 21:45 The Essay (m000phch)
Jazz Among the British
Stan Tracey
In April this year, the death was announced of the veteran Radio 3 jazz presenter Geoffrey Smith – who hosted Jazz Record Requests for over twenty years. To mark Geoffrey’s death, this week there’s another chance to hear a series of Essays from 2020 in which Geoff, as an American, explored his observations of the British relationship with Jazz.
Stan Tracey was an abiding presence in Geoffrey's jazz media life, as reviewer and interviewer, and Geoffrey thought of him not just as a paragon of British jazz, but of jazz in Britain. He was the real thing, a jazz muso to the bone, totally committed to the music. And to him that's what it was. He once told Geoffrey that when he went out to a gig, he didn't say to himself "I'm going to play some jazz", but "I'm going to play some music." Jazz was his music virtually from the time he heard it, trailing down the stairs from the flat above his family home. His route to jazz keyboard went through an accordion - with which he happily played pass-the-hat gigs in pub - to achieving his own style on piano, following trips to New York as a member of shipboard bands in ‘Geraldo's Navy’. He later became house pianist at Ronnie Scott's and a musicians' favourite - the great Sonny Rollins once asked, "does anyone here realise how good he is?" Geoffrey pays tribute to a British player with an unmistakably quirky, determined personal style.
THU 22:00 Night Tracks (m002xn4r)
Meditative music for late night solace
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
THU 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002xn4t)
Fresh from Shy One
All this week Moses Boyd, sitting in for Soweto, has been joined by singer and bassist Amy Gadiaga, who has been choosing some of the records that have influenced her, for 4/4. Concluding her week, Amy’s fourth and final track is a blistering live version of an iconic jazz standard.
Also in the programme, there is music from Ella Fitzgerald, Venna, and Ella Feingold.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Round Midnight".
FRIDAY 26 JUNE 2026
FRI 00:30 Through the Night (m002xn4w)
The Maisky Trio from London's Wigmore Hall
The legend of the cello Mischa Maisky is joined by his daughter, pianist Lily Maisky, and violinist son Sascha Maisky, who have performed together as the Maisky Trio for almost 20 years. They play Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, Brahms and Schubert, including songs arranged for the ensemble by Mischa Maisky. John Shea presents.
12:31 AM
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op 22
Sascha Maisky (violin), Lily Maisky (piano)
12:41 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Mischa Maisky (arr.)
Excerpts from Dichterliebe, Op 48
Mischa Maisky (cello), Lily Maisky (piano)
12:49 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Mischa Maisky (arr.)
Widmung, Op 25 no 1 from Myrthen
Mischa Maisky (cello), Lily Maisky (piano)
12:52 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Piano Trio no 1 in B major, Op 8
Mischa Maisky (cello), Lily Maisky (piano), Sascha Maisky (violin)
01:25 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Mischa Maisky (arr.)
Du bist die Ruh, D.776
Mischa Maisky (cello), Lily Maisky (piano), Sascha Maisky (violin)
01:31 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Serenade - an arrangement for horn and piano of Ständchen
Mindaugas Gecevicius (horn), Ala Bendoraitiene (piano)
01:35 AM
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)
Violin Sonata no 6 in C minor
Daniel Sepec (violin), Hille Perl (viola da gamba), Lee Santana (theorbo), Michael Behringer (organ)
01:48 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony no 2 in D major, Op 73
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Pedro Halffter (conductor)
02:31 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV.147 (cantata)
The Sixteen, Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Ton Koopman (conductor)
03:01 AM
David Matthews (b.1943)
A Vision of the Sea
BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena (conductor)
03:24 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Sonatine, arr. flute, bassoon and harp
Andrea Kollé (flute), Maria Wildhaber (bassoon), Sarah Verrue (harp)
03:36 AM
Susan Spain-Dunk (1880-1962)
Two Scottish Pieces for orchestra, Op 54
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Bell (conductor)
03:43 AM
Lars-Erik Larsson (1908-1986)
Croquiser, Op 38
Mårten Landström (piano)
03:56 AM
Ivan Zajc (1832-1914)
Eva and Zrinski's duet from the opera 'Nikola Subic Zrinski'
Mirella Toic (soprano), Ratomir Kliškic (baritone), Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra, Pavle Dešpalj (conductor)
04:04 AM
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
Fantasia chromatica for keyboard
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)
04:12 AM
Chiel Meijering (b.1954)
La vengeance d'une femme
Janine Jansen (violin)
04:18 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
The Four Seasons - Autumn
Davide Monti (violin), Il Tempio Armonico
04:31 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Prelude to Act 1 – from 'Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg'
Orchestre du Conservatoire de Musique du Québec, Jacques Lacombe (conductor)
04:41 AM
Petar Dinev (1889-1980)
Milost mira no 5 (A Mercy of Peace no 5)
Sveta Troitsa, Plovdiv, Vessela Geleva (conductor)
04:46 AM
Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
Three Pieces for Cello and Piano
Samuel Niederhauser (cello), Denis Linnik (piano)
04:54 AM
Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)
Sinfonia in D major 'Veneziana'
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Biondi (conductor)
05:04 AM
Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927)
Three Fantasias, Op 11
Brita Hjort (piano)
05:19 AM
Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)
Sonata for harp
Godelieve Schrama (harp)
05:29 AM
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Symphony no 5 in D minor, Op 47
BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)
06:19 AM
Andreas Hammerschmidt (1611/2-1675)
Suite in G minor/G major for gambas
Hesperion XX, Jordi Savall (director)
FRI 06:30 Radio 3 Breakfast (m002xq54)
Wake up 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 (m002xq56)
Celebrating classical greats
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 (m002xq58)
Mozart's 4th Horn Concerto from Wales
Linton Stephens introduces specially recorded performances from around the world, including, from close to home, highlights from the recent Hay-on-Wye festival and a much-loved concerto for the fifth regular member of the standard wind quintet, the french horn. Today's programme ends with an early masterpiece for piano and wind instruments by Beethoven, recorded in Switzerland
Igor Stravinsky
Symphonies of wind Instruments
Members of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Sofi Jeannin (conductor)
Joseph Haydn
Symphony No.6 in D major (Le matin)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Jaime Martin (conductor)
HAY-ON-WYE
Benjamin Britten
Winter Words, Op. 52 (extract)
Daniel Norman (tenor)
Anna Tilbrook (piano)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Horn Concerto No. 4, K. 495
Ben Goldscheider (horn)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Ryan Bancroft (conductor)
Jean Sibelius
The Oceanides, Op. 73
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Jakob Hrusa (conductor)
Cesar Franck
Symphony in D Minor
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Elena Schwarz (conductor)
Ludwig van Beethoven
Quintet for Piano and Winds in Eb major, Op. 16
Martin Frutiger (oboe)
Fabio Di Càsola (clarinet)
Mischa Greull (horn)
Matthias Racz (bassoon)
Martin Lucas Staub (piano)
FRI 16:00 Composer of the Week (m0024xty)
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Tributes
Donald explores the theories around Purcell’s death at the age of just 36, and examines the various tributes made to the composer after his passing.
Henry Purcell was the most important English composer of the era, described as the "Orpheus Britannicus" for his ability to combine Baroque counterpoint with dramatic settings of English words. He composed music for the church, the royal court, the theatre and for England’s newly emerging concert scene, with an intelligence and creativity that marked him out as one of the most original composers in all of Europe. More than anything, though, he composed music for London – the city where he lived all of his short life. Over the course of this week, Donald Macleod explores the city during Purcell’s lifetime and London’s effect on a man who lays claim to being England’s greatest composer. During Purcell’s childhood, it was a city reeling from civil war, the disastrous spread of disease, and the destruction wreaked by the Great Fire. We’ll explore London’s churches, and music Purcell wrote for them, especially Westminster Abbey, where Purcell was organist, the state of London’s theatre scene in Purcell’s day, and the changing demands for music from the various monarchs of the composer’s lifetime. Finally, Donald explores London’s response to the shock of Purcell’s death in his mid-30s, and the tributes paid to the composer from his own Fairest Isle.
In Friday’s programme, Donald explores the theories around Purcell’s early death at the age of just 36, shortly after he had survived a deadly bout of smallpox that had ravaged London. He also examines the various tributes made to the composer from the city where he had lived all his life after his passing, and the influence that Purcell’s music has had since his death more than 325 years ago.
When I am laid in earth from Dido and Aeneas
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo (Dido)
Il Pomo d'Oro
Maxim Emelyanychev, conductor
Trumpet Sonata in D Major, Z 850
Alison Balsom, trumpet
Balsom Ensemble
Burial Service, Z 58c
Laurence Cummings, organ
Oxford Camerata
Jeremy Summerly, dircetor
‘From Rosy Bow’rs’ from Don Quixote
Emma Kirkby, soprano
Academy of Ancient Music
Christopher Hogwood, conductor
Oedipus: incidental music, Z 583 (No 2, Music for a While (Arr B. Britten)
Iestyn Davies, countertenor
Joseph Middleton, piano
Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales & West
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: "Ask BBC Sounds to play Composer of the Week."
FRI 17:00 In Tune (m002xq5b)
Actor Helen George and pianist Ariel Lanyi
Katie Derham talks to acclaimed actor Helen George, who is currently starring in High Society at the Barbican in London. Helen performs a number from the show live accompanied by pianist Liam Dunachie. Pianist Ariel Lanyi also plays live in the studio ahead of his appearance at Lichfield Festival.
FRI 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002pgf1)
Classical music for your journey
Half an hour of back-to-back classical music, including works by Mozart, Grieg, Mel Bonis and Malcolm Arnold. Listen out for some of John Barry's haunting score for the 1971 Nicolas Roeg film Walkabout, set in the searing heat of the Australian outback, and a seductive dance sequence from Aram Khachaturian's ballet Spartacus.
Producer: Helen Garrison
FRI 19:30 Friday Night is Music Night (m002xq5g)
Brighton Dome
Singer Lucy-Ann Daniels joins conductor George Jackson and the BBC Concert Orchestra, live from the Brighton Dome, in music that has a connection with that historic building.
Presented by Petroc Trelawny.
Edward German : Overture Henry VIII
Elgar: Dream Children
Porter, arr Balcombe: Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)
Peter Hope: Jaunting Car
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Romance in G
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite – Morning and Hall of the Mountain King
INTERVAL
Vaughan Williams: Overture - The Wasps
Erroll Garner, arr Ayanna Witter-Johnson & Katie Chatburn: Misty
Walton, arr Mathieson: Suite - Henry V Suite
Illinois Jacquet, arr John G Smith: Robbins Nest
Traditional, arr Paul Campbell: Sinnerman
Farnon: Goodwood Galop
Lucy-Ann Daniels (singer)
Nathaniel Anderson-Frank (violin)
BBC Concert Orchestra
Conductor George Jackson
FRI 21:45 The Essay (m000phw3)
Jazz Among the British
Sonny Rollins
In April this year, the death was announced of the veteran Radio 3 jazz presenter Geoffrey Smith – who hosted Jazz Record Requests for over twenty years. To mark Geoffrey’s death, this week there’s another chance to hear a series of Essays from 2020 in which Geoff, as an American, explored his observations of the British relationship with Jazz. This episode also serves as a tribute to its subject, the great American tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, who died at the end of last month.
In 1963, Sonny Rollins provided one of the high points of Geoffrey's jazz life in a gig at the Minor Key in Detroit. Fresh from the famous sabbatical which produced his album The Bridge, he was in towering form. Nearly four decades later, in October 1999, Rollins came to London for a performance at the Barbican just a few days after the fatal rail crash outside Paddington Station. At the start of the concert, he announced he wanted to dedicate it to the people who had died, "in hopes that they are somewhere listening." Then he played with unforgettable power and invention - Rollins at his best, than which there is nothing greater in jazz. And in the succeeding years, every time he returned to the Barbican, he produced a concert at that same peerless level, leaving his audience crying for more. Geoffrey Smith reflects on the connection this great American musician forged with his British audience over this series of astonishing performances.
FRI 22:00 Late Junction (m002qhhl)
Cara Tolmie’s mixtape
Verity Sharp presents an exclusive Late Junction mixtape from Cara Tolmie. Following on from her acclaimed 2025 release ‘Body Lapse’, a collaboration with Rian Treanor, Tolmie here explores her sonic roots and shares formative influences and firm favourites in the creation of vibrant musical collage.
A Glasgow-born, Sweden-based artist and improviser, Tolmie’s artistic aim is - as she puts it - to ‘complexify the bind between voice and body via mesmerising and uncanny vocalisations.’ This is achieved in her music through her own practice of ‘internal singing’, in which breath, movement, repetitive phrases and sung fragments are used to explore the limits of vocalisation. Tolmie’s projects and performances dig into the uncanny power of voice distortion, effects created through both technological and corporeal means.
Elsewhere in the show: The Early delight in dense basement clattering; and Mohammad Reza Mortazavi conjures intricate, deft and swampy timbres on the Iranian tombak.
Produced by Alex Yates
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
FRI 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002xq5k)
Greg Foat’s Mixtape
This Friday night, Moses' guest is leading jazz pianist, composer, and producer Greg Foat. Based in London, Greg's style blends cinematic modern jazz, ambient electronic soundscapes, and 1960s/70s soundtrack music. He has collaborated with artists like Questlove, Gigi Masin and Rita Ora.
Tonight, Greg shares a playlist of some of his favourite British jazz records, including a track from a 21 year old Ray Russell and a Harry Beckett flugelhorn solo.
To listen on most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Round Midnight".