The Music Show: Recent Episodes
ABC Radio
Hear the interview of the week from the Music Show, where composer Andrew Ford entertains and informs a wide audience each week, providing two hours of essential listening from the world of music.
for the conductor, the rehearsal is the gig...Umberto Clerici’s CV lists principal cellist, chamber musician, educator, soloist and now conductor, as the newly appointed Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony OrchestraIt’s an unusual trajectory from orchestra to podium, a post usually inhabited by soloists, not former orchestral musicians. He says the physicality of the cello lends itself to conducting as well as playing at the bottom of the orchestra. He also credits COVID to his break with the baton and tells us how he needs to balance being a ‘traffic controller with inspirer’.
We spend the hour with two of Australia's award-winning woodwind musicians.ABC Classic’s Young Performer of the Year Eliza Shephard, plays repertoire that's not for the faint-hearted. A talented flautist, she calls on singing, acting and an extraordinary technique to perform extremely ambitious music which ranges from Cage and Takemitsu to Hindson and Vine. Eliza plays live on The Music Show with percussionist Alexander Meagher and discusses her uncompromising concert programming and the enigmatic glissando head joint.Clarinets were once a mainstay of jazz but less so these days. Phillippa Murphy-Haste received a gong this week for her clarinet work and a nice swag of money to match, taking out the Freedman Jazz Fellowship. Equally ambitious in playing and programming as her colleague above, Phillippa writes for and performs in a multitude of bands and this week heads to Sweden to complete her large work-in-progress Kairos, as part of her Freedman prize.
The Cat Empire strikes back with a new line-up and sound. In 2021, The Cat Empire announced that they were disbanding after more than 20 years and played their final show with the original line up at Bluesfest in 2022.
Fast forward a year and The Cat Empire's new crew has released Where the Angels Fall which takes us to a re-energised sound world where Cuba meets Mexico via Mauritius and the Seychelles.
London-based Australian pianist Rob Hao drops in to chat about his project Schubert Overwritten which he is presenting in Melbourne and Sydney. Schubert is known for his lasting influence on the music that came after him, but also for his incomplete music - both of which come into question when new composers attempt to write endings to those works.
Kurt Elling is probably best known as a purveyor of vocalese, having inherited the mantle from Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross. But Elling is scratching a whole new itch with his SuperBlue project. Electro- funk meets hip-hop beats. Is this jazz? Find out when Mr Elling is in the house paying his respects to jazz greats that came before.Laura Murphy is the composer and lyricist for a new musical The Dismissal. It takes audiences back to that fateful day in November 1975 and a constitutional crisis that overshadowed the Whitlam years. This world premiere is seen through the eyes of that famous satirical character in these events, Norman Gunston.
An hour in the company of music writer James Gavin whose biographies include George Michael, Chet Baker and Peggy Lee. Gavin discusses ‘ravaged’ voices; singers whose voices became utterly wrecked in old age like Billie Holiday and Alessandro Moreschi. Or in the case of Marianne Faithful where age wearied the voice in a new and haunting way. We hear high voices that never dropped like Jimmy Scott and Peter Pears and Joan Baez whose technique only improved with age. And not forgetting the drama that became the hallmark of Johnny Cash’s late singing.
Friends of the show Fanny Lumsden and Georgia Mooney join Andrew to play songs from their new albums live in The Music Show studio.
One quarter of All Our Exes Live in Texas, Georgia Mooney, has released her long-awaited debut solo album called Full of Moon. Made in the times of travel restrictions with musicians in London, Brighton, Bonn, Los Angeles, New York and Sydney, the album is a collage of lush musical landscapes and melodies with a certain nostalgic touch.
We catch up with Australian country singer-songwriter Fanny Lumsden, who was previously on the show with her album Fallow. Hey Dawn is Fanny's fourth studio album, threaded together by her memories of growing up in the Snowy Mountains. Fanny chats to Andrew about the new world of Hey Dawn, and the characters and muses that have inspired the songs on the album.
Principal Horn of the Berlin Philharmonic, Stefan Dohr visits the studio to talk about working within that orchestra, Strauss’s second horn concerto, and Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.
Composer and dramaturg Meta Cohen says they approach their music like a dramaturg and their theatre like a musician. It’s a creative combination that’s led to their choral and vocal writing being a finalist in the 2023 Art Music Awards, as well as being the first non-male composer to be performed in a UK Orthodox Synagogue. They join Andy to talk about all that plus their ABC-commissioned song cycle a love is a love is a love.
And pioneering electronic composer Beverly Glenn Copeland on his recently rediscovered classic album Keyboard Fantasies and his new album The Ones Ahead.
Irish singer-songwriter Hozier’s third studio album Unreal Unearth takes Dante’s Divine Comedy and its circles of hell as its inspiration. Drawing from blues, soul and Celtic traditional music, he’s known for taking his time releasing new music and this is no exception. He joins Andy to talk about singing in the Irish language, finding a limit to his capacity for solitude, and finding new heights to his exceptional voice.
Franz Liszt certainly kept himself busy, as we learn from pianists Michael Kieran Harvey and Paavali Jumppanen. A child prodigy paraded around by his father, he came to create the recital format as we know it today. After whipping up what has been termed Lisztomania, Liszt took a step back from the spotlight at the age of 38, and instead committed himself to conducting, composing, teaching and womanising.
Michael Kieran Harvey contemplates what Liszt might be doing if he were alive today through a program that includes pieces by Liszt, Harvey's own compositions and music that has come in between. He will be performing these programs along Jumppanen, Timothy Young, and pianists from the Australian National Academy of Music.
Franz Liszt certainly kept himself busy, as we learn from pianists Michael Kieran Harvey and Paavali Jumppanen. A child prodigy paraded around by his father, he came to create the recital format that resulted in concert halls packed to the rafters, and what has now been termed Lisztomania. After taking a step back from the spotlight at the age of 38, he took on a variety of different roles - conducting, composing, teaching and womanising.
In a two-concert series, Michael Kieran Harvey contemplates what Liszt might be doing if he were alive today through a program that includes pieces by Liszt, Harvey's own compositions and music that has come in between. He will be performing these programs along Jumppanen, Timothy Young, and pianists from the Australian National Academy of Music.
As ABC Science Week asks Australia what the nation’s favourite animal sound is, The Music Show looks at the unique musical relationship between humans and birds. From Olivier Messiaen’s trio of birds written when he was in a Polish concentration camp, to English folkie Sam Lee, Muruwari and Filipino rapper DOBBY, and zoomusicologist (dream job) and violinist Hollis Taylor’s duets with birds, and David Lumsdaine’s composition-by-dawn-chorus.
Karen O'Connor is a long-time friend of Joan Baez, and one of the directors for the new documentary Joan Baez I am a Noise, which tells the story of the iconic American singer, songwriter and activist. It follows her in the lead up to her last tour. With a career that has spanned over 60 years, Joan has accumulated a lifetime of joy and heartbreak, and a trove of diaries, tape letters and paintings that have captured her own private moments that have run parallel, and at times intersected with major historical events.
Karen talks about the unique journey that unfolds throughout the film as Joan candidly reflects on her career.
As a reflection of his Butchulla, Garrwa, South-Sea Islander and Tongan backgrounds, Fred Leone's music is captivating cocktail of Language, collaboration and storytelling. He speaks to Andrew about his own musical upbringing and how he works with other musicians including trials (A.B. Original), Birdz and Samuel Pankhurst.
And we remember the legendary musicians - Robbie Robertson of The Band, and Sugar Man Rodriguez.
Kalkadunga composer and musician, William Barton will be awarded the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music at the 2023 Art Music Awards. He’s back in The Music Show studio to talk about his Distinguished Service, and his working relationship with the late Richard Gill.
And the Stiff Gins are 24 years into what they hope is a lifelong partnership. Yuwaalaraay woman Nardi Simpson and Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri woman Kaleena Briggs look back at their almost quarter century and the changing landscape of music and language with live performance in The Music Show studio.
Originally from Melbourne, Ziggy and Miles Johnston are the next generation of brother/guitar duos. They are currently based in New York and studying together at The Juilliard School, and have returned to Australia on tour for their new album Sidekick.
Australian violist Tahlia Petrosian is a member of the oldest Symphony orchestra in the world, the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. Named after their original concert hall, the Gewandhaus started in 1743 and has had three homes since, the most recent hall built after the second Gewandhaus was damaged in the second World War. They're known for the warm, dark colours they can conjure under the batons of Kapellmeisters (music directors/chief conductors) including Felix Mendelssohn, Herbert Blomstedt, and currently Andris Nelsons.
An octet of Gewandhaus musicians, including Tahlia, are currently in the country to collaborate with emerging Australian musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and tour a program of Schubert's chamber music.
György Ligeti (1923 – 2006), the avant-garde Hungarian composer, celebrates his 100th anniversary this year. He was one of the most unique composers of the 1950s and 60s, and then kept pushing his musical language so that in the 1990s he was still one of the most radical composers working.
His music education was interrupted by the Holocaust: he was Jewish and he was sent to a forced labour brigade whilst his brother and parents were sent to Mathausen-Gusen and Auschwitz. His mother was the only family member to survive. Despite the darkness he experienced, his music became more complex and beautiful, developing a sound he called “micropolyphony” – a precise series of musical lines that change slowly, blurring together like clouds moving across the sky.
We hear from Dr Amy Bauer, Professor in the Music Department at the University of California Irvine. Her writing on Ligeti includes the monograph Ligeti’s Laments and co-editing Ligeti’s Cultural Identities.
And from The Music Show archives, Ligeti’s late biographer Richard Toop, and conductors Clark Rundell and Elgar Howarth.
Opera is full of mad scenes, particularly those written in the 19th century in Italy, but there's a trend - none of the men ever go mad, only the women. In fact, the preoccupation with "mad women" in opera and throughout a range of art forms during this era is telling of how 19th-century society viewed mental health and the role of women - mostly written by men.
By exploring these operas and portrayal of women, coloratura soprano Jessica Pratt has become quite fond of characters like Amina from Bellini's La sonnambula and the perhaps more recognisable, Lucia from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, a character that Jessica has played over 100 times. She has distilled five operas from Italy's Bel Canto composers into a concert program of "Mad Scenes," that not only has challenging vocal acrobatics, but also unpacks how and why these characters go mad, which, when you hear their stories, will make a lot of sense.
Shellie Morris is a singer and songwriter working with remote communities to preserve some of the worlds oldest languages through music. Most recently, she has been working with the Groote Eylandt Language Centre to write songs in their language, Anindilyakwa. Shellie speaks about the collaborative process of writing an album of songs with the translators at the Language Centre and being able to ordering a strong coffee on the island.
And we remember two distinctive voices of of our time, Tony Bennett who has died at the age of 96, and Sinéad O'Connor, at the age of 56.
In 1993, Mike Nock recorded one of his most iconic solo albums, Touch in the Eugene Goosens Hall at the ABC studios in Ultimo, Sydney.
30 years on from his last solo album, Mike has returned to same hall for his newest release, Hearing. Through its 13 tracks, this album showcases Mike's musical artistry as both a pianist and composer, featuring a range of his own compositions, improvisations and some tunes from some other of his favourite musicians including Bryce Rohde and Jonathan Zwartz.
Sat where he's most at home, in front of the piano, Mike chats to Andrew Ford about the moods and colours that he is still able to evoke from the piano keys. In between some spontaneous improvisations throughout the interview, Mike reflects on the making of Hearing, the various emotional threads that tie the tracks together and tributes to friends, family and collaborators old and new.
Singing forbidden fruit with Benjamin Appl, and live music from Rockhampton duo Busby Marou.
Rockhampton duo Busby Marou have been making music together for sixteen years. They say they’re better live but their fifth studio album, Blood Red, doesn’t sound too bad either. Combining Tom Busby’s singer-songwriter sensibilities and Jeremy Marou’s guitar chops and Torres Strait islander musical culture, their sound has a breezy optimism that they’ve worked hard to achieve, as they demonstrate live in The Music Show studio.
German-British baritone Benjamin Appl reinvents the German Romantic Liederabend – “evening of song” – for a new era with his Australian recital program entitled Nocturne. His latest album, Forbidden Fruit, contains another swathe of songs, and Benjamin joins Andy to talk about both, as well as his time as the last student of the legendary baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Plus new music from Kate Pass's Kohesia Ensemble where Persian instrumentalists teaming up with jazz artists for Sand, Sea and Sky.
Australian pianist, Aura Go plays Chopin - both the character, and all 24 of his Preludes - in the stage production of Paul Kildea's book Chopin's Piano. Combining live musical performances with theatre, the production brings to life the story of the piano made by the local Majorcan craftsman, Juan Bauza in Palma. Threaded together by Chopin's 24 Preludes, the story follows the piano from its time with Chopin during that historic winter in Majorca, to its new life in Paris with Wanda Landowska, and through the hands of Nazis during World War II.
Leaning into a bit of a method-acting scenario, Aura joins us on one of the ABC's most quirky pianos in the Melbourne live music studio to play some of the Preludes that Chopin wrote on Bauza's eccentric piano.
We speak to Aura about her take on Chopin as the pianists' composer and her acting debut, and contemplate the music of Chopin with some guests from The Music Show's archive, featuring interviews with Paul Kildea in 2018, Ruth Slenczynska in 2020, Roger Woodward in 2010, and Susan Tomes in 2021.
Chopin's Piano is now on tour around Australia.
Fifty years after her debut recording Marcia Hines reflects on a life and career full of stories, and Evelyn Ida Morris finds their voice through improvisation on the piano.
Marcia Hines marks fifty years since her debut recording this year, but her life in music started long before that. Raised with gospel in Boston, she was at Woodstock when she was 16 and then shortly after on her way to Australia to star in the local production of Hair. And then she stayed. After Hair came touring in a jazz band with B.B. King, then Jesus Christ Superstar, before being crowned Queen of Pop. A huge career across pop, jazz, disco and more followed and is still going with Marcia on tour across her adopted Australia now.
Evelyn Ida Morris’ most recent release is a record of a single long improvisation on solo piano, which they performed in response to the artwork of Elizabeth Newman. Titled Extended Time, the music is inspired not only by the paintings themselves but by the people looking at them in the gallery, an intimate portrait of experiencing art. It’s a new point in the journey for Morris, who started as a drummer in punk bands before recording looping synth pop under the moniker Pikelet for many years before settling into their own identity with their 2018 self-titled album on Milk! Records.
Bach is indestructible. Jazz singer Michelle Nicolle is the latest in a line of musicians to take the music of J.S. Bach and do things to it. Her jazz ensemble pops by The Music Show studio to play live selections from her new album The Bach Project, in which her acrobatic vocals draw closer and further from Bach’s original music.
As an improviser himself, Bach’s music is fertile ground for reinterpretation, and we’ll hear from the late Jacques Loussier, the Brodsky Quartet’s Paul Cassidy, composer Brett Dean and the Will Gregory Moog Ensemble, amongst others, on how Bach has been transformed.
In 2019, Freya Josephine Hollick travelled to the famed Rancho de la Luna studio in Joshua Tree to record her most recent album titled The Real World. Growing up in regional Victoria, her music education mainly stemmed from Black Swan Record Store in the heart Ballarat, wihch eventually sparked her passion for music by the likes of Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt, and other giants of the Cosmic and Outlaw Country scene. Ahead of her appearance at the Adelaide Guitar Festival, Freya joins Andrew to talk about her evolving sound and the stories and musicians she encountered in Joshua Tree.
Longtime Music Show mate, Matt Davis, stops by with some musicians he's met while on the road filming his new documentary Changing Tides. Following Dharug artist and surfer Billy Bain on a trip up the coast of NSW, Matt talks to us about First Nations communities he met who live on the coast and their connections with the land and the ocean, and musicians from these nations who use their songs to explore their identities as saltwater people.
And producer Ce speaks to Acholi musician and singer, Otim Alpha who started his career in traditional wedding music, but has ended up on the dancefloor. Dubbed "Acholitronix," Otim's music combines the tunes and instruments of traditional wedding songs with electronic beats that still capture the soul of the rhythmic grooves at the heart of Acholi traditonal music. He talks to The Music Show before landing in Adelaide for the Illuminate Festival.
This is the story a song written by Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly around a campfire in 1988. What started off as a casually recorded folk number has become what Carmody calls “a kind of cultural love song”: a foundational entry in the Australian songbook.
This year’s NAIDOC Week theme is “For Our Elders”, so RN’s Rudi Bremer went to speak with Kev Carmody at his studio on Kambuwal Country to gather his recollections of From Little Things Big Things Grow as it started, the story of the Gurindji Walk Off that inspired it, and the many different iterations he’s performed and heard in the last thirty years.
Wik and South Sea Islander rapper Ziggy Ramo, Electric Fields vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands and Adelaide producer Michael Ross, and Zillmere State School Year 7 Class of 2003 student Tonii-Lee Betts join Craig Tilmouth to talk about their interpretations of the song that Carmody says “belongs to everyone now”.
From Little Things Big Things Grow, as performed by:
Kev Carmody, Paul Kelly and the Tiddas from the 1993 album Bloodlines
Paul Kelly & the Messengers from the 1991 album Comedy
Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly live at the national memorial service for Gough Whitlam, 2014
The Waifs, from the 2020 album Cannot Buy My Soul: The Songs of Kev Carmody
Electric Fields from the 2020 album Cannot Buy My Soul: The Songs of Kev Carmody
Ziggy Ramo, from the 2021 single From Little Things
Zillmere State School Year 7 Class of 2003
Paul Kelly & Jess Hitchcock live in 2019 on the album People
You also heard Kev Carmody’s song Thou Shalt Not Steal from the 1988 album Pillars of Society, and the opening of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (‘Choral’), performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Wilhelm Furtwängler.
Robbie speaks to Electric Fields - Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross about the perspectives that have been infused into the music through collaborative songwriting and Zaachariaha's upbringing in Mimili (APY Lands). After noticing their undeniable creative spark back in 2015, they have been making music together that hark back to the days watching Rage on the weekends, while adding their own individual sounds and stories to the mix.
Electric Fields made their orchestral debut last year with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Hamer Hall, where the show ended with the audience dancing in the aisles of the concert hall. Following the success of that show, they're returning to the stage with the MSO again for NAIDOC Week this year.
Bouncing off the her explorations in Blak Mass, Naretha Williams' new release Into Dusk We Fall shifts the focus from the grand organ to soft synthesisers and the voice. Written and produced with her husband, Cyrus Williams, this album was made throughout intensive lockdowns, with access to MESS restricted and both Naretha and Cyrus stuck in different timezones. She talks us through their remote collaborative process and how the restrictions helped her hone the music on the album.
And an excerpt of Wash My Soul in the River's Flow, a cinematic portrait of Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter and their relationship and collaboration captured in the run-up to their iconic performance with Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra in 2004.
ANOHNI & the Johnsons return with My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, a kind of reunion-rebirth for the band after frontwoman Anohni Hegarty devoted over a decade to her solo work. Famed for her soulful voice that bridges an extraordinary range of intimacy and power, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross is an album that takes ANOHNI’s lifelong preoccupations with the self and the natural world into a new space with a new vocabulary. Robbie talks to her about the album, her friendship with the late Lou Reed who inspires a new song, and Marsha P Johnson, who inspired her band name and graces the cover of the new album.
And a previous Freedman Jazz Fellow, Novak Manojlovic, brings his band HEKKA into studio to give us a sneaky preview of their new album everywhere i go my body goes with me, cementing their ill-at-ease relationship with traditional jazz as they move towards their own sound.
Arushi Jain is adamant that she’s not a “classical Indian musician.” Leaning on her roots in Hindustani musical tradition, she weaves together ethereal soundscapes that feature melodies and moods based on traditional Indian ragas swirling around an electronically generated soundscapes. Previously releasing music under the monikers Modular Princess and ose | ओस, she draws on her studies in computer sciences at Stanford, and gravitates towards the electronic DIY, working mostly with modular synthesisers when she’s not programming her own instruments.
We spoke to trumpeter Tom Avgenicos last year when he won the Freedman Jazz Fellowship, and now the project idea that he won it with has become a reality. Tom and members of his band Delay 45 - Rohan Kumarage on keys and Dave Quinn on bass - are live in The Music Show studio to offer us a peek behind the curtain of Ghosts between Streams.
And we listen to the final single of Afar woman, Yanna Momina, who died this week at the age of 76. Known for her powerful vocal and thrilling vibrato, Momina made a name for herself as both a singer and a songwriter - defying the expectations of women within the Afar community.
Writer Dr. Leah Broad's book Quartet charts the transition from the Victorian era to mid-20th century modernism through the lives and works of four significant female composers: Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke, Dorothy Howell and Doreen Carwithen.
Pop music is an art, it’s a science, it’s an industrial complex. Two experts, musicologist Jadey O’Regan and psychologist Tim Byron, have joined forces to write the book on Hooks in Popular Music and they're going to tell us about the mechanics behind the music that gets in our head, from Beethoven to Britney.
And producer Ce tells the story of Ethel Smyth, the Suffragette composer, and the music she wrote for her beloved Emmeline Pankhurst.
The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho died over the weekend at the age of 70. Eschewing hardcore serialism and hardcore spectralism, her music found a way of describing colour and light with the orchestra and on the opera stage. Jack Symonds is the artistic director of Sydney Chamber Opera and an advocate for Saariaho’s music. Ahead of his performance of her choral work Tag de Jahrs with The Song Company Jack remembers Saariaho and her music.
Melbourne-based Speak Percussion are using music to invite audiences into the Melbourne Recital Centre and listen to the architecture. Producer Kez dropped by a rehearsal of Thomas Meadowcroft’s March Static in the foyer spaces of the recital centre to have a chat to some members of the 80-person-strong ensemble, and to their AD and assistant AD Eugene Ughetti and Kaylie Melville about the relationships between music, space and movement, and what it’s like to be a part of a community created through music.
Internationally renowned composer Max Richter is in the studio for his Music Show debut. On tour in Australia to perform at VIVID in Sydney and Dark Mofo in Hobart, Max speaks to Robbie about his "protest music" and how he the moon remains a generous source of inspiration. Perhaps best known for his extensive project SLEEP, Max also talks us through some of the thoughts behind the music to doze off to.
And we are joined in the live music studio by musicians from two Melbourne groups - Firetail, an electro-jazz fusion outfit, and Gamelan DanAnda, a Balinese gamelan group. They've been brought together by The Boîte to join forces and ask the question "Does Balinese gamelan meeting electro-jazz fusion sound like Australia?"
Pianist Leigh Harrold returns to the stage of Tempo Queer - a series of concerts run by Coady Green at Brunswick's Tempo Rubato. With oboist Dafydd Camp, Leigh presents "In Praise of the Vulnerable Man," a program of music by queer male composers. And clarinettist from the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Nicole van Bruggen gives us some insight into what it might have been like to be a female composer and pianist in mid-19th Century Paris through the eyes of Louise Farrenc. The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra are playing Farrenc's Nonet on their current tour. Click here to vote for your favourite musical instruments for Classic 100.
Director Lisa Cortés’s new documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything traces the conflicts and contradictions of one of the pioneers of Rock n’ Roll. Lisa talks about Richard’s battles with his queerness and his religiosity with a particular gentleness, as well as revealing what made him one of the era’s greatest performers.And Joy Oladokun is another American artist whose music balances her queerness and her faith. Raised in a charismatic church community in Arizona, she was inspired to become a musician after watching Tracy Chapman play the guitar. Joy picked up the guitar herself, and now four studio albums later she talks to Robbie about the latest, which is called Proof of Life.
Shirley Collins was a cornerstone of the English folk revival, releasing twenty something albums, travelling, and cataloguing traditional tunes with Alan Lomax between the 1950s and the 1970s. Then, after a tide of personal misfortune, she lost her voice. She sustained herself working clerical jobs until her pension came through, at which point she moved back to her native Sussex and reconnected with music. After a 38 year gap between albums, 2016’s Lodestar cemented her place as one of the genre’s most significant voices. Now her third – and possibly final – album in her era as an “octogenarian folk singer”, Archangel Hill, is released, featuring traditional songs as well as a handful of originals.
After arriving late to the music scene via a pub in Nottingham, Yazmin Lacey brings a fresh outlook to the world of British soul. After finding her voice through an open-mic-night, Yazmin has taken the little moments from her life that she captured as short voice notes to realise her debut album, aptly named Voice Notes. East of West brings a taste of the Balkans and the Mediterranean to the Music Show's live music studio. The trio (Goran Gajić, Malindi Morris and Philip Griffin) transport us to the other side of the world with their intertwining melodies and complex yet catchy rhythms that are emblematic of the music from Southeastern Europe. And we remember the late Tina Turner and the special space that she was able to carve out in the hearts of many Australians, whether it's singing along to The Best in the NRL finals, or dancing along to Nutbush City Limits at an aunt's wedding. Tina Turner died this week at the age of 83.
Behind Pinchgut Opera's production of Legrenzi's neglected military epic Giustino, and Polish pianist composer Hania Rani pulls apart the piano.
Ali McGregor talks about falling into opera and cabaret (and a mixture of both!) And we take a trip into the Pear Garden with Li Fuhua, Li Mingliang and Lulu Liu as we chat about Chinese Opera.
Madison McFerrin on her debut album I Hope You Can Forgive Me. Released almost 7 years after her first EP Finding Foundations Volume 1, Madison chats to Robbie about her musical journey, from acapella to self-producing her own tunes. And Victoria Falconer talks about being the music director for the unique musical Once, and musical theatre across the UK, the US and Australia.
Will Gregory and Hazel Mills open up the world of the synthesiser, and conductor Karina Canellakis on Bartok, broadcast orchestras and the future of classical music in the age of streaming.
Australian artists talk about how they use music to tell stories. David Arden is a Kokatha/Gunditjmara musician who has been writing and performing songs that tell stories of his family and spark conversation in the wider community. He tells Robbie about his career as a musician and his new album, MEERTA: The Ballad of James Arden, which tells the story of his Great-Grandfather, James. And Andrée Greenwell drops by the Music Show studio ahead of the premiere of her new opera Three Marys at the Sydney Opera House.
Lots of live music in The Music Show studio, from Japanese festival music, to Buddhist punk. Musician and composer Shogo Yoshii joins us in the studio while he is in Australia to perform with Taikoz and Buddhadatta on Japanese punk and Buddhist mantras. And Happy Birthday Willie Nelson! Willie turns 90 this week.
Why is the string quartet one of the most consistent, persistent, and beautiful ensembles in classical music? And British composer Daniel Kidane on poetry, scale and the array of cultures that ground his music.
We're joined by local Melbourne Minimal Wave legend, Karen Marks who is about to have her debut performance at the Melbourne Town Hall. Lisa Illean drops by for a chat ahead of the premiere of a new work at the Melbourne Recital Centre. And Hau Latukefu on his new show on Radio Australia, In the Fale.
The Brodsky Quartet return to Australia with Britten, Schubert, Bach... and Ford. And a Country-flavoured celebration of The Rolling Stones in the tribute album Stoned Cold Country.
Tracing the life and music of Margaret Sutherland with author of Inner Song, Jillian Graham
From heavy metal to jazz pipe organs, find out more about how celebrated musician Kit Downes makes up musical worlds on the spot, and find out about how Heavy Metal has become a driving force for resistance and change in the Muslim world.
How do you do something new with very old film? Silent film composer Phillip Johnston explains.
Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952 - 2023) remembered; and a little bit of rebetika in our lives from Greek/Aussie band Apodimi Compania
A lush soundscape for the National Museum of Australia with composer and collaborator Genevieve Lacey, plus countertenor James Bowman (1941-2023) from the Music Show archives.
Owain Park is a composer, conductor, singer, and director of the vocal group The Gesualdo Six. Taking their name from the 16th century composer and Italian nobleman, Carlo Gesualdo, the G6 (as Owain has given us full permission to call them) are leading performers of music from the Renaissance to the Baroque and keen commissioners of new music from living composers today. Owain discusses the interesting character of their namesake, as well as how they sing in acoustically varied locations. Embarking on a national tour, Jen Cloher drops by for a chat with their old friend Robbie to talk about their newest release I am the River, the River is Me. Speaking about their deeply personal album that explores language and culture, Jen talks to us about their authentic approach to navigating the landscape of identity and politics in their songwriting. And we remember the life and music of "The Honky Tonk Nun," Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou. Guèbrou died this week in Jerusalem at the age of 99.
Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke, Doreen Carwithen and Dorothy Howell are the four protagonists of Leah Broad’s musical biography.
Getting to know the cornetto (the instrument, not the ice cream), PNG singer songwriter Danielle, and Matt Davis from Foreign Correspondent shares his chat with singer, activist and ex-battlefield nurse Sahra Halgan in Hargeisa.
Oud virtuoso and Music Show regular Joseph Tawadros stops by to perform live and about his collaborative album with William Barton, his adventures performing at Davos and in the UK, and returning to The Four Seasons with Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.On her debut tour of Australia, Irish singer-songwriter, Niamh Regan drops by the studio to play a couple of songs and chat to Robbie about growing up with the Irish musical tradition and how she draws on a range of influences to weave new and old stories through her music.
Mo'Ju's album Oro, Plata, Mata explores their Filipino heritage and The Three Seas explore dub and electronica alongside Bengali folk in their cross-cultural ensemble.
Two banjo virtuosos, a six person vocal group from Southern France and a Canadian fusion ensemble join us on stage.
Matthias Schack-Arnott and Cédric Tiberghien on the philosophies and sounds of John Cage; Wayne Shorter remembered with an interview from The Music Show archives.
David Harrington on five decades revolutionising the string quartet, artist Christian Thompson reflects on his sound art, and the partnership between John Cage and Merce Cunningham.
WOMADelaide headliner, Vieux Farka Touré joins Robbie in the studio to talk about finding space for tradition, his collaboration with Khruangbin, and honouring the memory of his father. Rainbow Chan takes us through her practices as a musician and visual artist and the processes and explorations that emerge from her various artistic projects. She joins us ahead of her Chunyin performance coming up at Phoenix Central Park. Producer C shares another great queer love story from 20th century music.
Battles, fantasias and dances with early music stalwart Jordi Savall, and improvising into a wall of sound with Party Dozen live in studio.
American composer Nico Muhly at MONA FOMA, and Throat Pleats pushing the boundaries of music
A story of music, dance and culture seeding and flourishing in seemingly disparate lands.
Celebrating one of the world's most prolific melody makers, composer Burt Bacharach who has died at the age of 94. Plus Andrew Bird's Inside Problems, and Freyja Garbett's surfing jazz.
A father and son find solace in music in a time of exile, and a Cameroonian singer songwriter's anti-colonial dance show.
The future of live music in Australia and New York based composer and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis.
A violinist championing diverse composers, and a singer songwriter on his critically-acclaimed album twenty years on.
Peter Gabriel on the genesis of world music festival WOMAD, and Monique Clare on writing songs on the cello for her debut album.
The music in an actor's voice. And a former Sapphire reflects on a life enriched by music.
South London wordsmith Kae Tempest on The Line is a Curve and violinist Jack Liebeck on the Australian Festival of Chamber Music
After a debut and a break-up album, Marlon Williams is back with his third solo offering My Boy, and the uncategorisable Zither marks Isobel D'Cruz-Barnes' first solo release as Hantu.
The dark art of writing music for kids, and science meets music in Mary Finsterer's latest opera.
Self reflection in songwriting with Kerryn Fields, and the intellectual and emotional greatness of Brahms with Martin Bresnick.
Author James Wierzbicki on America in the 1960s, a decade defined by social and musical upheaval
An epic solo album from Magic Dirt's frontwoman, Michael Sheen on musical rivals Mozart and Salieri, and a new vocal consort previews their concert live in the studio.
Courtney Barnett and Hachiku on 10 years of artist-run indie label Milk!, and Elliott Gyger and longtime collaborator Jenny Duck-Chong on their latest (scientific) musical endeavour.
Camp Cope's Georgia Maq on her new EP Live from the Sydney Opera House, Gyan remembers Christine McVie, and Alastair McKean on the madness and marginalia of being a music librarian.
Aristea Mellos and Stephanie McCallum on a new book of piano Preludes, and Tim Rutherford-Johnson on the music of Liza Lim
One of Australia's most versatile violinists performs live, and we learn about the dark art of opera surtitling.
Minnie Hill goes from strength to strength with There Is Light, a follow up to 2020's The Remarkable Dave Brubeck. And Malyangapa Barkindji matriarch BARKAA on political rap.
A new electric violin concerto from American composer Samuel Adams, and new insights into French art song from Emily Kilpatrick.
A new electric violin concerto from American composer Samuel Adams, and new insights into French art song from Emily Kilpatrick.
The remarkable story of violinist Alma Moodie in the 1920s & 30s, and soprano and composer Jane Sheldon.
The remarkable story of violinist Alma Moodie in the 1920s & 30s, and soprano and composer Jane Sheldon.
A saxophone that was all the rage in the 1920s is being championed by composer and performer Nick Russoniello, and Melbourne-based vocalist Merinda Dias-Jayasinha lets us into her creative process.
A saxophone that was all the rage in the 1920s is being championed by composer and performer Nick Russoniello, and Melbourne-based vocalist Merinda Dias-Jayasinha lets us into her creative process.
The Beatles' seventh album has been remastered and includes alternate takes and candid studio moments.
The Beatles' seventh album has been remastered and includes alternate takes and candid studio moments.
Two writers reveal the folk music and mysticism behind English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Two writers reveal the folk music and mysticism behind English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Singer-songwriter and cellist Monique Clare, and Peter Phillips, director of the renowned vocal ensemble The Tallis Scholars.
Singer-songwriter and cellist Monique Clare, and Peter Phillips, director of the renowned vocal ensemble The Tallis Scholars.
Viola virtuoso Roger Benedict talks about collaborating with pianist Simon Tedeschi and a special live performance from the old-time country duo from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.
Viola virtuoso Roger Benedict talks about collaborating with pianist Simon Tedeschi and a special live performance from the old-time country duo from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.
Songwriter, singer, saxophonist and proud Guguyelandji and Woppaburra woman Marlene Cummins performs live and talks to Andy about her Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival show.
Songwriter, singer, saxophonist and proud Guguyelandji and Woppaburra woman Marlene Cummins performs live and talks to Andy about her Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival show.
Two Australian composers on their latest projects: Peter Knight goes solo with Shadow Phase and Anne Boyd finds a flawed character as inspiration in her new opera Olive Pink.
Two Australian composers on their latest projects: Peter Knight goes solo with Shadow Phase and Anne Boyd finds a flawed character as inspiration in her new opera Olive Pink.
Enigmatic singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alex G headed into a studio for album number nine, and Sonya Holowell and Elizabeth Sheppard reveal their musical reactions to the Uluru Statement.
Enigmatic singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alex G headed into a studio for album number nine, and Sonya Holowell and Elizabeth Sheppard reveal their musical reactions to the Uluru Statement.
Makaya McCraven on fusing the past and future of jazz, and Kristian Winther on building an orchestra from the ground up.
Makaya McCraven on fusing the past and future of jazz, and Kristian Winther on building an orchestra from the ground up.
June Jones on writing, performing and producing her third album Pop Music For Normal Women, and Sydney Chamber Opera’s Jack Symonds and composer Luke Styles on framing Benjamin Britten’s five canticles for the stage
June Jones on writing, performing and producing her third album Pop Music For Normal Women, and Sydney Chamber Opera’s Jack Symonds and composer Luke Styles on framing Benjamin Britten’s five canticles for the stage
Saturday 17 September: Pianist Olli Mustonen returns to Australia to play with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Andrew Tuttle reflects on interpreting his electronic folk for live performance.
Saturday 17 September: Pianist Olli Mustonen returns to Australia to play with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Andrew Tuttle reflects on interpreting his electronic folk for live performance.
Sunday 11 September: After a debut and a breakup album, Marlon Williams is back with My Boy, and the uncategorisable Zither marks Isobel D'Cruz-Barnes' first solo release as Hantu.
Sunday 11 September: After a debut and a breakup album, Marlon Williams is back with My Boy, and the uncategorisable Zither marks Isobel D'Cruz-Barnes' first solo release as Hantu.
Saturday 10 September: Composing, dancing and performing with Eric Avery, rapping and singing with Elsy Wameyo and big visions with Freedman Jazz Fellow Tom Avgenicos.
Saturday 10 September: Composing, dancing and performing with Eric Avery, rapping and singing with Elsy Wameyo and big visions with Freedman Jazz Fellow Tom Avgenicos.
Sunday 4 September: Nigel Butterley is posthumously awarded the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music at the Art Music Awards
Sunday 4 September: Nigel Butterley is posthumously awarded the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music at the Art Music Awards
Saturday 3 September: Julian Belbachir and Nora Brown offer fresh interpretations of old musical traditions.
Saturday 3 September: Julian Belbachir and Nora Brown offer fresh interpretations of old musical traditions.
Sunday 28 August: Hitting the high notes with Venezuelan soprano Samuel Mariño, and a lifetime of writing songs with Irish musician Gilbert O'Sullivan.
Saturday 27 August: Eurovision-minted indie artist Montaigne is back on stage and on a new album, and tenor Robert Macfarlane is mixing Baroque and physical theatre… again.
Saturday 27 August: Eurovision-minted indie artist Montaigne is back on stage and on a new album, and tenor Robert Macfarlane is mixing Baroque and physical theatre… again.
Sunday 21 August: violinist Sarah Curro and her violin maker husband Paul Davies put the timber in timbre, Mark Simeon Ferguson's new album is inspired by the Ikara-Flinders mountains, and Matt Davis tells us how music is helping the resistance in Myanmar.
Saturday 20 August: Pianist Yeol Eum Son on repertoire and recitals, and The Teskey Brothers' guitarist on going solo.
Saturday 20 August: Pianist Yeol Eum Son on repertoire and recitals, and The Teskey Brothers' guitarist on going solo.
Sunday 14 August: Remembering two great Australian voicesJudith Durham and Olivia Newton-John. And Tabatha McFadyen is our guide to Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire.
Sunday 14 August: Remembering two great Australian voicesJudith Durham and Olivia Newton-John. And Tabatha McFadyen is our guide to Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire.
Vale Archie Roach, the Gunditjmara (Kirrae Whurrong/Djab Wurrung) singer and songwriter, who has died at the age of 66.
Sunday 31 July: Life as a punk in 1970s and 80s Australia, and Liz Stringer's personal songwriting revolution.
Kristin Berardi on jazz standards and Joni Mitchell; Jack Liebeck on the Australian Festival of Chamber Music
Sunday 24 July: 300-year-old Yiddish songs get reworked by family trio The Bashevis Singers, and virtuoso soloist Hilary Hahn on expanding the repertoire and audiences.
Saturday 23 July: George Michael biographer James Gavin joins Andrew Ford for a deep dive into the music and troubled life of the legendary singer, songwriter and pop superstar; plus we meet 23-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.
Sunday 17 July: A sneak peek at the Sydney Opera House's new acoustics, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra's new Chief Conductor Simone Young takes to the podium.
Saturday 16 July: Isle of Wight duo Wet Leg join Andrew Ford to reflect on their meteoric rise and play a couple of songs live in the studio, plus we meet celebrated British tenor Allan Clayton.
Sunday 10 July: marking NAIDOC Week 2022 with established First Nations artists who have led political and personal music making across the years.
Saturday 9 July: NAIDOC Female Elder of the Year Dr Lois Peeler reflects on a life enriched by music - from being in the Sapphires, to the importance of the arts at Worawa Aboriginal College. And we hear about the powerful collaboration between Kamilaroi Elder Bob Weatherall and Brisbane band Halfway.
Sunday 3 July: celebrating NAIDOC Week with Noongar conductor Aaron Wyatt and Yorta Yorta hip hop artist Neil Morris aka DRMNGNOW
Saturday 2 July: A celebration of radio, sound & music as the national broadcaster turns 90.
Sunday 26 June: the late works of Elliott Carter, the composer who worked until he was 103
Saturday 25 June: Jenny Duck-Chong on putting words to music from Purcell to Kate Bush, Alon Ilsar on inventing a new instrument, and Ben Pask on keeping George Harrison’s records
Sunday 19 June: A survey of the state of music education and musical culture with Anna Goldsworthy, and Lakota Vella on her pioneering guitar hero Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Saturday 18 June: Perfume Genius stretches the definition of art pop in new album Ugly Season, and Major Zulu’s journey to Australia from Zambia via London, Paris, gospel, soul, jazz and rock and roll.
Saturday 11 June: new music from singer-songwriter-siren Sharon Van Etten, Noongar bangers from Maatakitj, and a new symphony in 8 days with Dean Stevenson
Saturday 4 June: Composer and multi-instrumentalist Rhyan Clapham's call to action to protect water, and celebrate culture and Country.
Sunday 29 May: Jono Ma on Vangelis and the age of analogue, and marking Xenakis’ 100th anniversary with the musicians who love to play his work.
Saturday 28 May: ACO's principal violinist Satu Vänskä on curating an underground program, and Japanese percussionist and composer Midori Takada reflects on Through The Looking Glass forty years on.
Sunday 22 May: Leyla McCalla’s tapestry of Haitian history and music; film composer Danny Elfman on working within the Marvel machine
Saturday 21 May: The music in an actor's voice, and the art of making electronic dance music.
Sunday 15 May: We hear from three composer/musicians partnerships involved in the ANAM Set about how the pieces were tailored to the musicians and their instruments.
Saturday 14 May: The Music Show broadcasts live from the Australian National Academy of Music - hearing from the Set Festival's curator and chief matchmaker, as well as composers Deborah Cheetham and Lilijana Matičevska.
The Music Show is broadcasting live from the Australian National Academy of Music on Saturday 14 May 2022.
Sunday 8 May: Simon Tedeschi on the piano, Prokofiev, and his intensely personal Fugitive. Foreign Correspondent’s Matt Davis on music and change in Hawai’i.
Saturday 7 May: live music from the King Curly trio, and diving into Aphir's electronic choral project.
Sunday 1 May: singer and composer Sunny Kim tackles motherhood and migration in her newest work, and an unlikely collaboration between Philip Glass and Leonard Cohen hits the operatic stage
Saturday 30 April: Horomona Horo takes us through the revival of taonga pūoro, Māori traditional instruments, and how they are grounded in Māori cultural practice today.
Saturday 23 April: Bassist Jonathan Zwartz on musical innovator Charles Mingus, and an audiologist on Beethoven's hearing loss and his Symphony No 9.
Saturday 16 April: Tasmania's Van Diemen's Band explore the porous musical and cultural borders of the European baroque, and Malyangapa, Barkindji woman BARKAA talks about finding strength in rapping and community.
Sunday 10 April: An exploration of the great 20th century jazz canon with music writer James Gavin.
Saturday 9 April: English wordsmith Kae Tempest on their new album The Line is a Curve and young Gubbi Gubbi singer Layla Barnett on singing with Archie Roach.
Sunday 3 April: The wunderkind pianist who became one of the great interpreters of the Romantic repertoire is still performing at 97.
Saturday 2 April: Jude Perl on their musical comedy awakening, and Chloe Lankshear on Monteverdi and the legacy of Taryn Fiebig
Sunday 27 March: The art of curating an accessible and multi-generational jazz festival, and The New Statesman's Tom Gatti on writers' favourite albums.
Saturday 26 March: Benjamin Northey on Korngold's underplayed Symphony in F-Sharp, sound artist Mara Schwerdtfeger on improvisation and sonic spaces.
Sunday 20 March: Wattleseed Ensemble's Katie Yap drops by to talk about the difference between a baroque viola and a modern one, plus an archive interview with jazz vocalist Barbara Morrison who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Ron Carter and the Count Basie Orchestra.
Saturday 19 March: Norwegian singer, songwriter and novelist on the selflessness of singing. And Chilean tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana talks about her Blue Note album 12 Stars.
Sunday 12 March: rejuvenating Eastern European folk with Balkan Ethno Orchestra, the songs of the Americas with Gaby Moreno, and the songlines belonging to the Yorta Yorta and Barkindji rivers with Dhungala Baarka.
Saturday 12 March: Ethiopian groove with Chikchika, Kreol soul with Grace Barbé & Qawwalis with Farhan Shah and Sufi-Oz.
Sunday 6 March: Peter Gabriel on the genesis of music festival WOMAD, plus highlights from The Music Show's live broadcasts from there.
Saturday 5 March: Chi-Chi Nwanoku on Britain’s Chineke! Orchestra; and Inni-K’s new interpretation of the sean-nós tradition.
Sunday 27 February: Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard on love, frustration and the music of Yoko Ono, and WA composer Olivia Davies on pendulum waves and analogue synthesis.
Sunday 20 February: Fretwork’s Richard Boothby on 17th century composer Matthew Locke and Kym Pitman’s new album Stones Mumma Kissed.
Saturday 19 February: Jaime Martín on his new gig at the MSO and why his previous life as an orchestral player sets him up well, and composer Jamie Perera on how he turns reams of climate and sociological data into musical soundscapes.
A neglected Australian composer gets pianist Tonya Lemoh’s attention and we celebrate John Adams’ 75th birthday in sound and colour.
Saturday 12 February: A versatile singer on switching characters and musical styles, an unheard interview with American composer George Crumb who died this week, and Simon Rickard brings a musette (baroque bagpipe) into the studio.
Remembering English folk singer Norma Waterson, looking to the future with Deutsche Grammophon President Clemens Trautmann, and a spacious electroacoustic album from drummer Maria Moles.
Saturday 5 February: Split Enz's back catalogue gets a makeover from Tim Finn and Eddie Rayner, and Melbourne songwriter Grace Cummings on her second album Storm Queen.
Sunday 30 January: doing the Argentinian tango with accordionist James Crabb and uncovering pioneering female screen composers with Felicity Wilcox.
Saturday 29 January: Elvis Costello and The Imposters' blistering new album, and answering 'the call' to conduct Girl From The North Country with a few hours' notice.
Sunday 23 January: Kate Fagan listens closely to one of the best albums of 1971, and Nai Palm from Melbourne’s Hiatus Kaiyote shares the band's creative process.
Saturday 22 January: Ziggy Ramo's powerful reworking of Little Things and 50 years of love for Carole King's Tapestry.
Sunday 16 January: Jazz singer and cabaret artiste Mama Alto talks about community, connection and voice. And NYC composer Caroline Shaw on working with soprano Dawn Upshaw, pianist Gilbert Kalish and Sō Percussion.
Saturday 15 January: Fela Kuti's son and grandson continue the family legacy of writing political songs you can dance to. And a singer songwriter who's inspired by Randy Newman and Emily Dickinson.
Sunday 9 January: Traditional songs brought into the 21st Century by Northern Ireland's TRÚ and Buryat band Namgar.
Saturday 8 January: Perth electropop band Alter Boy blend sound, movement and activism to create music that is accessible to Deaf and hearing audiences alike. And why concert pianist Mahani Teave returned to Rapa Nui to open a music school.
Sunday 2 January: Uncle Bunna Lawrie shows us the coastline and whales of Mirning Country, we hear the sea shanties of the 19th Century and find out why they are still sung in pubs today.
Saturday 1 January: k.d. lang looks back on her career and Charlie Parr talks about his album of poetry and Piedmont blues.
Sunday 26 December: Folk singer and environmentalist Sam Lee's musical affinity for the nightingale, and Helen Svoboda pushes the boundaries of the double bass with experimental techniques, vocals and overdubs.
Saturday 25 December: Víkingur Ólafsson rethinks Mozart, and country star Warren H. Williams and music manager Laurie May on the importance of Aboriginal-owned label CAAMA.
Sunday 19 December: Percussionist and educator Greg Sheehan on what numbers and symbols can teach us about rhythm. And Alina Pash is a Ukrainian musician blending traditional beats with electronic music, hip-hop and pop.
Saturday 18 December: Rita Moreno’s big 90th birthday, and remembering Frederic Rzewski, Louis Andriessen, and Mikis Theodorakis
Sunday 12 December: the international treasure hunt for lost ‘60s Vietnamese rock and roll records, and are two fortepianos better than one?
Saturday 11 December: Pat Jaffe and Callum Mintzis's A Sanctuary of Quietude explores stillness, and one of Australia's finest on a lifetime of teaching and playing violin.
Sunday 5 December: A collection of essays from writers like Deborah Levy, George Saunders, Ben Okri and David Mitchell on personally significant LPs, and how composer Georgia Scott uses music to break down stigmas around disability.
Saturday 4 December: Remembering a giant of music theatre and learning how a Braille music score works
Sunday 28 November: Ellie Lamb on their Melbourne International Jazz Festival commission Between Worlds, and Composer Liza Lim on writing operas
Saturday 27 November: Strange Tenants' Bruce Hearn on the politics and music in the Australian ska scene, and Joseph Nolan talks choral music at St George's Cathedral ahead of carol season.
Sunday 21 November: storied Australian singer Jeannie Lewis on her life in music, and electroacoustic composer Fiona Hill on writing for dancers.
Saturday 20 November: How Terence Blanchard's roots as a jazz trumpeter come through in his Metropolitan Opera debut Fire Shut Up In My Bones. And The Waifs' Vikki Thorn on going solo and exploring what 'home' means.
Sunday 14 December: We hear from a composer and arranger who's hitting his stride, and a stalwart of Canberra's underground music scene.
Saturday 13 November: Sudanese-Australian song woman Ajak Kwai and MONA’s composer in residence, Dean Stevenson
Sunday 7 November: Liyah Knight’s dreamy EP Travellers Guide, and the Adelaide Chamber Singers legacy and future.
Saturday 6 November: Australian rock legend Tex Perkins on his creativity and longevity, percussive soundscapes from the icy continent, and a postcard from a Summer of concerts in Europe.
Sunday 31 October: The surprising ubiquity of an ancient chant in spooky soundtracks, and a significant Australian composer has a significant birthday.
Saturday 30 October: Toby Martin’s folk album I Felt the Valley Lifting and the pop music of Shakespeare’s plays
Sunday 24 October: Billy Bragg returns to the show for his covid album and a collaboration with his son.
Saturday 23 October: Screen composer Caitlin Yeo on creating her soundtrack to SBS gold rush mystery New Gold Mountain, and James Mangohig on his ARIA-nominated debut album, the role of a producer and how to throw a street party.
Saturday 16 October: Paddy Moloney on taking traditional Irish music to all sorts of new places, and Gil Scott-Heron's collaborator on jazz, politics and his Fender Rhodes piano.
Sunday 10 October: We celebrate the golden age of pop music recording with interviews from artists on the Motown Records label including the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Supremes, the Miracles and Stevie Wonder.
Saturday 9 October: Exploring George Martin’s Air Studios Montserrat with documentary makers Gracie Otto and Cody Greenwood, and retro sci fi meets experimental jazz with Reuben Lewis & I Hold the Lion’s Paw
Saturday 2 October: Mindy Meng Wang's exploratory approach to the ancient Chinese guzheng, and two film loving musicians write a suite of songs based on Hellraiser III, Bring It On Again and Silence of the Lambs.
Sunday 26 September 2021: A portrait of the legendary trumpeter on the 30th anniversary of his death courtesy of bandmates Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Gunther Schuller and many more.
Saturday 25 September: Víkingur Ólafsson rethinks Mozart, Lady Blackbird finds her sound, & Diana McVeagh introduces us to Finzi
Sunday 19 September: how the piano became the centre of our musical universe with Susan Tomes
Saturday 18 September: Perth eletropop band Alter Boy blend sound, movement and activism to create music that is accessible to Deaf and hearing audiences alike. And Helen Svoboda pushes the boundaries of the double bass with experimental techniques, vocals and overdubs.
Sunday 12 September: Sean Shibe tackles the musical borderlands of Spain and France, and Punjabi and Australian influences blend beautifully on Parvyn's debut album.
Saturday 11 September 2021: Remembering the 9/11 attacks through musical memorials; shamisen player Noriko Tadano performs live
Sunday 5 September 2021: An unearthed concert of an Americana musician at the height of her powers. And 'Kalyakoorl, ngalak warangka (Forever, we sing)'—a Noongar language songbook from Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse.
Saturday 4 September: Greek composer and politician Mikis Theodorakis remembered, Brisbane festival goes local with 190 suburban gigs, and Diane Warren on her songwriting career.
Sunday 29 August 2021: Two books about two very different composers—from Elizabethan England to the birth of New York City.
Saturday 28 August 2021: An oral history of the New Romantics, from Eurythmics to Soft Cell, Adam Ant to The Human League.
22 August 2021: Versatility is the key to Jess Hitchcock's success, plus the complicated legacy of one of the great twentieth century conductors.
Saturday 21 August: Irish muso Conor O’Brien aka Villagers, preparing the piano for Tabula Rasa, and R Murray Schafer remembered
Sunday 15 August: How does classical music reckon with the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust?
Saturday 14 August 2021: From Isaac Hayes to Marvin Gaye—the legacy of Blaxploitation film soundtracks, and Charlie Parr's new album of poetry and Piedmont blues.
Sunday 8 August 2021: Uncategorisable music from Melbourne’s Hiatus Kaiyote and British composer Param Vir
Saturday 7 August: Vika & Linda's new album The Wait - after 19 years of waiting - plus The Who's Who's Next and Victorian Opera's Tommy
Saturday 31 July: Strength in vulnerability with a Wergaia and Wemba Wemba singer songwriter. And a versatile Australian composer at 80.
Sunday 25 July 2021: Two sets of Melbourne artists tell Andrew about finding community and connection in music during lockdown
Saturday 24 July 2021: Traditional songs brought into the 21st Century by Northern Ireland's TRÚ and Buryat band Namgar.
Sunday 18 July 2021: Yiddish poetry given an electronic soundtrack and the late Mary Wilson on being a Supreme.
Saturday 17 July: Hope in an Empty City - a new album from Joseph Tawadros, and First Nations opera singer Marcus Corowa on singing for his community
Sunday 11 July 2021: Composer Louis Andriessen remembered by Lyndon Terracini and Damien Ricketson, plus Katia Beaugeais on composing for sax.
Saturday 10 July 2021: Reggae superstars UB40 keep it fresh after four decades, an emerging songwriter on how music can heal Country, and 50 years since the world lost Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.
Sunday 4 July: Uncle Bunna Lawrie shows us the coastline and whales of Mirning Country, we hear the sea shanties of the 19th Century and find out why they are still sung in pubs today.
Saturday 3 July: Remembering Frederic Rzewski and Louis Andriessen, Richard Piper on Bartók, and Wiradjuri and Gadigal singer Akala Newman
Sunday 27 June: How Nelson Riddle transformed the sound of Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. And remembering the pioneering slide guitarist and blues singer Ellen McIlwaine (1945 - 2021).
Saturday 26 June: Joan Armatrading’s one woman band and one of the world’s most famous operas revealed.
Sunday 20 June: Kate Fagan listens closely to one of the best albums of 1971, and the Scattered People band who performed for asylum seekers in detention.
Saturday 19 June: The Art of Protest charts the history of the protest song and composer Samuel Barber’s musical life beyond his Adagio
Sunday 13 June: Celebrating women composers across centuries, and the veteran singer songwriter on her protest hit 'The Universal Soldier'.
Saturday 12 June: Ziggy Ramo's powerful reworking of Little Things and pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk
Sunday 6 June 2021: Joan Baez revisited, and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra's professionals side-by-side with amateur players.
Saturday 5 June 2021: Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile on his new album Laysongs, ABC Illawarra's Nick Rheinberger responds to bushfires through music.
Sunday 30 May: country star Warren H. Williams and music manager Laurie May on the importance of Aboriginal-owned label CAAMA. Plus Chris Latham's most ambitious work to date, with a focus on the plight of Vietnamese Boat People.
Saturday 29 May 2021: k.d. lang looks back on her career and Jack Buckskin talks about Adelaide Symphony Orchestra's new Acknowledgement of Country
Sunday 23 May: Marvin Gaye's seminal 1971 album What's Going On turns fifty, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner's life in music, from Bach to Weill.
Saturday 22 May: Runa Cara's multi-instrumental folk fusion, and Elizabeth Llewellyn sings the forgotten songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Sunday 16 May: Folk singer and environmentalist Sam Lee's musical affinity for the nightingale; composer Jessica Wells' song cycle The Night Parrot and a new work inspired by MC Hammer and the Nokia ringtone.
Saturday 15 May: A singer songwriter who's inspired by Randy Newman and Emily Dickinson. And music for Alison Lester's beloved children's book Are We There Yet?
Sunday 9 May: An oral history of the New Romantics, from Eurythmics to Soft Cell, Adam Ant to The Human League. And a final word from producer Penny Lomax who's finishing up a 30 year career with The Music Show.
Saturday 8 May: Konstantin Koukias's fossilised soundscape Primordial is premiered in remote South Australia, and Paavali Jumppanen looks back at his music education as he takes over the Australian National Academy of Music.
Sunday 2 May: The long road to Liz Stringer's sixth album of personal, profound songwriting. And we meet one of Australia's 19 carillonists ahead of a bell ringing festival in Bathurst.
Saturday 1st May: Australian jazz supremo Sandy Evans has taken Gandhi's words as her latest musical inspiration and Robert and Clara Schumann's take on 19th women courtesy of Carolyn Sampson
Saturday 24 April: Gretchen Parlato's new album Flor takes us from Bach to Bowie to bossa nova, and Irish guitarist Kevin Shields on how 'shoegazing' fits between grunge and Britpop.
Sunday 18 April: How Percy Grainger's chance meeting with physicist Burnett Cross changed him and his Free Music experiments. And countertenor Russell Harcourt on that magnificent voice.
Saturday 17 April: composer, conductor, suffragette; all in a Dame's work. And East meets East in today's Taiwanese music.
Multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens has sought comfort from traditional songs during the pandemic, and they form her new album with Francesco Turrisi. And how Matt Keegan's great grandfather's journey of survival inspired a programmatic jazz suite.
Sunday 4th April: From The Music Show's 30th anniversary collection, Laurie Anderson's enduring appeal and Ross Bolleter's love affair with ruined pianos
Saturday 3 April: Two gems from archives— satirist Tom Lehrer on why you can't be bitter and funny at the same time, and two of New Zealand's greatest yodelling singer songwriters.
Sunday 28 March: George Gershwin's brief but bountiful life, and Valerie June's merging of folk, blues and pop
Saturday 27 March: The Real Thing rocker is back on the road (and in the studio) and reflects on five decades in the biz, plus the women who pushed the boundaries of electronic music using theremins, tape recorders and synthesizers.
Sunday March 21. Confessions of a legendary songwriter and Chris Williams song for new worlds
Saturday 20 March: Conductor Jessica Cottis on the deafening silence of COVID-19 in the UK, and the return of music in Australia. Plus a fresh take on the Grammy Awards from an expert in reggae.
Sunday 14 March: Being a composer in Elizabethan England could have you burnt at the stake, but Thomas Tallis deftly avoided that. And Tom Donald on the dark art of improvising.
Saturday 13 March: Why concert pianist Mahani Teave returned to Rapa Nui to open a music school. And Paul Stanhope composes one of the biggest things you can: a Requiem.
Sunday 7 March: The Superjesus vocalist shifts from fronting a rock band to sitting in front of a piano. And the life and gambles of the titan of Australian music.
Two guests return to their roots: a Memphis songwriter gets heavier on album number three, and a media executive programs Australian chamber music.
Peter Garrett passes the mic to First Nations musicians on latest Midnight Oil project. And Dame Gillian Weir at 80 on her remarkable career at the organ.
Sunday 21 February: Fela Kuti's son and grandson continue the family legacy of writing political songs you can dance to. And Linda Ronstadt on her many musical styles and collaborators (including Dolly Parton and Emmylous Harris).
Saturday 20 February. 50 years of love for Carole King's Tapestry, and myth-busting the Frank Zappa story.
Sunday 14 February: The afterparty to the The Music Show's 30th birthday— we reflect on the big changes in music and culture over the past three decades with Robyn Archer, Richard Tognetti, Felix Cross and Jessica Aszodi.
Saturday 13th February. Yoiks and yodels, plainchant, punk, serialism and salsa; if it's music, we've got it covered for The Music Show's 30th birthday bash.
Sunday 7 February: Bryce Dessner on scoring for dance and film, and being a performer-composer. And reeds player Paul Cutlan's string work that reflects on war.
Saturday 6th February. Thomas Adès's Shanty and Steve Reich's Drumming, half a century apart.
Sunday 31 January. The cultural reach of Wagner or Wagnerism as a new book titles it, and the Irish harp then and now.
Saturday 30 January: NYC composer Caroline Shaw's Narrow Sea features soprano Dawn Upshaw, pianist Gilbert Kalish and Sō Percussion. And an exploration of Nadia Boulanger's musical legacy as a teacher, performer, conductor and composer.
Sunday 24 January: the polymath improvisor who moves easily into the classical realm, and Alma Mahler's life, loves and lieder
Saturday 23 January: A songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer with “pipes that would give Janis Joplin a run for her money”. Plus, we explore the music and shared heritage of islands from Madagascar to Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
Sunday 17 January: Irving Berlin’s sheer knack for creating catchy tunes helped the Jewish immigrant from Siberia become synonymous with American song.
Saturday 16 January: A touching album of songs written and recorded in prisons across NSW. And Judy Collins' extraordinary voice and life, and her enduring connection to the song Amazing Grace.
An audio retrospective on the legendary Italian's work as film composer, trumpeter, avant-garde performer and writer of a papal mass.
‘I’m not in love, so don’t forget it . . .’ and other earworms from Graham Gouldman. And how Candace Kruger's Yugambeh Youth Choir is making waves on the Gold Coast.
How does the 'singer's singer' approach a cover of Bob Dylan or Billie Holiday? "They're just songs, now" she says. And the story of how a chance finding of tapes at a design school in Ahmedabad, India changed what we know about the history of electronic music.
Mavis Staples continues to release acclaimed albums of protest soul music in her 80s, and a guitarist in one of the world's biggest bands puts out a solo record.
Craig Brown's fresh and thorough look at the Beatles and the incidental characters that make up their story. And three's not a crowd on the album Seasons by Candelo based trio The New Graces.
Following his early and "heroic" periods we delve into the late works of one of the greatest and most influential composers, Ludwig van Beethoven, born 250 years ago this month.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons gets a 21st century make-over using the latest climate change data and how a new set of songs survived COVID to give back to another crisis; last summer's bushfires.
Inspired by performance artist Marina Abramović, 1:1 Concerts are a unique listening and performing experience. But are we moving away from the 1:1 model for teaching music performance at university?
To mark the 250th anniversary of his birth, we explore the early music of Ludwig van Beethoven in this first of three panel discussions.
The wunderkind pianist who became one of the great interpreters of the Romantic repertoire, and still performing at 95.
We're spoilt for choice with ways to listen to music these days — CD, MP3, streaming, Bandcamp, vinyl, and even cassette tape. So which formats are here to stay? Plus, we celebrate Archie Roach's ARIA Award haul this week.
For Ausmusic month, a century of Australian music history from Dame Nellie to Dame Joan, and a walk through Percy Grainger's Hoard House.
For Ausmusic month Katie Noonan's song-cycle for our first female convicts and Bill Henson on music and photography.
Interviews from the archive with two veteran Australian songwriters: Kev Carmody and Brian Cadd.
Two mighty singers to kick off Ausmusic Month: Emma Donovan on her brand new album Crossover and Divinyls' frontwoman Chrissy Amphlett from the archives.
Caroline Sharpen, Matthew Hindson and Alex Masso on the virus and the damage done to music. And we remember Brit bluesman Spencer Davis
The devastating impact of COVID-19 on choirs makes it as important as ever to sing again. And Joachim Cooder's mbira tribute to Uncle Dave Macon.
A new biography sheds light on the difficult life of 70s songwriter and friend of Nick Drake. And the Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival is right around the corner.
Conductor Ben Northey on AFL team songs and the guitarist Rolling Stone calls a "genre unto herself"
Matt Berninger releases Serpentine Prison and tells us why The National have lasted so long. And a suite of personal songs from a Top End singer.
Elvis Costello's latest via Helsinki, Paris and New York is called 'Hey Clockface'. And remembering the late Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, who some people think is the most important Iranian singer of the last century
The craft of rockers Eddie Van Halen and Robert Wyatt, involving innovative use of their hands.
At the fore of 21st Century contemporary classical music is label boss and composer Sarah Kirkland Snider. And we revisit the soundtrack to feminism's 'second wave' courtesy of two Australian greats.
Following his early and "heroic" periods we delve into the late works of one of the greatest and most influential composers, Ludwig van Beethoven, born 250 years ago.
How Ravi Shankar brought Hindustani classical music and culture to the West, but also to India itself. And his legacy lives on in daughter Anoushka Shankar, a very fine sitar player and composer in her own right.
Myth busting Janis Joplin on the 50th anniversary of her death and jazz great Pat Metheny's musical culmination.
An intimate concert album from the 'Luka' songwriter, and poetry and music that captures the experience of growing up Egyptian-Australian.
The County Clare songwriter's take on everyday things, and we mark Jimi Hendrix's death on September 18th 1970.
It's been 100 years since the birth of Charlie Parker and his figure still looms large. Plus, Soundwalk Collective bring René Daumal's cult novel Mount Analogue alive with the help of Patti Smith, Tenzin Choegyal, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Anoushka Shankar.
The Proms and the US elections have put music at the barricades. And percussion gets a drum roll at the Art Music Awards.
A haunting sound work for organ written using DNA code. And how composers such as Sculthorpe, Meale and Butterley brought an Australian accent to cosmopolitan modernism.
Brìghde Chaimbeul is the 21-year old musician from Skye who’s changing the audience and sound of bagpipe music. Her debut album The Reeling was recorded live in an old church and features arrangements of traditional Bulgarian, Irish and Scottish tunes.
Are sonatas nobler than hip hop? The late Sir Roger Scruton thinks so.
Megan Washington on making new album Batflowers. And how folk musician Kaurna Cronin is on tour in a time of COVID-19.
Loretta Barnard's new book on Australian musical families, and one guitar legend remembers another; John Williams on Julian Bream.
How does the 'singer's singer' approach a cover of Bob Dylan or Billie Holiday? "They're just songs, now" she says. And we hear why melody and comedy are central to rapper Briggs' projects.
Film director Alison Ellwood on music in LA: the punk scene that birthed the Go-Go's, and Laurel Canyon in the 60s and 70s. And Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn's collaboration takes us from hills of Appalachia to the prairies of China's Xinjiang region.
Director Rolf de Heer on working with Miles Davis the actor and the importance of music in his films. And Sonya Lifschitz remembers her teacher and friend, the American pianist Leon Fleisher.
Leah Barclay's microphones have been in jungles, river mud and oceans and it's more important than ever to listen to them. Plus, singer songwriter Heath Cullen's shift to a fair trade music model.
Mindful, minimal piano music for our times. And a contemporary composer's relationship to Ludwig van B.
The Maton guitar: an Australian invention up there with the Hills Hoist, Black Box and the wine bladder. And Martin Langford's poems in praise of music.
A touching album of songs written and recorded from prisons across NSW. And an instrument that sounds like a banjo and is a staple of Persian classical music — the tar.
Resounding the ancient preserved Đông Sơn drum and the comeback of 85 year old English folk singer Shirly Collins. And Brian Ritchie's Shout Out to Kakadu's Black Rock Band
An audio retrospective on the legendary Italian's work as film composer, trumpeter, avant-garde performer and writer of a papal mass.
The 'country darling' channels her frustration into a blistering rock 'n roll album. Plus, how and why we use music and does it has any useful psychological purpose?
The Brodsky Quartet violist's memoir is a dark but humorous ride from The Troubles of Northern Ireland to finding music.
Two jazz greats: the polymath improvisor who moves easily into the classical realm, and a vocalese pioneer.
Craig Brown's fresh and thorough look at the Beatles and the incidental characters that make up their story. Plus, we explore the music and shared heritage of islands from Madagascar to Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
Dylan's new album Rough and Rowdy Ways is a roll call of people who've shaped his world from musicians to presidents. Three's not a crowd on the new album Seasons by Candelo based trio The New Graces.
An Australian poet with an encyclopaedic knowledge of literature but considered music to be 'beyond meaning... offering an alternative universe'.
The hundred literary heroes who changed David Bowie's life and pianist Anna Goldsworthy's first novel.
Irving Berlin’s sheer knack for creating catchy tunes helped the Jewish immigrant from Siberia become synonymous with American song.
Judy Collins' extraordinary voice and life, and her enduring connection to the song Amazing Grace. And how a chance finding of tapes at a design school in Ahmedabad changed what we know about the history of Indian electronic music.
Beethoven, Napoleon and Revolution with Cambridge University historian Christopher Clark, and Katie Noonan's guilty pleasures; 1980's pop.
Three-time Grammy award winner Sarah Jarosz on collaborating, mandolins and her tiny hometown in Texas. And the experimental, improvised performances of Sonya Holowell and Ben Carey.
Music in times of epidemic uncertainty and how a First Nations classical composer keeps 'country' in her music.
The American tenor saxophonist on the state of jazz and the task of setting music to Michelle Obama's story. And how Candace Kruger's Yugambeh Youth Choir is making waves on the Gold Coast.
Under the cover of the Covid-19 pandemic composers are making music directly related to the effects of the virus. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is a candidate for the most famous piece of classical music ever written. But most people have never heard the rest of work.
The birth of 80s disco pop enigma Donny Benét, and Chris Cody's musical suite Astrolabe inspired by the sea voyage of La Pérouse.
From Mental As Anything to Dog Trumpet to visual art — the endless creativity of the O'Doherty brothers. And a 'deep dive' into the sounds and story of German band Kraftwerk, with Australian dance music stalwart Paul Mac.
Brian Ritchie takes us through the rich and varied musical life of the late great Little Richard.
Lucinda Williams sings of despair and hope on her new album Good Souls Better Angels.
Brian Eno called Tony Allen one the greatest drummers who ever lived; Flea and Damon Albarn are adoring collaborators but probably Tony Allen's most famous musical period was putting the polyrhythms into Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat band Africa 70. Tony Allen died at the end of April and his biographer and Yale professor of music Michael Veal uncovers the long and diverse drumming world of this Nigerian legend.
The indie folk singer songwriter's seventh album, and the life and times of a prodigious German pianist.
As the coronavirus lockdown continues to wreak havoc around the world, we’ll hear the personal story of one musician whose plans and livelihood collapsed in a matter of hours. And how she’s responded. That’s rockabilly powerhouse Tami Neilson whose new album of rockabilly-flavoured country is called Chickaboom!.
Two alto saxophonists: a rising star of jazz celebrates the legacy of John and Alice Coltrane, and an interview with the late, great Lee Konitz from our archives.
Chloe and Jason Roweth reveal songs and poems from the trenches and the home front written during the First World War. And composer Bree Van Reyk discusses her new opera “The Invisible Bird' and its online premiere with Sydney Chamber Opera.
A guitarist in one of the world's biggest bands puts out a solo record. And Yola's musical journey from Bristol's electronica scene to Nashville and the Grammys.
We celebrate Easter Sunday by exploring the music and spirituality of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, focussing on the great chant traditions of the Greek and Russian churches, with composer and Orthodox priest Ivan Moody. And while most Orthodox Christians don’t actually celebrate Easter until next weekend, the music is timeless.
Remembering the late folk and soul singer Bill Withers, an archival interview with Benin singer and activist Angélique Kidjo, and two new Shout Outs from Brett Dean and Paul Grabowsky.
Fiona Ross on traditional Scots song, from murder ballads and rebel codes, to immortal songs by Scotland’s National Bard, Robert Burns. And the legacy of Poland's acclaimed composer Krzysztof Penderecki.
Nina Simone never wanted her daughter Lisa to become a singer, but she ended up on the stage anyway. Tim Minchin explains how he adapted Matilda into a stage musical.
The keyboards behind classic rock acts like The Who, The Doors and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. And the man who carries the torch of Hill Country Blues to modern audiences.
Two music industry specialists weigh in on the impacts of COVID-19. And a chat with Patti Smith about her friendships with Allen Ginsberg, Robert Mapplethorpe and guitarist Lenny Kaye.
Celebrating the life in music of one of Australia’s greatest jazz musicians, Don Burrows.
Vanessa Perica - composer, arranger, conductor and a new voice in big band jazz. And pianist and composer Yitzhak Yedid unites ancient Jewish musical sources with contemporary Western art music.
The energetic folk trio from Prince Edward Island. And remembering the late, great jazz pianist who played with John Coltrane.
A songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer described as having “pipes that would give Janis Joplin a run for her money”. Plus, one of Australia's most exciting new choral conductors — Sam Allchurch.
Two multi-instrumentalists blending American and Italian traditions, using hip hop as a tool for change in Papua New Guinea and the legendary gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama.
Recorded live on stage at WOMADelaide 2020, under the figs trees at Botanic Park.
Finland's premier 'folk hop' vocal group, maestro violinist L Subramaniam and traditional Korean instruments the janggu, jing and gayageum. Recorded live on stage at WOMADelaide 2020, under the figs trees at Botanic Park.
Eleanor McEvoy, one of the finest voices (and songwriters) in Ireland today, turns her attention to the words and music of Thomas Moore (the colourful 18/19th Century Irish poet).
And C.W. Stoneking has one of the most distinctive voices in Australian music. His origins are firmly in the blues, but he's inspired by many other old-timey American styles too.
A much loved folk musician pays tribute to Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. And Abida Parveen, one of the foremost exponents of Sufi devotional music from Pakistan.
To mark the 250th anniversary of his birth, we explore the music and the meaning of Ludwig van Beethoven.
‘I’m not in love, so don’t forget it . . .’ and other earworms from Graham Gouldman. And the 'jazz fusion' guitarist on his expansive career.
Beatboxing as a form of theatre, and (at 24 mins in) the musician's musician on songwriting (including penning a song for Johnny Cash).
Mavis Staples continues to release acclaimed solo albums of protest soul music in her 80s, the enduring appeal of Strauss' bloody opera Salome, and remembering the man who brought a traditional Zulu male singing style to a global audience.
It's a sound heard on countless sci-fi soundtracks; and the distinctive wail loved by rock bands and avant garde composers — we celebrate 100 years of the Theremin. And Irish concertina player Cormac Begley on the sound and history of the accordion's small cousin.
Pianist, singer, songwriter, performance artist, speaker and author — Amanda Palmer does it all. And the Australian jazz 'supergroup' perform from their album This World.
From Vaughan Williams to Lennon-McCartney, many composers have written for the humble tuba. We explore how the instrument developed its shape, sound and musical identity. Plus, a teenage choir, electronic beats and a Pilbara song cycle.
What is the role of music in the Royal Australian Navy? And where does Morse code come in to it? Lieutenant Commander Cassandra Mohapp is the Navy’s newly appointed Director of Music and she's in to shine a light on music in the 'senior' service.
Fred Smith casts off his past as a song writing peace-keeper in Bougainville and Afghanistan and turns his gaze to the “domestic” in his new album.
How Kim Salmon's band the Scientists beat Nirvana to the sound of Grunge and the ancient art of Sacred Harp singing.
Five-piece band Breabach share their rich musical heritage with an increasingly younger generation. And the making of Gurrumul’s award-winning posthumous final album Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow) with collaborators Michael Hohnen and Erkki Veltheim.
Paul Grabowsky explains why the world's most well-known jazz album hit the right notes. And the Sydney singer-songwriter nails it with second album 'Crushing'.
Ethereal pop music sung in Cornish, Son Jarocho music with an East L.A twist, and the singer and guitarist from Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós.
Singer and guitarist Margret RoadKnight doesn't write her songs but she's had a long career singing other people's whether it's blues, gospel or spirituals, a somewhat controversial activity for a white musician these days. But Margret RoadKnight has a voice which easily adopts all these styles and she's happy to stick her neck out because "it's just great music".
Wynton Marsalis has become a powerful and controversial figure in jazz for his comments about what jazz is and what it isn't. And Sharon Shannon's name has been synonymous with Irish folk music, but her sound is constantly evolving.
An Irish singer with a mighty voice who's armed with stories, traditional songs and sparse instrumentation.
And the band that's part avant-garde, part minimalist, part ambient and lots else besides.
A long conversation with Yorta Yorta singer, playwright and composer Deborah Cheetham, where she brings together many influences both musical and non-musical.
Sonya Lifschitz performs the setting of speeches by artists and politicians (both famous and infamous) to music by Robert Davidson. And the story of how one of South Sudan's biggest pop stars is introducing the thom and Nuer rhythms to Australia.
Liberace was a cape wearing, crystal piano playing showman, and he was no slouch at classical music. The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould was fascinated by Liberace. What did these two pianists have in common? And what's happened to the piano recital over time?
A piano/fiddle duo and their album inspired by wild, remote islands in Scotland's Outer Hebrides. And this Pulitzer Prize winning composer has an impressive list of collaborators.
A ‘Daisywheel’ (also known as a ‘hexafoil’) is a compass-drawn circle with six petals within it, used as a folk charm to ward off evil. It’s also the title of the debut solo album for Melbourne-based singer, banjo player, guitarist and songwriter, Ruth Hazleton.
And to mark the 60th birthday of Motown Records, and to end the year on a high note, we’ll hear again an interview with the Four Tops.
Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes are a sister folk duo who started busking Appalachian folk songs when they were 11 and 8. Songwriting followed, and now they’re regulars on the folk festival circuit. They sing gorgeous harmonies and play violin, guitar, banjo, cello, piano… the list goes on.
Australian Music and Modernism, 1960–1975 charts a time in Australia’s recent past when music (and the arts in general) were a vital and stimulating part of the national discourse. Composers such as Peter Sculthorpe, Richard Meale and Nigel Butterley, Don Banks and David Lumsdaine, brought an Australian accent to cosmopolitan modernism.
Mau Power is the first rapper to emerge from the rich musical traditions of the Torres Strait Islands. His new album ‘Blue Lotus the Awakening' features the Yorta Yorta singer, songwriter and guitarist Benny Walker.
And some of the most beloved and intimate music is made by just three instruments: piano, cello and violin. Seraphim Trio has just released a five-disc album celebrating the history of piano trios –from Dvořák to Mendelssohn to Peter Sculthorpe.
Brìghde Chaimbeul is the 20-year old musician from Skye who’s changing the audience and sound of bagpipes music. Her extraordinary debut album The Reeling was recorded live in an old church and features arrangements of traditional Bulgarian, Irish and Scottish tunes.
And we explore ecstatic rhythms, drum patterns and vocals from Sri Lanka in a collaboration between the Australian Art Orchestra and Sri Lankan ensemble Baliphonics.
Clive James died this week aged 80 after a decade of failing health. Celebrated as a broadcaster, critic, poet, TV host and author, Clive was also a song lyricist. And we meet Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, one of the world's finest young violinists, equally at home in the classical and folk traditions.
An observant, witty singer songwriter can be just what we need in troubled times. Steve Poltz makes you snort with laughter and then punches you in the guts. He’s in for a chat and a couple of live songs from his new album Shine On.
For most of us, when we hear the term “artificial intelligence” we imagine some kind of superior, potentially dangerous technological being that threatens to replace human activity. But for US-born, Berlin-based composer and vocalist Holly Herndon, A.I is simply another member of her ensemble.
Three years before he died, David Bowie made a list of the 100 books that had fuelled his creative life - from ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ to ‘A Clockwork Orange’, from Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ to John Cage’s ‘Silence’.
And we hear the result of five years of music development and touring in the Kimberley WA, from Tura New Music. The Narli Ensemble is an all-star band who bring music written in, and about, the Kimberley to the rest of Australia and the world.
With U2 in Australia on the fifth leg of their Joshua Tree Tour, we explore the legacy of their 1987 classic album ‘The Joshua Tree’, and take the temperature of the group once regarded as ’the biggest rock band in the world’.
It’s been twelve years since we last caught up with singer, pianist and custodian of The Great American Songbook, Michael Feinstein. In that time he's had his conducting debut, written scores for musicals, formed a foundation to preserve the Songbook and much more. He also manages to perform 150 shows a year, too.
Robyn Archer’s The (Other) Great American Songbook offers a different portrait of America, covering everything from the Civil War and the Great Depression, poverty, politics, drunkenness and desire. Robyn’s setlist includes Tom Lehrer, Pink and Joni Mitchell, and she performs Stephen Foster’s Hard Times live in the studio for us.
And in the final instalment of our Heroes series, Deborah Conway talks about the poetry, beliefs and changing voice of Leonard Cohen.
With a new double-album produced by Paul Grabowsky, and a memoir - both titled Tell Me Why - Archie Roach reflects on how the songs have changed (and changed him) over time. We meet the Beirut-born pianist of Armenian heritage Zela Margossian whose music combines classical virtuosity, jazz improvisation and Armenian folk traditions.
And we remember the late conductor and founder of the Queensland Youth Orchestras, John Curro.