Libby Purves meets opera director John Copley; fashion designer Katherine Hooker; furniture maker Peter Korn and conductor turned leadership teacher Itay Talgam.
Peter Korn is the founder and director of the Centre for Furniture Craftmanship, a woodworking and design school in Rockport, Maine. A furniture maker since 1974, his book, Why We Make Things And Why It Matters, is part memoir and part philosophical reflection about what it means to be a craftsman in a world of assembly line production. Why We Make Things And Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman is published by Square Peg.
John Copley is an opera director whose production of Puccini's La boheme is running at the Royal Opera House for the last time. This production was first staged in 1974 and has become The Royal Opera's longest-running production and its most-performed opera. John Copley's other productions for The Royal Opera have included Mozart's Da Ponte operas, Werther, Semele, Ariadne auf Naxos, Faust and Maria Stuarda. La boheme is at the Royal Opera House, London.
Itay Talgam is a former symphony orchestra conductor who trained under Leonard Bernstein and has conducted orchestras around the world including the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Leipzig Opera House. He now teaches leadership to organisations around the world. In his book, the Ignorant Maestro, he explores how the techniques of leading an orchestra can be applied to leadership in business, government and academia. The Ignorant Maestro - How Great Leaders Inspire Unpredictable Brilliance is published by Portfolio Penguin.
Katherine Hooker is a fashion designer who is best known for her fitted coats, jackets and waistcoats. Her clients include the Duchess of Cambridge, Yoko Ono and Meryl Streep. Her inspiration came from a coat she found when she was 18 in a Jerusalem flea market. When it wore out she had a pattern made up and found a clothing manufacturer to create a range which evolved into her classic braid coat design. Katherine Hooker, 19 Ashburnham Road, London, SW10 0PG.
Producer: Paula McGinley. Show less