BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Journeys with My Violin

Journeys with My Violin: The Places

The Places

BBC Radio 3 - Journeys with My Violin, The Places

Violinist Tasmin Little reflects on a glittering solo career.

World-renowned violinist Tasmin Little gave her last concert in December 2020 and said goodbye to her violin. She dips into her diary and looks back over her unparalleled career.

Tasmin Little is a violinist who has been thrilling audiences around the world for more than 30 years. From tiny recital venues to the grandest of concert halls, her aim has been to share her excitement in the power of music with as many people as possible. 

In May 2019 Tasmin began what she thought was going to be a carefully structured countdown to retirement, leading towards a groundbreaking recital at London’s South Bank centre just over a year later. She began a diary to reflect on this final part of her musical journey, but a serious finger injury and the global pandemic ended up making her path far from predictable.

Eventually on 22nd December 2020, she gave her last concert and in early January this year she said goodbye to her precious Guadagnini violin - her companion for three decades.

Over the course of three programmes Tasmin dips into her personal concert diary, remembering the pieces that drew her to the violin, the places she took it to, and the people who joined her on those many and varied journeys. 

Episode two finds her looking back at various places that have echoed with the sound of her performances. She remembers travelling to Belgium as a 16-year-old and suddenly finding herself leading a symphony orchestra; the feeling of walking on stage at the Royal Albert Hall to play Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending at the BBC Proms; and losing her suitcase of concert clothes while on tour behind the Iron Curtain.   

Tasmin also explores some of the key pieces that she has performed with collaborators all over the world, including Walton’s Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, and remembers the challenges of playing outdoors in front of 40,000 people at Proms in the Park.

A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3


Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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