Music Matters

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Music Matters: Vikingur Ólafsson, Aida and Egypt, The Makropulos Affair

Vikingur Ólafsson, Aida and Egypt, The Makropulos Affair

BBC Radio 3 - Music Matters, Vikingur Ólafsson, Aida and Egypt, The Makropulos Affair

Pianist Vikingur Ólafsson, plus Verdi's Aida and Janacek's The Makropulos Affair

Pianist Vikingur Ólafsson talks to Kate Molleson about his new double album From Afar. Plus, new productions of Janacek's The Makropulos Affair at WNO and Verdi's Aida at the ROH.

Kate Molleson talks to Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson about his concerts at the opening weekend of the Southbank Centre's new season, and about his new double album, From Afar, on which all the pieces are recorded twice, on two different pianos. And, as a new production of Verdi's Aida opens at the Royal Opera House, Kate talks to director Robert Carsen, and to opera historian Flora Willson about how the famous ancient Egypt-set opera by an Italian composer is viewed by Egyptians. We also hear from Egyptian mezzo-soprano Gala El Hadidi, and from Cairo-based journalist Ati Metwaly about music education in Egyptian schools.  

Plus, Tom Service visits the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff to investigate Welsh National Opera's new production of Janacek's opera about immortality, The Makropulos Affair. 

Producer: Graham Rogers

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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