Composer of the Week Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation: Anoushka Shankar and Oliver Knussen

Anoushka Shankar and Oliver Knussen

Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation, Anoushka Shankar and Oliver Knussen

Donald Macleod looks back on two memorable and very different live interviews.

Donald Macleod celebrates the programme’s 80th anniversary with highlights and behind-the-scenes stories from composer interviews. Today, Anoushka Shankar and Oliver Knussen.

Donald Macleod reminisces about the programme’s live residency at the Southbank Centre in 2016, and his encounters with Anoushka Shankar and Oliver Knussen.

Composer of the Week is one of the longest-running strands on the BBC, first heard on the airwaves during the Second World War on the 2nd of August 1943. The first composer to be featured was Mozart – and today, the programme tells the stories of both well-known and rediscovered composers across classical music, jazz, contemporary and beyond. Donald Macleod celebrates its 80th anniversary with highlights and behind-the-scenes stories from his encounters with some of our greatest living composers. Across the week, he looks back on ten memorable interviews from his nearly 25 years in the presenter’s chair, showcasing the range of musical styles and personalities he’s encountered. 

Today, Anoushka Shankar talks about the influence of her father Ravi, and how she presents the heart of Indian classical music in unexpected ways – and Oliver Knussen shares what drives him to compose, and how his perspective on life and music changed after turning 60.

Anoushka Shankar: Traces of you 
Norah Jones, vocals
Anoushka Shankar, sitar
Tanmoy Bose, tabla
Manu Delago, glockenspiel
Nitin Sawhney, guitars, percussion, ukulele and programming

Anoushka Shankar: Voice of the Moon
Anoushka Shankar, sitar
Bhaskar, violin
Barry Phillips, cello
Tarun Bhattacharya, santoor
Bikram Ghosh, percussion
Pulak Sarcar, keyboards

Anoushka Shankar: Red Sun
Bikram Ghosh and Tanmoy Bose, vocals
Jesse Charnow, drums
Bikram Ghosh, percussion
Ajay Prasanna, bansuri
Kevin Cooper, bass
Anoushka Shankar, keyboards
Sukanya Shankar, tanpura.

Oliver Knussen: Flourish with Fireworks, Op 22
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

Oliver Knussen: Music for a Puppet Court, Op.11
London Sinfonietta
Oliver Knussen, conductor

Oliver Knussen: …Upon One Note
Clio Gould, violin
Michael Collins, clarinet
John Constable, piano
Christopher van Kampen, cello
Paul Silverthorne, viola


Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and West

Composer of the Week: Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation

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.

Donald Macleod presents a week of 80th anniversary highlights from the archives.

Donald Macleod celebrates the programme's 80th anniversary with highlights and behind-the-scenes stories from composer interviews.

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Anniversary Special: Composers in Conversation

Anoushka Shankar and Oliver Knussen

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