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Front Row: Billie Marten, Yinka Shonibare, Richard Mantle on Opera North

Billie Marten, Yinka Shonibare, Richard Mantle on Opera North

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Billie Marten, Yinka Shonibare, Richard Mantle on Opera North

Sir Richard Mantle on Opera North, Billie Marten performs live, Yinka Shonibare in Leeds.

Sir Richard Mantle on leading Opera North for three decades, Billie Marten performs tracks from her latest album, and Yinka Shonibare on his new public sculpture in Leeds.

Since 1994 Sir Richard Mantle has been General Director of Opera North. He's led the company through the creation of a new home in Leeds; the establishment of the Howard Assembly Room - a performance space for all kinds of music; and many award-winning opera productions. As he leaves the company, at a time when cuts to opera funding have been making headlines, he joins Front Row to discuss why he thinks opera has much to contribute to culture in the UK.

Singer-songwriter Billie Marten, from Ripon in Yorkshire, performs tracks from her fourth album, Drop Cherries, ahead of her UK tour, which starts this Saturday in Liverpool. 

As his new public sculpture, Hibiscus Rising, is unveiled in Leeds, artist Yinka Shonibare talks to Nick about creating a work that marks a dark episode in the city's history and provides a place to come together for all the communities in the city today.

Presenter Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

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