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Perth Now
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Sir Paul McCartney discusses his and John Lennon's different styles
Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon's creative approaches to music were wildly different. The Beatles bandmates had one of the most prolific and successful songwriting partnerships during their time together in the band but Paul, 83, admitted their approaches differed hugely, even though they inspired each other. Speaking to Elizabeth Alker on BBC Radio 3's Sound Sources, he said: 'I would read about people, I would get fascinated. But then I started to think, well, particularly when I heard tape loops, I'll just play with it myself. 'So, I did on these Brunel tape machines. I actually got two of them in the end, so that I was able to make tape loops, cut a piece of tape up, and then join it, say you use guitar. You go down, down, down, down, down. So, you could add to it. The second time it came right down, 'People say to me 'you work so hard in music', I say, 'we don't work music we play music' and so this idea for me was just when I'll play around on these Brunel tape machines so it came out of listening to Stockhauser [the German composer], being inspired by that music and the [idea] to experiment myself so I was showing John one day, John Lennon, and he was fascinated. 'I said, wow, you know this. Because we turn each other on with just, you know, whatever was the new thing, 'listen to this'. And yeah, he eventually said, 'oh, I'd love to do this'. 'So, I got him two Brunels, he had them at his house. And I showed him how I did it and just built it all up. And the difference between me and John was, I like to do it in a slightly controlled way, like with Tomorrow, Never Knows. So, I liked it to perform as a solo within the music. 'And he did a piece called Revolution Number Nine. 'I never wanted to make an album of the ideas, you know, I always wanted to put it on a bed of something perhaps more musical and more formal and I thought these things coming in on that was the ultimate sound that I want to hear. 'You don't expect it. You can do something apparently very strange with a piece of music and then you listen to it, and you go 'Oh I really like that'. It's like abstract art … I mean, not everything we see is clear and figurative. 'Sometimes when you're asleep or you rub your eye, you see an abstract. So, your mind knows about it. We know about this stuff. So, it was the same with music.' Listen to the full programme on BBC Sounds here:
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Skipton Town Hall to play host to classical music festival
SKIPTON Town Hall will be a venue for the Ryedale Festival for the first time this year with a concert by trailblazing saxophonist Jess Gillam and her Ensemble III. Described as 'dynamic, bold and unique' the ensemble brings 'vibrant energy and boundless enthusiasm to the stage'. The concert includes a wide variety of music from CPE Bach and Debussy to Michael Nyman and David Bowie (Life on Mars). Jess Gillam has been described by The Times newspaper as 'not just one of Britain's most virtuosic instrumentalists, but also an unstuffy, inspiring personality'. The Ryedale Festival takes place from Friday, July 11 to Sunday, July 27; its programme of live classical music, offering audiences a festival experience shaped by vision, innovation and artistic excellence. This year's event features 57 performances in 33 locations right across the county, from Scarborough to Skipton. The classical music festival, which also embraces jazz, folk, poetry and participation opportunities, enjoys a large, loyal and enthusiastic audience, the warm support of the local community and a reputation as one of Europe's leading festivals of its kind. BBC Radio 3 broadcasts five concerts from the festival, including a recital by BBC New Generation Artists including German pianist Julius Asal, American violinist Hana Chang, Estonian flautist Elizaveta Ivanova and Uruguayan-Spanish tenor Santiago Sanchez. The Jess Gillam Ensemble III will be at Skipton Town Hall at 3pm on July 19. Tickets at:


BBC News
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
BBC Radio 3 announces 2025-2027 cohort of New Generation Artists
BBC Radio 3 has revealed the names of the New Generation Artists (NGAs) joining the station's prestigious talent development scheme in September 2025 through to December 2027. They are: the UK-based Astatine Trio (pianist Berniya Hamie, violinist Maja Horvat, and cellist Riya Hamie), Russian American soprano Erika Baikoff, British baritone Andrew Hamilton, the NOVO Quartet from Denmark (violinists Kaya Kato Møller and Nikolai Vasili Nedergaard, viola player Daniel Śledziński, and cellist Signe Ebstrup Bitsch), Ukranian clarinettist Oleg Shebeta-Dragan and Austrian pianist Lukas Sternath. These performers join the NGAs who have been on the scheme since 2024, and remain on it until December 2026: German pianist Julius Asal, US violinist Hana Chang, US cellist Sterling Elliott, Russian flautist Elizaveta Ivanova, British ensemble the Kleio Quartet, British jazz saxophonist and bandleader Emma Rawicz and Uruguayan tenor Santiago Sánchez. Founded in 1999 to nurture and support some of the world's finest young instrumentalists, singers and ensembles at the start of their international careers, the BBC's New Generation Artists scheme celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. With over 150 alumni, including some of the biggest names in classical music and jazz, it continues to provide young musicians with performance opportunities at some of the UK's most prestigious venues and festivals, in recital as well as with the BBC orchestras. Regular broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 ensure that these rising stars are heard by listeners all over the UK, and across Europe through the European Broadcasting Union. Emma Bloxham, BBC Radio 3 Commissioning Editor, Live Music says: 'It's always an exciting moment when we reveal the names of those outstanding young musicians we've chosen to join the NGA family for the next two years. Each and every one of them brings something very special to the table, and I've absolutely no doubt their live concert performances and exclusive studio recordings will delight Radio 3 listeners. It's a privilege to be involved with such talented young people at this stage in their careers, and we look forward to making great things happen together!' Listen to BBC Radio 3 EC


BBC News
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bristol Beacon hosts BBC Proms for the second time running
The classical orchestra concert series BBC Proms is returning to Bristol this will be four concerts from 22-24 August at Bristol Beacon and St Georges making it the second summer in a row that the Proms have taken up residency in the headliners include composer Charles Hazelwood, the founder of Paraorchestra, as well as the orchestra of Welsh National Opera with Carlo Rizzi and mezzo-soprano Avery Wales, chief executive of Bristol Beacon, said: "We strive to offer world-class classical music to our audience as part of our wider artistic programme and we are proud to be working with the BBC Proms to continue to offer music that is open to all." All four concerts at Bristol Beacon will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. The radio station will also host its Late-Night Live edition of Late Junction in the Lantern Hall, which will be presented by Verity Sharp and guest artists Sarahsson and Wojciech Rusin. An afternoon concert, which will also be recorded for broadcast, will take place at St George's Bristol as part of the Proms weekend. Sam Jackson, a controller from BBC Radio 3 and BBC Proms said: "The Proms was founded in 1895 on the belief that everyone should have access to the very best of classical music, so I am delighted that our concerts across the UK reach audiences on their own doorstep, as well as being broadcast on Radio 3."Mr Hazelwood and the Paraorchestra are collaborating with The Breath and composer Oliver Vibrans to create a folk-inspired sound for the said: "I can say, hand on heart, that this will be so much more than the standard orchestra-meets-band. "I guarantee you will hear things - and instrumental combinations - that you have never heard before."


Spectator
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
‘I've seen controllers come and go': Radio 3's Michael Berkeley interviewed
A few years ago I had a panic-stricken phone call from a female friend. 'Help!' she wailed. 'Remind me what classical music I like. I think I'm going to be a guest on Private Passions.' I could understand her anxiety. The programme, which celebrated its 30th birthday this month, is BBC Radio 3's lofty version of Desert Island Discs. Eminent writers, scientists, artists and businessmen, plus the occasional book-plugging celeb, explain how music – mostly but not exclusively classical – is, well, one of their private passions. Even if, as in the case of my friend, it isn't. It's an honour to be asked on the show, which is presented by Michael Berkeley – the first classical composer since Benjamin Britten to be elevated to the House of Lords. In other words, if you're bluffing about your lifelong love affair with Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, then Lord Berkeley of Knighton will rumble you instantly, though he'll be far too polite to let on. In the end my friend chickened out. I didn't blame her, though I'd love to have heard her enthusing about Schubert's Piano Sonata D960 or Haydn's Te Deum – both chosen by me. It's amazing how many otherwise cultivated people just don't get classical music. They rhapsodise about Manet or Mann but fall silent if they're asked about a new cycle of Bruckner symphonies. Yet, unlike my friend, I suspect few of them would turn down Private Passions. Even the King has been a guest. In 2018 he chose Haydn's C major Cello Concerto, the Quintet from Die Meistersinger, a chorus from Jean-Marie Leclair's Scylla et Glaucus and Leonard Cohen's 'Take This Waltz'.