Alice Sara Ott, Climate Change, and Qatar

Ahead of her concert next week with the LSO, Tom Service speaks to the pianist Alice Sara Ott who is also preparing to embark on a tour which features lighting and images alongside performances of Chopin’s Op 28 preludes, and other contemporary works from her recent Echoes of Life album, to create a multi-media experience that extends the boundaries of what’s possible in concert halls. As the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference concludes, Music Matters hears from Managing Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, Kathryn McDowell, Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Eakin, Executive Chairman of Harrison Parrott, Jasper Parrott, and Professor of Geosystem Science and leader of the group responsible for climate modelling at the University of Oxford, Myles Allen, about the degree to which the classical music industry is delivering its own promises to reduce its impact on the environment. With all eyes on Qatar for the opening of the FIFA World Cup, Tom hears from the BBC’s Series producer for Arabic Digital Investigative Documentaries, Rosie Garthwaite, about the construction she witnessed of Doha’s opera house in the Katara Cultural Centre. He learns how the country has nurtured both Western art forms and cultural institutions, and the potential projection of soft power. Tom joins the soprano Danielle de Niese and tenor Frederick Ballentine during rehearsals for a new production, by English National Opera, of Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life. The composer shares how he adapted the story behind Frank Capra’s classic movie, and Tom speaks to the journalist, broadcaster, and author, Matthew Sweet, about the phenomenon of setting operas from film, as well as different roles music plays on both the screen and the stage.