Front Row

The podcast ‘Aria Code’ from WQXR and the Metropolitan Opera aims to pull back the curtain on some of operas most well-known moments. Each episode “decodes” one aria, with academics and opera singers diving in to the music. But there are also a variety of unexpected guests, such as a marriage therapist talking relationships in Carmen or a former sex worker giving perspective on La Traviata. Host Rhiannon Giddens explains what’s coming up in the third series of the podcast.

The 2020 film The Legend of Fire Saga told the story of Husavik - a plucky little village in Iceland - that wanted to send a local group to compete at The Eurovision Song Contest. They have a song ready to sing in English but decide at the last moment to swap to one which features their native tongue, even though they’ve been warned that it’ll mean they won’t win. It starred Will Ferrel and Rachel McAdams and the song’s real life composer was Atli Örvarsson (who’s also written for Maroon 5, Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding and many others). Now it’s Oscar nominations time and the citizens of Husavik want the ballad to their town to be nominated in the Best Original Song category shortlist.

For our Friday Review, critics Lanre Bakare and Anna Smith give their verdict on whether Sky’s The Flight Attendant takes off. Starring Kaley Cuoco of The Big Bang Theory, it tells the story of a flight attendant whose wild night out in Bangkok lands her in a very sticky situation. Michelle Gomez and Rosie Perez also star. And we’ll be asking Lanre and Anna to give their suggestions for something cultural to enjoy this weekend.

The author Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel Homegoing was a breakthrough success with its account of the impact of slavery on generations of a family. Her second, Transcendent Kingdom, has just been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. It’s about opioid addiction, religion and the line between belief and science, with its story of Gifty, a scientist who is looking for ways to understand what has happened to her and her family.

Presenter: John Wilson

The recent death of Lou Ottens - the inventor of audio cassettes who later went on to work on the development of CD technology - gives us the opportunity to look back at the glory days of cassettes, their subsequent decline and the latest unexpected return to fashion, with music journalists Laura Barton and Jude Rogers.

Young British poet Luke Wright describes himself as 'a louche poet (who) loves a bit of bathos'. He has a new collection of work, The Feelgood Movie Of The Year, with poems written over the past few years and right up to Covid lockdown, which brought his full touring diary to an abrupt standstill. How has life changed, and where does a poet find inspiration when their everyday world shrinks overnight?

Shaka King is the director of Judas and the Black Messiah, a new film starring Daniel Kaluuya which tells the story of the political life and assassination of Black Panther Fred Hampton at the age of 21 in 1969. King discusses the FBI's determined campaign to disrupt the powerful unifying movement and their infiltration of the Illinois chapter by a counter-intelligence operative.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Netflix’s new drama, The One, set five minutes in the future, depicts a world where a DNA test can find your perfect partner. Kohinoor Sahota joins us to discuss its mix of sci-fi and romance, as well as whether this format could be the future of dating.

The longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction is announced today. Critic Alex Clark joins Front Row to talk about the themes, highlights, whether there are any surprise inclusions and omissions, and which book might take the prize.

At the weekend, actor and director Samuel West proposed a plan to ‘reboot’ regional theatre following the lockdown, which would see big-name TV and film stars doing a play at a theatre closest to where they grew up. The actor discusses the reaction to his suggestion and how it would work.

In the latest of our Moments of Joy series, comedian Kieran Hodgson takes us into the world of Dvorak’s 8th Symphony, complete with its (figurative) partying elephants and comedy conclusion.

Main image: Hannah Ware in the new Netflix series The One.

The Bafta Film Awards have unveiled a highly diverse nominations list, with 16 of the 24 acting nominees this year coming from ethnic minority groups. This follows criticsm in previous years about shortlists that didn’t reflect modern Britain. Film maker, poet and founder of The Caramel Film Club Be Manzini joins us to ask whether this is the beginning of greater representation.

Violinist Hilary Hahn’s new CD ‘Paris’ brings together music inspired by a city that has been pivotal in her career. She explains her connection to the pieces she’s recorded, how she juggles pandemic problems with being a professional violinist, and how she hopes to make changes for the next generation of musicians.

Diyora Shadijanova and Stig Abell discuss the rise of competitive reading. With more and more people setting themselves a reading target and sharing their book history online, they consider whether social media has made the act of reading more performative than personal.

The academic John Mullan has been recommending re-reading Jane Austen during lockdown. In the last in the series, tonight he presents the case for Persuasion.

Presenter: Elle Osili-Wood

Novelist Oana Aristide discusses her debut novel Under the Blue, about a reclusive artist forced to abandon his home and follow two young sisters across a post-pandemic Europe in search of a safe place. It has been described as eco-fiction and it explores themes of environmental destruction, the melting of the polar ice, eco-terrorism, all within a suspenseful story of three survivors on a terrifying road trip.

The British poet Stevie Smith, best known for her work “Not Waving, But Drowning” died 50 years ago today. We speak with her biographer Frances Spalding, the editor of her collected poems and drawings Will May and we’re joined by the actor Juliet Stevenson to look at Smith’s life and works and consider her legacy.

Kings of Leon have made their new album available as a form of cryptocurrency, and last week Grimes sold a digital collection of artworks in a similar way for almost $6m. Aleks Krotoski explains the growing craze for ‘non-fungible tokens’ or NFTs.

Presenter: John Wilson

Main image: Oana Aristide

David Mamet's latest play, The Christopher Boy’s Communion is about a couple in New York whose son is facing trial charged with an appalling crime. First performed on the stage in Los Angeles last year, it’s premiers in the UK in the form of a radio play next week. He discusses the tricky issues it deals with and how he adapted a lengthier stage play it for radio

In this week’s Friday Review, critics Karen Krizanovich and Jan Asante discuss two films with different perspectives on feminism: The Glorias, written and directed by Julie Taymor and starring Alicia Vikander and Julianne Moore, which focuses on the life of the American feminist, writer and activist Gloria Steinem, and the US high school drama Moxie, directed by and starring Amy Poehler.

American writer Danielle Evans talks to Kirsty about her second short story collection, The Office of Historical Corrections, which offers a kaleidoscopic exploration of what it is to be African American in the modern USA and uses the short story form to meditate on themes of history and memory.

Our occasional series dedicated to moments of joy returns with games writer Jordan Erica Webber, who argues that even at the end of the universe one can find peace and happiness as in the game Outer Wilds.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang

As World Book Day we’re speaking to teacher turned rapper turned internet sensation MC Grammar. He's created lots of videos setting information about grammar to a rap beat. He joins us to explain why it succeeds with school children and we hear the song he's composed specially for the day.

Since the arrival of Amazon and online bookselling, independent bookshops have been facing an existential crisis, one that has only accelerated under Coronavirus. Going online to sell books feels like a natural way to boost profits and in November a new service, Bookshop.org, arrived in the UK promising to help bookshops get online and give them a bigger cut of profits. Bookshop.org has announced it has generated £1 million for independent bookshops - could the service be the saviour of independent bookshops and what is the future for ethical book buying online? Nicole Vanderbilt, Managing Director at Bookshop.org UK and Zool Verjee, head of marketing and publicity at Blackwells join us to discuss.

And we hear about the potential impact of proposed changes, including restructuring and cutting some posts, at the V&A in London. Guy Baxter, formerly of the V&A, joins Front Row to discuss.

Pat Metheny has won 20 Grammy Awards, predominantly for his work as a jazz guitarist, but also for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and Best Instrumental Composition. His latest work is as a composer. The album Road to the Sun has two major works for classical guitar. Four Paths of Light is a four movement suite for a solo instrument, played by Jason Vieaux, and Road to the Sun, a piece in six parts, performed by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Metheny himself plays his arrangement of Arvo Pärt's piano piece Für Alina, on an extraordinary 42 string instrument. Pat Metheny tells John Wilson about this ambitious work.

We've reaction to today's Budget Statement from the Chancellor. Rishi Sunak has added £300m to the £1.57bn Cultural Recovery Fund, £90m more for museums, and £18m for cultural community projects but will the newly announced extension to the Government's Self Employment Income Support scheme really help struggling arts freelancers? And how can the festivals industry plan for the summer without the government-backed insurance scheme many were calling for? Chairman of the DCMS parliamentary select committee, Julian Knight MP and Paule Constable from the Freelancers Make Theatre Work campaign join us to discuss.

And Poet Amanda Gorman became famous around the world when she read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at Biden’s Inauguration, and now her work is due to be translated into multiple languages. Publishers Meulenhoff have been criticised for appointing a white writer, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, to translate Gorman’s poetry into Dutch, and now Rijneveld has stepped down amid the furore. Activist Janice Deul explains why she was so disappointed with the publisher’s original choice, and writer and translator Khairani Barokka describes the complicated relationship between writers and translators.

Presenter: John Wilson

Main image: Pat Metheny, credit: John Peden

Your Honour is a new Showtime miniseries starring Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston as a respected New Orleans judge whose son is involved in a hit-and-run. He faces a series of impossible choices questioning how far a Father will go to go to save a son's life. Developed by British Peter Moffat it's a remake of the hit Israeli show Kvodo. Novelist and journalist Lionel Shriver reviews.

Stories To Get You Through is a new podcast performed by the people of Doncaster as part of the National Theatre's Public Acts programme. Participants developed their stories remotely on Zoom, over the phone, and through postal packs with creative writing activities, and recorded the stories at home with professional audio recording equipment. The podcast series consists of five episodes exploring themes of imagination, change, fear, friendship and heroes. Nick is joined by James Blakey, Associate Director of Public Acts at the National Theatre, and Lyn Sweeting, who took part.

Singer songwriter Catherine Anne Davies makes music as The Anchoress. Her second album The Art of Losing is the follow up to her critically acclaimed album. 'Confessions of a Romantic Novelist'. Written and produced by Davies, the new album deals with mutiple losses and trauma that she has faced over the last few years - including the loss of her father and several miscarriages and is firmly concerned with how to find purpose in the midst of grief. She discusses how creativity can come from loss.

Plus reactions to the news that the Chancellor is set announce four hundred million pounds of help for the arts sector in the budget tomorrow.

Presenter: Nick Ahad

Kazuo Ishiguro has just published his eighth novel, the first to be written since he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 and was knighted. Klara and the Sun is about an Artificial Friend, a robot whose role is to be a companion to the teenage Josie, though it becomes apparent that more may be expected of Klara. With resonances of two of his previous novels Never Let Me Go and of The Remains of the Day, it is a much-anticipated addition to Ishiguro’s body of work. Sameer Rahim, books editor at Prospect magazine, joins us to review.

The kind of systemic violence that led to the death of George Floyd is the concern of the composer and producer Adrian Younge in The American Negro, his multimedia project for Black History Month in the US. It comprises an album of music and spoken word, a four part podcast series, Invisible Blackness, and a short film. Live from Los Angeles Adrian Younge talks to us about this ambitious and unapologetic critique of the malevolent psychology that afflicts people of colour in America today.

Poet Alison Brackenbury considers poetic responses to the arrival of Spring, from the familiar to the over-familiiar.

And our occasional series dedicated to Moments of Joy continues with games writer Jordan Erica Webber, who finds peace and happiness at the end of the universe in the game Outer Wilds.

Presenter : Tom Sutcliffe

Main image: Sir Kazuo Ishiguro