Kate Molleson presents a live edition of Music Matters from the BBC's Contains Strong Language Festival in Coventry, featuring live music and a panel of guests discussing the parallel rhythms and sounds of music and language from the ancient oral tradition of folk music to right through to the contemporary sounds of today. Kate's guests include Netia Jones, Liz Berry, Martin Carthy and Andy Ingamells.

Pianist Igor Levit talks to Tom Service about his latest epic recording project – three and a half hours of music by Dmitri Shostakovich and the Scottish composer Ronald Stevenson. No stranger to large-scale works he live-streamed Erik Satie’s Vexations during lockdown playing 840 repetitions over 16 hours as part of his online House Concerts. He discusses the huge challenges on every page of Stevenson’s Passacaglia and the contradictions of his life as a pianist and his political beliefs.

Folk singer Martin Carthy and former High Court judge and part-time song collector Stephen Sedley join Tom to talk about their new book, ‘Who Killed Cock Robin: British Folk Songs of Crime and Punishment’, which explores the legal and moral basis of some of the most moving songs in the folk traditions of the country. We hear recordings by Martin Carthy, Shirley Collins, Rachel Newton and a 1953 archive recording of Ewan MacColl singing ‘McCaffery’, provided by the School of Scottish Studies Archives.

As Russians go to the polls, we look at what the recent decline in freedoms means for artists and musicians in and out of the country. Tom speaks to Masha Alekhina, co-founder of the musical and protest collective Pussy Riot, who has just been sentenced to a year of ‘restricted freedom’ for promoting protests in support of the jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny. We’re also joined by the BBC's Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford who was recently expelled from Russia after more than 20 years of reporting from Moscow, and pianist Katya Apekisheva who, alongside hundreds of other classical musicians, signed a letter to Vladimir Putin in February calling for the release of Alexei Navalny.

And composer Joseph Horovitz shares stories from his life in music. Having fled Vienna as a child in 1938, he began his musical career in Britain as a music lecturer for the army before working as a ballet conductor and finally a composer. His music draws on a huge range of styles, especially jazz, as can be heard in his Jazz Harpsichord Concerto which was performed by Mahan Esfahani and the Manchester Collective at this year’s Proms. He talks to Tom about how his deeply personal fifth string quartet reflects his experiences of escaping Vienna, and how he finds new inspiration every day from the music around him.

As Music Matters returns to the airwaves for the Autumn, and classical music emerges from Covid along with the rest of the world, Tom Service assesses the current state of play with musicians and industry leaders, and asks them how much has really changed in the last eighteen months and what the future holds. Gillian Moore, Director of Music at the Southbank Centre in London, and Roger Wright, Chief Executive of the newly-merged Britten Pears Arts in Suffolk, explain how they navigated the issues raised for their organisations by Covid restrictions, and what they take from these experiences moving forward.

Freelance trumpeter Chris Cotter spoke to Music Matters last year about finding a new living from painting and decorating when his concerts dried up in lockdowns, and he updates Tom now on his return to live music. Soprano Juliet Fraser talks, too, about her adventures with the TC Helicon during lockdown and her experiences of returning to the stage. Tom Service also speaks to Igor Toronyi-Lalic, arts editor of the Spectator and director of the London Contemporary Music Festival, who points out what went wrong for classical music in its digital online ventures.

To discuss the many issues raised by these experiences of the classical music world during the Covid era, Tom Service is joined by Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, Chief Executive of UK Music, Stephen Maddock, Chief Executive of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Sarah Willis, horn player with the Berlin Philharmonic.

When the Taliban held power in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, they banned music and persecuted musicians. Two decades later as they regain control of the country, we speak the Director of Afghanistan's National Institute of Music, Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, about his fears of a clampdown on music by the new regime. We talk to the BBC reporter Yalda Hakim about the evolving situation inside the country and hear from Afghanistan’s most famous pop-star, Aryana Sayeed, about why musicians’ lives may be endangered as they become political targets. We speak, too, to Massood Sanjer, who’s in charge of Afghanistan’s Tolo TV network, and hear how the Taliban’s disapproval of music affects their output.

Kate Molleson looks back on a year of musical connection and reflection as she revisits some of the guests we have featured on Music Matters.

Kate talks to American composer, vocalist, dancer and film artist, Meredith Monk and she shares her thoughts on nature, art and resilience through the age of pandemic.

Tom Service and South African soprano, Golda Schultz look back on Golda’s memorable appearance at the 2020 Last Night of the Proms.

Earlier this month, the celebrated opera director Sir Graham Vick died at the age of 67. He founded Birmingham Opera Company in 1987, and we hear Tom Service’s report from the community production of Verdi’s Otello.

And finally, Kate talks to Betsy Jolas, the French composer who moved to the US in the 1940s, as she approaches her 95th birthday in August. They talk about composition, analysis and how to start writing a new piece.

Kate Molleson talks to some of today's greatest writers about how music shapes their work and explores the ineffable intersection between words and music. Featuring Colm Tóibín, Elif Shafak, Ishmael Reed, Simon Armitage and Lavinia Greenlaw.

Best-selling Irish author Colm Tóibín’s writing is infused with sound and music. His latest book is a fictional account of the life of Thomas Mann and is steeped in Mahler and Schoenberg. He discusses the powerful role music plays in his fiction and reads from his book ‘Nora Webster’, in which the main character finds resilience through music after the death of her husband. Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak talks about the sound of Istanbul, the social implications of sound and silence and how her books can give voice to those in society who are otherwise voiceless. She reads from her acclaimed book ‘10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World’ and talks about the influence of heavy metal on her writing. US writer Ishmael Reed explores the role of improvisation and rhythm in his work, including his 1972 classic ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ and a new collection of poetry called ‘Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues’. Poet Laureate Simon Armitage discusses how music and words mix in the poetry he writes for his band LYR and the volatility of language when set to music. And poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw explores the fundamental way in which music has shaped her writing throughout her life, as well as the interconnectedness of music, memory and emotion.

Image credit: The Japan Art Association

As the celebrated violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter prepares for the premiere of John Williams’s new violin concerto, she talks to Tom Service about making music in and out of the pandemic. She reflects on how her relationship to music has changed over the past 18 months and the need for urgent change when it comes to supporting music and culture in German and beyond.

A New Topography of Love Part II is an animated video-game opera experience currently being developed by writer and director John McIlduff and composer Brian Irvine at Dumbworld productions, in collaboration with artists and game developers. Tom catches up with Brian Irvine and Vicky Potts from Whitepot Studios to find out how they plan to put opera inside arcade cabinets.

The Berlin-based Belarusian conductor Vitali Alekseenok travelled back to Belarus last August to join protests against the latest election of Alexander Lukashenko as the country’s leader – a result which has not been accepted by the EU or the UK. Vitali took part in daily musical protests on the streets of Minsk and has written a book about his experiences. He knows he can’t now go back to Belarus for fear of being arrested - something that’s already happened to many of his musician friends there. He talks to Tom about his hopes and fears for Belarus and the musicians and artists who speak out.

American musician Jessie Montgomery is one of the most distinctive and communicative voices in the US, as a player and a creator. She writes chamber works and orchestral music, as well as improvising with double bassist Eleonore Oppenheim in her duo Big Dog, Little Dog. As she begins her new role as Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence, she talks about her work and a newfound urgency to engage, connect and reflect through her music.

And from the Music Matters archives, interviews with two composers whom the world has lost in recent days – Frederic Rzewski and Louis Andriessen.

Linton Stephens is joined by the soprano Nadine Benjamin ahead of a performance of her autobiographical opera BEAM, part of the Summer at Snape season. She reflects on how music has the power to heal and why she finds strength in her voice.

The music psychologist Natasha Hendry talks to Linton about her research into race and racism in music education and the music industry.

As Radio 3 celebrates the London Festival of Architecture, Music Matters visits Bold Tendencies at its unique home in Peckham’s former multi-storey car park, and speaks to the organisation’s founder Hannah Barry, the acoustician Dave Parsons, the pianist Samson Tsoy and producer Fraser Smith, to learn how the building’s fabric impacts sound quality and informs artistry.

And, Linton also hears from soprano Stephanie Corley, director James Brining, and conductor James Holmes, about a new collaborative production of A Little Night Music by both Opera North and the Leeds Playhouse, and learns how Sondheim’s portrayal of human relationships speaks to audiences today.

Kate Molleson celebrates Coventry as UK City of Culture 2021, exploring the musical life there, its rich musical history, and talking about what the future holds for Coventrians.

She begins at the heart of Coventry in the ruins of the old cathedral, which was destroyed the November night in 1940 when the German Luftwaffe flattened the city centre. It is poignantly connected to the new cathedral by Basil Spence. With its consecration began a distinctive new choral tradition, particularly under music director David Lepine. Kate talks to one of the first choristers, David Sleath, who sang at the premiere of Britten's War Requiem, conductor Paul Daniel who joined the choir in the mid-60s, and organist Rachel Mahon who is the current music director.

Composer Dan Jones talks to Kate about his new work, Coventry Moves Together, which was commissioned by Coventry UK City of Culture for their inaugural day of events on 5th June, and which takes the ideas of the city's most pioneering composer, Delia Derbyshire. Kate talks to Chenine Bhathena, the Creative Director of Coventry UK City of Culture about the promises that she is making to the people of the city.

Birmingham-born conductor, and recently appointed Music Director of Birmingham Opera, Alpesh Chauhan, has made Coventry his home over the last few years and talks to Kate about his impressions of the city and its cultural significance.

Arguably Coventry's biggest musical export is 2-Tone Music, and Kate follows the 2-Tone Trail with Neville Staples of The Specials and visits the Coventry Music Museum set up by Pete Chambers, who has devoted his life to finding out about Coventry's music history from Roman Times to the now. Central to his museum is his homage to The Specials' chart-topping song, Ghost Town.

Tom Service is joined by the pianist Stephen Hough, and over a cup of coffee they discuss living in the moment during music during performance and how Stephen has spent much of the past year working as a composer.

Double-bassist and artist Kirsty Matheson talks about the challenge she set herself to create 100 paintings about 100 pieces of music in 100 days. Responding to works by Arnold Schoenberg and Steve Reich, she describes how their works shaped the images she created as well as restored her love for music during a time when live performance wasn’t possible.

Tom speaks to Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, about his ambitions for music in schools as the government announces a new Model Music Curriculum to support music education for 5 to 14 year-olds. Carolyn Baxendale, Head of Bolton Music Service, and James Dickinson, Head of Kingston-Upon-Hull Music Service, discuss how live music participation is returning for children across the country.

And, ahead of the release of his memoirs, Lowering the Tone and Raising the Roof, Raymond Gubbay shares a lifetime of stories about his time as a modern day music impresario!

Tom Service takes a look at the influence of horn player Dennis Brain in his centenary year - We hear from two of today's leading horn players Ben Goldscheider, who is releasing an album centred around Brain's legacy, and Sarah Willis who talks us through some iconic Dennis Brain recordings. Plus we speak to retired horn player Andrew McGavin, who played second horn to Dennis in the Philharmonia in the 1950s, for some first hand memories of the legend that was Dennis Brain.

As live music venues start to open their doors to audiences with the easing of COVID restrictions we take a look at the issues surrounding physical access for disabled and neurodiverse audiences. We speak to Susanne Bull, founder of 'Attitude is Everything', Andrew Miller co-founder of the UK Disability Arts Alliance, #WeShallNotBeRemoved and audience ambassador Vivien Wilkinson about the issues and also the potential for a hybrid form of concert going that includes live streaming.

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week writers Horatio Clare and Stephen Johnson reflect on how music, literature, art and nature have helped them through some of the darkest times imaginable, and Alex Smalley updates us on the results of The University of Exeter's Virtual Nature Experiment.

Composer Gerard McBurney and Ann McKay from the BBC Symphony orchestra pay tribute to composer Anthony Payne.

Producer: Martin Webb