Major players in the classical music world congregate online and take part in a debate hosted by Tom Service. With practitioners from around the globe, this landmark programme examines how the classical music industry can rebuild and sustain itself following the Covid-19 lockdown.

With contributions from violinist Nicola Benedetti, founder of the Chineke! Foundation Chi-chi Nwanoku, the managing director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York Peter Gelb, the director of music at the Southbank Centre Gillian Moore, chief executive of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Stephen Maddock, general manager of the Berlin Philharmonic Andrea Zietzschmann, music programme manager at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall Neil Bennison, director of music at Arts Council England Claire Mera-Nelson, composer and clarinettist Mark Simpson, director of the London Contemporary Music Festival Igor Toronyi-Lalic and chief music critic of The Times, Richard Morrison.

As composer Mark-Anthony Turnage turns 60, Kate Molleson talks to him about the influences he received from Oliver Knussen, Gunther Schuller and Hans-Werner Henze. He speaks candidly about continuing to want to compose pieces that challenge, and shares his thoughts about how Covid-19 might change the music scene over the coming years. In light of the recent death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in the USA, Kate reflects on the discourses of solidarity we’ve heard from within the music world and the wider issue of racism in classical music with composer Eleanor Alberga. Kate also asks Heather Wiebe from King's College London to review a new book, 'Aaron Copland's Hollywood Film Scores', by the musicologist Paula Musegades who argues that the composer used movies to try out his new 'American sound'. And we talk to Maggie Rodford, managing director of one of UK's busiest recording studios, about the impact of Covid-19 on the film and TV music recording industry.

As Mental Health Awareness Week draws to a close, Kate Molleson surveys the musical world's responses to mental wellbeing. Opera star Renée Fleming talks about her 'Music and Mind Live' webinar series, which explores the impact of music on human health and the brain. Kate is joined, too, by the author, musician and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin who will also feature in the webinar series. The composer Nigel Osborne introduces his X-System, which examines how the brain and body respond to music, and the Irish accordionist and psychologist Cormac Begley shares his thoughts about music and mood. Reflecting on life during lockdown, Music Matters also hears from the performance poet Michael Pedersen, the cellist Zoe Martlew, and trumpeter Martin Hurrell.

Notes:

* Renée Fleming's 'Music and the Mind' webinars take place on Tuesdays at 10 pm UK time, via her Facebook page.

Tom Service talks to pianist Jonathan Biss about how Beethoven can help us all through lockdown isolation, and to lutenist Elizabeth Kenny about the far-sighted Italian Renaissance pioneer, composer, lutenist and theorist Vincenzo Galilei - father of astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei. As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, Tom talks to author Adrian Wright about his new book Cheer Up! - British Musical Films, 1929-1945. And, from the Music Matters archive, another chance to hear Tom's 2018 interview with dynamic Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki.

Tom Service talks to author Oliver Craske about his new biography, which marks the 100th anniversary of one of the 20th century's most influential musicians, Ravi Shankar. Composer, Erkki Sven Tuur turned 60 last year. He speaks to Tom, from his home on an island in the Baltic Sea, about his Ninth Symphony and how his orchestral piece Sow the Wind is especially relevant during these times. We continue to mine the Music Matters archive and there is another chance to hear Angela Hewitt talk about Beethoven and Bach. And as lockdown continues to impact artists the world over, Tom talks to violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen, percussionist Claire Edwardes, and the composer Kamala Sankaram whose new opera “All decisions will be made by consensus,” was composed especially for live online performance premieres this week.

For many of us, Easter means organs and churches and the sombre tones of Good Friday moving to the joy of Easter Sunday. But this year, Easter is pretty much cancelled, and churches are shut. So organs around the world are silent - but not on Music Matters: Kate Molleson presents a mini organ fest, with contributions from Glasgow-based organist John Butt, who demonstrates his own home digital organ, and Canadian organist Rachel Mahon, who looks forward to when Coventry Cathedral is again unlocked, and she can take up her post as Music Director. And Nicholas Thistlethwaite talks about his new book about organ building in Georgian and Victorian England, a time which saw a transformation from small pipe organs to the mighty Town Hall organs of the mid nineteenth century.

Music Matters speaks to Mark Pemberton, Director of the Association of British Orchestras, about the impact of Covid-19 on the financial stability of British orchestras and the livelihoods of the musicians who work for them. And we hear from conductor Jessica Cottis who reflects on the digital responses to the pandemic from across the musical world. Tom Service speaks to the French pianist François-Frédéric Guy about life during lockdown, and his recording project with the Sinfonia Varsovia featuring all of Beethoven’s piano concerti. And on the sad news of the death of the Polish composer and conductor, Krzysztof Penderecki, we hear Petroc Trelawny’s interview for Music Matters in 2009, and Lady Camilla Panufnik shares some of her more recent memories about the composer. Finally, we dive into the Music Matters archives for another chance to hear Tom’s encounter with one of music’s most inspiring figures: the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja.

Kate Molleson hears from the author, musician, and researcher Matt Brennan about his new book, ‘Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit’. We speak to the Scottish singer, songwriter, and composer, Karine Polwart, as she shares her ideas about music’s power to communicate in today’s world. As she embarks upon a project to share all thirty-six movements of Bach’s six Cello Suites during the coronavirus outbreak, Music Matters revisits a discussion with the cellist Alisia Weilerstein. And as artists the world over find new ways to continue communicating with their audiences, Kate speaks to the soprano Soraya Mafi, producer of Café Oto, Fielding Hope, and conductor Ilan Volkov about their creative responses to our current reality.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch talks to Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson, whose new CD juxtaposes the music of French composers Rameau and Debussy, author Christina Guillaumier on her new book The Operas of Sergei Prokofiev, as well as Russian music expert Gerard McBurney, and visits English National Opera in London to chat to cast and director Joe Hill-Gibbins of a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

Kate Molleson heads down to Covent Garden where rehearsals are under way for a new production of Beethoven's Fidelio at the Royal Opera House. She speaks to conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, director Tobias Kratzer and soprano Amanda Forsythe, who sings Marzelline. Fidelio is sometimes considered a problem opera, with its mix of comic and serious, but Kratzer emphasises the deep themes of political revolution and unjust imprisonment, while for Pappano, Beethoven's score opened a new world for German opera, not least for Wagner. Kate also talks to Marta Gardolinska, Young Conductor in Association at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, about the challenges of forging a career as a conductor, and about her love of Polish music. And Music Matters joins the composer Valgeir Sigurdsson and director Stewart Laing as they discuss We Are In Time, a new music-theatre piece for the Scottish Ensemble about a heart transplant. It's a profound exploration of the emotional and scientific aspects of this most risky operation, with the ensemble's string players also taking on dramatic roles and singing. Kate also investigates the effectiveness of mood-based music playlists, with James Foley from Spotify and Hugo Shirley from classical streaming site Idagio - and gets a concert programmer's point of view from Helen Wallace, programme director of King's Place in London. Are mood lists a gateway to the treasures of classical music, or just dumbing down the art form?