Kate Molleson is joined by South African cellist, singer and composer Abel Selaocoe with his cello in tow, as he prepares to tour this autumn with The Bantu Ensemble. Abel talks about the "swirling cultures" from which he takes his inspiration, whether it's the different church traditions in South Africa or the music of JS Bach, and he treats us to a live improvisation.

Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes joins Kate for a walk on the windy slopes of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. With a new boxset featuring Leif Ove's recordings from 1990-2010 due out in October, he reflects on how his approach to music has changed over the years, why there are certain composers whose music he preserves for listening not performing, and how the natural world is at the heart of how he plays.

And as the new school year gets underway, we visit Acland Burghley School in Camden, North London, where three years ago the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment moved in. The orchestra's Chief Executive Crispin Woodhead gives us a tour of the school and explains how students, teachers, orchestral musicians and the wider community benefit from the collaboration and how he believes this model answers many of the problems faced by the arts and by education right now.

As Radio 3 marks the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death, Tom Service visits Lincoln Cathedral, the centre of musical activity where the composer held positions as organist and master of the basilica’s choristers early in his career. He talks to the scholar Magnus Williamson about how the building’s acoustics shaped Byrd’s compositional voice, and speaks to both the cathedral’s current Director of Music, Aric Prentice, and Lay Vicar, Thomas Wilson. He’s also joined by four leading British composers and musicians who have worked with Byrd's music: Cheryl Frances-Hoad, James Weeks, Gabriel Jackson and Laura Cannell. They each discuss how they have worked Byrd into their own compositional voices.

Ahead of her Prom with the BBC Symphony Orchestra later this month, Tom also hears from the conductor Elim Chan. Winner of the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition in 2014, she tells Tom about her journey at the helm of several of the world’s leading orchestras and why being on stage feels like being a rockstar.

Presenter Sara Mohr-Pietsch explores the musical legacy of the Windrush generation, as part of the BBC's coverage of the 75th anniversary of HMT Empire Windrush's arrival at Tilbury Docks on 22nd June 1948.

The composer Shirley J. Thompson joins Sara to discuss a new piano version of her one-singer opera with film, Women of the Windrush, and we hear specially recorded excerpts from the work by soprano Nadine Benjamin and pianist Caroline Jaya-Ratnam. The composers Errollyn Wallen and Des Oliver talk, too, about their own family connections and musical influences, and we hear the story of Belizean folk singer Nadia Cattouse as told by her son, Level 42 keyboardist Mike Lindup.

The French-Canadian conductor Nicole Paiement, Founder and Artistic Director of Opera Parallèle in San Francisco, speaks to Sara from her home over-looking the bay while preparing to give the UK premiere of Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer's opera Everest - a work which tells the harrowing story of climbers caught in a blizzard in 1996 - in what will be a semi-staged version with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Plus the conductor, composer and arranger Nigel Brooks discusses his life in music, from his first job during a Proms performance of music by Vaughan Williams with the BBC Singers in 1950, to his own group the Nigel Brooks Singers, and what drives him to continue writing music - including an orchestral piece inspired by that first Proms appearance - at the age of 96.

As the CBSO prepares for a summer of tours to Aldeburgh, Japan, and the BBC Proms, the orchestra’s new Chief Conductor Kazuki Yamada speaks to presenter Tom Service about the joy of music and the goosebumps he experiences while conducting.

Tom travels to the South Downs to speak to Australian director Barrie Kosky about a new production, opening this weekend at Glyndebourne, of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. He’s joined by sopranos Golda Schultz and Sally Matthews, as well as conductor Robin Ticciati, to talk about the story of sixteen nuns who meet their death at the hands of the French Revolution.

Amid rehearsals at the Royal Opera House, Music Matters hears about the World Premiere of a new ballet, Untitled 2023 – a collaboration between the Royal Ballet’s resident choreographer Wayne McGregor and composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir. They discuss the somatic relationship between body, dance and music, and why listening to Thorvaldsdottir’s compositions is not a passive experience.

And one hundred years after its premiere at the Aeolian Hall in June 1923, Tom speaks to the writer and broadcaster William Sitwell about his great-aunt Edith Sitwell’s creative relationship with the composer William Walton – a collaboration which resulted in the entertainment, Façade. He’s also joined by writer and researcher Lucy Walker. Together they discuss the work’s nonsensical parody of popular music, jazz, and poetry and knotty issues it presents to contemporary audiences.

With his new memoir ‘Formation - Building a Personal Canon, Part I’ hitting bookshops, and a new collaborative album with the tenor Ian Bostridge released this week, the American Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau joins Kate Molleson to discuss his childhood in small town New England, his forays into the New York Jazz scene of the 1990s, his encounters with kind musical heroes and future collaborators, and what it means to be a musician.

Telling the story the 18th-century “Irish giant” Charles Byrne, whose corpse was stolen to order and put on public display, Kate speaks to composer Sarah Angliss about the World Premiere of her new opera Giant at this year’s Aldeburgh Festival. She explains how she’s treating this surprisingly tender tale of grave robbing and dissection.

As Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month gets under way, Music Matters learns about a new project to highlight the invaluable recorded collection of gypsy and traveller voices archived within the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. We speak to the University of East Anglia’s Dr. Hazel Marsh about the impetus to make collections, housed at the English Folk Dance and Song Society, more accessible to Gypsy and Traveller people seeking engagement with their cultural heritage, and hear from the Scottish Traveller Ian McGregor.

Celebrating two decades of music making with Les Siècles, Kate hears from conductor François-Xavier Roth as he prepares to tour with the orchestra to the Barbican, Edinburgh International Festival and BBC Proms. With new albums of works by Ravel and Ligeti about to be released this month, too, he tells Kate about the energy of discovery which drives the ensemble’s prolific recording activity, and why performance needs to be dangerous.

Marking the centenary of Hungarian composer György Ligeti, Tom Service talks to musicians who knew him and who love his music.

Tom also talks to conductor Iván Fischer - the founder of the acclaimed Budapest Festival Orchestra - ahead of his appearances at the BBC Proms and at Edinburgh International Festival this summer. They discuss the difficulties of changing how symphony orchestras work, how his orchestra’s mission to bring music to the communities of Budapest translates when they’re on tour, and why mistakes are a very good thing.

Plus musicians and noise. With recent stories about noise complaints against both musicians rehearsing at home and long-established music venues, we talk to Clara Cullen from the Music Venues Trust, Stuart Darke from the Independent Society of Musicians and Lisa Lavia from the Noise Abatement Society about the law, the psychology and how to balance the needs of musicians with the rights of communities for peace and quiet.

On the verge of receiving the coveted George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Dance in America, the trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard joins Sara Mohr-Pietsch. He discusses his ventures into the operatic world, the success of The Met’s recent production of his opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, and returning to the New York opera company’s hallowed stage for their current run of his first opera, Champion, which is based on the life of boxer Emile Griffith.

Sara travels to the Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer, in Chelsea, to hear from a modern von Trapp family lineage of singers – the Bevan Family Consort. We hear from sisters Sophie and Mary Bevan about their new album, following in the musical footsteps of their parents’ generation, and singing together as a family.

David Price, Director of Analysis at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, gives Music Matters the latest news about how listeners access and engage with classical music recordings.

And, as his new collection of lyrics – Never Good with Horses – hits the bookshelves, the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage discusses the art of writing words that can be set to music. We hear too about a special speed-dating project, as part of the Leeds Lieder festival, which paired-up 12 poets from the city with 12 young composers to create a songbook. Sara talked to composers Georgia Barnes and Daniel Saleeb, and the poet Dalton Harrison.

Tom Services talks to German baritone Christian Gerhaher during rehearsals for Alban Berg's Wozzeck at the Royal Opera House. Having recently recorded all the songs of Robert Schumann as well as Mahler, Brahms and Schubert, Christian reveals how he sees the differing role of the singer when performing lieder and opera, and why he believes celebrating the complexity of classical music will secure its future.

Tom also meets singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer Rhiannon Giddens whose opera 'Omar' has just been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music. The opera tells the story of Omar Ibn Said, a scholar who was one of tens of thousands of enslaved Muslims who were taken to the United States in the 19th century. Rhiannon discusses the power of collaboration, the future of opera and her ongoing mission to reclaim the history of the banjo as an instrument created by black communities.

For Mental Health Awareness Week, we explore the world of gong baths to find out how sound therapy can be used to help reduce levels of anxiety and stress. Tom goes for a gong bath with sound therapist and musician Simone Salvatici and talks to British Academy of Sound Therapy Director Lyz Cooper.

Plus, Chris West, author of 'Eurovision! A History of Modern Europe Through the World's Greatest Song Contest', explores how the songs of Eurovision have reflected the traditional music and cultural identity of the countries taking part, as well as telling stories of peace, conflict and resolution since it was established in 1956.