Christophe Rousset is a harpsichordist, conductor, and founder of Les Talens Lyriques. In this conversation, recorded in Paris, he talks about completing his twenty-year project to record all thirteen of Lully's operas — a composer long dismissed as boring, and why that dismissal gets the history wrong.

We also discuss the young Mozart as musical sponge, absorbing Jommelli and Gassmann before finding his own voice; the Amadeus problem and what it gets wrong about Salieri; the relationship between scholarly knowledge and artistic intuition; and the kind of authority a conductor holds — total in theory, useless if exercised clumsily.

The closing distinction Rousset draws — between playing with rules and breaking them — turns out to be the most revealing thing he says.

In this episode

• Why comparing Lully to Rameau is a category error
• How a twenty-year recording project accumulates rather than gets planned
• The young Mozart's debts to Jommelli and Gassmann
• Scholarliness versus intuition in the rehearsal room
• Power, charm, and persuasion as a conductor
• "Playing with the rules" as a governing philosophy

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Sheffield Chamber Music Festival 2026 curator Claire Booth was asked a blunt question when she was invited her to put together this year's programme: why is selling a song recital so difficult? This year's Sheffield is the answer — or rather, her answer, or the argument. Or maybe its her case for it.

Across a week of concerts, she pulls in Ravel's Scheherazade into the orbit of folk tales, positions Judith Weir's King Harald's Saga alongside a repeat performance of Gavin Higgins's Speak of the North, and premieres Julian Philipps's multilingual children's opera Henny Penny. Song sells itself because song tells a story.

Recorded in the Royal Opera House café after a day of rehearsals, Claire talks about the Festival, a planned collaboration with Rufus Norris on Beckett, her 2025 RPS Singer Award, and — briefly, and with more disappointment than heat — Timothy Chalamet.

Sheffield Chamber Music Festival's outgoing artistic director Edwin Paul asked Claire Booth a blunt question when he invited her to curate this year's programme: why can't you sell a song recital? Across a week of concerts that pull Scheherazade into the orbit of folk tales, set Judith Weir's King Harald's Saga against Gavin Higgins's Speak of the North, and premiere Julian Philipps's multilingual children's opera Henny Penny, her festival is the answer — or rather, the argument.

Recorded in the Royal Opera House café after a day of rehearsals, we talk about the Festival, a planned collaboration with Rufus Norris on Beckett, her 2025 RPS Singer Award, and — briefly, and with more disappointment than heat — Timothy Chalamet.

More information on Sheffield Chamber Festival: https://musicintheround.co.uk/explore-at-home/in-the-round/sheffield-chamber-music-festival-2026/

Composer and pianist Huw Watkins explores his work, his musical language, his collaborations with musicians including Tamsin Waley-Cohen with whom he has released a new album on Signum, Reflection.

When branding gets louder than the art.

A conversation with violinist and singer Lizzie Ball that begins with “big announcement week” energy and opens into a thoughtful exploration of intimacy, collaboration, and how classical music can be presented with integrity, warmth, and curiosity — from Ronnie Scott’s new series to life on and off the stage..

What’s the point of pursuing something you can never reach? Hope, apparently.

Mezzo-soprano Katie Bray makes a compelling case. Her new album In Search of Youkali explores Kurt Weill’s musical response to longing, exile, and the fragile idea of belonging.

Discover Penelope Appleyard's Live from London’s festive Jane Austen programme with Zeb Soanes and pianist Jonathan Delbridge: song, domestic music-making, and Regency wit brought to life in an intimate Christmas performance.

How do we make the classical music industry inclusive for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds — when even the “comfortable” ones struggle to get a foothold?

How does an industry that desperately needs a diverse workforce to survive remove the barriers it has quietly maintained for decades?

Composer and sound artist Ruby Colley releases her new album Hello Halo on 14 November 2025 — a work shaped by field recordings, family archives, and her lifelong conversation with her nonverbal brother Paul.

It premiered at King’s Place in February, evolved through performances at Aldeburgh’s Britten Weekend, and arrives now as both an album and a film — an invitation to listen differently

I met composer Ruby for a cup of tea in Hastings. It was a joyous afternoon — unhurried, thoughtful, all very British. The resulting conversation was about the shared joy of listening — to sound, and to silence. It is one of those of handful of very special podcast interactions which captures the spirit of the moment and returns it in spades, perfect for a dark winter evening. Soothing, consolatory and motivating.