Russian violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky discusses Menuhin, the Soviet music education system, and nerves in this podcast recorded at the Verbier Festival on Sunday 28 July 2019. 

Nicolas Hodges appears at the BBC Proms 2019 in a performance of Messiaen's Des Canyon aux étoiles. Here he discusses the different ways birdsong sounds across the world, how eight weeks when he was a teenager made contemporary music inescapable, and what happens in the moment between the final note of a piece of music and the applause beginning. 

Principal clarinettist of the Philharmonia Mark van de Wiel discuss the Mozart and Phibbs recordings just released Signum, plus explain his development as a musician with teachers Dame Thea King and Colin Bradbury. Buy via the Signum website >> https://signumrecords.com/product/phibbs-and-mozart/SIGCD578/

Matthew Barley's recording of John Tavener's The Protecting Veil was released on the Signum label in June 2019. It's available via Spotify. 

BBC Proms management bod introduces what's in store during the 2019 season.

Maths prodigy and now composer. Alexey Shor is the composer in residence at the Malta International Festival. In this podcast he discusses why he writes and how he writes, and challenges a whole load of assumptions about the classical music world as he does so. Read the accompanying blog post on the Thoroughly Good Blog. 

Director of Music at St Johns College of Cambridge discusses his work at St Johns College Cambridge, the educational impact of Cambridge music making, and the choir's new release on Signum Records, Locus Iste. 

Jon Jacob speaks to composer Jonathan Dove at the Salisbury International Arts Festival about the compositional language he uses in some of his works. An album of orchestral music by Jonathan with the BBC Philharmonic and Timothy Redmond is available on Spotify. 

Podcast 40 features an interview with cellist Joy Lisney who appears at the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre, on 8th June in a recital of Bach, Chopin and Brahms with her piano playing father James Lisney. More information on the [Southbank Centre website](https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/128978-joy-and-james-lisney-2019) or at [www.joylisney.com](http://www.joylisney.com). Music: Vriend's '[Anatomy of Passion](https://youtu.be/LDzdp6mc8Zc)' performed live in 2004.