Page 285 - Aldeburgh Festival 2022 FINAL COVERAGE BOOK

Séguin; Takács Quartet; Golda Schultz; and mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená,
amongst others.

Other Music Highlights

Vaughan Williams Today

BBC Radio 3’s special month of programming Vaughan Williams Today celebrates
the composer at 150 with a 20-hour Composer Of The Week series (Monday 2 to
Friday 27 May).

Throughout May, BBC Radio 3 continues its focus on Ralph Vaughan Williams with
Vaughan Williams Today - a series of special programmes which started in March
2022, marking 150 years since the composer’s birth on 12 October 1872.

At the heart of the celebration, Donald Macleod presents an in-depth survey of
Vaughan Williams’ life and music in a four-week Composer Of The Week edition.
With contributions from guests including pianist and academic Ceri Owen, conductor
Martyn Brabbins, and musicologist Eric Saylor, the episodes reassess the
composer’s impact on British musical life, with discussions illustrated by playlists
including much-loved pieces such as The Lark Ascending, as well as lesser-known
works such as Vaughan Williams’ early Fantasia For Piano And Orchestra.

In April and May, Vaughan Williams Today also includes BBC Radio 3 In Concert
broadcasts of performances by BBC Philharmonic and the Hallé, as they join forces
at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall to complete the cycle of Vaughan Williams’
symphonies, which started in March 2022.

BBC Philharmonic, with conductor John Wilson, is joined by soprano Sarah Fox and
the Ladies of the Manchester Choir for Sinfonia Antartica and A London Symphony
(Tuesday 12 April); Wilson returns to the podium for Symphony No. 9 with the Hallé
(Thursday 21 April), and Manchester’s ensemble is led by Sir Mark Elder in the last
two performances of the cycle: Symphony No. 6 and A Sea Symphony with soprano
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha and baritone Roderick Williams (Tuesday 3 May);
and Symphony No. 8 closing the cycle on Thursday 12 May.

Also part of Vaughan Williams Today in May are:

• Petroc Trelawny on Breakfast delving into the composer’s passion for collecting
English folksongs (from Monday 2 May for two weeks)
• Martin Handley on Sunday Breakfast focusing on the Vaughan Williams edited
version of The English Hymnal (Sunday 1 to Sunday 29 May)
• Between The Ears: The Lark Descending featuring Hinako Omori’s new electronic re-
imagining of Vaughan Williams’ beloved piece, where the lark’s own song is sampled
to perform the renowned violin solo
• Narrator and contributor Lucy ‘Lapwing’ Hodson leading violinist Jennifer Pike out
onto the heathland at Leith Hill Place to hear the larks nesting there (Sunday 29 May)
• In Tune Mixtape presenting special Vaughan Williams-inspired playlists using works
by the composer, or inspired by him (Monday 9 to Friday 13 May)