Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen chats with John Florance at De Montfort Hall in Leicester: the conversation touches on Sibelius and his Violin Concerto, the relationship between soloist and conductor, and whether you really do need to know the narrative behind a piece of music to truly appreciate it. 

Composer Mark-Anthony Turnage talks with writer and presenter Katy Hamilton about his new work for horn, Towards Alba, premiered by Richard Watkins (horn) and the Philharmonia Orchestra on 16 Jan 2020 at the Royal Festival Hall.

Part of the Philharmonia Orchestra's 75th birthday celebrations - click for more information: www.philharmonia.co.uk/POat75

Enjoy this wide-ranging talk with conductor Pablo Heras-Casado and Natasha Riordan-Eva, delving into the life of the French composer Lili Boulanger, French impressionist music and early music. Heras-Casado also talks about his extensive recording work and what to do when you've just had too much music!

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Conductor Elim Chan speaks to John Florence at De Montfort Hall in Leicester in a fascinating pre-concert talk that covers ballet, dreams of being a coroner and why conducting orchestras can be like dating.

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Gavin Plumley, Series Advisor to the Philharmonia Orchestra's series Weimar Berlin: Bittersweet Metropolis, presents another look at Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, demonstrating how the simple dedication, "To the memory of an angel," tells only part of the story. Written after the early death of Alma Mahler and Walter Gropius's daughter, Manon, Plumley unearths some of the many "ghosts" lurking in the score and shares stories of love, betrayal and politics in Vienna high society. Recorded 26 Sept 2019, Royal Festival Hall, London. Please note that the first five minutes of the talk were not recorded after a technical fault.

More on the series: http://philharmonia.co.uk/weimar_berlin

Series Advisor Gavin Plumley launches the Philharmonia Orchestra's Weimar Berlin: Bittersweet Metropolis concert series with a pre-concert talk with historian, Philipp Blom, author of Fracture: Life and Culture in the West 1918-1938. The two draw clear parallels between Weimar Germany and today's changing world. The series continues in June and September 2019: https://www.philharmonia.co.uk/concerts/series/82/weimar_berlin_bittersweet_metropolis

Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado chats with John Florence ahead of a concert at De Montfort Hall in Leicester with the Philharmonia Orchestra. They discuss how Pablo got his slightly unusual start in conducting, his love of early music, and the importance of the conductor to champion less popular repertoire.

John Florance talks to Conductor Xian Zhang ahead of her concert at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester on 29th March 2019.

The Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen, talks to BBC Radio 3 presenter Andrew McGregor about his Cello Concerto which took place at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday 24th February.

Organist James McVinnie introduces the UK premiere of Peter Eotvos' Multiversum, which happened at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 7 February 2019.

Katy Hamilton talks to Principal Guest Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Pianist Alice Sara Ott ahead of the Sibelius & Ravel concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 24 January 2019.

Philharmonia Orchestra Principal Trumpet Alistair Mackie talks with Principal Guest Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali ahead of an all-Strauss programme at De Montfort Hall in Leicester on 5 December 2018.

Katy Hamilton opens the Philharmonia Orchestra's 2018/19 Royal Festival Hall season with an Insights Talk on Esa-Pekka Salonen's concert programme of Wagner, Schoenberg and Bruckner.

Broadcaster Gavin Plumley tells the story behind the creation of Arnold Schoenberg's extraordinary Gurrelieder, performed by the Philharmonia and Esa-Pekka Salonen to close the Philharmonia Orchestra's 17/18 London concert season.

The Philharmonia Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Esa-Pekka Salonen, chats with journalist John Florance ahead of a concert of Mahler’s 1st Symphony and Beethoven’s 2nd Piano Concerto at De Montfort Hall in Leicester on 10 April 2018. Topics cover Gustav Mahler and Jean Sibelius’s famous encounter in Finland and their differing opinions of what a symphony should contain, the power of provocation in music, and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s own struggle to balance composing, conducting and life.

This concert repeats in London at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 12 April 2018 at 7:30pm. Book here: https://www.philharmonia.co.uk/concerts/1752

Please note: Audience questions have been edited out due to being inaudible on the recording - we cut straight to the panellist answers.

Voices of Revolution: Russia 1917 Series Advisor Martin Sixsmith speaks to musicologist Marina Frolova-Walker about the different ways Soviet era composers navigated an increasingly volatile system, one that could be unpredictable, especially when it came to evaluating music. 

Profiling composers featured in the Philharmonia Orchestra's Royal Festival Hall concert on 22 March 2018, Sixsmith and Frolova-Walker explore how Sergei Prokofiev was lured back to Russia with flattery; how Alexander Mosolov ended up in the Gulag; and how Reinhold Glière managed to work the system to his advantage by producing beautiful, accessible music. 

Works discussed: 

Mosolov: Iron Foundry

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3

Glière: Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra, The Red Poppy

Recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London.

Philharmonia Orchestra's 'Voices of Revolution' series continues in March 2018. https://www.philharmonia.co.uk/concerts/series/68/voices_of_revolution_russia_1917 

Series Advisor Martin Sixsmith leads a discussion about Battleship Potemkin with Russian and Soviet Film Studies professor, Philip Cavendish.

Cavendish discusses Battleship Potemkin's iconic role in world cinema, it's powerful cinematography and director Sergei Eisenstein's aim to capture the tragedy, the pathos and brutality of events that took part in Odessa.

Recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London.

Philharmonia Orchestra's 'Voices of Revolution' series continues in March 2018. 

Philharmonia Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor Jakub Hrůša speaks with Hannah Nepil of the Financial Times to discuss his relationship with the Philharmonia and his upcoming performance of Smetana's Má Vlast. 

Recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London. 

This week's Backstage Pass podcast is all about the oldest music festival in the world, the Three Choirs Festival. This year marks the 300th anniversary of the event. As the resident orchestra at the festival we were keen to mark this special event by bringing the behind-the-scenes experience of the Three Choirs to your ears.

Tune in to hear more from this unique event with interviews from the festival's artistic director, Geraint Bowen, the Philharmonia roadies and our players.