Front Row

The podcast ‘Aria Code’ from WQXR and the Metropolitan Opera aims to pull back the curtain on some of operas most well-known moments. Each episode “decodes” one aria, with academics and opera singers diving in to the music. But there are also a variety of unexpected guests, such as a marriage therapist talking relationships in Carmen or a former sex worker giving perspective on La Traviata. Host Rhiannon Giddens explains what’s coming up in the third series of the podcast.The 2020 film The Legend of Fire Saga told the story of Husavik - a plucky little village in Iceland - that wanted to send a local group to compete at The Eurovision Song Contest. They have a song ready to sing in English but decide at the last moment to swap to one which features their native tongue, even though they’ve been warned that it’ll mean they won’t win. It starred Will Ferrel and Rachel McAdams and the song’s real life composer was Atli Örvarsson (who’s also written for Maroon 5, Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding and many others). N

The recent death of Lou Ottens - the inventor of audio cassettes who later went on to work on the development of CD technology - gives us the opportunity to look back at the glory days of cassettes, their subsequent decline and the latest unexpected return to fashion, with music journalists Laura Barton and Jude Rogers.Young British poet Luke Wright describes himself as 'a louche poet (who) loves a bit of bathos'. He has a new collection of work, The Feelgood Movie Of The Year, with poems written over the past few years and right up to Covid lockdown, which brought his full touring diary to an abrupt standstill. How has life changed, and where does a poet find inspiration when their everyday world shrinks overnight?Shaka King is the director of Judas and the Black Messiah, a new film starring Daniel Kaluuya which tells the story of the political life and assassination of Black Panther Fred Hampton at the age of 21 in 1969. King discusses the FBI's determined campaign to disrupt the powerful unifying movement

Netflix’s new drama, The One, set five minutes in the future, depicts a world where a DNA test can find your perfect partner. Kohinoor Sahota joins us to discuss its mix of sci-fi and romance, as well as whether this format could be the future of dating.The longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction is announced today. Critic Alex Clark joins Front Row to talk about the themes, highlights, whether there are any surprise inclusions and omissions, and which book might take the prize. At the weekend, actor and director Samuel West proposed a plan to ‘reboot’ regional theatre following the lockdown, which would see big-name TV and film stars doing a play at a theatre closest to where they grew up. The actor discusses the reaction to his suggestion and how it would work.In the latest of our Moments of Joy series, comedian Kieran Hodgson takes us into the world of Dvorak’s 8th Symphony, complete with its (figurative) partying elephants and comedy conclusion.Main image: Hannah Ware in the new Netflix series The One

The Bafta Film Awards have unveiled a highly diverse nominations list, with 16 of the 24 acting nominees this year coming from ethnic minority groups. This follows criticsm in previous years about shortlists that didn’t reflect modern Britain. Film maker, poet and founder of The Caramel Film Club Be Manzini joins us to ask whether this is the beginning of greater representation. Violinist Hilary Hahn’s new CD ‘Paris’ brings together music inspired by a city that has been pivotal in her career. She explains her connection to the pieces she’s recorded, how she juggles pandemic problems with being a professional violinist, and how she hopes to make changes for the next generation of musicians.Diyora Shadijanova and Stig Abell discuss the rise of competitive reading. With more and more people setting themselves a reading target and sharing their book history online, they consider whether social media has made the act of reading more performative than personal. The academic John Mullan has been recommending re-rea

Novelist Oana Aristide discusses her debut novel Under the Blue, about a reclusive artist forced to abandon his home and follow two young sisters across a post-pandemic Europe in search of a safe place. It has been described as eco-fiction and it explores themes of environmental destruction, the melting of the polar ice, eco-terrorism, all within a suspenseful story of three survivors on a terrifying road trip.The British poet Stevie Smith, best known for her work “Not Waving, But Drowning” died 50 years ago today. We speak with her biographer Frances Spalding, the editor of her collected poems and drawings Will May and we’re joined by the actor Juliet Stevenson to look at Smith’s life and works and consider her legacy.Kings of Leon have made their new album available as a form of cryptocurrency, and last week Grimes sold a digital collection of artworks in a similar way for almost $6m. Aleks Krotoski explains the growing craze for ‘non-fungible tokens’ or NFTs.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Oliver JonesM

David Mamet's latest play, The Christopher Boy’s Communion is about a couple in New York whose son is facing trial charged with an appalling crime. First performed on the stage in Los Angeles last year, it’s premiers in the UK in the form of a radio play next week. He discusses the tricky issues it deals with and how he adapted a lengthier stage play it for radio (BBC Radio 4, Monday 8 March 8, 1415) In this week’s Friday Review, critics Karen Krizanovich and Jan Asante discuss two films with different perspectives on feminism: The Glorias, written and directed by Julie Taymor and starring Alicia Vikander and Julianne Moore, which focuses on the life of the American feminist, writer and activist Gloria Steinem, and the US high school drama Moxie, directed by and starring Amy Poehler. American writer Danielle Evans talks to Kirsty about her second short story collection, The Office of Historical Corrections, which offers a kaleidoscopic exploration of what it is to be African American in the modern USA and u

As World Book Day we’re speaking to teacher turned rapper turned internet sensation MC Grammar. He's created lots of videos setting information about grammar to a rap beat. He joins us to explain why it succeeds with school children and we hear the song he's composed specially for the day. Since the arrival of Amazon and online bookselling, independent bookshops have been facing an existential crisis, one that has only accelerated under Coronavirus. Going online to sell books feels like a natural way to boost profits and in November a new service, Bookshop.org, arrived in the UK promising to help bookshops get online and give them a bigger cut of profits. Bookshop.org has announced it has generated £1 million for independent bookshops - could the service be the saviour of independent bookshops and what is the future for ethical book buying online? Nicole Vanderbilt, Managing Director at Bookshop.org UK and Zool Verjee, head of marketing and publicity at Blackwells join us to discuss.And we hear about the p

Pat Metheny has won 20 Grammy Awards, predominantly for his work as a jazz guitarist, but also for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and Best Instrumental Composition. His latest work is as a composer. The album Road to the Sun has two major works for classical guitar. Four Paths of Light is a four movement suite for a solo instrument, played by Jason Vieaux, and Road to the Sun, a piece in six parts, performed by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Metheny himself plays his arrangement of Arvo Pärt's piano piece Für Alina, on an extraordinary 42 string instrument. Pat Metheny tells John Wilson about this ambitious work.We've reaction to today's Budget Statement from the Chancellor. Rishi Sunak has added £300m to the £1.57bn Cultural Recovery Fund, £90m more for museums, and £18m for cultural community projects but will the newly announced extension to the Government's Self Employment Income Support scheme really help struggling arts freelancers? And how can the festivals industry plan for the summer without th

Your Honour is a new Showtime miniseries starring Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston as a respected New Orleans judge whose son is involved in a hit-and-run. He faces a series of impossible choices questioning how far a Father will go to go to save a son's life. Developed by British Peter Moffat it's a remake of the hit Israeli show Kvodo. Novelist and journalist Lionel Shriver reviews. Stories To Get You Through is a new podcast performed by the people of Doncaster as part of the National Theatre's Public Acts programme. Participants developed their stories remotely on Zoom, over the phone, and through postal packs with creative writing activities, and recorded the stories at home with professional audio recording equipment. The podcast series consists of five episodes exploring themes of imagination, change, fear, friendship and heroes. Nick is joined by James Blakey, Associate Director of Public Acts at the National Theatre, and Lyn Sweeting, who took part. Singer songwriter Catherine Anne Davies makes music

Kazuo Ishiguro has just published his eighth novel, the first to be written since he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 and was knighted. Klara and the Sun is about an Artificial Friend, a robot whose role is to be a companion to the teenage Josie, though it becomes apparent that more may be expected of Klara. With resonances of two of his previous novels Never Let Me Go and of The Remains of the Day, it is a much-anticipated addition to Ishiguro’s body of work. Sameer Rahim, books editor at Prospect magazine, joins us to review.The kind of systemic violence that led to the death of George Floyd is the concern of the composer and producer Adrian Younge in The American Negro, his multimedia project for Black History Month in the US. It comprises an album of music and spoken word, a four part podcast series, Invisible Blackness, and a short film. Live from Los Angeles Adrian Younge talks to us about this ambitious and unapologetic critique of the malevolent psychology that afflicts people of colour i

We review a new biopic of jazz singer Billie Holiday, directed by Lee Daniels, which tells the story of the FBI’s campaign against her. They were afraid that performing her most famous song Strange Fruit, about the lynching of Black Americans, would incite unrest. Andra Day stars as Holiday. Barb Jungr and Be Manzini give their verdict, comment on the week's arts news and give recommendations for what they've been enjoying recently.A True Born Englishman, a monologue written 30 years ago for Radio 3 by Peter Barnes but never broadcast, is now available online as part of Barnes' People, a collection of the writer's monologues, produced by Original Theatre Company. It imagines the story of a long-serving footman at Buckingham Palace. We talk to actor Adrian Scarborough about the role and why it wasn't broadcast at the time.We mark the passing of the much loved actor of stage and screen Ronald Pickup. Praised as a great character actor, he also played many lead roles. He found global fame with The Crown and T

Artists Gilbert & George open a new exhibition at the White Cube next week. The pair first met in 1967 whilst studying sculpture at Central St Martin’s art college. They’ve lived and worked together in East London for fifty years. The show - New Normal Pictures - consists of twenty-six new pictures which feature the pair in gritty London landscapes including bin bags, bus shelters and graffiti. It was first due to exhibit in April last year. They join John Wilson to discuss how they’ve been more industrious than ever in lockdown and how they hope their fans will experience their art online. First staged in 2019, Typical is a play based on the true-life story of the last night of Christopher Alder, a 37-year-old Black father of two, computer trainee and former paratrooper. That night out in Hull in 1998 would end with his death in police custody. Playwright Ryan Calais Cameron joins Front Row to talk about the Soho Theatre streaming of his play, a one man show performed by Richard Blackwood and co-produ

As she is awarded one of British crime writing’s top accolades, the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger, Samira talks to crime novelist Martina Cole. Hailed as the Queen of Crime Drama, Cole has written 25 novels and sold 10 million books since records began but her work is rarely reviewed - so what’s her secret?Under the road map unveiled by Boris Johnson on Monday public museums and galleries in England will be allowed to reopen no earlier than 17 May, along with other indoor venues such as cinemas and soft play areas, whilst commercial galleries, public libraries, community centres and gyms are allowed to open from 12 April. Sharon Heal, director of the Museums Association talks to Samira Ahmed about the impact the continued classification of museums as "indoor entertainment venues" will have on the sector and whether there might be a shift on behalf of the government.Folk musician Sam Lee has collaborated with English Heritage on a project called Songs of England, a series of online films of sites f

John Keats was just 25 when he died in Rome 200 years ago. To mark the anniversary The Poetry Society has commissioned new work from award-winning contemporary poets responding to Keats’s work, and two of them – Rachael Boast and Will Harris – join us to share their poems and discuss why Keats is still important to contemporary writers 200 hundred years after his death.“The Best Is Yet To Come” is Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler’s 18th studio album. Pushed back by the pandemic, it’s a return to the bombastic full-figured 80s sound that characterised Total Eclipse of the Heart and some of her other greatest hits. At the age of 69, does the rock veteran feel like the best is yet to come? Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden summoned 25 heads of England's Museums and heritage organisations to a summit today to discuss the issue of contested history and the government policy of "retain and explain". Duncan Wilson, Chief Exec of Historic England, reports on the meeting. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Hilary Dunn Studio Man

As the Prime Minister sets out his roadmap to ending the Covid lockdown we get reaction from Dominique Frazer, Founder of the Boileroom, a music venue in Guildford, and Hamish Moseley, Managing Director of an independent film distribution company Altitude Film Entertainment, and ask if this offers them enough information to start to plan for the year ahead.Radio Wales DJ Huw Stephens discusses is three part documentary, The Story of Welsh Art, which looks as visual art in the country more associated with poets and singers. As Nick, a prequel to The Great Gatsby is published, we speak to it's author Michael Farris Smith on why the rather retiring character Nick Carraway deserved a backstory and Professor of Literature Diane Roberts joins to discuss the appeal of the genre. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Simon RichardsonMain Image: Huw Stephens holding a painting by Richard Wilson called Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle. Credit: BBC

Leicester Curve’s recent award-winning revival of the musical The Color Purple, based on Alice Walker’s novel, has been reimagined, filmed and is being streamed for audiences. Dreda Say Mitchell and David Benedict review. David Rodigan joins us to celebrate the life of the great Jamaican musician U-Roy, who died recently. He was a master of the toasting mic style – the precursor of rapping, MC-ing and freestyling. Niven Govinden studied film before becoming an award-winning writer. In his sixth novel Diary of a Film his cinematic knowledge is filtered through the lens of creative anxiety, queer desire, and European city walking. In it, an auteur and his lead actors arrive at a prestigious film festival to premiere his latest film. Alone one morning at a backstreet cafe, he strikes up a conversation with a local woman who takes him on a walk to uncover the city's secrets, historic and personal. A story of love and tragedy emerges, and he begins to see the chance meeting as fate. Every year the Arts Foundation

Dame Sarah Connolly sings the role of the goddess Fricka in the Royal Opera House's production of Wagner's The Ring Cycle, currently being broadcast on BBC Radio 3. She discusses the challenge of performing this 15 hour operatic epic. Chris Brandon on writing the new BBC crime drama series Bloodlands - which stars James Nesbitt as a detective - is exec produced by Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty and Bodyguard), and which draws on Brandon's own upbringing in Northern Ireland. Visual artist Jessie Brennan presents our latest #FrontRowGetCreative challenge: today it's "blind drawing", which invites us to take a more intimate view of a person or object. You'll need the help of someone you're bubbling with, or you could draw a pet or object.We pay tribute to the artist Victor Ambrus, who has died at the age of 85. A refugee from Hungary, Ambrus became known for his illustrations of children's books - folktales, history and animal stories - and for his appearances on the TV show Time Team. His powerful images of battle

Is listening to K-Pop like buying sweatshop-made clothes? From rigorous childhood performance academies to long, labour-intensive contracts for young idols, does the South Korean music industry have an exploitation problem? High profile suicides, sexual harassment claims and industry standards are complicating the nature of the industry and the fandom as it booms in the English speaking world. Musicologist Haekyung Um and journalist Taylor Glasby weigh in. Poet Kate Fox talks about her new collection The Oscillations, exploring distance and isolation in the age of the pandemic, refracted through the lenses of neurodiversity and trauma in poems that are bold, funny and open-hearted in their self-discoveries.Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic Tom Morris and Matt Hemley from The Stage discuss the viability of touring UK stage shows in Europe post Brexit as the National Theatre announce today that their planned European tour of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will not go ahead.Presenter: Kirs

In 2006 a friend of the actor and writer Lorien Haynes died. Haynes's grief has found unusual expression - in a romantic comedy starring Sian Clifford and Nikesh Patel. In Good Grief the central character is dead. Director Natalie Abrahami has created an unusual hybrid of film and theatre, shot in what looks like a rehearsal studio, with a set of cardboard boxes - one marked 'cupboard'. Between scenes we see the crew setting lights and microphones. The critic Alice Saville reviews.Comic novelist Shalom Auslander talks to Tom about his latest novel, Mother for Dinner. Seventh Seltzer is a Cannibal-American who has done everything he can to break from his past, but in his overbearing, narcissistic mother's last moments he is drawn back into the life he left behind. At her deathbed, she whispers in his ear the two words he always knew she would: Eat me. The book explores ideas of legacy, assimilation, the things we owe our families, and the things we owe ourselves.As the National Gallery in London announces pla

As the nation waits for the vaccine and lockdown restrictions to ease, what can literature teach us about the art of waiting? Writer Rebecca Stott, critic Alex Clark and poet Anthony Anaxagorou discuss the art of waiting, whether cheerfully or 'with a green and yellow melancholy… like Patience on a monument' as Viola says in Twelfth Night.Lolita Chakrabarti’s play Hymn begins at a funeral where two men meet, and begin to form a remarkable bond. Lolita discusses her play that uses music and dance to chart the developing bond between these men. The play that begins streaming live from the Almeida Theatre this week.What do you remember of The Silence of the Lambs? It was released 30 years ago yesterday - on St Valentine's Day. The critic Michael Carlson looks back at this horror classic which uses elements of the rom-com genre, and argues we are wrong to think Lecter is the central figure. Clarice Starling, the FBI trainee, played by Jodie Foster, is the focus, and the film plays out from her perspective. Pres