Front Row

John Adams is one of the world's most critically acclaimed and popular composers whose music is performed frequently and globally. Over more than four decades he's covered a lot of musical ground, from experiments in recorded sound, and the harmony and rhythm of Minimalism to grand-scale symphonies and operas that tell big stories of global politics, science and terrorism. As he turns 70 he looks back at his musical life with John Wilson. Producer: Rebecca ArmstrongPlaylist: Hallelujah JunctionTchaikovsky's 1812 OvertureBozo the Clown's theme tuneGrand Pianola MusicOn The Transmigration Of SoulsSteve Reich's DrummingPhilip Glass's Knee Play from Einstein on the BeachPhrygian GatesBeginning from Nixon in ChinaThe People Are The Heroes Now from Nixon in ChinaChorus of Exiled Palestinians from The Death of KlinghofferChorus of Exiled Jews from The Death of KlinghofferMarilyn Klinghoffer: "You embraced them!" from The Death of KlinghofferTale of the Wize Young Woman from Scherherazade 2Image: John Adams Image cr

As a major new retrospective of the British artist Eduardo Paolozzi opens, John Wilson explores 'the godfather of Pop Art', with reflections from Paolozzi's friend and collaborator Sir Terence Conran, and the artist himself, from a Front Row interview recorded before his death in 2005.Neil Gaiman talks about his new book Norse Mythology, as he returns to the original sources to create his own version of the great northern tales. The Pros and Cons of self-publishing, with literary critic Alex Clark and author Mark Dawson, who left a traditional publishing company to self publish and now regularly tops the best-seller lists. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Timothy Prosser.

Hidden Figures tells the story of three brilliant African-American women mathematicians working at NASA during the early years of the Space programme. Science expert Sue Nelson reviews the film which stars Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe and Octavia Spencer. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Dirty Dancing, the coming-of-age film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, set in the 1960s, about a wide-eyed teen on a family holiday who discovers a forbidden underworld of sexy dancing. The film's writer Eleanor Bergstein explains how she drew on her own experiences as a teen, but also reflected the politics of the time.To celebrate the bicentenary of Branwell Brontë, the brother overshadowed by his more talented sisters - Charlotte, Emily, and Anne - the poet Simon Armitage discusses a new exhibition he has curated at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and a new series of poems he has written inspired by some of Branwell's possessions.A new production of Othello at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol aims to emphasi

Keanu Reeves talks to John Wilson about his three decade career, from Hamlet and My Own Private Idaho to action hero John Wick. Chad Stahelski, who was Keanu Reeves' stunt double in the Matrix films, on moving to behind the camera, as director of both John Wick films. Rag'n'Bone Man, the unorthodox-looking pop star from Brighton who recently won the Brits' Critics' Choice 2017, discusses his debut album, Human.As part of Front Row's series on artworks about the Russian Revolution, Natalia Murray champions a painting by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin called the Petrograd Madonna, on show at the Royal Academy.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Timothy Prosser.

In Prevenge, writer and director Alice Lowe stars as an expectant mother whose unborn child convinces her to commit murder. Meryl O'Rourke reviews this dark comedy which was filmed whilst Lowe was actually pregnant.John Boyne is one of Ireland's bestselling novelists. His book The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold six million copies worldwide. He talks to Samira about his latest novel, The Heart's Invisible Furies, the story of social developments in post-war Ireland told through the life of his main character, Cyril Avery.The Turner-prize winning artist Keith Tyson talks about his latest exhibition at the Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, in which he explores the universe and our place in it. Featuring more than 360 studio wall drawings created over the last 20 years of his career, it aims to form a visual diary of Tyson's practice.To mark centenary of the Russian Revolution - which saw the collapse of the Russian Empire and the rise of the Soviet Union - Front Row has asked figures from the Arts world to select

Ang Lee's latest film, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, stars British actor Joe Alwyn as 19-year-old private Billy Lynn, who is caught on camera saving a comrade and, after the video goes viral on YouTube, becomes a pin-up for the war in Iraq. Through a sequence of flashbacks the realities of the war are revealed in contrast with the public's distorted perceptions of heroism. Kirsty talks to Ben Fountain, the novelist on whose book the film is based, and Joe Alwyn who was offered the part whilst still in drama school.Widely acclaimed as a central figure of the Bloomsbury Group, the modernist painter, Vanessa Bell (1879-1961) was a pivotal player in 20th century British art, but her reputation as an artist has long been overshadowed by her family life and romantic entanglements. Dulwich Picture Gallery in London seeks to rectify that with the first major solo exhibition of her work. Its curator, Sarah Milroy, shows Kirsty around.To mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Front Row has asked figures from

The Moorside, which airs on BBC1 at 9pm tonight, is a drama about events surrounding the disappearance of nine year old Shannon Matthews in 2008. Starring Sheridan Smith as Julie Bushby, the woman who orchestrated the hunt for Shannon and Gemma Whelan as Shannon's mother Karen, who was eventually found guilty of the kidnap and false imprisonment of her daughter, the programme has been criticised by some as inappropriate subject matter for a TV show. Executive producer Jeff Pope defends the making of The Moorside and discusses the ethics and challenges of turning real-life events into drama.In 20th Century Women, Annette Bening stars as a freethinking Santa Barbara mother who enlists the help of two young women in raising her adolescent son during a period of cultural and social turmoil. Film critic Jenny McCartney reviews.To mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Front Row has asked figures from the arts world to champion their favourite work, inspired by events in 1917. Today, film director Peter Gree

From his paintings of Californian swimming pools, to his Polaroid collages; his iPad drawings, to videos of his favourite country lane - as he approaches his 80th birthday, David Hockney continues to change his style and embrace new technologies. In a major retrospective of his work, Tate Britain in London is showing many of his most famous works from the 1960's to the present day. Charlotte Mullins reviews.Elbow front man Guy Garvey and bassist Pete Turner discuss the band's new album Little Fictions, and the new approach they've taken following the departure of the drummer Richard Jupp after 25 years.Max Richter on composing a ballet about Virginia Woolf, Woolf Works, writing the music for BBC1's Taboo, and why his piece On the Nature of Daylight has been used in so many films, including Arrival. Presenter : John Wilson Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Viola Davis on her Oscar-nominated performance in August Wilson's Fences, co-starring and directed by Denzel Washington.With a father and two brothers in the acting profession, it's not surprising that Rory Gleeson's first passion was for the stage. However writing proved to have a stronger appeal. He discusses his debut novel, Rockadoon Shore, a story of six young friends with a plan for a wild weekend in rural Ireland that goes awry.The Waterstones book chain has reported a profit for the first time in five years. Waterstone's buying director, Kate Skipper, and editor of The Bookseller, Philip James, discuss how, under the leadership of James Daunt, the chain has turned around its fortunes and how it's affected the kind of books we buy and the bookshops we visit. Speaking at this year's Hay Festival in Cartagena, Roxy Music guitarist and record producer Phil Manzanera, discusses his Columbian roots and his new concept album Corroncho 2. The album tells the story of two hapless compadres from the Caribbean c

Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Half a Sixpence has been criticised for casting all-white actors. Julian Fellowes wrote the book and addresses this on tonight's Front Row. Then to discuss the issue of diverse casting in historical drama, Samira is joined by Talawa Theatre Company producer, Gail Babb, and writer and critic Ekow Eshun.It's nearly 40 years since the TV mini-series Roots shook America with its portrayal of slavery and the brutal civil war. Now a new series has been made. Writer and critic Ekow Eshun explores whether this version can have the same impact on audiences today.The picture that Beyoncé released announcing that she's pregnant with twins has become an internet sensation. As the numbers of views and likes continues to rise, art critic Laura Freeman discusses the long history of images that Beyoncé's photograph draws upon.John Burnside is a prolific award-winning poet and novelist. As his new novel, Ashland & Vine, and new collection of poems, Still Life with Feeding Snake,

Hayley Squires, the young actor who played Katie, the struggling single mother in Ken Loach's film I, Daniel Blake, discusses her first stage role since the film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes - in Philip Ridley's dystopian play The Pitchfork Disney.Loving is the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple in 1960's Virginia who had to fight the American legal system to stay together, starring Oscar-nominated Ruth Negga. Gaylene Gould reviews.Author Nathan Hill talks about his debut novel The Nix, which has won rave reviews in the US. Ten years in the writing, it's an ambitious book covering 50 years of American history and radical protest, as well as the story of a son and the mother who left him as a child. They next meet in adulthood, after a video of her throwing stones at a Trump-like candidate goes viral. The novel is out in the UK now. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Edwina Pitman.

As an actress, Deborah McAndrew is probably best remembered as Angie in Coronation Street. As a playwright, she's written a new adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac to mark the 25th anniversary of the theatre company, Northern Broadsides. She describes how she's added a dash of 21st century reasoning to this classic 19th century play set in 17th century France.The German comedy film Toni Erdmann won rave reviews at Cannes 2016 and is tipped to win best Foreign Film at the Oscars. Briony Hanson reviews Maren Ade's film about a father attempting to reconnect with his high powered daughter. It's the first German comedy released in the UK for over a decade.New research from the University of York shows that audiences to European cinema almost halved between 2007 & 2013. Clare Binns, Director of Programming at Picturehouse Cinemas, and Briony Hanson discuss why audiences are declining, and recommend their best European films.Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has won all the major prizes in his native country, an

Matthew McConaughey discusses the challenge of playing a hard-drinking, hard-smoking prospector - and piling on the pounds - in his latest film Gold.Sir John Hurt is remembered by his friend and fellow actor Charles Dance, who stars with him in That Good Night, a forthcoming film in which Hurt plays a writer with a terminal illness. Playwright and folk singer-songwriter Lizzie Nunnery discusses the stories that she heard from her grandfather about his naval experiences during World War II, and which lie at the heart of her new play Narvik. As the Victoria & Albert in London opens an installation across the gallery where artists imagine how Europe today might be viewed looking back from 4017, we visit the museum to meet some of the artists adding the final touches. Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Playwright David Hare discusses his screenplay for the film Denial, starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Wilkinson, about Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt's legal battle with Holocaust denier David IrvingAs the Liverpool Everyman Repertory Company is revived, after over two decades, John talks to Artistic Director Gemma Bodinetz and actors Melanie La Barrie and Elliott Kingsley about their opening production of Fiddler on the Roof, and the history of the company, which in its previous 1970s incarnation launched the careers of Julie Walters, Jonathan Pryce and Bill Nighy. The £40,000 Artes Mundi art prize, the UK's biggest contemporary art prize, has been won by filmmaker and artist John Akomfrah, who discusses his winning artwork, Auto Da Fé, which weaves together different moments over 400 years of history when communities were persecuted or driven from their land. Do dogs prefer Bach or Bob Marley? Neil Evans, professor of integrative physiology at the University of Glasgow reveals the results of a study examini

Samira Ahmed talks to percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, who is inviting the residents of Kings Cross, London to help her create a new musical work over the next twelve months. Lyse Doucet, the BBC's Chief International Correspondent, reviews the film Christine, which stars Rebecca Hall as American newscaster Christine Chubbuck, who killed herself live on TV in 1974. Karen Krizanovich discusses the extraordinary television and film career of Mary Tyler Moore, whose death was announced today. British director Garth Jennings, whose previous films include Son of Rambow and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, ventures into the world of animation with the hit American musical comedy Sing. And Andrea Rose reviews a new exhibition at Turner Contemporary Margate, featuring 40 international artists working with knitting, embroidery, weaving and sewing. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser.

A new musical, Everybody's talking about Jamie, is based on the story of a 16 year old boy determined to go to his prom in a dress and become a drag queen. Samira Ahmed went to rehearsals to meet Dan Gillespie Sells from band The Feeling, and screenwriter Tom MacRae who have created their first musical, as well as Jamie Campbell, now 21, on whom it is based. Vic James's debut novel, Gilded Cage, is set in a Britain where the magically-skilled aristocracy compels all commoners to serve them for ten years. Vic wrote it on Wattpad, an online storytelling website. It was read over a third of a million times and went on to win Wattpad's Talk of the Town award. She joins Samira, live. The Allure of Napoleon is the opening exhibition in the Bowes Museum's year-long celebration of its 125th anniversary. Dr Tom Stammers, lecturer in European Cultural History at the University of Durham, discusses this show which presents Napoleon as one of the first celebrity statesmen, who burnished his ascent from political outsider

The nominations for the 2017 Oscars were announced earlier today, including La La Land equalling the record and Meryl Streep getting her 20th, making her the most nominated performer in Oscars history. John Wilson is joined by film critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Rhianna Dhillon to consider the winners and losers, and to assess whether Hollywood has learned from the controversies last year about its failure to recognise the contribution of black actors and film-makers.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Jerome Weatherald.

Twenty-one years since the release of Trainspotting, the film based on Irvine Welsh's novel, the sequel is about to be released. T2 Trainspotting is set in the present day with the main characters now in middle age. Irvine Welsh and screenwriter John Hodge discuss the challenges of making a film to satisfy both fans and newcomers and why, despite the comedy, it's a much bleaker film than the original.How do you write a successful stage play? As the biggest national prize for playwriting, the Bruntwood Prize, opens for submissions, Sarah Frankcom, the artistic director of the Royal Exchange in Manchester, and writer Tanika Gupta discuss the craft of the playwright.As part of Radio 4's Reading Europe series, the Norwegian writer Agnes Ravatn discusses her prize-winning novel, The Bird Tribunal, a tense psychological thriller which begins its serialisation on Book at Bedtime tonight. Locals are mourning the destruction of 200 mature beech trees near Caerphilly which have been destroyed by a mystery feller and it

Sir Peter Bazalgette made his name as the TV producer behind shows like Big Brother and Ready Steady Cook. As he steps down as Chair of Arts Council England, he discusses the achievements and disappointments of his four-year tenure, funding for the arts in testing financial times and his latest book, The Empathy Instinct, in which he defends art and popular culture as a means of bridging the empathy gap and creating a more civil society. In her new performance installation entitled material / rearranged / to / be, dancer and choreographer Siobhan Davies has invited seven artists to explore human gesture and the relationship between mind and body. She discusses her approach to the project with collaborator Jonathan Cole, professor of clinical neurophysiology. The Royal Albert Hall has been called a 'national disgrace' by its former president after members - about 330 individuals who own roughly a fifth of the seats at the venue - exchanged tips on how to use controversial 'secondary' ticketing sites such as Vi

Urban Myths, the new Sky Arts drama series, re-imagines 'True-ish stories', starting with Bob Dylan's infamous visit to Euythmic's star Dave Stewart's Crouch End flat. Julia Raeside reviews the series which has achieved notoriety by casting white actor Joseph Fiennes to play Michael Jackson in an episode which has subsequently been dropped. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon discusses his latest novel Moonglow, in which a dying grandfather tells the secrets of his life to his grandson. His stories are in turn bawdy and moving, violent and very funny. The novel has just been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle awards in the US.Rimsky-Korsakov's opera, The Snow Maiden hasn't been staged in the UK for 60 years, but director John Fulljames is about to put that right. He's taking Opera North's new production of the Russian folk-tale inspired work on tour to Newcastle, Salford, Belfast, and Nottingham. Ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration tomorrow as the 45th President of the United States, fil