Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio programmes will offer listeners a mix of music, celebration, poetry and reflection this Easter.

The programming includes Easter Sunday Mass, broadcast live from Westminster Cathedral; Joan Bakewell interviews with public figures about their life and work throughout Holy Week; and the Archbishop of Canterbury as a guest on a special edition of Good Morning Sunday.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2's At The Foot Of The Cross (Good Friday 2 April, 7.30pm) from Salisbury Cathedral, features meditation in words and music for Good Friday. Hosted by Aled Jones, the programme includes music by Karl Jenkins.

The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Concert Orchestra comes together with the voices of Salisbury Festival Chorus to perform selected movements from Jenkins's Mass for Peace: The Armed Man, his Requiem, and Stabat Mater. There are also complete performances of his works Palladio and Adiemus. It will be interspersed by the drama of the Bible's passion story and selected reflections from award-winning writer Sara Maitland's new meditation Stations of the Cross.

Aled Jones also presents Good Morning Sunday, on Radio 2 at 6.00am on 4 April, when The Archbishop of Canterbury will be a guest on the programme.

Brian D'Arcy and guest Sue Jenkins celebrate Easter with a feast of words and music from Manchester Cathedral, in Sunday Half Hour, on Radio 2 at 8.00pm on Easter Sunday.

Brian is joined by the choir of Manchester Cathedral, Manchester Camerata and the Radio 2 Young Choristers of the Year 2009, Laurence Kilsby and Jacquelyne Hill.

The story of that first Easter morning is told through readings and poetry read by Sue Jenkins. Choirs and congregation join together in some uplifting Easter hymns including Jesus Christ is risen today, The strife is o'er and Thine be the glory, together with Easter choral music such as Lord of the Dance and Now the Green Blade Riseth. The musical director is Christopher Stokes and the organist is Jeffrey Makinson.

In Belief, on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3 at 11.00pm during Holy Week, Joan Bakewell interviews a variety of people in public life about how their beliefs affect their work and life. Today (31 March), she speaks to writer and druid priest Emma Restall-Orr; tomorrow (1 April), her guest is author Mark Haddon; and Good Friday's programme features the Bishop of Liverpool, The Rt Rev James Jones. Other guests in Holy Week, available to listen again on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer, were author Sara Maitland and former Islamic banker Junaid Bhatti.

In Night Waves, at 9.00pm on Maundy Thursday, Anne McElvoy goes to Canterbury Cathedral to talk to artist Maggi Hambling about her numerous portrayals of the Crucifixion. Beyond the Cathedral, Kent hosts an exploration of the use of the cross in modern art across the county – with works by Tracey Emin, Stanley Spencer and Marc Chagall.

On Good Friday at 7.00pm, Radio 3 broadcasts the premiΓ¨re of James MacMillan's St John Passion, live from King's College, Cambridge. Baritone Mark Stone sings the role of Christ and is joined by choirs and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Concert Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Cleobury.

And on Easter Sunday, in Private Passions at 12.00noon, Michael Berkeley meets the newly appointed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, who studied singing at the Royal Northern College of Music and at New College Oxford.

Radio 3 will also broadcast Choral Evensong, live from York Minster, at 4.00pm on Easter Sunday.

On Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4, Thought For The Day, at 7.48am on Good Friday, comes from Dr Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.

At 3.00pm, the traditional moment of reflection when the Christian Church marks the death of Jesus Christ, the network broadcasts its Good Friday Liturgy. Professor of Christianity and the Arts at King's College London, the Revd Professor Ben Quash, traces the way of the cross through the sounds and cries he hears on his daily walk to work across London.

On Easter Sunday at 6.35am, Bishop Nigel McCulloch, National Chaplain to the Royal British Legion, leads a meditation to mark the dawning of Easter Day from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, in Radio 4's Sunrise Service. The service features the Lichfield Cathedral Chamber Choir, directed by Martyn Rawles.

Also on Radio 4, William Crawley presents Sunday, at 7.10am, and Archbishop Vincent Nichols celebrates Mass at Westminster Cathedral, at 8.10am, and the service is broadcast live on Easter Sunday Worship.

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