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Ravi Shankar's Sukanya, Jan Vogler

Featuring cellist and Dresden Music Festival director Jan Vogler, Ravi Shankar's opera Sukanya and Jonathan Powell on the piano music of Kaikhosru Sorabji.

Presented by Tom Service.

As part of Breaking Free - Martin Luther's Revolution, Tom talks to Jan Vogler, cellist and artistic director of the Dresden Music Festival, about music and politics, and how the festival is celebrating Luther's legacy by commissioning new music for a 1927 film about the Protestant Reformation from composer Sven Helbig.

As Ravi Shankar's only opera, Sukanya, is given its posthumous world premiere at The Curve in Leicester - a partnership with the Royal Opera House and the London Philharmonic Orchestra - Tom visits rehearsals to talk to the conductor David Murphy, who collaborated with Shankar in his final years to write the work, and the production's director Suba Das. Soprano Susanna Hurrell explains the vocal challenges involved in bringing the role of Sukanya to life, and Tom revisits his interview with Ravi Shankar for Music Matters in 2008.

Tom also meets the pianist and composer Jonathan Powell, who reveals the unique delights and challenges of Kaikhosru Sorabji's technically demanding works for piano, including Opus Clavicembalisticum, which takes over four hours to perform, and the eight-hour marathon Sequentia Cyclica.

And Kate Molleson reports from St Cecilia's Hall in Edinburgh, which is about to re-open following a Β£6.5m refurbishment. As Kate discovers, the hall houses a museum which is home to an impressive collection of instruments, including arguably the world's most important harpsichord.

Available now

45 minutes

Chapters

  • Jan Vogler

    Duration: 13:56

  • Ravi Shankar's Sukanya

    Duration: 12:42

  • St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh

    Duration: 07:11

  • Jonathan Powell - Opus Clavicembalisticum

    Duration: 08:18

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Tom Service
Interviewed Guest Jan Vogler
Interviewed Guest David Murphy
Interviewed Guest Susanna Hurrell
Interviewed Guest Ravi Shankar
Interviewed Guest Jonathan Powell
Interviewed Guest Kate Molleson

Broadcasts

  • Sat 6 May 2017 12:15
  • Mon 8 May 2017 22:00

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