Main content
This programme will be available shortly after broadcast

Composers, singers - and Chopin's piano

The area of Montparnasse in Paris has been home to some of the world's most influential composers, singers and musicians. Local resident Joanna Robertson takes us into their world.

The neighbourhood of Montparnasse in central Paris has been home to some of the most influential artists, writers and composers of the last two centuries, perhaps nowhere more so than the area around Joanna Robertson’s street, rue Boissonade.

In the third of her series, Joanna delves into the musical stories of her road - those of its composers, musicians like world-famous trumpet player Maurice Andre, and singers, including her not-so-famous neighbours downstairs, who indulge in a lot of karaoke.... She also shares a tale about a piano found in a building on her street, said to have been that of composer Frederic Chopin. Or was it?

Presenter: Joanna Robertson
Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Editor: Sara Wadeson
Production coordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound engineer: Rod Farquhar
Excerpt of Chopin piece played on a Pleyel piano once owned by Chopin: The Cobbe Collection

Release date:

14 minutes

Broadcast

  • Next Friday 21:45

Death in Trieste

Death in Trieste

A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.

Watch: My Deaf World

Watch: My Deaf World

Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.

The Book that Changed Me

Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.

Download The Essay

Download The Essay

Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.

Podcast