麻豆约拍

Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa

The life and work of the great national poet of Portugal

• 23 mins

German composer Hildegard von Bingen

Fiona Maddox discusses her book about the medieval German nun and visionary

• 24 mins

Flute player Emmanuel Pahud interview

The Franco-Swiss musician talks about when he first started playing and his love of Mozart

• 23 mins

The CALMA Project

How a music software programme could revolutionise how students learn to listen

• 24 mins

Bach's St Matthew Passion

A review of a recording of Bach's choral work, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt

• 24 mins

Composer and pianist Percy Grainger

The pianist Penelope Thwaites talks about the work of the Australian-born composer

• 24 mins

Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz

How the great Urdu writer bridged the divide between high art and popular culture.

• 24 mins

The Master and Margarita

Exploring the life of Mikhail Bulgakov and his fiercely satirical novel

• 23 mins

Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair

"I never could be without Schubert." The singer talks about his love of the composer

• 24 mins

Academy of Ancient Music

A visit to a rehearsal of the British period orchestra

• 24 mins

Ray Charles

A profile of the life and work of the American singer and songwriter

• 24 mins

The sound of muzak

Is there too much music in our daily lives?

• 24 mins

Text message poetry

A competition which brings together mobile phones and poetry

• 24 mins

Amos Oz interview

The Israel journalist, novelist and intellectual talks about his novel The Same Sea.

• 24 mins

Le Corbusier

A discussion about the French Swiss architect's controversial legacy

• 23 mins

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Was this most famous piece of organ music really written by Bach?

• 23 mins

Marc-Antoine Charpentier oratorios

A review of a recording of the French composer's three historical dramas

• 24 mins

Is TV killing itself?

Is a world of multi-channel television sustainable?

• 24 mins

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize

The judges of the prize talk about the contest from the awards ceremony in Accra, Ghana.

• 24 mins

Ravi Shankar's guide to Indian instruments

The Indian sitar virtuoso reveals the secrets of the tabla, tanbur and sitar

• 23 mins

Maria Callas' early life

Discussing the operatic soprano's life in Athens from 1937 to 1945

• 24 mins

RK Naryan remembered

A tribute to the Indian writer, with contributions from Mark Tully and archive interviews.

• 24 mins

The Wigmore Hall

The history and impact of the London music venue which opened in 1901

• 24 mins

Carlos Fuentes

The celebrated Mexican writer talks about losing a child and his book The Years With Laura

• 23 mins

The Ta'ziyeh in Iran

An exploration of the annual religious event in Iran, a kind of passion play.

• 23 mins

The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta

Egytpian novelist Ahdaf Soueif talks about the accounts of the 14th-century traveller

• 24 mins

Wigmore Hall

The history behind Wigmore Hall and the artists who have performed there

• 25 mins

Displaced authors

The Lebanese Hanan Al-Sheikh and two other writers talk about being separated from home

• 24 mins

Opening Nights: West Side Story

The American musical's first performance in 1957, remembered by the cast.

• 23 mins

How do artists use colour?

The abstract artists Terry Frost, John Hoyland and Yuko Shirai discuss how they use colour

• 24 mins