Antonio Pappano

Award-winning actor Kristin Scott Thomas talks to John Wilson about her career and cultural influences. After a breakthrough role in the Evelyn Waugh film adaptation of A Handful Of Dust, she became a global star with Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994. Two years later, was Osca ...  Show more

The Booker Prize winning American author George Saunders talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences. He made his name as a writer of satirical or absurdist short stories which often explore contemporary consumerist society, always underpinned with a strong sense of human ...  Show more

A proud Hungarian by birth, Franz Liszt was a pioneer both in his piano playing and in his compositions. He was also the nearest thing to a rock star that classical music had in the 19th century. Fans would reportedly swarm over him, try and grab his gloves, even smoke his discar ...  Show more

Antonio Vivaldi war ein berühmter Komponist aus Italien, der im Zeitalter des Barock lebte. Zusammen mit Johann Sebastian Bach wird er oft als der wichtigste Komponist dieser Zeit bezeichnet. Er wurde im Jahr 1678 in Venedig als eines von zehn Kindern geboren. Sein Vater war Barb ...  Show more

Kirsty Young's castaway is the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Winner of two Grammy Awards, she is best known for her interpretations of Handel, Mozart and Rossini operas. Born into a Catholic family in Kansas, she was the second-youngest of seven children. Her love of music was aw ...  Show more

Verdi’s final opera, Falstaff, is based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Part 1, but it did not become a huge success until Arturo Toscanini insisted on reviving it at La Scala, and later The Metropolitan Opera, in the 1890s. On today's episode of The Metropo ...  Show more