Oh, What a Wonderful Podcast

Vikki is backstage with the Stax stars and takes Sophie Ellis-Bextor to her first prom. 

Vikki Stone takes singer and composer Imogen Heap on a prom date, reviews the proms Reformation Day and is backstage at the Metropole Orkest prom of the work of Charles Mingus. 

On the floor at the Proms with a famous psychotherapist, that Daft Punk encore, in depth on the Ravi Shankar/Philip Glass collaboration and DIY Gurrelieder with Sir Simon Rattle. 

The BBC Proms opens this time next week - July 30 - with a packed six-week schedule of concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, as well as chamber concerts in Cadogan Hall and broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, online and on television. Editor Martin Cullingford met with the Proms' Director Da ... Show More

Sir John Tavener's The Protecting Veil was premiered at the BBC Proms 30 years ago. To coincide with the anniversary, a new recording has been issued by Signum Classics which finds Matthew Barley directing Sinfonietta Riga from the cello - James Jolly meets him. 

Zlatomir Fung won the Cello category of the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition, and also has an enviable collection of other cello awards and prizes to his name. He was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Winner in 2022 and was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2020 ... Show More

In today's episode, Stephen and Joanna pour over some of the most passionate music ever performed and conceived - the violin concerto. They explore the mechanics of violin playing, discuss their favourite virtuoso fiddlers and also explore major works by Elgar, Brahms, Tchaikovsk ... Show More

On this week’s episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv honors Ukrainian music for violin and piano on her latest album, ‘Ukrainian Masters,’ with pianist Steven Beck. Listen now! 

Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford speaks to James Jolly about the 2025 Orchestra of the Year nominated orchestras, discussing the impact each of them has made to recordings and the wider musical landscape To vote for Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year 2025, head to gramophon ... Show More

Synopsis In 1920, a French publisher commissioned several works in memory of Claude Debussy, who had died two years earlier. Maurice Ravel’s contribution was a single-movement piece for violin and cello. Ravel then expanded this music into a four-movement sonata he titled Duo — p ... Show More

After hearing the strings in BTS’s Black Swan, Christina Valdez the owner and artistic director of Crescendo Conservatory knew the song called for bourrées on point. Art reimagined, Christina shares her story on refusing to die a dancer’s first death by embracing her vision to co ... Show More

Elgar, Delius, Walton, Ireland: Julian Lloyd Webber talks about his new disc of English music for strings 

Isabelle Faust, the multi-Gramophone Award-winning violinist, has recorded an album of Bach concertos, sinfonias and trio sonatas with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin on the Harmonia Mundi label. She talks about the new recording with Editor-in-Chief James Jolly.