Emily Pailthorpe is an an internationally renowned oboist who also practises as a psychotherapist, seeing clients for the NHS and at The Door clinic in Chiswick, as well as online in private practice. I spoke to Emily in June when we talked about her versatile work in oboe playing and psychotherapy, and how both areas relate to each other. This led us to talk about a range of topics such as the healing power of music, mental health and wellbeing, breathwork, and two pieces that Emily has recorded for her YouTube channel: Britten's Six Metamorphoses after Ovid and an instrumental reinterpretati ..read more

Anthony Roth Costanzo is one of the world's most in demand countertenors who has recently completed a run of Philip Glass' opera Akhnaten at English National Opera, performing the title role of the legendary Egyptian king. In this short interview (Anthony was very kindly taking some time out from his off day to speak to me), we talked about some of the challenges of performing the very demanding role of Akhnaten, working directly with Philip Glass, the development of the countertenor voice, presenting classical music to new audiences, and bringing joy to audiences on stage. Anthony's bio: htt ..read more

I'm delighted to be welcoming on this podcast Guy Johnston. Guy is one of Britain's leading cellists who was the winner of the BBC's Young Musician of the Year back in 2000 which set him on a glittering international career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and teacher. This podcast was recorded after Guy had given two performances of Elgar's Cello Concerto at very short notice with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, having come for a short trip from the States to England. And we managed to cover a number of different topics over the short time we had including: performing la ..read more

I'm pleased to present this discussion with Emily Beynon, one of the Principal Flautists with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. I had the pleasure of seeing the orchestra at one of their concerts during their London residency at the Barbican Centre. Thank you to the Barbican Centre's Press Team for arranging that amazing experience! In this podcast, Emily and I discuss her musical journey, training in both London and Paris, playing with the Concertgebouw Orchestra (including in the hall itself), some of the flutes she plays and advice for practising. Interview recorded 7 December ..read more

I'm pleased to share this conversation with Claire Wickes, Principal Flautist of the Orchestra of English National Opera. Alongside her work as a flute player, she has recently developed a career as a media composer. I met Claire in October at the Royal Opera House a few hours before she had a performance at the London Coliseum that same evening. We talked about her musical journey, studying music at university and college, learning from different teachers, experiences of playing in the orchestra with ENO (including on the stage of the Coliseum!) and her composing activities. This podcast was ..read more

Davina Clarke is a violinist based in London who specialises in historically informed performance and Baroque music. She also hosts her own podcast called The Classical Corner where she has had the opportunity to speak to a number of distinguished artists about what makes them the top of their field. I was pleased to speak to Davina during a Saturday morning in October over Zoom where we talked about the world of historical performance practice today and some of her exciting musical projects including her latest album of Handel and a video series with the Connaught Hotel entitled Musical Mixo ..read more

Last week, I was so pleased to meet Ralph Allwood for a podcast interview. Having played under him in a concert with the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir a few years ago, and having interviewed for this podcast several distinguished alumni he has taught, it was wonderful to talk to him about his extensive and pioneering work in choral directing, singing and teaching music. We also talked about his involvement setting up the Rodolfus Choral Courses (formerly the Uppingham and Eton Choral Courses) and more recently the Pimlico Musical Foundation. You're going to find this such ..read more

I'm pleased to share this podcast with Daniel Pailthorpe, Co-Principal Flautist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. We had a fascinating discussion about his musical journey growing up, parallels between flute playing and singing, solo performances, what it's like playing for one of the top symphony orchestras in the country, performing at the BBC Proms and Royal Albert Hall (including a memorable concert involving the then five members of Monty Python!), tone production and vibrato.  Podcast interview recorded 26 September 2022 at Daniel's home in Richmond, London; Daniel's additional comme ..read more

I am delighted to be back after a break from the podcast, and to share this discussion with coloratura soprano and Broadway soprano actor Meghan Picerno. Meghan is a wonderful and unique artist who has  not only great success in and understanding of the operatic world and repertoire but more recently in musical theatre. In this podcast, we talk about Meghan's career in opera and the turning point for her journey into musical theatre, which started at Plácido Domingo's Operalia competition at Covent Garden. We also discussed the crossover and differences between opera and musical theatre i ..read more

In this episode, I am pleased to share a discussion recorded earlier this year with Andy Higgs. Andy is a composer and piano accompanist specialising in writing and playing music for dance. Kasper Cornish (a previous guest on the podcast) recommended I talked to Andy as they both work together regularly in dance classes. We discuss Andy's journey to composing and accompanying dance, as well as the challenges and processes surrounding the disciplines. We also discuss career highlights, including Andy's work for the Stopgap Dance Company, a pioneering UK dance company which includes disable ..read more