New Year New Music on Radio 3

Stepping from the old to the new

Make an alternative New Year’s resolution in 2018 to discover bold new sounds! New Year New Music is a annual week of programmes on BBC Radio 3 exploring the power of contemporary music – from iconic masterpieces to avant-garde experiments.

Every day during the first week of January 2018, Radio 3 will invite listeners to make connections between contemporary pieces and music of the past. How will we experience the music of Steve Reich in the the context of JS Bach, hear Puccini alongside Pauline Oliveros, or understand Monteverdi in the wake of music by Luciano Berio? Find out with specially segued segments scattered throughout the daily schedule.

From 2-6 January 2018, we’ll hear concerts of cutting-edge contemporary music from LSO St Luke’s in Open Ear, as well as stunning live performances from Barbican’s Total Immersion: Esa-Pekka Salonen series. The conductor and composer is our guest for a series of concert recordings and special interviews every day in Afternoon Concert, while Composer of the Week focuses on the work of Colin Matthews and in the mornings, Harrison Birtwistle is Ian Skelly’s guest on Essential Classics.

Throughout the week there’ll be further celebrations of new music and composers like Clara Iannotta, Chaya Czernowin, Jürg Frey, Linda Catlin Smith, with performers including Riot Ensemble, Heather Roche (clarinet), Lian Byrne (viol and electronics), James McVinnie (sampled organ) and You Are Wolf, as well as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and other major classical ensembles.

So what new sounds will you discover in 2018?

View the schedule and listen to all programmes