Elly Ameling, Sacconi Quartet: Heartfelt, Alain Altinoglu, Test Dept

The Dutch soprano Elly Ameling is recognised as one of the greatest singers of our age and renowned particularly for her song interpretations, Ameling's career on the concert stage spanned 60 years, and now in her 80s she is still passing on her experience to the next generation of singers. During a visit to London for a masterclass at Wigmore Hall, she talked to Tom Service about her career in music and about the magic of the art song.

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Listen to Elly Ameling on Desert Island Discs  

The Sacconi Quartet's project 'Heartfelt' sees them quite literally put their hearts in the hands of the audience via some mini mechanical hearts that convey their own heartbeats to the audience as they play Beethoven’s masterpiece of the genre, his String Quartet no.15, Op.132. Tom visited their concert in Shoreditch to see how it works.

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Sacconi Quartet

Artists in Residence at the Lichfield Festival - 3rd-12th July  

The Paris-born conductor Alain Altinoglu has been making a splash in opera houses all over the world and is about to make his Royal Opera House debut in Mozart's Don Giovanni. He talks to Tom about combining the old and new when approaching an opera, how to make a connection between music and society and how to handle divas.

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Alain Altinoglu

Alain Altinogulu conducts Don Giovanni - Royal Opera House from 12th June

Big Screen relay of Don Giovanni - 3rd July at 7.00pm across the UK

Radio 3 broadcast of  Don Giovanni - 13th July at 7.30pm

The influential industrial music group Test Dept. are re-visiting material they recorded during the Miners Strike in 1984 for part of a new film – DS30 - they tell Tom about how the film, how they approach their music, and why they felt it was important to revisit the Strike now.

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Test Dept.

Test Dept. DS30 tour - Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow and Durham