Shows
Record Review PodcastShostakovich's 10th SymphonyEdward Seckerson's personal choice of Shostakovich's 10th Symphony.
2025-04-0745 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Jordan Luke GageFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson talks to Jordan Luke Gage, currently starring in Titanique in the West End. In a pretty meteoric rise since leaving drama school, Gage has been raising a little hell with characters as diverse as Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde, JD in Heathers and Marilyn in Taboo. He's currently aboard HMS Titanic in a show whose French title quickly establishes that this is not the Maury Yeston version. During technical week he talks to Edward Seckerson about all this and more – not least how he and his Titanique co-star Rob Houchen...
2024-12-1834 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Bradley JadenFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson talks to Bradley Jaden, possessor of one of the most recognisable baritones in Musical Theatre. Jaden has, in a relatively short space of time, established himself as the go-to heroic baritone of the UK's Musical Theatre scene. He's stormed the barricades of Boublil and Schonberg's Les Misérables, rising through the revolutionary ranks to assume his place as the darkest and swarthiest of Javerts now sharing the role with Michael Ball on the show's epic arena world tour. His forthcoming debut album for Westway Music was recorded live at London's C...
2024-11-2043 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets... Gina BeckJoin Edward Seckerson in an intimate conversation with celebrated actress and soprano Gina Beck, known for her powerhouse performances on stages from the West End to Broadway. Gina reflects on her journey, sharing insights into her roles in classic musicals like South Pacific and Les Misérables, as well as her acclaimed portrayal of Glinda in the US tour of Wicked. In this episode, Gina opens up about the artistry behind interpreting beloved characters along with the thrill of breathing life into Golden Age classics and bringing them to contemporary audiences.
2024-10-3030 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Julian OvendenFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Julian Ovenden, universally acknowledged as possessing one of the most beautiful voices in Musical Theatre. Gearing up a rare solo concert with Broadway composer Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens, War Paint), Ovenden reflects on a career that has taken him from the Donmar's Merrily We Roll Along to TV's Bridgerton. His appearances with the John Wilson Orchestra highlighted his way with Golden Age Broadway scores, and Daniel Evans's recent Chichester/Sadler's Wells revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific afforded him his shining moment with arguably the two...
2024-09-0942 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Jac YarrowFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Jac Yarrow, who didn't even have time to collect his diploma before he was plucked from drama school to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium. His progress since has been fast and furious, establishing him as one of the go-to younger leading men in the business. He talks about life during and after drama school, the instant stardom of Joseph, his brush with Pippin in a stunning concert staging, and being part of the glitziest ensemble in town for the Sondheim tribute...
2024-08-0942 min
Gramophone Classical Music PodcastLeonard Bernstein the Composer – with Edward SeckersonLeonard Bernstein (1918-90) was perhaps the most 'complete' classical musician of the last century, as composer (covering everything from Broadway musicals to serial orchestral works), conductor (one of the 20th century's most admired), teacher or pianist. Edward Seckerson interviewed Bernstein for Gramophone in December 1989, but his admiration went back much further, as he reveals to James Jolly in this next instalment in our occasional series focusing on major composers. The music is drawn from Bernstein's extensive CBS catalogue, now available from Sony Classical.
2024-08-0945 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Stephanie J BlockEdward Seckerson meets the fabulous Stephanie J Block, currently wowing London audiences as Lili Vanessi in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate. Her astonishing career has taken her from a Broadway debut as the young Liza Minnelli in the Hugh Jackman vehicle The Boy From Oz to The Cher Show (wait till you hear her Cher voice in this interview!) and a long-overdue Tony Award. She and Seckerson talk of her life-changing journey with Elphaba – which she almost [ital] originated – in Wicked and Tony-nominated turns in Falsettos and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, plus the not-so-little matter of Boublil and Schoenberg's ill-fat...
2024-08-0639 minRecord Review PodcastShostakovich's Symphony no.5 in D minorEdward Seckerson chooses his favourite recording of Shostakovich's Symphony no.5.
2024-07-1543 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Melissa ErricoFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Melissa Errico, celebrated purveyor of the songs of Stephen Sondheim and Michel Legrand and a cabaret artist of extraordinary magnetism. Her theatre career on Broadway and beyond has embraced some classics like My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and Camelot with excursions into Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash's One Touch of Venus and Michael Legrand and Jeremy Sam's Amour for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. But she thrives on the intimacy of the cabaret room and on disc she has garnered lavish praise for her two insightful and subt...
2024-07-1247 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Frank WildhornEdward Seckerson meets the prolific Frank Wildhorn ahead of the West End opening of Your Lie in April, his latest venture (after Death Note) into the realms of Japanese Manga. From one huge Whitney Houston hit – 'Where Do Broken Hearts Go' – to well over a thousand songs and countless musicals, his is quite a story. At one time in the late '90s he had three musicals running simultaneously on Broadway. One of them, Jekyll & Hyde, has become one of the most performed and most revered all over the globe, while 'This is the Moment' can lay claim to being t...
2024-07-0233 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Christine AlladoFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Christine Allado, fresh from lending her shining soprano to the Old Friends celebrating Stephen Sondheim at London's Gielgud Theatre. Some may remember her opposite Rob Houchen in the TV documentary The Making of a Classic, chronicling the genesis of West Side Story, but onstage the Filipino actress is best known as Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds – and sometimes Eliza – in Hamilton, and Tzipporah in Prince of Egypt. She's about to give her Julie Jordan in a concert staging of one of the greatest musicals ever written – Carousel.
2024-06-0542 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Jack GodfreyFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Jack Godfrey, one of the brightest and most engaging talents in the exciting renaissance of new writing, enlivening the West End and beyond. With 42 Balloons – for which he wrote book, music and lyrics – fresh from its inaugural production at the Lowry Manchester and Babies opening at The Other Palace, Godfrey's insidiously memorable hooks are ear-worming their way into all Musical Theatre enthusiasts' consciousness. Godfrey writes pop songs with heart, soul, and zing. Can anyone wait for what comes next?
2024-05-3150 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Samantha BarksFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Samantha Barks, who has travelled far since she and Rachel Tucker went head-to-head in a bid to win the role of Nancy in the reality TV show I'd Do Anything. Unforgettably, there was Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years where she and Jonathan Bailey lit up the then St James Theatre with their conspicuous talent. Then came Éponine in Les Misérables both onstage and onscreen, and a Broadway debut as the feisty Vivian in Pretty Woman. Edward Seckerson meets her in her dressing room at the Theatre Royal, Drury La...
2024-05-0328 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Sam TuttyFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Sam Tutty, one of the youngest ever Olivier Award winners for his deeply affecting performance in the London premiere of Pasek and Paul's Dear Evan Hansen. He journeyed with Evan across the great divide of the Covid pandemic, gathering a huge fan base as he did so. As he opens in the West End as the likeable and hyperactive Dougal in Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), he relives his journey so far – backstage at London's Criterion Theatre.
2024-04-0434 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson Meets... Zachary JamesFor this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Zachary James, who's currently hotting up the Underworld on the other side of that wall in Hadestown. James, who originated the role of Lurch in the Andrew Lippa musicalisation of The Addams Family, is perhaps best known to date – indeed immortalised – as The Scribe/Amenhotep III in Philip Glass's Akhnaten in the jaw-dropping Phelim McDermott, Olivier Award-winning staging at English National Opera in 2016. His work has straddled the opera and Musical Theatre worlds in intriguing ways and as an actor-singer his work is nothing if not diverse. Plus his 6'6" frame make...
2024-03-1328 min
Edward SeckersonDAME PATRICIA ROUTLEDGE: Facing The Music – A Life in Musical TheatreDame Patricia Routledge trained not only as an actress but also as a singer and had considerable experience and success in musical theatre, both in this country and in the United States of America.
Her many awards include a Tony for her Broadway performance in the Styne-Harburg musical “Darling of the Day” and a Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide”. Her one woman show “Come for the Ride” toured the UK in 1988 and in 1992 she played Nettie Fowler in the highly acclaimed production of “Carousel” at the National Theatre. In 1998 she was honoured with the Go...
2024-03-0605 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets... Evelyn HoskinsEdward Seckerson meets Evelyn Hoskins, forever associated with bringing Carrie White in from the cold in the invigorating 2015 Southwark Playhouse production of the ill-fated musical Carrie. They also talk Spring Awakening - which marked Hoskins's stage debut and is back for an original cast reunion; the loveable Dawn in Waitress where she shared the stage with the composer Sara Bareilles; and the stranger-than-fiction alchemy of 42 Balloons soon to be seen at the Lowry in Manchester. Never miss an issue – subscribe to Musicals magazine today: https://www.magsubscriptions.com/musicals
2024-02-2938 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets Oliver TompsettEDWARD SECKERSON meets OLIVER TOMPSETT at London's Wonderville Bar & Café to chat over his ongoing journey from The Who's Tommy (title role) at Arts Ed and a veritable portfolio of rock/pop shows – Our House, Rock of Ages, We Will Rock You – to more legit fare like Fiyero in Wicked and his winning turn as Will Shakespeare in & Juliet. As we speak, he is preparing to launch a new show Wild About You (with a score by Broadway's Carole King, Chilina Kennedy) at London's Theatre, Royal Drury Lane, with a jaw-dropping cast including Eric McCormack and Rachel Tucker.
2024-02-0745 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastJohn Weidman on Pacific Overtures & collaborating with Stephen Sondheim In the latest MUSICALS podcast EDWARD SECKERSON talks to playwright and book writer JOHN WEIDMAN who collaborated with the late, great Stephen Sondheim on three of his shows - Pacific Overtures, Assassins, and Road Show - and was in London for a long-awaited revival of the first of them. Chatting in the bar of the Menier Chocolate Factory the morning after the first preview he reminisces about an extraordinary working relationship where making good theatre was always front and centre of their objectives.
2023-12-0138 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets Jenna RussellEdward Seckerson drops in on Jenna Russell during the run of Richard Taylor/Rachel Wagstaff's Flowers for Mrs Harris at London's Riverside Studios. They compare notes on the show and on other movers and shakers who've been instrumental in pushing the envelope on musical theatre including Sondheim (with whom Olivier Award-winning Jenna enjoyed several career-defining encounters), Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home), and Jason Robert Brown (Bridges of Madison County). Recorded backstage at London's Riverside Studios in October 2023. The opening and closing musical excerpts featured in this podcast are from the Overture to Gypsy (film version), taken fr...
2023-10-2338 min
Gramophone Classical Music PodcastExploring ShostakovichThe latest in our series of composer podcasts focusses on Dmitri Shostakovich. Edward Seckerson joins Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford to share his insights with us into one of the greatest of 20th-century musical figures, with a particular focus on his extraordinary symphonies and what they reveal about his life.
2023-09-0154 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets Jamie Muscato Jamie Muscato - the original Jason "J.D." Dean in the now cult hit Heathers and currently the lovelorn Christian in Moulin Rouge - sits down with Edward Seckerson to talk Once,
2023-08-3031 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets Laura Pitt-Pulford & Danielle de Niese In this episode of the Musicals Podcast Edward Seckerson drops in on the two leading ladies of the current revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects of Love - Laura Pitt-Pulford and Danielle de Niese - to compare notes on two fascinating women and re-evaluate the show itself 34 years on from its premiere. It's two hours before curtain up and Michael Ball's ears must have been burning… Recorded backstage at London's Lyric Theatre in June 2023. The opening and closing musical excerpts featured in this podcast are from the Overture to Gypsy (film version), taken from Jule Sty...
2023-06-1836 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets Jamie Parker In this episode of the Musicals Podcast Edward Seckerson talks to the multi-award-winning Jamie Parker (The History Boys, Harry Potter - The Cursed Child) about his current project The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a new musical by Jethro Compton and Darren Clark, and swinging like Sinatra with conductor John Wilson. Recorded backstage at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant in May 2023. The opening and closing musical excerpts featured in this podcast are from the Overture to Gypsy (film version), taken from Jule Styne's 'Overtures Vol 2', courtesy of JAY Records. For more details on Mus...
2023-06-0530 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets Jon RobynsIn this episode of the Musicals Podcast, Edward Seckerson talks to Jon Robyns about his journey from singing in the National Youth Choir to playing Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and now the new Phantom in Phantom of the Opera. The episode was recorded in May 2023 in Robyns's dressing room at His Majesty's Theatre. The opening and closing musical excerpts featured in this podcast are from the Overture to Gypsy (film version), taken from Jule Styne's 'Overtures Vol 2', courtesy of JAY Records. For more details on Musicals magazine, visit www.MusicalsMagazine.com...
2023-05-3032 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets Sierra Boggess In this episode of the Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson talked to the Olivier-nominated Broadway and West End star Sierra Boggess in February 2023, while the soprano was in London for a one-off concert at Cadogan Hall, and prior to the run of The Secret Garden in Los Angeles (19 February – 26 March). The podcast includes a world-exclusive preview of the track 'Many a New Day' from Oklahoma! by Rodgers and Hammerstein, sung by Boggess and taken from the forthcoming world-premiere recording of the complete original score by John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London, to be released on 15 September 2023, on C...
2023-05-1047 min
Musicals Magazine PodcastEdward Seckerson meets Celinde SchoenmakerWelcome to the first episode of our regular Musicals Magazine Podcast hosted by Edward Seckerson. In this episode, our guest is Celinde Schoenmaker, currently starring as Sarah Brown in Nicholas Hytner's immersive production of Guys & Dolls at London's Bridge Theatre. The musical excerpts featured in this podcast are from the Overture of Gypsy (film version), taken from Jule Styne's Overtures Vol 2 courtesy of JAY Records. For more details on Musicals magazine, please visit MusicalsMagazine.com
2023-04-1837 min
Opera North PodcastRuddigore: Jo Davies and John Wilson in conversation with Edward SeckersonIn a conversation recorded in 2010, director Jo Davies and conductor John Wilson talk to writer and broadcaster Edward Seckerson about cunning disguises, dastardly deeds, and an abundance of cracking good tunes, in Opera North's first G&S production for 20 years.
2023-02-0823 minOpera North PodcastDas Rheingold: Richard Farnes and Michael Druiett in conversation with Ed SeckersonThe Independent's Edward Seckerson discusses preparations for the first part of Opera North's 4-year Ring Cycle with conductor Richard Farnes, and Michael Druiett, who is playing the role of Wotan.First published 1 Jun 2011.
2023-02-0818 min
Gramophone Classical Music PodcastThe Art of MusicalsToday's Gramophone Podcast takes us through the world of Stephen Sondheim in the company of Edward Seckerson and Sarah Kirkup. Exploring the power of newer musicals and how to be a successful musical theatre writer, the contemporary world of musical theatre comes alive through discussions, stories and musical excerpts, including Wicked, SIX and The Secret Garden. Gramophone's sister publication, Musicals, will become a bi-monthly publication from March.
2023-01-2048 minRecord Review PodcastMahler's Symphony No 6 in A minorEdward Seckerson chooses his favourite recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 in A minor.More often than not, Mahler's symphonies end positively, whether in triumph, exaltation, joyful exuberance, quiet bliss, or resignation and acceptance. But the Sixth is unique in its tragic, minor-key conclusion and this Symphony as a whole is among his darkest music. Intriguingly, he wrote it during one of the happiest periods of his life, the summers of 1903 and 1904. Mahler was convinced that, in his music, he had the ability to foresee and even predict events and, painful though it might be, as an artist...
2023-01-1146 min
Gramophone Classical Music PodcastExploring the music of MahlerEdward Seckerson joins the Gramophone Podcast to talk to Editor Martin Cullingford about the music, recordings and greatest interpreters of Mahler
2022-08-261h 10
Regent's Park Open Air TheatreDouglas Hodge on 101 Dalmatians Lyrics & CompositionWriter, broadcaster and podcaster Edward Seckerson in conversation with Music and Lyrics composer Douglas Hodge, discussing our brand new musical 101 Dalmatians.
Enjoy a first listen of the show songs to get you ready for this classic story in the park. As only the second newly commissioned musical to be staged at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, they discuss the inspiration and creative development of the musical and influences behind new compositions.
2022-07-0135 minRecord Review PodcastRachmaninov's 2nd SymphonyEdward Seckerson compares recordings of Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony in E minor and chooses his favourite. Today, Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony is one of the composer's most popular works. Rachmaninov composed it in Dresden, during a period of retirement from concert activities, and conducted its premiere in Saint Petersburg in January 1908, to great critical acclaim. In his 2nd symphony, Rachmaninov introduces a single motto at the beginning that appears and evolves in each of the four movements, a compositional idea that can also be seen in Tchaikovsky, who was a great early influence on him. The symphony is a large-scale work...
2022-06-2742 minRecord Review PodcastShostakovich's Leningrad SymphonyEdward Seckerson recommends a version of Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony.Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major was at first dedicated to Lenin. But eventually the composer dedicated it to the besieged city of Leningrad, where it was first played in 1942, during the siege by German and Finnish forces. It soon became popular in both the Soviet Union and the West as a symbol of resistance to fascism and totalitarianism. The work is still regarded as an important musical testament to the 27 million Soviet people who lost their lives in World War II.
2021-12-1347 minRecord Review PodcastBernstein's Chichester PsalmsLeonard Bernstein's exuberant Chichester Psalms was one of the composer's many strong connections with the UK, commissioned for the 1965 Southern Cathedrals Festival at Chichester Cathedral. Music journalist Edward Seckerson talks to Andrew about the background to the piece, whilst whittling down the available recordings to come up with the finest recording to buy, download or stream.
2021-07-1243 min
Regent's Park Open Air TheatreTom Deering on Carousel OrchestrationWriter, broadcaster and podcaster, and The Independent's former Chief Classical Music critic, Edward Seckerson in conversation with the Musical Supervisor and Orchestrator of our new production of Carousel, Tom Deering.
In this wide-ranging discussion, they talk about the enduring appeal of Rodgers and Hammerstein's stunning score and the creative process and influences behind Tom's new orchestrations.
2021-06-1643 min
Nothing ConcreteComposer Focus: Sakari Oramo on Jean SibeliusIn the final episode in our Composer Focus series, Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Sakari Oramo talks to Edward Seckerson about his countryman, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.Subscribe to Nothing Concrete on Acast, Spotify, iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-04-1726 min
Nothing ConcreteComposer Focus: Richard Tognetti on Wolfgang Amadeus MozartIn this episode of Composer Focus, Richard Tognetti – violinist, composer and director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra speaks to Edward Seckerson about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.Subscribe to Nothing Concrete on Acast, Spotify, iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-04-1624 min
Nothing ConcreteComposer Focus: Roderick Williams on Benjamin BrittenWe revisit our Composer Focus series from November 2018, when baritone Roderick Williams joined Edward Seckerson to talk about 20th-century composer Benjamin Britten.Subscribe to Nothing Concrete on Acast, Spotify, iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-04-1418 min
Nothing ConcreteComposer Focus: Iestyn Davies on George Frederic HandelWe revisit our Composer Focus series from November 2018, as Edward Seckerson and countertenor Iestyn Davies delve into the life and music of composer George Frederic Handel.Subscribe to Nothing Concrete on Acast, Spotify, iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2020-04-1323 minRecord Review PodcastTchaikovsky: The NutcrackerEdward Seckerson recommends recordings of Tchaikovsky's ballet music, The Nutcracker
2020-01-0652 minEdward SeckersonEdward Seckerson talks to RENÉE FLEMING about The Light in the PiazzaEarly in the development of Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas’ extraordinary The Light in the Piazza it was thought that Chicago Lyric Opera might be tendering a commission for the piece. It wasn’t to be. Broadway beckoned. But this most sophisticated of hybrids has a foot in both worlds and the presence of RENÉE FLEMING in the London Premiere of the piece is testament to its uniqueness – a free-flowing lyric seductiveness that is all about the intoxication of love amidst the statues and squares of Florence, Italy.
During a break in rehearsals for Daniel Evans’ Southbank...
2019-06-1318 min
My Little TonysThe 1994 Tony Awards, Part 1We’re back to the 90s! We wonder what the hell Anthony Hopkins was doing there, discuss the controversy over Disney’s first bid for Broadway domination with Beauty and the Beast, and try our best to deconstruct Passion’s take on passion.
Works referenced/cited:
Sondheim, Stephen. Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
Gordon, Joanne. Art Isn't Easy: the Theater of Stephen Sondheim. Southern Illinois University Press, 1992.
Zadan, Craig. Sondheim & Co. Da Capo Press, 1994.
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2019-05-2600 minRecord Review PodcastGershwin: Porgy and BessEdward Seckerson recommends recordings of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
2019-04-3048 min
Last WordAndré Previn KBE, John Haynes OBE, Tony Mendez, Lady GrantchesterPictured: André PrevinMatthew Bannister onAndré Previn, the conductor and pianist whose repertoire ranged from the classics to film and jazz music. He took part in a celebrated sketch with Morecambe and Wise. John Haynes, publisher of the Haynes manuals which gave amateur mechanics a step by step guide to repairing their cars.Tony Mendez, the CIA operative who smuggled American diplomatic staff out of Tehran disguised as a film crew. The story later became the Hollywood film Argo.Lady Grantchester, who played a key role in the su...
2019-03-0128 minRecord Review PodcastLeonard Bernstein: CandideEdward Seckerson recommends a recorded version of Leonard Bernstein's musical Candide.
2018-04-261h 03Record Review PodcastBuilding a Library: Ives's Second SymphonyEdward Seckerson joins Andrew McGregor to assess recordings of Ives Symphony No. 2.
2017-02-2758 min
A Life In Music with Russell ScottEpisode 21: An Interview with Edward SeckersonThis podcast is dedicated to performers who want to be their very best. Episode 21 features Russell Scott’s interview with Edward Seckerson, Writer, Broadcaster, Podcaster, and Musical Theatre obsessive. Each episode focuses on an element of performance to help you be your very best. It also includes vocal tips and tricks, interviews and an exclusive look behind […]
2017-02-2400 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With VICTORIA WOOD: New TV drama, ‘Loving Miss Hatto’
In 2007 Gramophone magazine uncovered an extraordinary fraud that rocked the classical music industry. Concert pianist Joyce Hatto – a little-known artist of moderate talent – was suddenly the name on everyone’s lips when a series of recordings (some 100 of them) flooded the market winning plaudits in the press and on BBC Radio 3 where one of them was selected as “Best in Catalogue” in a comparative review on CD Review’s popular “Building a Library” feature. The only problem was that these weren’t Hatto’s recordings at all but those of other established pianists whose recordings had been pilfered and even di...
2016-04-2123 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With JAN VOGLER: Dresden Music Festival 2016TIME is the overriding motto for the 2016 DRESDEN FESTIVAL. Music can play with time in so many interesting ways, music can even suspend time creating frozen moments, moments of stasis where time ceases to exist – and in the words of festival director Jan Vogler “A good concert always provides us with a magical discourse between the past and the future.” In this exclusive audio podcast Vogler talks to Edward Seckerson about the mysteries of time and motion as it relates to the 2016 festival beginning as it does with an extraordinary all-night vigil of music set in motion by the work o...
2016-04-1128 minRecord Review PodcastJerome Kern: Show BoatEdward Seckerson joins Andrew live to recommend a recording of Jerome Kern's Show Boat.
2016-02-0155 minRecord Review PodcastRichard Rodgers CarouselEdward Seckerson recommends a recording of Richard Rodgers' Carousel
2015-07-0450 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With SIMON SLATER: ‘Carmen Disruption’ at the AlmeidaSimon Stephens’ Carmen Disruption upends the expectations of anyone entering the Almeida Theatre. It’s a kind of living poetry, taking its cue from Bizet’s ever-popular opera but taking it into ever darker territory. When does an artist’s assumption of a role end and real life take over?
This is the Carmen we know and love, thoroughly deconstructed – and the man tasked with creating the musical soundscape for this trippy odyssey to the dark heart of the piece is composer, instrumentalist and actor Simon Slater. In this exclusive audio podcast he talks to Edward Sec...
2015-05-0615 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With LIISA RANDALU: Schumann Quartet release 2nd CDThe brothers Erik, Ken, and Mark Schumann founded the SCHUMANN QUARTET in 2007 and it might well have been an all-family affair had the cellist’s twin sister chosen to switch from violin to viola and join them. The Schumann brothers are of German/Japanese heritage – an interesting mix of temperaments – and perhaps because of their sister they were drawn to a female becoming the fourth among equals. The Estonian violist Liisa Randalu did so in 2012 and in this exclusive audio podcast she is spokesperson for the group – only fitting since she is at the centre of the sound – and talks to E...
2015-02-1623 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With DAME JANET BAKEREvery now and again – but only very rarely – a professional engagement comes along that is so personal, so loaded with treasured associations, that it transcends all normal parameters and takes on a significance all of its own. This was such an occasion.
I first met Dame Janet two years ago on the jury of the Guildhall Gold Medal for singers and somehow or other, despite the pressures of the evening, we managed to find a few quiet moments to reflect on some of my memories of her performing career. She was most gracious (and illuminating – we shared some L...
2014-12-251h 34Edward SeckersonA Conversation With LINUS ROTH: Crusading for WeinbergThe Polish composer Miecyzlaw Weinberg – his Holocaust opera The Passenger caused quite a stir in David Pountney’s premiere staging – has a new champion. The talented young German violinist Linus Roth has taken his music and his legacy to heart in a big way. New recordings of the complete Sonatas and the little heard Violin Concerto (in a coupling with the Britten Concerto) on the enterprising Challenge label reveal a composer of many facets and a deep and abiding conviction. His music chronicles a life of tragedy, determination, and defiance, and in this exclusive audio podcast Roth talks to Edward...
2014-09-1723 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With VASILY PETRENKO: Shostakovich Symphony No.13 “Babi Yar”With the final release in Vasily Petrenko’s much-lauded Shostakovich cycle on Naxos the young maestro talks to Edward Seckerson about a masterpiece the Soviet authorities tried but failed to sabotage at its first performances. YevgenyYevtushenko’s poem “Babi Yar” with its accusations of anti-Semitism was the flashpoint but social protest runs deep in the piece and … [Read More]
2014-09-0219 min
Humanitas - Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Oxford and CambridgeRenée Fleming, "In Conversation"Humanitas Visiting Professor in Opera Studies Renée Fleming, in conversation with Edward Seckerson.
2014-07-1046 minHumanitas - Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Oxford and CambridgeRenée Fleming, "In Conversation"Humanitas Visiting Professor in Opera Studies Renée Fleming, in conversation with Edward Seckerson.
2014-07-1046 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With CORINNE WINTERS: Life before and after the London ‘Traviata’In February 2013 Corinne Winters created an absolute sensation in her operatic European debut when Peter Konwitschny’s starkly intense staging of Verdi’s La Traviata arrived at English National Opera. Vocally, physically, dramatically her Violetta (“the whore who gets all the best tunes” according to Konwitschny) was so “complete”, so unanimously greeted by superlative reviews, that it marked a highly significant arrival on the international opera scene. According to the American born Winters, twelve important contracts arose directly from that run of performances. In this exclusive audio podcast she talks to Edward Seckerson about life before and after the London Travi...
2014-05-3028 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With VASILY PETRENKO: Shostakovich’s Symphony No 14At its première in June 1969 Shostakovich described his Symphony No. 14, in effect a symphonic song cycle, as ‘a fight for the liberation of humanity… a great protest against death, a reminder to live one’s life honestly, decently, nobly…’ Originally intending to write an oratorio, Shostakovich set eleven poems on the theme of mortality, and in particular early or unjust death, for two solo singers accompanied by strings and percussion. This is the penultimate release in Vasily Petrenko’s internationally acclaimed symphonic cycle.
The Fourteenth Symphony is a powerful, death-obsessed work, unremittingly gripping, and the penultimate work in the c...
2014-02-0817 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With REINHARD GOEBEL & MIRIJAM CONTZEN: New Mozart Violin Concertos recordingIn Leopold Mozart’s old house (now a museum) in the Bavarian city of Augsburg a piano tuner is hard at work tuning one of the working exhibits – a venerable clavichord. Enter Reinhard Goebel and Mirijam Contzen whose new Oehms Classics recording of the Six Mozart Violin Concertos with the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie is sure to stimulate lively debate and maybe even raise eyebrow or two in the coming months. For one thing there are six not five concertos and that is something that Goebel, after exhaustive detective work, is now confidant should be the accepted norm. In this exclusive audi...
2014-02-0328 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With RUPERT GOOLD & DUNCAN SHEIK: ‘American Psycho’ – A New Musical ThrillerIn the season of goodwill a new musical based on Bret Easton Ellis’ notorious novel American Psycho might earn itself the subtitle “NOT the Christmas Show” – but when the composer is Duncan Sheik, he of the sensational Spring Awakening, and the director Rupert Goold, fresh into his artistic stewardship of the Almeida Theatre, all bets are off. There’s even a number entitled “Mistletoe Alert” – so the season of rampant consumerism might well prove just the time to launch one of the most anticipated musicals of this or any season. In this exclusive audio podcast Sheik and Goold tell how the bloodies...
2013-11-1921 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With GIANLUCA MARCIANO: Italian style and traditionsBowing in at the London Coliseum for the latest revival of Anthony Minghella’s sumptuous staging of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly, conductor Gianluca Marciano is fast building a reputation as one of the most thoughtful and stylistically incisive of thoroughbred Italians on the circuit. In the UK his work at Grange Park Opera has garnered impressive reviews and he has taken the Italian tradition East with his Music Directorship of the Tbilisi State Opera and Ballet Company in Georgia – a great breeding ground for some impressive vocal talents – and the Artistic Directorship of the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut. In this...
2013-10-1524 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With VASILY PETRENKO: His Shostakovich symphony cycleAs Vasily Petrenko’s much-lauded Shostakovich symphony cycle moves closer to completion we reach the renegade Fourth Symphony written in 1935 and driven underground by Stalin and his establishment naysayers. This astonishing piece – which remained unperformed for 25 years until 1961 when Kondrashin in Russia and Eugene Ormandy in the USA brought it in from the cold – represents the moment, in Petrenko’s view, when Shostakovich really became Shostakovich and with significant inspiration from Gustav Mahler on matters of sonata-form and the lethal deployment of irony was able to leave prescribed traditions behind and forge a path of his own. As with every rel...
2013-10-0117 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With MARY MILLER & ANDREW LITTON: Bergen OperaIn the listening room of Grieg Hall, Bergen – a concert hall sometimes masquerading as a theatre and vice versa – Edward Seckerson talks to Mary Miller, Director of Bergen National Opera, and Andrew Litton, Music Director of the venerable Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra – about the genesis of opera in Bergen and the prospect of the big Autumn production – Beethoven’s cry for freedom and political tolerance, Fidelio – which will serve as an upbeat to the 200th anniversary of the establishment of Norway’s Constitution in 2014.
Miller talks about the creative freedom of an opera company which is project specific and not behold...
2013-09-2425 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With MAURY YESTONOn the day that the “chamber” version of his Tony Award winning show Titanic opens at London’s Southwark Playhouse the loquacious MAURY YESTON – composer of Nine and the “other” Phantom – chats to EDWARD SECKERSON about his journey in musical theatre. An undergraduate at Yale University, Yeston majored in music theory and has been influenced by everything from Stravinsky to Doo-Wop. His Titanic score is a compendium of all things British from Gilbert and Sullivan to Charles Villiers Stanford. Yeston has been a major presence at the BMI workshop in New York, mentoring and encouraging music theatre talent and crucially givi...
2013-07-3145 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With BENJAMIN WALLFISCHBenjamin Wallfisch was born into an extraordinarily musical family. His father Raphael Wallfisch is a cellist of international repute and his grandmother Anita Lasker-Wallfisch would not be alive today had her cello not served as a refuge for her soul while she was an inmate at Auschwitz. Benjamin did not play the cello but instead graduated from piano to baton in pursuit and fulfillment of his musical passions.
He also fell in love with the cinema and while watching ET take his leave of Elliot in the closing sequence of Steven Spielberg’s classic movie he realised ho...
2013-06-1928 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With LUCY SCHAUFERLucy Schaufer has always been one to confound our expectations. As she puts it herself, she’s “an American in London, conceived within the American Dream and living in the Old World.” As an indication of her boundless versatility she’s been seen here in roles as diverse as Claire DeLoone in Bernstein’s On the Town, Thea in Tippett’s The Knot Garden, and Jenny in Knussen’s Higglety Pigglety Pop! She made a huge impression at the Leicester Curve as Margaret in the UK premiere of Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza. “Carpentersville” is her debut album and in this e...
2013-05-0125 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With IAN BOSTRIDGEIt comes as no surprise that international tenor Ian Bostridge plays a significant part in EMI and Virgin Classics‘ contribution to Britten 100. In this exclusive audio podcast talks to Edward Seckerson about the man, the music, the insecurities, the contradictions, the isolation that came with being a pacifist in time of war and a homosexual in a time of illegality. Bostridge talks from first hand of Britten’s extraordinary gifts as a word-setter – a composer of songs and operas that define his special gifts and, of course, his inspirational union with Peter Pears, his muse, his, partner, his rock. Bostri...
2013-04-1529 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With COLIN CURRIEThe evolution of the solo percussionist has advanced dramatically over the last couple of decades and among the superstars of the hardware that can be struck and pounded or caressed and stroked is the flying Scotsman Colin Currie whose profile has steadily grown since becoming the first percussionist ever to reach the finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1994. In 2005 he received a coveted Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award enabling him to both to extend his commissioning activities and to raise awareness of the percussive revolution in which he plays such a major role. Currie talks here to...
2013-04-0221 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With IAN STOREYIn 2007 the English tenor, Ian Storey, made a dramatic and highly visible debut as Tristan in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the season opening of La Scala, Milan, conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Patrice Chereau. It was seen by millions on TV, in cinemas, and on DVD and marked a big development in this singer’s career. This year he will be singing Siegfried in Götterdämmerung, again under Barenboim, as part of a complete bicentennial Ringcycle at the BBC Proms. Storey eschews the heldentenor label preferring to call himself a “dramatic” tenor but whichever way you look at...
2013-03-2224 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With JAN VOGLER: Dresden Music Festival 2013
The 36th Dresden Music Festival has a big title and even bigger ambitions – EMPIRE – a theme which Artistic Director Jan Vogler hopes will embrace not just the cultural achievements of the British Empire but the broader implications of the word. The Brits are coming for sure with a range of music stretching from the Renaissance via Purcell to Elgar and Britten. The Americans are coming, too, with the New York Philharmonic “in residence” under their Chief Conductor Alan Gilbert. And 2013’s big anniversaries – Wagner, Verdi, Lutoslawski, Britten – will be celebrated in style.
Jan Vogler, who ha...
2013-03-1600 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With VASILY PETRENKO: RLPO Shostakovich SymphoniesVasily Petrenko’s highly acclaimed cycle of the Shostakovich Symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra reaches an important chapter in what Petrenko himself calls a “biopic” of the composer’s life and times. The 7th Symphony “Leningrad” chronicles one of the most shameful episodes in the annals of man’s inhumanity to man – the 900-day Nazi siege of Leningrad. It was written in the midst of unimaginable suffering and comes directly from the front line of defense like a series of musical dispatches. There was no more important piece written anywhere in the world in 1941. Microfilm of the score was smuggl...
2013-03-1219 minEdward SeckersonA Conversation With BETTY BUCKLEY: ‘Dear World’The place is the elegant One Aldwych hotel and in a suite kindly provided by the management Broadway star Betty Buckley is in post workout mode chatting to Edward Seckerson about her return to the London stage in Jerry Herman’s charming but much-misunderstood show Dear World. Restored to an intimacy only previously imagined by Herman, Gillian Lynne’s vision for the piece is about as far as it’s possible to get from the show that Herman and the original star, Angela Lansbury, felt had been hijacked at its 1969 Broadway premiere. It was, says Herman, supposed to be a bout...
2013-03-0126 min
ENO TalksENO Interview: Fiona Shaw and Edward Seckerson on The Marriage of FigaroEdward Seckerson talks to Director Fiona Shaw about the challenge of approaching what might be Mozart's most perfect work.
2011-09-2025 min
ENO TalksENO Interview: Two BoysListen to composer Nico Muhly and librettist Craig Lucas discuss their collaborative process with Edward Seckerson. This track can be downloaded.
2011-06-1231 min
ENO TalksENO Interview: Brindley Sherratt and Edward Seckerson on Simon BoccanegraJournalist Edward Seckerson talks with Brindley Sherratt as he prepares for the role of Jacopo Fiesco at ENO.
2011-05-2727 min