Politics, possibilities and epiphanies

Music Matters

Image credit: The Japan Art Association

As the celebrated violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter prepares for the premiere of John Williams’s new violin concerto, she talks to Tom Service about making music in and out of the pandemic. She reflects on how her relationship to music has changed over the past 18 months and the need for urgent change when it comes to supporting music and culture in German and beyond.

A New Topography of Love Part II is an animated video-game opera experience currently being developed by writer and director John McIlduff and composer Brian Irvine at Dumbworld productions, in collaboration with artists and game developers. Tom catches up with Brian Irvine and Vicky Potts from Whitepot Studios to find out how they plan to put opera inside arcade cabinets.

The Berlin-based Belarusian conductor Vitali Alekseenok travelled back to Belarus last August to join protests against the latest election of Alexander Lukashenko as the country’s leader – a result which has not been accepted by the EU or the UK. Vitali took part in daily musical protests on the streets of Minsk and has written a book about his experiences. He knows he can’t now go back to Belarus for fear of being arrested - something that’s already happened to many of his musician friends there. He talks to Tom about his hopes and fears for Belarus and the musicians and artists who speak out.

American musician Jessie Montgomery is one of the most distinctive and communicative voices in the US, as a player and a creator. She writes chamber works and orchestral music, as well as improvising with double bassist Eleonore Oppenheim in her duo Big Dog, Little Dog. As she begins her new role as Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence, she talks about her work and a newfound urgency to engage, connect and reflect through her music.

And from the Music Matters archives, interviews with two composers whom the world has lost in recent days – Frederic Rzewski and Louis Andriessen.