March 25, 2020
Jonathan Biss is joined by composer and performer Brett Dean to talk about the latest in Biss' Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle series. They discuss the strength of the different characters presented by Beethoven in each of the evening's sonatas, the way he can somehow unite the tension many composers find between expression and technique, and the audience grills the pair about the consequences of Beethoven's deafness and comparisons between him and his predecessors like Haydn. Biss is also close to the première of a new piano concerto composed by Dean for him, and they talk about the commission and its origins in the Austrian town of Gneixendorf.
March 25, 2020
Jonathan Biss, following the December concert in his Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle, is joined by Antoine Lederlin and Krzysztof Chorzelski of the Belcea Quartet (who are currently performing the complete Beethoven String Quartets) for a discussion on their programmes. The conversation includes comparisons between the string quartets and piano sonatas, the co-existence of contrasting elements - human & superhuman, complex & banal - in the works, and what it's like performing a complete cycle by one composer ("living with" Beethoven).
February 18, 2020
Georgina Born, Professor of Music and Anthropology at Oxford University and Professorial Fellow of Mansfield College, joins Vijay Iyer for an exchange of ideas traversing the arts, the humanities, and the social and natural sciences. The two musician-scholars each give a brief mini-lecture, Iyer on ‘Musicality’ and Born on ‘Musical Experience’, followed by a dialogue considering the intersections of these two concepts.
January 27, 2020
Bringing together two intertwined stories – a performer’s lifelong passion for the mélodie, and its history at Wigmore Hall.
Dame Felicity Lott shares stories and highlights from her life as a performer and devotee of French song, in conversation with Wigmore Hall’s Archivist Emily Woolf. This unique interview interweaves these recollections with material from our Archive illustrating some of the Hall’s most significant moments as a venue for the mélodie, in a rich history spanning nearly 120 years.
November 27, 2019
Over the course of four years (excluding 2021) British pianist Christian Blackshaw will be performing the complete cycle of Mozart’s piano sonatas on the composer’s birthday, 27 January. In conversation with music critic and author Jessica Duchen, join Christian to explore the sonatas in this Wigmore Hall podcast.
The pair talk about what makes the cycle of piano sonatas special, how Christian has developed his programmes, and how much he feels the importance of being able to communicate Mozart’s spirit in the music (period instrument or not). We fantasise about how Mozart’s life and musical relationships might have been had the composer lived to 70 years old or more, and the musical reflections of tragedy following his mother’s death in Paris.
October 21, 2019
The frequently tragic life of the Polish-Jewish-Russian composer Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996) did not prevent him from composing prolifically in many forms; important to both his personal life and career was his friendship with Shostakovich, which began during the Second World War and continued until the latter’s death.
Ahead of Quatuor Danel’s two-season survey of Weinberg’s string quartets, Marc Danel and Daniel Elphick, musicologist and researcher, talk about the life of Weinberg and the Weinberg/Shostakovich Cycle at Wigmore Hall.
October 21, 2019
The frequently tragic life of the Polish-Jewish-Russian composer Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996) did not prevent him from composing prolifically in many forms; important to both his personal life and career was his friendship with Shostakovich, which began during the Second World War and continued until the latter’s death.
Ahead of Quatuor Danel’s two-season survey of Weinberg’s string quartets, Marc Danel and Daniel Elphick, musicologist and researcher, talk about the life of Weinberg and the Weinberg/Shostakovich Cycle at Wigmore Hall.
October 2, 2019
Following each concert in his Beethoven Piano Sonata series, Jonathan Biss will host a post-concert talk in the Hall. On Sunday 29 September, this took the form of a Question & Answer session with the audience.
Led by questions from the auditorium, Jonathan explores the evening concert programme and the development of Beethoven over the decade the performed works span. He discusses how teaching and preparing his Coursera lectures has affected his approach to playing the piano sonatas, and how an audience in Beethoven’s day might have reacted to the works.
September 16, 2019
Vijay Iyer in conversation with Simon Rentner
Ahead of his 2019/20 Residency, Wigmore Hall’s 2019/20 Composer in Residence Vijay Iyer invites Simon Rentner into his New York home to talk about the different aspects of his residency. Together, the two discuss each of Iyer’s 2019/20 collaborations and how he answers the question of his musical “origin” and heritage. Iyer addresses the concept of improvised vs composed music, and the overarching term of his residency, ‘musicality’.
September 13, 2019
Ahead of his Schubert series in 2019/20, pianist Francesco Piemontesi talks to music critic Michael White at Wigmore Hall.
The pair talk about whether Piemontesi, a pianist with a background of multiple nationalities and cultures, considers himself a 'citizen of the world', how he couldn't ever confine himself to any one area of piano music, and the excitement of programming the Ascona Music Festival. With the first concert of his series in November, Piemontesi discusses his programme choices and the parallels he feels between Schubert's life and final three piano sonatas.
