Replacing Reflections throughout February, the Summer Illuminations series offers a wonderful opportunity to discover new insights into composers you know—and to meet a few you may not.
What Might Have Been
4pm Sunday 1 February | 3pm Friday 6 February
Presented by Michael Leighton Jones
An exploration of music by 19th and early 20th-century composers who were full of promise but died young: Fanny Mendelssohn, Alice Mary Smith, William Hurlstone, Ernest Farrar, William Denis Browne, Cecil Coles and Lili Boulanger.
Shostakovich: Verbal Compliance, Musical Defiance
4pm Sunday 8 February | 3pm Friday 13 February
Presented by Felicity Cronan
A look at Shostakovich’s music, from his first symphony until 1953, as he walked the tightrope of Stalinist Russia. He faced a terrible choice: comply with the regime and maintain an income and freedom, or maintain his artistic integrity but risk his life?
Arnold Bax’s Irish Awakening
4pm Sunday 15 February | 3pm Friday 20 February
Presented by David Taylor
Before turning 20, the English-born composer Arnold Bax discovered the “Celt within him” through the poetry of WB Yeats. For the next 15 years his compositions displayed a strong Irish flavour—and we’ll play some of these and reflect on the extraordinary passion with which Bax embraced all things Irish at this stage of his development.
Imogen Holst—The Reluctant Composer
4pm Sunday 22 February | 3pm Friday 27 February
Presented by John Wilkinson
Imogen Holst had two men in her life—her father and Benjamin Britten. She devoted a good part of her life promoting both, but in the shadows was a competent composer, conductor and musical organiser. Join John Wilkinson as he takes this life out of the shadows.