Music Matters

Sara Mohr-Pietsch speaks to German-born Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger ahead of his upcoming performance at London's Wigmore Hall. Known for the brilliance of his Beethoven playing, he talks about why the composer's music embodies the very best human ideals, why pianists need to learn to breathe and why he's removing himself completely from the internet.Benedictine monks in monasteries all over the UK and around the world structure their whole day around the singing of plainchant - five or six times a day they gather together and sing the psalms. Sara visits Downside Abbey in Somerset to experience first hand the musical life of monks.People often have a very traditional view of brass band music, yet composers from Harrison Birtwistle to Hans Werner Henze not to mention young contemporary composers have all written for bands. The composers Edward Gregson and Lucy Pankhurst reveal the cutting edge of brass band composition.And Viviana Durante - former Royal Ballet principal and mentor on BBC4's BBC Young Danc

Tom Service talks to conductor Daniel Barenboim as the new Pierre Boulez Saal opens in Berlin, and the conductors Marin Alsop and Sylvia Caduff meet in Lucerne and compare notes on their lives on the podium.Tom meets Daniel Barenboim in Berlin, as the city's newest concert hall, the Pierre Boulez Saal, opens its doors to the public. The hall will host up to 100 chamber music concerts a year, and is home to the Barenboim-Said Akademie, which Barenboim and the philosopher Edward Said created to train young musicians - mostly from the Middle East - and whose public face is the world famous West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. He's a musician who is always interested in the wider world and Barenboim talks to Tom about the middle eastern conflict, world politics, music education and whether or not music can change the world.And looking ahead to International Women's Day, the American conductor Marin Alsop meets Sylvia Caduff in Lucerne. Caduff, who is now in her 80s, was Leonard Bernstein's assistant at the New York Phil

Tom Service asks conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla about her plans for the City of Birmingham Orchestra, looks at the slave trade with composer Thierry Pécou, and explores the rarely-performed opera-oratorio, Le vin herbé.Tom visits Symphony Hall to talk to the exciting young conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla about her ambitions for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and music education in Birmingham. He also discusses the challenges faced by the CBSO with Chief Executive Stephen Maddock following recent funding cuts from Birmingham City Council, plus an update from Julian Lloyd-Webber, Principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire, on the progress of their cutting-edge new building which is due to open its doors to students in September this year. Tom also talks to the French composer, Thierry Pécou, about Outre-mémoire, written for his friend, the pianist Alexandre Tharaud, which delves into the heavy history of the Carribbean island of Martinique and its slave trade, from where Pécou's own family is descended

Daniele Gatti on life as the new Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, plus Sara Mohr-Pietsch examines the life and work of avant-garde American composer Milton Babbitt and 19th-Century conductor Hans Richter.

At the turn of the 20th Century, the name of Ferruccio Busoni was on the lips of music-lovers across Europe. But 150 years after the composer’s birth, contemporary concert goers barely know who he is. With Tom Service.

American pianist Jonathan Biss on late works, Fiona Maddocks on music 'to carry you through', Edinburgh's new concert hall, plus the sound of the Jungle - music recorded in the Calais migrant camp. With Sara Mohr-Pietsch.

Presented by Sara Mohr-Pietsch. Including interviews with conductor Kristjan Jarvi and composer Sally Beamish, plus a tribute to forgotten pianist Viola Tunnard.

Tom Service presents Radio 3's music magazine, exploring the music in Shakespeare's plays and Shakespearean music from the BBC archives, with composer Gary Carpenter and theatre historian Sarah Lenton. Live from the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Other Place theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.BBC Radio 3 is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with a season celebrating the four centuries of music and performance that his plays and sonnets have inspired.