If you’d like to find out more about the Shakespeare and Music Group, please visit shakespeareandmusic.wordpress.com and @shakesmus on Twitter. Episode 9 In this episode Michelle Assay interviews composer, violist and conductor Brett Dean on his 2017 opera Hamlet, discussing his approach to Shakespeare's original play, the composition process, collaborating with librettist Matthew Jocelyn as well as various performers, and the opera in performance at Glyndeborne and beyond. 0:52 - In...

If you’d like to find out more about the Shakespeare and Music Group, please visit shakespeareandmusic.wordpress.com and @shakesmus on Twitter. Episode 8 In this episode, Michael Graham interviews musical theatre expert Hannah Marie Robbins on the writing, performance history and gender politics of Kiss Me, Kate (1948), a musical adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew written by Cole Porter and Bella & Sam Spewack. *Content warning: this episode includes discussion of domestic violence...

Episode 7 Michelle Assay interviews composer, director, playwright, and all-round Renaissance person, Claire Van Kampen, on her richly varied career working for stage and screen. 00:02:00 Claire's introduction to early music, composing for historic instruments 00:08:00 The RSC and touring with Phoebus Cart 00:13:42 Working at the Globe and composing music for Shakespeare's plays 00:23:05 Incorporating early music research into composing 00:29:02 Changing approaches to theatre music at the G...

If you’d like to find out more about the Shakespeare and Music Group, please visit shakespeareandmusic.wordpress.com and @shakesmus on Twitter. Episode 6 Michelle Assay talks to British-Ukranian mezzo-soprano Rozanna Madylus about her multi-role performance in John Casken's King Lear adaptation, The Shackled King. The opera receives its world premiere at the Buxton International Festival in July 2021, following its livestream performance for the Shakespeare and Music Study Group's conferenc...

If you’d like to find out more about the Shakespeare and Music Group, please visit shakespeareandmusic.wordpress.com and @shakesmus on Twitter. Audio extracts of Arthur Sullivan's music for The Tempest (1860-62) and Macbeth (1888) provided by kind permission of John Andrews and Dutton Epoch. 1: Macbeth, Overture 2: The Tempest, 'Come unto these yellow sands' 3: Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 6 4: The Tempest, Introduction 5: The Tempest, Epilogue 6: Macbeth, Prelude to Act 2 7: Macbeth, Act 1, Scene...

If you’d like to find out more about the Shakespeare and Music Group, please visit shakespeareandmusic.wordpress.com and @shakesmus on Twitter. Audio clips of Northern Opera Group's performance of Charles Villiers Stanford's 'Much Ado About Nothing' (2019) provided by kind permission of David Ward and Northern Opera Group. Episode 4 Michelle Assay talks to David Ward about programming Shakespeare-inspired operas in his role as Artistic Director of Northern Opera Group. Michelle and David d...

If you’d like to find out more about the Shakespeare and Music Group, please visit shakespeareandmusic.wordpress.com and @shakesmus on Twitter. Episode 3 Michael Graham talks to Jennifer Waghorn about music in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, the dynamics of composer-playwright collaboration in early modern theatre, and parallels between early modern theatre and the birth of opera. They particularly discuss the lives and work of two composers for Shakespeare's theatre compan...

If you’d like to find out more about the Shakespeare and Music Group, please visit shakespeareandmusic.wordpress.com and @shakesmus on Twitter. Episode 2 In this episode of 'Sounds and Sweet Airs', Michelle Assay talks with composer John Casken and singer Sir John Tomlinson about their new drama The Shackled King, a condensed version of Shakespeare’s King Lear. The Shackled King starts at the end of the play where the King and Cordelia are in prison, he hardly recognising his...

If you’d like to find out more about the Shakespeare and Music Group, please visit shakespeareandmusic.wordpress.com and @shakesmus on Twitter. Episode 1 In the first episode of 'Sounds and Sweet Airs', Michael Graham talks to the Chair of the Shakespeare and Music Study Group, Michelle Assay, about the formation of the group, its current activities, and her long-term vision. They also discuss Michelle’s fascinating personal history with Shakespeare, and her research into Soviet and Post-S...