Interviews

Kristjan Järvi with Gidon Kramer and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic

Robert's interviews with the composers, singers, instrumentalists, conductors, directors and all those others who are making waves in the classical world, both the famous and those who are starting to make names for themselves.

Interviews are normally scheduled to publicise a particular event, but sometimes they happen simply because an artist is happy to be talked to about their career. And interesting things can happen, my interview with Rhian Lois included a fascinating talk about what its like to sing when pregnant. Politics and the state of society have, not surprisingly, cropped up more than once. Jan Vogler, the intendant of the Dresden Music Festival was concerned to use the arts to counter the atmosphere created by the anti-Islam demonstrations in Dresden, whilst both conductor Kristjan Järvi and composer Sven Helbig were both concerned with the nature of today's society and the relationship between music, the arts and society.

And in 2022 it was my turn to be interviewed, for Expressive Audio.

Pianists

• 2024: Alexandra Dariescu, Can Çakmur, Zubin Kanga, Anna Tsybuleva, Reinis Zariņš     
  
• 2023:  Vadim Kholodenko, Edna Stern, Samantha Ege, 
• 2022: Iyad Sughayer,  Dylan Perez, John Brunning, Pina Napolitano, János Balázs,
• 2021: Malcolm Martineau, Sonya Bach, Anna Tsybuleva, Mark Bebbington, Elan Sicroff, Peter Jablonsky, Vincent Larderet, Sabine Weyer,
• 2020: Nicolas Hodges,
• 2019: Simon Callaghan, Clare Hammond
• 2018: Christopher Glynn, Margaret Fingerhut, Lucy Parham, Llyr Williams, Alexandra Dariescu, Rebecca Omordia,
• 2017: Paul Berkowitz, Julian Jacobson, Dylan Perez, Stewart Goodyear,
• 2016: Roman Rabinovitch, Thomas Nickell, Kimiko Ishizaka, Ariel Lanyi,
• 2015: Christina McMaster, Nicholas McCarthy,

Violinists  

• 2024: Irène Duval 
  
• 2023: Rachel Barton Pine, Lisa Archontidi-Tsaldaraki,  Eldbjørg Hemsing, Esther Yoo, Clarissa Bevilacqua,
• 2022: Midori Komachi,
• 2020: Anna Ovsyanikova, Rakhi Singh (Manchester Collective),
• 2019: Tamsin Waley-Cohen & James Baillieu, Maxim Vengerov, David Le Page, Jennifer Pike,
• 2018: David Irving, Hugo Ticciati, Thomas Gould, Vadim Gluzman,
• 2017: Madeleine Mitchell, Kyung Wha Chung, Liza Ferschtman,
• 2015: Pavlo Beznosiuk, Eric Silberger, Josef Spacek, 

Instrumentalists

• Organ: James McVinnie
  
• Trombone: Slide Action (trombone quartet)
  
• Flute: Noemi Gyori & Gergely Madaras, 
• Trumpet Simon Höfele, Lucy Humphris, Tine Thing Helseth, 
• Clarinettist Mark van de Wiel, 
• Viola Rosalind Ventris, 
• French Horn Ben Goldscheider, Anneke Scott, 
• Guitarist Yuri Liberzon, Sean Shibe, Christoph Denoth, 
• Recorder Jill Kemp, 
• Double Bass Leon Bosch, 
• Cello Amalie Stalheim, Adrian Bradbury, Raphael Wallfisch (2019), Raphael Wallfisch, Matthew Sharp, Leonard Elschenbroich, Matthew Barley, 
• Percussion Colin Currie, Joby Burgess,

Choirs & Ensembles

• 2024: David Skinner of Alamire, Barbican Quartet, Tom Fetherstonhaugh of Fantasia Orchestra, Stéphane Fuguet of Les Épopées, Miró Quartet, Paradox Orchestra, William Whitehead of Solomon's Knot, Tafelmusik, Trio Bohémo, Simon Johnson of Westminster Cathedral Choir  
  
• 2023: Catherine Larsen-Maguire of National Youth Orchestras of Scotland, Vox Urbane, Anton Hanson (Tippett Quartet), Calidore String Quartet, 
• 2022: Franck-Emmanuel Comte of Le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu, Karen Grylls of Voices New Zealand, Voice trio, Mark Vuorinen of Elora Singers, Korros trio, 
• 2021: Simon Wynberg of ARC Ensemble,
• 2020: Chris Parsons of Eboracum Baroque, The Engegård Quartet, Sebastiano de Gennaro of 19'40, Clare Norburn of The Telling, Adam Szabo of Manchester Collective,
• 2019: Simon Cox & Matthew Knight of Septura, Elisa Citterio of Tafelmusik, Queen's Six, Ensemble Hesperi, 
• 2018: Tim Williams of Psappha, Benjamin Thiele-Long of Lumen, Matthew O'Keefe of Brixton Chamber Orchestra,
• 2017: Greg Beardsell of the International Youth Choir Festival, Emily Worthington & Robert Percival of Boxwood & Brass, Peter Dijkstra of the Netherlands Chamber Choir,
• 2016: Robert Ames of London Contemporary Orchestra, Thomas Lauderdale of Pink Martini, Lionel Meunier of Vox Luminis,
• 2015: Trio Martinu,
• 2014: The Tippett Quartet,

Opera companies & festivals

• 2024: Finnegan Downie Dear of Shadwell Opera, Joseph Middleton of Leeds Lieder, Leo Doulton of Tête à Tête, Tamsin Waley-Cohen of Two Moors, Tom Elwin of West Green House Opera, Numa Bischoff Ullmann of Lucerne's Le Piano Symphonique
  
• 2023: Cameron Menzies of Northern Ireland Opera, Ana Sokolović.of Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) 
• 2022: Rosetta Cucchi of Wexford Festival Opera, Kirsty Hopkins of West Green Opera, Helen Grime of Sheffield Chamber Music Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Richard Tegid-Jones of Random Opera Company, Fiachra Garvey of Classical Vauxhall, 
• 2021: Christopher Glynn of Ryedale Festival, 
• 2020: Toms Ostrovskis of Riga Jurmala Festival, OperaGlass Works,  Ian Page of Classical Opera, Jonathan Darbourne of The Vache Baroque Festival, Guy Johnston of Hatfield House Music Festival, Susan Moore of W11 Opera,
• 2019: Anthony Wilkinson of Wimbledon International Music Festival, Queen Sonja International Music Competition, Oper im Steinbruch, Austria, Ben Woodward of Fulham Opera, Michael Wilson of Buxton Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Garsington at 30, Nicholas Chalmers of Nevill Holt Opera,
• 2018: Henry Little of Opera Rara, Guy Withers of Waterperry Opera Festival, Serge van Veggel of Opera2Day, Laurence Cummings of the London Handel Festival,
• 2017: Finnegan Downie Dear of Shadwell Opera, Sophie Gilpin of HeadFirst, Sholto Kynoch of Oxford Lieder Festival, Marcus Farnsworth of Southwell Music Festival, Stephen Barlow of Buxton Festival, the National Opera Studio, Nicky Creed of Garsington Opera, Clementine Lovell of Pop-Up Opera, Samir Savant of the London Handel Festival,
• 2016: Katya Apekisheva & Charles Owen of the London Piano Festival, Gilly French & Jeremy Gray of Bampton Classical Opera, Sholto Kynoch, Ella Marchment & Leo Geyer,  Jan Vogler of Dresden Music Festival, Douglas Boyd of Garsington Opera, Ian Page of Classical Opera (part 1 and part 2),
• 2015: Matt Peacock of Streetwise Opera, Stefan Forsberg of Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Marios Papadopoulos of Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Helen Jamieson of Music at Paxton, Marcus Rudolf Axt of Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Henry Little  of Orchestras Live,
• 2014: Anthony Wilkinson  of Wimbledon International Music Festival,  Chris Watson of Sospiri, Jan Vogler, John Metcalf of the Vale of Glamorgan Music Festival,
• 2013: James Clutton of Opera Holland Park,
• 2012: Clare Norburn of BREMF,

Composers

• 2024: Jacques Cohen, Isabella Gellis, Stephen Goss, Jake Heggie, Sun Keting & Alex Ho, Paul Kopetz, Stephen McNeff, Eimear Noone, Alex Roth, Aníbal Vidal, Freya Waley-Cohen, Nathan Williamson
  
• 2023: Samuel Andreyev, Joanna Marsh, Nwando Ebizie, Debbie Wiseman, Richard Harvey, Bushra El-Turk, Jasdeep Singh-Degun, Bjørn Morten Christophersen, Maya Yousseff, Neil T. Smith, Stephen Montague, Margaret Maria, 
• 2022: Olivier Deriviere, Veronika Hanl, Martin Skafte, Farhad Poupel, Noah Max, Mark Adamo, Andrew Chen, Pascal Schumacher, Torsten Rasch, Eleanor Alberga, Joseph Phibbs, Sven Helbig, Jan-Peter de Graaff, 
• 2021: Glen Gabriel, Anna Thorvaldsdottir (Þorvaldsdóttir), Alex Paxton, Alex Groves, Tim Corpus, Noah Max, Christian Forshaw, Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, Richard Danielpour, Benjamin Woodgates, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Graham Fitkin, Luke Styles, Tim Benjamin, Raymond Yiu, Alastair White, David Matthews, Arash Safaian,
• 2020: Errollyn Wallen, Ian Venables, Joan Valent, Chris Warner, Karol Beffa, Alex Woolf, Errollyn Wallen, Vic Hoyland, Paul Mealor, Alex Hills, Bernard Hughes, Stuart Hancock,
• 2019: Sally Beamish, Edward Thomas, Sarah Rodgers, Dani Howard, Charlotte Bray, Gavin Higgins, Shirley Thompson,
• 2018: Roxanna Panufnik,  Jonathan Dove (2018), Kevin Puts,  Patrick Hawes (2018), Martin Bussey, Thea Musgrave, Moritz Eggert, Pawel Lukazewski, Dai Fujikura, Gediminas Gelgotas,
• 2017: Samuel Hertz, Owain Park, Marcus Paus, Tom Green, Jack White, Jonathan Dove (2017),  Melissa Parmenter, Soosan Lolavar, Elena Langer, Patrick Hawes (2017),  Nicola Lefanu,
• 2016: Rachel Portman, Ailie Robertson,  Sven Helbig, Samuel Bordoli, Will Todd,
• 2015: Augusta Read Thomas, Tarik O'Regan,  Dobrinka Tabakova,
• 2014: Jonathan Rathbone, B Tommy Andersson,
• 2013: Howard Blake, Alissa Firsova, George Benjamin,
• 2012: Nimrod Borenstein,

Singers

• 2024: Benjamin Appl, Claire Booth, Ffion Edwards, Aoife Miskelly, Brindley Sherratt, Yuriy Yurchuk
  
• 2023: Juliet Fraser, Reginald Mobley, Étienne Dupuis, Elgan Llyr Thomas, Benjamin Appl, Iestyn Morris, Francis Gush, 
• 2022: Randall Scotting, Brindley Sherratt, Anna Devin, 
• 2021: Grace Davidson, Lucas & Irina Meachem, Hila Fahima, Jamie W Hall,  Ilker Arcayürek, Katharina Konradi, Samuel Hasselhorn,
• 2020: Nicky Spence, Katherine Dain, Claire Booth, Brindley Sherratt,
• 2019: James Hall, Leonardo Capalbo, Simon Wallfisch, Bruce Ford, Clare Stewart of Apollo 5, Kitty Whately, Chiara Skerah, 
• 2018: Marina Rebeka, Marta Fontanals-Simmons,   Angelika Kirchschlager, Chen Reiss, Bruce Sledge,
• 2017: Lucy Hope, Mark Padmore, Claire Rutter and Dame Anne Evans on Singing Wagner (part 1 and part 2), Albina Shagimuratova, Natalya Romaniw,  Benjamin Appl,
• 2016: April Fredrick, Rhian Lois, Elizabeth Llewellyn (part 1 and part 2), Ilona Domnich, Anna Devin,
• 2015: Robin Tritschler, Iestyn Morris, Matthew Long, John Savournin,  Kitty Whately,
• 2014: Nelly Miricioiou (part 1 and part 2) , Rosalind Plowright,
• 2013: Helen Sherman, Stephen Gadd, Kate Lindsey,
• 2012: Patricia Bardon, Claire Rutter, Janis Kelly,

Conductors

• 2024: Paul Mann, David Parry on Stanford's Shamus O'Brien, Michael Sanderling 
  
• 2023: Duncan Ward, Ed Bennett,  Francesco Cilluffo (Wexford Festival), Gábor Takács-Nagy (Manchester Camerata), Alexander Shelley, 
• 2022: Simone Menezes, John Andrews, Peter Selwyn, Bart Van Reyn, Lada Valesova,   
• 2021: Jérémie Rhorer (Le Cercle de l'Harmonie), Zvonimir Hacko, Antonello Manacorda, Dinis Sousa, Rupert Gough, George Jackson, Julian Perkins, 
• 2020: Edmund Aldhouse (Ely Cathedral), Nicholas Collon, John Andrews, Cornelius Meister, Richard Stamp,
• 2019: Christophe Rousset,  Marios Papadopoulos (Oxford Philharmonic), Jan Latham Koenig, Christopher Monks, Bridget Cunningham, David Hill, John Nelson, Desmond Earley,  Jessica Cottis, Harry Bicket, 
• 2018: Damian Iorio,  Benjamin Zander, Stephen Barlow,  Andrew Nethsingha, Leo Duarte,
• 2017: JohnNelson, Adrian Sutton, Nigel Short, Suzi Digby, David Parry, David Curtis, 
• 2016: Louis Langree, Jonathan Berman, John Wilson, Odaline de la Martinez,  Kristjan Jarvi,  Harry Bicket,  Stuart Stratford, James Lowe,
• 2015: David Skinner, Rachel Young, Laurence Equilbey, Christopher Rousset,  Friedrich Haider,  Sascha Goetzel,
• 2014: Jacques Cohen, Oliver Zeffmann, George Jackson,
• 2013: Harry Ogg,

Directors

• 2023:  Ella Marchment, John Wilkie,
• 2022: Guido Martin-Brandis, Ella Marchment, Max Hoehn, Dionysios Kyropoulos, 
• 2021: Julia Burbach, Jack Furness,
• 2020: Thomas Guthrie (September) Thomas Guthrie (March ),  
• 2018: Stephen Medcalf, 
• 2017: Nina Brazier, Aik Karapetian, Daisy Evans, Elijah Moshinsky, 
• 2016: Olivia Fuchs, Elena Barbalich,  
• 2015: Sam Brown, Nina Brazier,  Paul Curran,  
• 2013: Ian Russell,  
• 2012 :Antony McDonald,

Writers, musicologists & more

Jessica Duchen, Ellen T Harris, Dionysios Kyropoulos, Gillian Dooley

Impresarios & Record Companies

Ulrike Köstinger (Operabase), St Mary's Perivale, The Continuo Foundation, Clare O'Connell,
Ian Rosenblatt, Adrian Green of Convivium Records, Lizzie Holmes of Debut Opera, Timothy Wayne-Wright, Michael Adda

Designers

Leslie Travers,

Educators

 Truda White (MiSST)