Lea Desandre, Sonic Meditations and The Rhinegold

Music Matters

As her career takes flight, the French-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre talks to presenter Sara Mohr-Pietsch about her love of baroque music, how her ballet training has influenced both her voice and stage presence, and the special musical alchemy that she experiences while collaborating with Thomas Dunford and the Jupiter Ensemble.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the late American composer Pauline Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations – a series of text-based scores that instruct groups of people to practice ‘sounding’ and listening together – Music Matters speaks to the improviser and saxophonist, Artur Vidal, and sound artist and researcher, Ximena Alarcón ahead of a weekend of performances at Café Oto in London. They describe how Oliveros’ works broke with the conventions that separate composer, performer, and audience, and discuss how her Sonic Meditations became the blueprint for the composer’s hugely influential Deep Listening school.

As China eases its Covid restrictions, Sara speaks to the Shanghai-based journalist Rudolph Tang to learn how the country’s classical music sector is returning to business after the pandemic.

And, during rehearsals for Richard Jones’ new production of Rheingold at English National Opera, Sara joins the musicologist John Deathridge backstage to hear more about his new translation of the first instalment of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. She asks the musicologist Barbara Eichner about the nuances of creating a convincing, contemporary translation of High German epic poetry, and is joined by ENO’s Head of Music, Martin Fitzpatrick, and music critic at the New York Times, Zachary Woolf, to discuss whether the enterprise of translating foreign language operas into an audience’s vernacular remains relevant.