Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Impresario organizing opera, ballet, classical concerts for 40 yrs, working with Pavarotti to Ray Charles, giving audiences hummable tunes.
On the island
Eight records
Tu che di gel sei cinta (from Turandot)
I've chosen Tirundotte because it was the opera which I did at Wembley with the Royal Opera House about fifteen years ago now, and it was the first time they'd ever done an arena opera.
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 ('Emperor')Favourite
Benno Moiseiwitsch with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by George Szell
The Emperor Concerto was the first concerto that I programmed at the Barbican when that opened in 1982. But my mother being a pianist it was something that I remember from my youth and I've asked for the recording with Beno Mozevich because he was somebody my mother hugely admired.
Love Duet (from Madama Butterfly)
Victoria de los Ángeles and Jussie Björling
Because it's Victoria de L De Los Angeles, who I had the great pleasure of working with on many occasions in the nineteen seventies, singing with Jussie Björling, whose voice to me is just the great tenor voice.
Sempre libera (from La Traviata)
Maria Callas and Alfredo Kraus
I once had the the pleasure of hearing her at Covent Garden when she was actually then doing Tosca. But this is now singing Simpre Libra from La Treviata.
Ballet something I've been involved with over a number of years, but The Nutcracker in particular is the ballet that I remember that I took my children to when they were very small, like I suppose so many people do.
I could have chosen any number of Edith Piaff songs. It reminds me so much of Paris, which I love, and sitting on the boulevard with La Figaro and a coffee and watching the world go by.
Dove sono i bei momenti (from The Marriage of Figaro)
My next piece of music is uh Marriage of Figaro, Dove Sono, The Countess Is Aria from Act Three, sung by Elizabeth Schwartzkopf.
Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 26
It's the Brooke Violin Concerto played by Yehudi Menuin, somebody I had the enormous pleasure of working with on many occasions.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:06What's your formula [for surviving without Arts Council money]?
I've always believed in putting on what people want to hear, what they want to go and see, and uh things that I kind of like, things that I know myself. So that's been the way I've followed things from the word go, and it's always seemed to work.
Presenter asks
9:28Why were you so keen to leave school?
Well, that was my dad who wanted me to uh to be articled, and in those days you could be articled at sixteen with just five O levels, so I'm not sure it was a very good idea to leave at that point, but uh I did and that was it.
Presenter asks
10:01Did you know, somewhere in your own mind's eye, that it was music that really was your future path and what you wanted to do?
No, I didn't really. I didn't know at all until um m my dad had uh was determined to put on Mozart's Il Seraglio at uh the and he had an opportunity to do it at the St Pancras Town Hall, and he got me involved in that, and uh I found I enjoyed it very much, and that was really what set me going.
The keepsakes
The book
Collins Robert French-English English-French Dictionary
Collins Robert
I would find uh great um entertainment and enjoyment from from from being able to delve into that.
The luxury
Nespresso coffee machine with capsules
It would be a Nespresso coffee machine with those cop capsules that give you wonderful coffee because I lived by that. And as long as I could take an equal supply of decaf and strong coffee, I'd be very happy.
Presenter asks
22:49Why did you [apply for the job of director of the Royal Opera House]?
Um well, I had Aida coming on uh in the following uh February and it was a good opportunity to um stir things up and get a bit of publicity. Was that all? Basically, yes, because uh I applied corporately for my company to take over.
Presenter asks
32:56Has the personal investment and the energy that it takes to keep the show on the road for forty years taken a personal toll on you?
Well, I don't think it helped my marriage, which uh um you know fell apart um it was at the day at the time when I was working uh very hard uh after the Barbican had opened and I think uh it wasn't the only reason but it w the pressure of working um evenings and weekends in particular probably did put a a further strain on on the marriage and didn't help certainly.
“I've always found with artists, if you treat them with respect, generally speaking, you get the best out of them. And I don't think we should forget that we're asking people to go out and perform before huge audiences. It's very nerve-wracking for them.”
“I loved going to the theater. I loved the the the moment when the curtain goes up and and you are taken into whatever different world it happens to be, a world of make believe or whatever, to be entertained and that that that really thrilled me and I enjoyed it hugely.”
“We do ourselves a disservice if we try to make classical music or opera elitist. I think we we've got to go out and break down the barriers.”
“I think you go to to to be stimulated to to enjoy, to listen to what you like, and that's really important.”