Front Row - Composer Roxanna Panufnik, Science meets music at The Brighton Festival, Eileen Agar retrospective

Composer Roxanna Panufnik, Science meets music at The Brighton Festival, Eileen Agar retrospective

Download Composer Roxanna Panufnik, Science meets music at The Brighton Festival, Eileen Agar retrospective

The new album of compositions by Roxanna Panufnik performed by the Saconni Quartet features a surprising range of subject material; letters written home during the First World War, Ashkenazi Jewish cantorial chant, Aung San Suu Kyi’s musings on Burma, a celebration of Poland’s EU presidency, a 14th century love story and the heartbeat of a Bulgarian dancing bear. We talk to her about the stories behind Heartfelt.

Following their residency at Cern, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, the Brighton-based artist duo Semiconductor have created a multisensory installation Halo, showing as part of the Brighton Festival. Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt discuss their immersive artwork of sound and light, which takes the form of an intricate mechanical structure containing a 360-degree projection of scientific data and 380 resonating taut piano wires.

Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy is a major retrospective of the Cubist and Surrealist artist (1899-1991) at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Louisa Buck joins us to discuss the show and gives us her own selection of exhibitions across the UK that she’s looking forward to, which can finally now open.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Oliver Jones
Studio Manager: John Boland

Main image: Albie the bear, whose recorded heartbeat was used on one of Heartfelt's tracks.
Image credit: Jordan jones/Wild Place Project,

Published on Wednesday, 19th May 2021.

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