The Countertenor

In this month’s episode, Professor Laura Tunbridge and tenor Ian Bostridge joined us to discuss the life and work of composer Robert Schumann.    Throughout the 2026/27 Season at Wigmore Hall, Ian Bostridge is presenting a Portrait of Robert Schumann through a series of concerts which digs deeply into the heart of the composer’s romantic Lieder, exploring timeless song cycles and works that speak to the human condition. Robert Schumann’s songs, many of them written in what proved to be his ‘miraculous year’ of song in 1840, reflect a world of turbulent personal emotions and feelings of love for Clara Wieck, his muse and future wife.    Ian is joined in conversation by Professor Laura Tunbridge, Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, whose research interests include many aspects of German Romanticism, including the works of Robert Schumann.

In October’s podcast episode, music historians Leah Broad and Samantha Ege discuss the lives and works of Samuel and Avril Coleridge-Taylor.   Leah and Samantha introduce Samuel and Avril in the context of the early twentieth-century, sharing stories from their lives and discussing the work being done to preserve their legacies.

In the first podcast episode of the 2026/27 season, mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and dancer Suleiman Suleiman discuss their project ‘A Kabuki Winterreise: Spring Snow’ A meditation on sound and silence, solitude and communion, love and loss, this project intertwines the narratives of Yasuna, one of the great kabuki plays dating back to 1818, and Schubert’s iconic Winterreise, conceived a decade later in 1827. 

In the final episode of the 2025/26 season, pianists James Cheung and Anna Tilbrook discuss their musical lives and works.   Both Cheung and Tilbrook have worked as collaborative pianists for singers and instrumentalists. In this conversation, in which the two musicians met for the first time, they discussed their working relationships with other musicians, what it takes to prepare different kind of repertoire, and favourite musical experiences.

In June’s podcast episode, Professor Laura Tunbridge speaks to violinist Mark Steinberg about performing Beethoven’s string quartets as a cycle.   Spanning the entirety of the composer’s creative life, Beethoven’s sixteen string quartets are often divided into early, middle and late. In this conversation, Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, Professor Laura Tunbridge, discusses different musicological approaches to programming and performing these profound works as a cycle with the first violinist of the Brentano String Quartet, Mark Steinberg.

In May’s podcast episode, author Julia Boyd speaks to Ian Skelly about her book, There is Sweet Music Here: The World of Wigmore Hall (Elliott & Thompson, 2026).   Drawing on archival sources and first-hand accounts, the book and their conversation charts the Hall’s extraordinary journey from Edwardian beginnings to the present day.   There is Sweet Music Here: The World of Wigmore Hall will be available to purchase at the Hall from Thursday 21 May, and throughout our 125th Anniversary Festival from Monday 25 May until Sunday 7 June.

In April’s podcast episode, composer-performers Héloïse Werner and Errollyn Wallen discuss their approaches to composition, performance, and contemporary music making.  

As March is Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating International Women’s Day with Leah Broad and Katy Hamilton in this month’s podcast. The two writers discuss the values and limitations of this yearly commemoration of women’s fight for equality across all aspects of life, with a focus on music-making.    

In February’s podcast episode, soprano Nardus Williams and lute player Elizabeth Kenny join us to talk about working together on programmes that celebrate baroque women composers, shining a light on their upcoming concert with Mary Beard for International Women’s Day at Wigmore Hall.  

In this month’s podcast episode, countertenors Hugh Cutting and Iestyn Davies discuss finding their voices, musical inspirations, programming, and more.     Both Hugh and Iestyn have residencies at Wigmore Hall this Season, including a weekend-long celebration of John Dowland’s quartercentenary, baroque festivities, and more.