We paste the Controller's email newsletter – as is – as being of interest to visitors to this website. Its inclusion here has not been sanctioned by the Controller of Radio 3 and does not imply his endorsement of Friends of Radio 3.

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

The festival season continues on Radio 3, and during July we shall be visiting York, Cheltenham and Womad. It promises to be another varied month and I hope you are enjoying the festival spirit on the station.

The art of interpretation is one of the most important elements of our programming. Programmes like CD Review and Classical Collection remind us that the performer of a work is vital to our understanding, and this also influences the choices we make in broadcasting. So it is good to be able to examine the work of one artist in more detail. This month we look back at the great achievement of the conductor Herbert von Karajan, born 100 years ago. For some he was a controversial figure, for others a musical and business powerhouse whose like we may never see again. Inevitably, though, the second half of the month will be dominated by the BBC Proms.

BBC PROMS

The 2008 Proms will be a particular pleasure for me, since it is my first year as Director and I am looking forward to it enormously. There will be more events than ever: 76 concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, eight at Cadogan Hall and, four Proms in the Park around the UK on the Last Night. Radio 3 listeners can of course hear every concert live on BBC Radio 3, including online via the BBC iPlayer, and on demand up to seven days later. We have also enriched the Radio 3 offering with a new series entitled Proms Plus, including talks, interviews and discussions, and developed the Proms experience for listeners both on the station and though rich new online content. Across the summer we have some special festival days encapsulating the vast range of the Proms: a Folk Day, a Stockhausen Day and Bach Day. And the Folk Day (20th) — related to the Vaughan Williams anniversary — will include the first free Prom in the Royal Albert Hall, featuring among other performers, the London Sinfonietta. We are also launching a new Sunday afternoon series featuring four organ recitals and a piano recital by Lang Lang.

COMPOSERS

2008 marks the anniversary of four major composers: 50 years since the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams, the centenaries of both Olivier Messiaen and Elliott Carter and the 80th anniversary of Karlheinz Stockhausen, who died last year. Vaughan Williams died in 1958, so we will some focus on that year in which, incidentally, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was founded. Its most famous output was the evocative theme tune to a well-known science fiction drama — and so there will be a Dr Who Prom!

There is a particular emphasis on British music, allowing us to hear Vaughan Williams's music in context together with works by his teachers, friends and fellow students and pupils, including George Butterworth, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Gerald Finzi, Gustav Holst, Charles Stanford and Grace Williams. As always, the Proms contains many new works, including eleven BBC commissions and a further nine UK premieres. The eleven BBC commissions and nine UK premieres will include: Michael Berkeley, Chen Yi, Anna Meredith, Gwilym Simcock, Karlheinz Stockhausen, (world premieres) and Elliott Carter, Jonathan Harvey, Magnus Lindberg, Sir John Tavener and Mark-Anthony Turnage (UK premieres). There will also be the chance to hear concert performances of three rarely-heard short operas: Puccini's Il tabarro, Janácek's Osud and Rimsky-Korsakov's Kashchey the Immortal.

ARTISTS

The Proms provides a unique opportunity to hear the world's leading orchestras in close succession, so that we can compare and contrast their performances and styles. This year guests include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Bernard Haitink, the Berliner Philharmoniker with Sir Simon Rattle, the New York Philharmonic with Lorin Maazel and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel. Many fine artists are performing from around the world, but it is worth mention that both Murray Perahia and Nigel Kennedy are returning to the Proms after absences of more than twenty years. Our ten Late Night Proms are another remarkably varied group of concerts, with that special Royal Albert Hall, end-of-day atmosphere. These feature the Tallis Scholars, The King's Singers, Nigel Kennedy and his quintet NKQ, the London Sinfonietta, Daniel Barenboim and members of his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and Jian Wang.

THE FIRST WEEKS

Well, that was the overview… It all starts on July 18th with a concert presenting the season, including the Messiaen and Carter themes, and with some soloists who will feature in the season, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Nicholas Daniel and Wayne Marshall, and there is a special bonus in welcoming Karita Mattila who will perform the Four Last Songs by Strauss. And for this opening concert the BBC Symphony Orchestra is directed by its Chief Conductor Jirí Belohlávek.

What to look out for in July? This question is even more difficult for me than usual, but special moments will inevitably be Nigel Kennedy's return to the Proms (19th), the Folk Day (20th), the special atmosphere of the late-night Tallis Scholars (22nd), Messiaen's La Transfiguration with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (27th), and for the first time the annual concert given by the winners of the Awards for World Music as part of the Proms (30th). It's going to be a summer to remember, and I hope you can join us at Radio 3 for what is regarded as the world's largest classical music festival — live on radio, over the internet, on demand, or maybe even in the Royal Albert Hall!

www.bbc.co.uk/radio3

www.bbc.co.uk/proms

With best wishes

Roger Wright

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

FOCUS ON CHINA

For many reasons, China has featured in our consciousness over the past months. So it seemed a good moment to focus on the culture of this still largely unknown country, home to around one in five of the world's population. Between June 15-26th, we are presenting Focus on China, a unique view of the country experienced in villages and urban settings. We have an overview of classical music, as Petroc Trelawny travelled to Beijing for Music Matters (14th). There is a considerable revival of interest, as parents introduce their children to classical instruments – a far cry from the attempt to eradicate it during the Cultural Revolution. An extraordinary, related story is presented in the Sunday Feature: Rhapsody in Red (15th), as Petroc visits the Pearl River Piano Factory in Guangzhou, the world's largest manufacturer of pianos. He investigates the popularity of the piano, and discovers that millions of Chinese children are now learning the instrument.

For World Routes Lucy Duran travelled to two remote regions, the far south west to visit the Yi and Hani minorities in the mountains near Vietnam, Laos and Burma, where instruments are made from grass and accompany songs from the world's most spectacular paddy fields. She then travels to China's largest province Xinjiang, remote deserts bordering Mongolia, Russia and Afghanistan, to meet and record the music of the Uyghur people.

Hear and Now finds itself in a more urban setting for two City Reports. In Shanghai, Robert Worby explores electronic music, experiencing the underground 'noise' scene. In Beijing, he attends a concert devised for Hear and Now by the Beijing New Music Ensemble, featuring music from three generations: from Gao Weijie, part of the 'lost generation' who went underground, to Zhang Shouwang, a young composer inspired by the incessant rhythms of Beijing traffic.

Night Waves will consider the state of the media in modern China, and exploring the influence of government on the news agenda. Isabel Hilton talks to journalists, editors and academics about the media scenes, while Philip Dodd speaks to the key Chinese opinions formers.

Performance on 3 broadcasts a concert recorded in Beijing by the China Philharmonic Orchestra, including a new piece – extremely popular in China – based around the life of a Chinese businessman during the Boxer Rebellion.

THE MINOTAUR

In addition to China, we have a rich and wide-ranging programme to enjoy this month. Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur has been much discussed and reviewed, and tomorrow evening is your chance to hear it (May 31st). This is the latest opera by Birtwistle and features the larger-than-life, mythical creature. Is the Minotaur man or beast? The ambiguity interested Birtwistle and his librettist David Harsent, and the result is an extraordinary piece of musical theatre. John Tomlinson takes the title role, with the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera conducted by Antonio Pappano. For more details go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/operaon3/pip/au6ab/

THE SOFT MACHINE

And the following evening (1st June), we once again consider the human condition, this time the physical aspect, as Words and Music turns its attention to the body – a 'soft machine' of dazzling complexity. Human fascination and frustration with the flesh has often found expression in music and literature. We hear from Whitman, Homer and Auden, as well as Seamus Heaney, Vicki Feaver and Ezra Pound. For more details go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/wordsandmusic/pip/6sc62/

BATTLE OF STYLES

One of the big musical debates of the 18th century concerned the superiority of the French or Italian musical styles. We have the chance to judge for ourselves starting on Monday, when François Couperin is Composer of the Week, and we are celebrating the music of Venice in the afternoons. Coming from a long dynasty of musicians, François was known as Couperin le Grand, and the programmes take us through his keyboard and choral music.

Afternoon on 3 features four centuries of Venetian music: Monteverdi, arias premiered at La Fenice, the marriage of Venice to the Adriatic Sea, and much more besides.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner has done a great deal for Venetian music, indeed his Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 to perform Monteverdi Vespers in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. He joins Aled Jones on The Choir (8th) to talk about the Choir's activities, including its epic performances of Bach's sacred cantatas across Europe.

FESTIVALS

The Bath International Music Festival turns 60 this year, and starting on June 3rd we are presenting four lunchtime concerts recorded in the city's Assembly Rooms, the first of which features the Alison Balsom Ensemble. It's a colourful programme, taking us from the Italian Baroque to the dance halls of South America. Later in the month (starting on 20th), we hear from Aldeburgh and from the City of London Festival, where twelve concerts will be devoted to New Generation Artists such as the Aronowitz Ensemble, the Pavel Haas Quartet and Gwilym Simcock. For more details go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/festivals/index.shtml

STARING AT THE WALL

Between The Ears on Saturday 7th June gives us an unusual sound picture, far removed from the pleasures of summer festivals. It centres on Pentonville Prison which is surrounded by local-authority flats, private homes, factories, pubs and cafés. Using long-range microphones to capture effects from within the walls and close-held microphones to interview those who live outside and pass by the prison, Alan Dein captures the sounds and thoughts of everyday life just outside the walls. One inmate was born close to London's Pentonville Prison: lying inside his cell, he would hear noises that he recognised – including, the footsteps of his girlfriend coming home. For more details go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/betweentheears/

I hope you enjoy the range of this month's programmes on Radio 3 and thank you for your continued interest. You can find full details of all Radio 3's progrrammes [SIC], as always, at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3.

With best wishes

Roger Wright

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

There's one main theme to my monthly note for May as we're looking forward to another of our composer 'experiences', this time immersing ourselves in the world of Frédéric Chopin. Following Beethoven, Bach, Webern, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, it is now the turn of the great Polish composer for this comprehensive treatment.

Given the relatively modest dimensions of Chopin's output, it will only last for an intense two days. So The Chopin Experience takes place this coming weekend, 17 and 18 May. In the build-up to the weekend, Chopin has been our Composer of the Week. Like all editions of Composer of the Week, this will be available as a podcast, lasting about a hour and creating a perfect introduction to Chopin's life story.

Rather than abandoning our normal schedule, Chopin runs as the theme throughout our regular programmes. Tomorrow morning (17th) CD Review will focus on Chopin interpretation, concentrating on the Second Piano Sonata in Building a Library. We will hear the pianos played and owned by Chopin on The Early Music Show, while Discovering Music looks at how his four Ballades achieve their musical effect. Iain Burnside's Sunday morning show focuses on Paris, the city in which Chopin received some of his greatest acclaim. Our Breakfast programme will set some of Chopin's greatest works alongside music by composers influenced by him. We will be broadcasting the greatest Chopin recordings, including those by Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein, Ignaz Friedman and Krystian Zimerman.

Two areas of Chopin's work will be broadcast as uninterrupted sequences with different performers: the 24 Preludes take us through a century of recorded Chopin, while the 24 Etudes feature the same number of leading interpreters. Tomorrow lunchtime, Music Matters will visit Warsaw to discover Chopin's legacy in his homeland.

Complementing the main dishes in this feast of Chopin, World Routes talks to Polish musicians who are keeping alive some of the Polish folk traditions, and Jazz Line-Up invites jazz artists to improvise on Chopin. The Nocturnes are a late-night gift to our programmers and to us all Saturday evening; Sarah Walker will present the cycle and travel to Majorca to explore the locations where Chopin and George Sand's romantic break turned sour in a stark and cold disused monastery. Rob Cowan is hosting his own Chopin Salon tomorrow evening. Joining Rob are Tamás Vásáry, Stephen Kovacevich, the critic and commentator Dermot Clinch, and the Chopin biographer Adam Zamoyski. The reflections are mixed with commentary from Vladimir Ashkenazy, Fou Ts'ong and Piotr Anderszewski. Their task will be to take us through the bigger issues – romanticism, exile, nationalism, and changing performance styles.

And for all of us who have played Chopin, but not as professionals, Erica Worth, editor of Pianist magazine, joins the group to talk about the frustrations and joys of amateur performance. If you are one of those aspiring pianists, do visit The Chopin Experience website which has video piano lessons from David Owen Norris. The online presence has much more besides, including a Chopin timeline and map, and the opportunity to test our Chopin knowledge with an interactive quiz.

Why Chopin, you may ask… Well, we often hear individual pieces, but rarely have the chance to look at his achievement in a deeper way. And there are many contradictions. He is regarded as a great composer, but his range seems to be very restricted in his concentration on the piano. At the same time, he is one of Poland's most famous sons, yet he hardly lived there as an adult. A great performer, yet he rarely played in public in later life. And for all his sickly nature, his romantic entaglement [sic] with George Sand is one of the most discussed affairs of the entire century. Having died at the age of only 39, he seems to be a true romantic hero. Join us as we discover the composer behind the various masks this weekend. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/chopinexperience/

With best wishes

Roger Wright

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All,

You might well have been enjoying the colourful music of de Falla as our Composer of the Week, but if you have missed the programmes, you can catch up online or by accessing the podcast. I have been enjoying the podcasts of composer of the week, as a rather different experience from following the complete series, in that they provide a one-hour introduction to a particular composer, as well as the chance to sample the music.
BBC Podcast Directory: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory/

TONIGHT

Tonight in Performance on 3 we have a treat for Wagner lovers as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra makes a rare visit to Britain. Conducted by its Music Director, Mariss Jansons, the orchestra performs excerpts from some of Richard Wagner's most popular operas, including two extracts from his epic Ring Cycle. They are also joined by renowned Wagnerian mezzo-soprano, Mihoko Fujimura, for a performance of Wagner's moving Wesendonck Lieder.

And later this evening, we have Jazz Library on the tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, a major innovator in the soul jazz and hard-bop movement of the Fifties and Sixties. It includes an archive interview from 2000, in which he describes his life and work. And, of course, that programme is also available as a podcast.
Performance on 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/performanceon3/
Jazz Library: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzlibrary/

OPERA

Tomorrow at 12.15 is a special edition of Music Matters, devoted to Harrison Birtwistle's new opera, The Minotaur – his first for 14 years. It will be receiving its world première at the Royal Opera House on Tuesday 15 April, and we will be broadcasting it here on Radio 3 next month. Birtwistle has once again drawn on Greek myth, and the opera explores the inner world of the Minotaur and the pitiless labyrinth he inhabits. We are going to be taken behind the scenes to find out what is involved in producing a new piece of this scale in a major opera house.

Staying in the opera house, we have another evening of theatrical music around a rather different story tomorrow evening, when we go live to the Metropolitan Opera for Puccini's La Bohème. It has a splendid cast, as Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu plays Puccini's tragic heroine in one of the most popular operas in the repertory, with tenor Ramón Vargas in the part of Rudolfo. Puccini's portrayal of the poverty, jealousies and tragedy of Bohemian life in Paris have made this score the stuff of operatic legend.
Music Matters: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/musicmatters/
Opera on 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/operaon3/

BRITISH MUSIC

A number of our programmes this month are dedicated in various ways to music from these shores. On Sunday 6th, The Early Music Show explores the turbulent times of Elizabethan London and the lives and music of two Catholic composers, Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, both of whom flourished despite the Protestant spirit of the age. Harry Christophers is Kate Bott's guest on this programme, which complements the current BBC Four series, Sacred Music, in which he has been involved.

Moving on just a few years, Composer of the Week from Monday 7th concentrates on Music at The Court of James I. Donald Macleod explores music and musicians in the age of King James I; the series is based around five key moments of his turbulent reign. Despite the turmoil, James was a keen patron of the arts. We hear stories of high living at state banquets which ended in food fights, and of great refinement, such as The Masque of Oberon – a lavish piece including dances for twenty lutes.

Moving to more modern times, we are beginning our commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Vaughan Williams. We are celebrating his achievement by broadcasting a complete cycle of his symphonies over the next two weeks during the afternoons. It also represents the end of our British Symphony Series which has been exploring and reviving music over the last two years. During the fortnight, all nine symphonies are heard in performances by the BBC's performing groups, including a historic recording of the Eighth Symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski at the 1964 BBC Proms.
The Early Music Show: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/earlymusicshow/
Composer of the Week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cotw/
Afternoon on 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/afternoonon3/

DRAMA

We are proud of our record of commissioning new drama on Radio 3, but this month we are reviving a piece from 1675 – indeed, it perhaps follows in a logical succession from the seedier aspects of the royal court described in Composer of the Week. On the evening of Sunday 13th, Ben Miller leads the cast as the libertine Horner in a bawdy Restoration Comedy, The Country Wife by William Wycherley. Celia Imrie appears as Lady Fidget and The Fast Show's Mark Williams is in his element as the pompously foolish fop, Sparkish. Geoffrey Whitehead is the jealous cuckold Pinchwife, and Clare Corbett his wife Margery – the country wife of the title. The play tells the story of Horner, who devises a scheme for seducing London women by spreading the false rumour that he is impotent. Events soon spiral out of control…
Drama on 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/dramaon3/

AWARDS FOR WORLD MUSIC

Do listen on Friday 11th to Performance on 3, when Mary Ann Kennedy hosts an evening to announce the winners of this, our seventh Awards For World Music. The evening includes performances from Indian classical singer Kaushiki Chakrabarty, a previous winner, and from one of this year's nominees, Algerian rai-rocker Rachid Taha. The event also marks the launch of the Audience Award, a public vote on all the 30 nominated artists, the winner of which will be invited to appear at the Winners' Concert in July.
Performance on 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/performanceon3/
Awards for World Music: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/a4wm2008/

BBC PROMS 2008

And finally… Our Rites of Spring season has finished and summer is already on its way. This year's BBC Proms festival is launched on April 9th and so you will find the Proms Guide in the shops at the end of the week, and you can get the details of all the events on our website bbc.co.uk/proms. I hope you enjoy reading about what's in store. Of course, every concert will be broadcast live on Radio 3.
BBC Proms 2008: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/

With best wishes,

Roger Wright

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

Whatever the date of Easter, and indeed whatever the weather, Spring will inevitably arrive towards the end of March. And this happy conjunction of Easter and Spring gives Radio 3 the chance for some special programming later in the month.

RITES OF SPRING

Spring has long been a theme in music and poetry, and our exploration goes way beyond Stravinsky and Daffodils. Our Rites of Spring run for a week from March 22nd. Inevitably, the Rite of Spring takes a prominent place as Rob Cowan, our regular morning presenter, will take on the challenge of reviewing the available recordings of Stravinsky's masterpiece in Building a Library on the Saturday morning (22nd). Do remember that like all Building a Library editions, this is now available as a podcast so you can listen where and when you want.

This is of course a time of year associated with birth and rebirth: Words and Music on Easter Sunday evening takes up this theme, with poetry and prose by Sylvia Plath, William Wordsworth, William Blake, John Donne and the Bible, and music by Delius, Warlock, JS Bach and Saint-Saens. Night Waves will be looking at Spring festivals across the world, taking us from Egypt to Calcutta, and the Balkans to China. We also look at the natural world in the Sunday Feature on the 23rd, when Richard Maybe visits the Chilterns, Norfolk and Suffolk, exploring the impact of climate change. In Hear and Now on the evening of March 22nd, we have a performance of Edward Cowie's INhabitAT, a BBC commission inspired by nature and performed by the BBC Singers together with Endymion. In the afternoons, much more Spring music, from Britten to Schumann and Copland.

EASTER

Naturally, we have a feast of seasonal choral music at the end of Holy Week, and this includes Handel's Messiah, Brahms' Requiem and Bach's St John Passion from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. This continues on Easter Sunday (23 March) itself, as Choral Evensong comes live from Winchester Cathedral. (In addition to the music, we have another series of Belief, in which Joan Bakewell talks to influential figures about how belief affects their lives. Her varied group of guests are military strategist Major-General Tim Cross, award-winning novelist A. L. Kennedy, the Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, and Sister Frances Dominica, founder of the world's first children's hospice.

MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS

Aside from Spring and Easter, we have some important musical landmarks during March. We are making a visit to Liverpool 2008 for the premier of Tavener's Requiem in the Metropolitan Cathedral, and you can hear this in Performance on 3 tonight. This is another dramatic and ambitious work from Tavener, and follows his current interest in bringing together different faith traditions. Within the circular nave, four groups of performers set out in the shape of the cross, represent the four great faiths of Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam, while a solo cello symbolises a Primordial Light from which all things emanate and to which we return at the end. It is performed in this impressive setting by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir.

We have two other major focal points for music, namely a celebration of the music of the French composer, Henri Dutilleux. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales has made something of a speciality of his music, and recently staged a weekend festival in the presence of the 93-year old composer. Though his output is very small, he has developed a highly original use of orchestral colour, and draws on resonances of art and literature in his fascinating music. Do take the chance to explore his music on Performance on 3 on the evenings of March 10th and 11th. We also pleased to bring you an entire week of evening concerts from the current season of the New York Phlharmonic; there is no space here for full details, but this promises to be exceptional, especially since they are performing in the company of Gustavo Dudamel, Riccardo Muti, Gil Shaham and Leif Ove Andsnes.

On a rather different note, Lucy Duran has been visiting the London Flamenco Festival at Sadler's Wells for World Routes; on March 15th she will be presenting some of the highlights, featuring a wide range of performers such as Carmen Linares, Miguel Poveda, Juan Carlos Romero and Pastora Galván.

This week we are continuing our series of Greek and Latin Voices in The Essay at 11.00pm from Mondays to Thursdays, and we are featuring Euripides at the moment and Tacitus next week. Do try and tune in for these essays which make such ancient culture fresh and often very relevant to our own time. I am also looking forward to hearing Joss Ackland and Alison Steadman star in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams (16 March); this is a turbulent story of a Deep South family in crisis, and a good opportunity to hear the play which one the Pulitzer Prize rather than the various screen adaptations.

And a final note, to say that I hope many of you are discovering and enjoying our new podcasts: www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory/station/radio3

Best wishes

Roger Wright

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

PODCASTS

I am pleased to tell you that two of Radio 3's oldest and best-loved programmes are available for download from February 9th – Building A Library, starting with Mozart's last string quartet, and Composer of the Week in an omnibus edition, bringing together the week's series of programmes. At the same time BBC Radio 3 launches a World Routes podcast with a special from Azerbaijan. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory/station/radio3/.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

There are some strong highlights coming up, including a broadcast from Britain's longest-established professional orchestra on Monday 4th. Radio 3 has celebrated the partnership between Mark Elder and the Hallé orchestra in broadcasts in recent years and we are featuring the orchestra again as it celebrates 150 years since it started its life at Mr Charles Hallé's Grand Orchestral Concerts. The programme includes a work that Hallé himself played at the first concert, Weber's Konzertstück for piano and orchestra, as well as three works they have premiered: Elgar's overture In The South, Constant Lambert's jazz-inspired The Rio Grande and These Premises Are Alarmed by Adès, written for the Bridgewater Hall. Mark Elder and the orchestra are joined by Sir John Tomlinson on the stage, while Dame Janet Baker, who frequently worked with the Hallé, introduces the concert. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/performanceon3/.

SOUTH AMERICA

Our colleagues at the BBC Symphony Orchestra are offering to drive away winter blues with South American music. You should find their Performance on 3 on Thursday 7th enjoyable , and perhaps even transforming. There's tangos, bossanova, samba drumming and orchestral music from Brazil and Argentina. There's more South American culture the same week in the afternoons and Late Junction; a specially commissioned Drama on 3, and a Night Waves on contemporary South American culture. Starting on Sunday 3rd, we have three features on the same part of the world. In the first of these, novelist Juan Gabriel Vasquez explores how solitude has shaped his work. Vasquez takes listeners to the Colombian capital, Bogota, to share the urban environment he finds inspirational.

WORDS AND MUSIC

Our unpresented sequence is proving very popular on Sunday evenings, exploring the themes of happiness on the 3rd, and birdsong on the 10th. On the 3rd, Simon Russell Beale mixes nature, love, dreams, birthdays and pastimes – everyday experiences. And birdsong shares the songs of nature's finest musicians. We hear the nightingale, evoked by Blake, Milton and Rameau; the skylark, represented by Meredith's Lark Ascending; and the thrush, celebrated by Hardy's Darkling Thrush; the calls of the cuckoo through Wordsworth, Bunyan and Saint-Saëns; the swan, with Tennyson and Sibelius's Swan Of Tuonela; and the hen, through John Heywood and Rameau. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speechanddrama/.

OPERA

We have at least two operatic highlights this month. We offer you 'the best seat in the house' on the evening of Saturday 9th, we have La Traviata from the Royal Opera House. Russian soprano Anna Netrebko is perhaps the Violetta of her generation. She is joined by German tenor Jonas Kaufman as Alfredo, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Germont.

The following Wednesday we have another dramatic opera, Strauss's Salome, based on Oscar Wilde's play. The BBC Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor, Gianandrea Noseda, are working with a cast from Teatro Regio, Turin, where Noseda has recently become music director. Noseda's colourful conducting promises to make this a very special performance. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/operaon3/.

JAZZ AND WORLD

In Jazz Library on February 8th, we are commemorating Oscar Peterson as Alyn Shipton presents a personal tribute to the pianist, who died in December. The programme includes an interview and much music. As well as his own acclaimed trios, we hear Peterson's favourite recordings with Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins and Sarah Vaughan.

We have been on the road again in World Routes: on February 9th, Lucy Duran travels to Azerbaijan. The country is growing fast economically, but the ancient song tradition and the music of virtuosic instrumentalists is proving extremely enduring. This music is rarely heard outside the country, and Lucy travels extensively in search of the most wide-ranging and authentic experience. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/.

IDEAS

On the evening of Sunday 10th, we broadcast The Trial and Death of Socrates starring Joss Ackland as Socrates. The trial and execution of Socrates puzzles historians. Why, in a society enjoying freedom and democracy, would a 71-year-old philosopher be put to death? The play was devised by Sebastian Baczkiewicz, and his investigation reveals a thin veneer of democracy in the State just emerging from a period of oligarchic rule.

In The Essay starting on Monday 11th we gain an outsider's view of the UK in A Sense of Ourselves. Four immigrants to Britain describe modern Britishness. They represent the most significant waves of immigration to Britain, offering a picture of how national identity has evolved since the War.

Between The Ears on Saturday 2nd is another reflection on the UK. The Wall of a Million Bricks explores Belfast's peace lines, which survived long after the fall of the Berlin Wall. One wall is known as the "wall of a million bricks" and separates parts of West Belfast. The programme explores the need for walls in a city which still houses pockets of hatred.

So, it's another varied and stimulating month on Radio 3. I hope you enjoy it.

With best wishes

Roger Wright

Today's published listening figures for Quarter 4, October-December 2007 are undramatic: no huge plunge into freefall but also no obvious upturn in the depressed figures of recent years.

The reach at 1.95 million would have been considered weak five or six years ago, yet now it represents the highest figure so far for the year 2007/08. This means that when the final figure, for the fourth quarter, is published in May, the yearly average is almost certain to show this year's listening as the lowest ever under RAJAR's current methodology.

The BBC press release described the performance as 'solid' which has a more positive ring than is merited. To give a historical perspective: RAJAR's current methodology has now been in operation for 36 quarters. Radio 3's average weekly reach over this period has been 2.033 million, the median 2.020 million. The average for the present year is unlikely to exceed 1.920 million; after three quarters it stands at 1.893 million, but the fourth quarter is often a stronger one.

Slightly better news was that the breakfast reach showed a sharp increase. It would not be safe to call it an 'improvement', since only a trend shows a clear improvement: individual quarters can be volatile. In spite of the substantial rise in reach from 713,000 in Quarter 3 to 809,000 in Quarter 4, the weekly average taken over the past 12 months shows a decrease from 798,000 in 2006 to 754,000 in 2007, and all four quarters are lower than the corresponding quarters in 2006 (which had 833,000 in Quarter 4). The question is therefore whether the new Breakfast programme has finally settled to near the previous Morning on 3 average, or whether it will dip again over the next few quarters.

'Share of listening' ( the station's weekly listening hours as a percentage of the total UK radio listening hours) is something which very much concerns the commercial stations, and, as a consequence, the BBC too, in that it is a clearer measurement of how well it is performing competitively. In the case of Radio 3, share is statistically of little significance since only huge (in Radio 3 terms) increases and decreases would register significantly when presented as a percentage of the over one billion listening hours clocked up by UK radio each week.

The BBC Trust has now published the amended remit on the BBC's Public Purposes. The original version went to a public consultation to which FoR3 responded. This was not the most relevant paper for Radio 3 but there were certain suggestions which seemed worth making.

A study of the explanatory notes and final version reveals little change and less that owes anything to our suggestions. We tried to counterbalance the claimed necessity for an all-pervading 'accessibility', contending that all audiences needed to be challenged, including those who are most knowledgeable. The point was acknowledged but the Trust held that this was adequately covered already; however the commitments are expressed only in non-specific terms.

We also attempted to gain a higher profile for culture and the arts. This also failed (though the coverage of minority sports now received a special mention).

We presented a detailed argument for the BBC to provide programming specifically designed to bridge the cultural gap between generations (rather than simply catering separately for different age groups) by introducing younger audiences to aspects of the common cultural heritage. This was, perhaps unsurprisingly, not even acknowledged; nor was a suggestion that there should be increased coverage of contemporary non-anglophone culture, especially European.

On the matter of digital radio, we submitted that it should be a priority to improve the sound quality of DAB as well as extending UK coverage. This was referred to in the response but was not added to the document: the Trust was 'mindful of the need to balance cost effectiveness with universality'. That seems to mean that improving sound quality was considered a luxury not worth affording.

In fact the only point of ours that was accepted was that of increasing the emphasis on nurturing artistic talent rather than supporting the so-called 'creative industries'. However, this was now specified as 'UK talent' (largely excluding the New Generation Artists scheme) – a clear indication of the parochialism of much popular culture and of the BBC's outlook.

The Trust also carried out audience research on the key matters, and they seem to have been more influenced by that than by the responses to the consultation. Overall, it was a disappointing result, but the response to the Service Licence public consultation will be more crucial, and that is still to come.

Full details of the Trust's response can be read here.

An associated BBC news story is here.

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

I trust you are enjoying our feast of choral music as Christmas approaches. Tonight we have a Christmas concert given by The Cardinall's Musick, conducted by Andrew Carwood. The church of St John's Smith Square is the splendid setting for their programme, which features the music of J S Bach, as well as his great predecessors – Praetorius, Schutz and Scheidt. That's in Performance on 3 at 7.00pm this evening.

OPERA

The Metropolitan Opera provides some highlights of our Christmas season, starting with War and Peace this coming Saturday. It will be a spectacular event, as Valery Gergiev leads a huge cast in Prokofiev's adaptation of Tolstoy's novel about the Russian victory over Napoleon. As always, this is live from New York. It contains wonderful choruses and waltz music, and contrasts intimate duets with massive battle scenes. The sheer resources – 68 solo roles and the depiction of both battle and Imperial balls – make this one of the most remarkable productions in the history of the theatre. The cast is mainly Russian and includes soprano Marina Poplavskaya as Natasha, tenor Kim Begley as Pierre Bezukhov and baritone Vassily Gerello in the role of Napoleon.

On a more seasonal note, the following Saturday evening (29 December), we have a new English language production of Engelbert Humperdinck's Christmas-time classic, Hansel And Gretel, also live from the Met. The story might appear light, but there are also some dark undertones. Christine Schafer and Alice Coote star as the adventurous sister and brother; lost in the menacing forest, they do battle with the Witch who wants to devour them. The cast also includes Alan Held and Rosalind Plowright as the pair's father and mother, Lisette Oropesa as the Dew Fairy and Sasha Cooke as the Sandman. The conductor is Vladimir Jurowski.

You may well remember our broadcast of The Ring in a Day last year. Over this Christmas season, we are bringing you Wagner's epic cycle an act each day, starting with Das Rheingold complete on Christmas Eve at 2.00pm and continuing for two weeks into the New Year. The cast from this summer's production in Bayreuth includes Albert Dohmen as Wotan, Stephen Gould as Siegfried and Linda Watson as Brunnhilde. The conductor was Christian Thielemann, and it attracted a good deal of positive attention.

COMPOSER OF THE WEEK – ERIC COATES

During Christmas week, starting on the 24th,we are exploring Eric Coates as Composer of the Week. For many years, his music seemed to encapsulate the national mood. It has remained part of the national consciousness, through themes for radio and television programmes. Donald Macleod is joined by Kirsty Young who presents Desert Island Discs, where his music is still regularly heard. As Donald discovers, Coates's music tells the story of the UK in the first half of the 20th century.

PROMS REVISITED

As usual the darkness of the winter holidays gives us a moment to revisit the music of summer, in particular the Proms. We have another chance to hear a variety of programmes, including the memorable John Dankworth evening, celebrating both his 80th birthday and that of Cleo Laine. Together with the BBC Big Band and members of the BBC Concert Orchestra, they pay tribute to the enduring genius of William Shakespeare through their music. That's at 7.00pm on Christmas Eve. Later the same evening, one of the memorable early music Proms from the summer, namely the collaboration between the Tallis Scholars and BBC Singers, performing music from the late Renaissance. One highlight was the first performance in modern times of Alessandro Striggio's Mass – a forty-voice piece that lay forgotten in a Paris library for 450 years.

On Christmas Evening, you can be absorbed once again in the freshness and energy of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. No-one who heard it first time round will have forgotten the youthful vigour with which they perform Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony as well as music from Bernstein's West Side Story.

By way of contrast, Christmas evening ends with a concert of music from Bach's time in Leipzig, including the Mass in G major. It's performed by Masaaki Suzuki, with the Bach Collegium Japan. Look out in the days which follow for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic, as well as our own BBC Symphony Orchestra, who bring the year to an end with the Last Night of the Proms – remember those memorable performances from Anna Netrebko and Joshua Bell. And you can wake up the next morning, New Year's Day, looking forward to hearing the traditional concert live from Vienna.

JAZZ, WORLD, IDEAS

For those passionate about jazz, Claire Martin gives her last-minute Jazz Line-Up suggestions for CD presents, and speaks to several UK jazz musicians to hear about their musical projects for the year ahead (22nd). We also have Jazz Library specials on Django Reinhardt (28th) and Milt Jackson (January 4th), and Nigel Kennedy talks about his fellow violinist Stephane Grappelli (29th), whom he knew while a student in New York. And if you are staying at home for Christmas you can travel with World Routes to Georgia (22nd), Amman (29th), and Jerusalem (31st).

And if you wish to see the earth from an entirely different viewpoint, tune in to our Sunday Feature on Sunday 23rd, when Richard Holmes presents a programme on the first balloon flights in Britain. He examines how a different view of the earth had a huge impact on the cultural and philosophical life of Britain. And on December 30th Oscar Wilde visits America: one hundred and twenty five years ago this month, a flamboyant young man returned to England. His persona was promoted by an iconic series of photographs and a devoted press, and Wilde gave no less than 140 lectures over 260 days, met leading figures from government, arts and culture, and created a legacy – both for the US and for himself.

So whether you are at home or away this Christmas, do join Radio 3 as we take you on an engaging voyage, both geographical and cultural through the world of music and ideas. It only remains to wish you all a happy festive period in the company of Radio 3. All of us here send our thanks to you for your continued interest in Radio 3, and our warmest wishes for an enjoyable and peaceful new year.

Roger Wright

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

Thanks to all of you who sent in to Rob Cowan your descriptions of Radio 3 in five words. As you might have gathered many of you rose to the challenge. I hope you heard Rob's selection of them (praising, critical and amusing) on Breakfast.

BACH IN THE MORNING

From Saturday December 1st in the mornings, Breakfasts will include a Bach moment over a period of a few weeks. After the huge success of a Bach Christmas the breakfast team have decided to offer the chance to hear all Bach's great 48 Preludes and Fugues (the Well-Tempered Clavier) each morning after the news at 8.00 am – 48 at 8 as it were. We'll be keeping company with many of the world's leading Bach interpreters and their differing interpretations during this journey. Of course, there will also be the usual wide-ranging selection of music every morning from 7.00pm, in the company of Rob Cowan, Sara Mohr Pietsch and Martin Handley. I hope you enjoy it. Visit the 48 at 8 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/bach48/index.shtml

MOZART

In Composer of the Week, Donald Macleod unearths Mozart's friends, family and fellow musicians. He starts on Monday with a piano sonata for four hands which he performed with his sister, Nannerl, and then we have a horn concerto dedicated to his horn-player friend Joseph Leutgeb, whom he described affectionately as an "ass, ox and fool". And then we have the sopranos who figured in his life: Aloysia Weber, her sister Constanze, and Nancy Storace. Moving on through Salieri, Emanuel Schikaneder, Haydn, Stadler, and Süssmayr, we find what a vital role all these characters played in developing Mozart's unique creative legacy.

OPERA

Live from New York, the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts begin their annual season in December. Before they get under way, we have opera closer to home in Donizetti's comedy The Elixir of Love (L'Elisir d'Amore) from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. That's on December 1st at 6.30pm. The following week (Saturday 8 December) at the Metropolitan Opera, there will be Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, with an extraordinary cast including Pl´cido Domingo and Susan Graham. With Graham in the title role, Pl´cido Domingo takes the part of her brother, Oreste, while British tenor Paul Groves is Oreste's loyal friend, Pylade. And there will be many chances during this broadcast, and through the season to hear from the performers as we hear behind the scenes, and find out what makes this great opera house tick.

DRAMA

Soldiers in the Sun by Michael Symmons Roberts is broadcast on the evening of Sunday December 2nd, and is a drama-documentary exploring Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Military. This poetic monologue takes listeners inside the head of Captain Shepperton. Nearing the end of a tour of duty, he comes across the hanging body of a young boy with whom he recently played football. The piece also details the link between mental illness and combat. We hear from experts including Professor Simon Wessely who researches the physical and psychological health of soldiers deployed in the 2003 war in Iraq and their 4,300 non-deployed colleagues. They discuss whether enough is being done for servicemen and women after they return home from duty. Drama on 3

NEW, JAZZ, WORLD

As always selecting from our schedule is an unenviable task, but among the programmes I would like to highlight the annual British Composer Awards on the evening of Thursday 6th – a celebration of the British new music world. The event is presented by Petroc Trelawny, and the fact that 300 new works were submitted is an interesting barometer of continuing creativity across the UK. We will also announce your BBC Radio 3 Listeners' Award.

You can hear Alyn Shipton choosing his favourite recordings of Dave Brubeck on the evening of Friday 7th. Brubeck is celebrating his 87th birthday this week, and Alyn will be introducing him in conversation alongside a selection from along Brubeck's prodigious output of over one hundred albums. For half a century, Brubeck has been one of the most celebrated pianists and prolific composers in jazz, as well as a great stylistic innovator and this should be a real "Jazz Library" treat.

Georgia — the former Soviet Republic — has been in the news recently, and in World Routes, Lucy Duran has been there to discover its rich musical tradition. She was joined by journalist Rob Parsons, the BBC's former Moscow Correspondent, who speaks Georgian and now owns a vineyard there. He takes Lucy from the wine-rich east to the sub-tropical and mist-shrouded tea plantations of the Black Sea coast, and from the capital Tbilisi to the remote mountains of Svaneti. In the first programme, at 3.00pm on Saturday 15th, Lucy attends a funeral in Tblisi, and records the beautiful and ethereal music of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

WHERE DID IT ALL START?

Well, we might get something of the idea when Ivan Hewett explores the origins and evolution of music, on the evening of Sunday December 9th . He draws on astonishing and wide-ranging research, detailing the innate musical abilities of the bonobo apes, who share 98 per cent of their DNA with human beings, to evidence of music-making 35,000 years ago in the Swabian dura, and to the tribes of the Congo where music and language are fused and music is omnipresent. We hear from Steven Pinker, who thinks music is like an optional extra in order to press the pleasure buttons rather than a necessity (what Pinker calls aural cheesecake). All most intriguing.

SHOPPING FOR PRESENTS

And if you are wondering what you might do with £50 to spend on recordings, then join Andrew McGregor on the morning of Saturday December 15th to hear how his panel of CD Review critics — Harriet Smith, Stephen Johnson and Simon Heighes — would spend their hypothetical money this Christmas. And because for some of us there is more listening time at Christmas, I will send my January message early to cover the Christmas season, when we have many more riches on offer.

As always, information on all our programmes is available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/

With best wishes

Roger Wright

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

I hope you have enjoyed our archive features with some of the great performances of the last four decades broadcast recently as part of our 40th birthday programming. Our celebrations come to an end on Wednesday 7th, when we remember Pierre Boulez's marvellous tenure as the BBC Symphony Orchestra's Principal Conductor in the early 1970s. This concert is one of Boulez's last recorded concerts as Principal Conductor and it took place in Yokohama in 1975 during a Japanese tour. It's a typical Boulez programme with music by Webern, Birtwistle and a remarkable performance of Ravel's ballet Daphnis et Chloe. One not to be missed!

FREE THINKING

This week sees the return of Free Thinking, our unique festival of ideas. We're delighted to be back in Liverpool, inviting the public to join thinkers from the arts, science, philosophy and technology to tackle the major issues of our time. Freedom is a major theme this year, but we will also consider a range of topics from space exploration, the future of childhood and the state of the arts. The broadcast festival is launched on Friday at 9.45 pm by Phil Redmond, TV drama pioneer and creator of Grange Hill and Brookside when he delivers the Free Thinking Lecture. Phil explores the competing political and cultural forces redefining our personal identities in his talk called 'Whose Identity Is It Anyway?'

On Sunday 11th November, Matthew Sweet presents a special evening of programmes including a specially commissioned Drama on 3. 'Yesterday an Incident Occurred' is a new play by the acclaimed playwright Mark Ravenhill about people's relationship to the 'war on terror'. It will be recorded with a live audience in the atmospheric, disused Victorian civil court in Liverpool. Also on Sunday night, Words and Music will be broadcast, for the first time in front of an audience, in Liverpool's St. George's Hall – where Charles Dickens gave his public Penny Readings. From Monday 12th November to Friday 16th, there are highlights from Free Thinking on air every evening at 9.45 pm covering freedom, education, equality and space. Over the coming month, Night Waves will be also broadcasting the best of Free Thinking with a special dedicated programme every Thursday.

Visit the Free Thinking website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/

FOULDS: A WORLD REQUIEM

On the evening of Remembrance Sunday, we have a historic event broadcast live in The Choir. After 80 years we are reviving a tradition which took place in the Royal Albert Hall, as the British Legion Armistice Day commemorations after the Great War. The performance of A World Requiem by John Foulds was intended as an annual event, but the tradition abruptly finished in 1926, and the composer – an original voice in British music – was also largely forgotten. One newspaper described the significance of the occasion,' The scope of the work is beyond what anyone has dared to attempt hitherto. It is no less than to find expression for the deepest and most widespread unhappiness this generation has ever known. As such it was received by a very large number of listeners, who evidently felt that music alone could do this for them.' The performance on the evening of November 11th is presented by Aled Jones, and it combines the BBC Symphony Orchestra with an impressive line-up of performers: the soloists include Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Gerald Finley and Stuart Skelton, and the BBC Symphony Chorus is joined by the Crouch End Festival Chorus, Philharmonia Chorus and Trinity Boys' Choir, conducted by Leon Botstein. For anyone interested in British music, this is certainly one of the major events of the year.

The Choir http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/thechoir/

ELGAR

In November we are also continuing our commemoration of Elgar's 150th anniversary. On Sunday 4th in The Choir we are exploring his choral legacy, while in Performance on 3 from November 12th to 16th, we broadcast a special series of concerts. On Monday 12th, Mark Elder conducts the Hallé in two masterpieces – Elgar's Symphony No. 2 and the Cello Concerto with Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk. On Tuesday 13th, Mark Elder conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Elgar's most famous orchestral work, the Enigma Variations. This is combined with some lesser known national rarities, the Civic Fanfare, The Spirit of England and the Nursery Suite dedicated to 'the two little Princesses', later HRH Her Majesty The Queen and Princess Margaret. The following evening we have even more of a rarity, the original Starlight Express, dating from long before Lloyd-Webber! Elgar composed incidental music for Algernon Blackwood's escapist piece of Edwardian theatre. In this performance, the BBC Concert Orchestra is conducted by Barry Wordsworth with actors providing the dramatic context.

Performance on 3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/performanceon3/

THE LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL

Later in the month, we have our annual coverage of this great festival of jazz. Since there is so much to mention, do visit the special site to see which festival events will be available on Radio 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/londonjazzfestival/onair.shtml. However let me draw your attention to the opening concert, a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald born in 1917. It's called 'We All Love Ella', and featuring Jamelia, Lea DeLaria, Claire Martin, David McAlmont, Juliet Roberts, Ian Shaw, Terri Walker and Lizz Wright with the BBC Concert Orchestra. You can hear this tribute to Ella Fitzgerald – one of the great voices of 20th-century song – on Wednesday 21st November. Our coverage kicks off with a live relay from Pizza Express on Friday 16 November at 10.30pm, with live music including the guitarist, Charlie Hunter.

With best wishes

Roger Wright

As you may have heard or seen, Radio 3 is celebrating its 40th birthday. It's impossible to compress a forty year history into a mere forty days, but we're going to try! So we're taking 40 days (between now and November 7th ) to present regular highlights from our programmes, in particular giving us the chance to hear memorable musical performances from the last four decades. Radio 3's 40th Anniversary Site is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/40thanniversary/index.shtml

Radio 3, like the Third Programme before it, is a key player in the cultural life of the UK. Western classical music is at the heart of our programming but throughout our history we have broadcast other musical genres and in particular supported new work. It is fascinating, for example, to look at the vital role that Radio 3 has played in the development of early music in the UK. So in our celebrations we will be bringing you some of the best in performance by the world's leading players – both today's musicians and those who live on in our archives.

Our birthday programming is dropped into programmes across our schedule, for example:

In World Routes (September 29th) Lucy Duran looks back to a ground-breaking series of World Music concerts organised by Radio 3 and the South Bank Centre: the famous Music of the Royal Courts took place twenty years ago to widespread acclaim. Lucy Duran introduces highlights, including music from China and a rare re-telling of a Malian epic by veteran griot Djely Madi Sissoko. The original series presented court music from across the world, performed by musicians who, for the most part, had never played in Europe before. More details at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldroutes/pip/bdysh/ In the Early Music Show (September 30th), Andrew Manze presents a portrait of one of the most influential early music pioneers, David Munrow, known across the UK for his relaxed and informative style of broadcasting. More details at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/earlymusicshow/pip/adoxe/

Starting on Monday (October 1st), Afternoon on 3 focuses on Radio 3 commissions. Highlights include Anthony Payne's completion of Elgar's Symphony No.3; the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's award-winning recording of James MacMillan's The Confession of Isobel Gowdie; Django Bates' Priceless for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; and Danish composer Poul Ruders's Concerto in Pieces, commissioned for the 300th anniversary of Purcell's death as a 'sequel' to Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. More details at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/afternoonon3/pip/s6k22/

In Jazz Library, next Friday (October 5th), Alyn Shipton delves into the jazz CDs that began life as Radio 3 studio recordings, showing the close relationship between Radio 3 and the development of British Jazz since the 1970s. More details at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzlibrary/pip//75y56/

Next weekend on Saturday (October 6th), Music Matters has a special feature about the history of Radio 3, with contributions from former controllers, producers and presenters, as well as composers and performers associated with the station. Tom Service charts BBC Radio 3's journey starting with its first incarnation as a combination of Music Programme, Sports Service and the Third Programme.

In Hear and Now (October 20th and 27th), composer Julian Anderson (himself 40) presents his lifelong relationship with Radio 3 and discusses how hearing contemporary music broadcasts helped develop his curiosity for composing and the figures who dominated the landscape of the latter half of the twentieth century.

CD REVIEW

This is clearly the month for anniversaries! We are also celebrating the 50th anniversary of CD Review – the fiftieth because this flagship programme actually started before Radio 3 (as Record, not CD, Review of course!). On Saturday 6 October, Andrew McGregor introduces the 50th anniversary edition. It has tracked the development of recorded music from 78s to LPs in mono and stereo, and on to the age of CDs, DVDs and digital downloads. The special edition includes the regular Building a Library feature, in this edition Stephen Johnson discusses Beethoven's Fifth Symphony; later some regular contributors, Rob Cowan, Hilary Finch and Jeremy Summerly answer listeners' questions about how they assess new recordings. CD Review can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cdreview/

GLUCK'S IPHIGENIE & TAURIDE

Normal Radio 3 life goes on still amid the anniversary celebrations, as we continue to bring you specially recorded performances. One not to miss is Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride on the evening of Saturday, October 6th. It's an exciting new production of Gluck's masterwork from the Royal Opera House, featuring mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in the title role. Opera on 3 can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/operaon3/

MANCHESTER LIBERALISM

From the outset, Radio 3 has been dedicated to a wide cultural agenda; so do look out for our Sunday features, Mind Maps, starting with Geneva this Sunday, and moving to Manchester the following week (October 7th). It examines the intellectual histories of cities that have changed the way people think. In the Manchester programme, Chris Bowlby walks around key sites and buildings, discussing how our northern metropolis grew from almost nothing to a throbbing, noisy and modern new urban form – much to the alarm of many contemporary observers, including Elizabeth Gaskell and Friedrich Engels. Manchester's new leaders took a special interest in European culture – music (Beethoven and Mendelssohn, in particular), literature (notably Goethe) and art. This goes some way to explaining how the city lent its name to a political creed of this time – Manchester liberalism. More details on the Sunday Features at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/sundayfeature/

THE MAKING OF MUSIC AND NIGHT WAVES

Two quick notes to conclude. Night Waves on Tuesday October 9th is an interview with the Canadian novelist, Douglas Coupland, who has been at the forefront of literary explorations of the world of new technology and the global economy. His books, such as Microserfs and JPod, have centred on the computer-obsessed community of the West Coast of the USA. It promises to be fascinating to hear this original writer in conversation with Philip Dodd. And don't forget that our joint programme with Radio 4 is still continuing: The Making of Music has now reached the 20th century, and you can hear James Naughtie each weekday at 3.45pm providing historical, social and cultural context, following which more of the music under discussion can be heard on Radio 3. Making of Music at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/makingofmusic/ Night Waves at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/nightwaves/

With best wishes

Roger Wright

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

The end of the Proms is in sight, and I hope you have enjoyed many concerts during the summer. The final week is packed with some of the great orchestras of the world. You would have to travel far to hear the San Francisco Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Boston Symphony, and our own BBC Symphony Orchestra all in the space of a week. So we are delighted to invite you to take the best seat in the house – wherever you are! For full details, do look at www.bbc.co.uk/proms. Following all that we have the Last Night, with Jiøí Bìlohlávek conducting for the first time. It promises to be, as ever, a great gala event, this year with Anna Netrebko, the tenor Andrew Kennedy, and violinist Joshua Bell. http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2007/ – BBC Proms Website

EDINBURGH

Once the Proms are finished for this year, we head straight to Edinburgh for a week of concerts as the climax of our summer festival coverage. In another remarkable week, we have two early music concerts: a Monteverdi 1610 Vespers from Hesperion XXI, directed by Jordi Savall (11th), and a concert of Vivaldi and contemporaries directed by Chiara Banchini, and with the countertenor Andrea Scholl (13th). I am also looking forward to hearing the broadcast of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with a Stravinsky double-bill of the evocative ballet Orpheus followed by the powerful Greek drama in the opera Oedipus Rex. Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts sings the title role, and the performance is conducted by Susanna Mälkki. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/festivals/festivaledinburgh.shtml – Radio 3 at the Edinburgh Festival

SIR COLIN DAVIS

Starting on the 24th, we have Radio 3's tribute to Sir Colin Davis on his 80th birthday, using the wide variety of archive recordings which he has made for the BBC. You will be able to hear him with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the 1960s, and also conducting the Last Night of the Proms. In addition, we have Mozart from the Royal Opera House, and the world premiere of Tippett's The Rose Lake with the LSO. In addition, we hear him conducting Berlioz, a composer he has really made his own, and also Sir Colin working with the European Union Youth Orchestra.

SIBELIUS

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Jean Sibelius. During September we are exploring his musical legacy in Composer of the Week starting on Monday 17th the anniversary week itself. Donald Macleod presents a broad selection of the music, including a performance of the Violin Concerto with Maxim Vengerov. Much of the concentration is on his unique place in Finnish culture, and the influential role of the national saga, the Kalevala, which gave birth to pieces such as Kullervo, the Lemminkainen Suite, Pohjola's Daughter, Luonnotar and Tapiola. Do remember that you can hear Composer of the Week both at midday and at 8.45 pm in the evenings outside the Proms period. And listen out too for more Sibelius during Afternoon on 3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cotw/ – Composer of the Week

WORLD ROUTES IN JORDAN

We will continue to explore the world beyond western classical music in World Routes. I am looking forward to two special editions on Saturday 15th and 22nd. These have been recorded entirely on location in Jordan. The programmes contain unique field recordings in special sessions by many of Jordan's top musicians, including the 'Voice of Iraq' Ilham Al Madfai who has lived there for the past 15 years. We travel into the desert to Wadi Rum to meet the Bedouin – nomadic people who live in the heart of Arabia. As well as hearing unique recordings of their ancient songs, we learn something of their traditions and way of life. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldroutes/ – World Routes

TWO DRAMAS

Two forthcoming contrasting plays highlight the range of drama on Radio 3. On Sunday 23rd September, we will present a new production of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe starring Paterson Joseph as Faustus and Ray Fearon as Mephistopheles. It was first published in 1604, and is the most famous of Marlowe's plays; its hero sells his soul to the devil in return for twenty-four years of power and pleasure. It is a tragic story of a man who defies the authority of God by selling his place in heaven for knowledge and power on earth. Marlowe himself was stabbed to death aged 29, while he was under investigation for heresy. The devilish displays, ghostly apparitions, angels and the horrors of hell are brought to life by an extraordinary sound score composed by Olly Fox with sound design by Steve Brooke. We regularly feature new work alongside drama from the classical canon. One of our other September plays is completely up-to-date as we hear Seven Wonders of the Divided World on September 9th. Around the sixtieth anniversary of the partition of India and Pakistan, BBC Radio Drama has commissioned short plays from seven writers living near artificial political barriers around the world. Writers range from An Sonjae – a Korean monk – to Sultan Raev – the Kyrgysztani Minister for Culture. Some of the subjects immediately caught my eye:

A woman's dying wish is to be buried with her husband whose grave, since his death, has fallen the wrong side of a new border fence. An adopted girl, who has identified strongly all her life with her birth mother, a Greek Cypriot, is thrown off balance to discover her father was 'the enemy'. Near a hermetic border, an artist pining for his missing father finds that his work becomes more and more focussed on the beauty of migrating geese. Do listen out for what promises to be moving and engaging drama event. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/dramaon3/ – Drama on 3

With best wishes

Roger Wright

The latest listening figures were published this morning. For BBC Radio there was mixed news, but on the whole it was fairly quiet. For Radio 3, sadly, the news was all bad, very bad: the lowest reach ever, the lowest percentage of the population listening ever, the lowest share of total listening ever, continuing a dispiriting downward trend.

For the first time reach has fallen below 1.8 million (in the same quarter last year it fell below 1.9 million for the first time). The figure for the new Breakfast programme also showed a significant fall, compared with Morning on 3.

Average weekly reach for the last quarter was 1.783 million (1.902m last quarter, 1.834m in the same quarter last year), 3.54% of the population; share of listening was 1.058%, weekly listening hours 11.175 million. Average Breakfast listening was 727,000, down from 765,000 last quarter and 752,000 in the same quarter last year.

The story had no chance of hitting the headlines with Capital radio being overtaken by Kiss FM, Heart and Magic battling it out for top place in London and Chris Moyles adding to his Radio 1 audience. But somewhere in Broadcasting House questions will be asked. Won't they?

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

THE PROMS

The Proms are underway now, and I trust you are enjoying many great musical performances. We also hope that you manage to come behind the scenes with Radio 3, in musician interviews, related documentaries, and other programmes to take you to the heart of this remarkable festival. If you are not able to attend in person you can have the 'best seat in the house' as Radio 3 brings you every programme live.

From the vast array of wonderful concerts on offer, I will venture a few choices. I am personally looking forward to hearing the BBC Singers performing the new Birtwistle work, Neruda Madrigals, a BBC co-commission. That's in a late-night Prom on July 31st. A couple of weeks later on August 12th, the first-ever Proms Gotterdammerung completes the Proms Ring cycle; the BBC Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Donald Runnicles, with an impressive cast headed by Christine Brewer, Stig Andersen and Sir John Tomlinson. On August 22nd the Lucerne Festival Orchestra is making its Proms debut in a performance of Mahler's Third Symphony under Claudio Abbado; this is a perfect work for the Royal Albert Hall, and one of many memorable Proms concerts this season.

So do tune in every evening on Radio 3 or hear many of them repeated soon afterwards in Afternoon on 3. If you can't catch those broadcasts, you can hear every concert online whenever you want in the seven days following our broadcasts. And there's a special web page for listening to the Proms online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2007/promsbroadcast/radio/

WOMAD

We are of course only at the very beginning of our long summer of music from the Royal Albert Hall. However, by way of contrast, we are pleased to bring you again unique coverage of WOMAD, the great annual world music event – lets hope for those camping at the site, that the weather is better than Glastonbury. Whatever the weather, we hope to covey the full experience of being there in the twenty-fifth year of the festival. Our weekend of live broadcasts and recorded highlights is introduced by our presenters, including Andrew McGregor, Fiona Talkington, Lucy Duran, Serena Dankwa and Verity Sharp – more than seven hours of WOMAD broadcasts. You can tune in on Friday and Saturday evenings (27th and 28th) for a round-up of the day, and you can also hear a special World Routes introduced by Lucy Duran at 1pm on Saturday, as well as a special lunchtime show on the Sunday at the same time.

As always, the artists are too numerous to mention, but here are some of the highlights: Baaba Maal, the Congolese rumba maestro Samba Mapangala; Mexican singer Lila Downs; Egyptian band El Tanbura; Malkit Singh, who has been in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest selling Bhangra artist; Palestinian oud virtuosos the Trio Joubran; the Warsaw Village Band; and Vieux Farka Touré, the son of the late great Ali Farka Touré. Something for all tastes, I hope you will agree, and much to stimulate our curiosity.

And if you miss some performances, there will be extensive coverage with the possibility of listening to full sets on the Radio 3 website. If you are there, come and visit us at the Radio 3 tent.

DUKE ELLINGTON

Jazz Library is already proving to be a popular part of our recent schedule changes. Tomorrow night, we have one of the all-time jazz greats in Jazz Library – Duke Ellington. Ellington provides a substantial challenge for presenter Alyn Shipton, as he decides what to represent from his vast recorded legacy. In the first of what will eventually be several editions of Jazz Library devoted to him, the bandleader and Ellington expert Pete Long joins propose the essential recordings from 1940 to his death in 1974. These include the long symphonic work Black Brown and Beige, his version of the Nutcracker Suite and the Second Sacred Concert. Long has an insider's knowledge of this music, having transcribed and played much of it himself, and worked with many of Ellington's friends and associates.

BREAKFAST

Talking of jazz, you might have heard Rob Cowan slip the odd track into his breakfast programme on weekdays from 7-10am. Rob's choices (not least from his increasingly infamous rucksack) seem to be finding a very appreciate audience. If you haven't yet tuned into him or Sara Mohr-Pietsch do give their programme a try – a good way to start the day!

With best wishes

Roger Wright

The BBC Annual Report was published yesterday. Part One (54 pages) has been produced by the BBC Trust, Part Two (148 pages) by the BBC Executive (management). It can be read in full here.

Friends of Radio 3 submitted a report of its own to the BBC Trust and to the Executive. It can be read here. However, the Trust – as they told us – have no mechanism for officially considering listener submissions when drawing up their report, though they did promise that it would be read. Management's response (when there is one) is normally to express satisfaction when praise is given but seldom to publicly acknowledge the justice of listener criticisms. On the other hand, there have been several occasions when action has been taken on matters which FoR3 has highlighted, so the least that could be said is that we got things 'right' in their eyes, even if our own representations weren't the prime reason for changes.

We draw attention to one paragraph from the Trust's report:

"When audiences are asked their views on how seriously the BBC takes their opinion, a sizeable minority – a third or more – say they feel it takes either "not very much" or "none at all". These perceptions are higher among older audiences, lower income groups and people living outside England. This is a real concern for the Trust in our role of representing the public. The Trust is currently consulting with audiences on how they want to have their say and the outcomes will inform the Trust's future engagement activity."(BBC Annual Report 2006-2007, Part One, page 26)

Facts and figures: Radio 3's expenditure was £33.9 million, down from £35.9 million last year. On output the only remarkable figure is a further reduction in drama, down from 89 hours in 2005-2006 to 84 hours last year.

We consider the main points of the report as it affects Radio 3 in the Campaign Update section.

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

BEFORE THE PROMS…

July is of course the month when the BBC Proms start, but before we get underway at the Royal Albert Hall we will bring you a variety of other musical events.

One of the highpoints will be a major celebration from the newly-refurbished Royal Festival Hall. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment celebrates its 21st birthday this year and its gala concert is packed with many leading musicians. As befits the orchestra which pioneered the idea of working with conductors who also have careers outside the early music world, four conductors are represented in this extremely varied evening: Mark Elder, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Charles Mackerras and Sir Roger Norrington. The music reflects the wide-ranging interests of the orchestra, as we hear a suite from Dardanus by Rameau and Mozart's Concerto for 2 pianos, K365; then we have an extract from Weber's opera Der Freischutz; and finally Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks. So there is lots to enjoy in this concert which will be broadcast on Tuesday July 3rd.

There will be more French music two evenings later on July 5th, reflecting the French theme of the City of London Festival; this concert comes from the Middle Temple Hall and features the new French chamber orchestra Les Siècles. We hear works by Lully and Rameau, as well as the Second Violin Concerto by Chevalier de Saint-Georges. This work presents the other theme of the festival, namely the abolition of the slave trade. Saint-Georges was the son of a black slave and a white plantation worker, and in an extraordinary career became not only a violinist and composer, but also the French revolutionary army's first black colonel.

On the evening of Sunday July 1st, Aled Jones presents the Music of Wales, in the first of a series in The Choir looking at singing across the British Isles. With composer and writer Geraint Lewis as his guest, Aled explains how choirs of the younger generation are reinvigorating "the land of song" and continuing its proud traditions. We begin in the valleys of South Wales with the male voice choirs formed during the industrial era. Then, travelling along the coast, we arrive at St David's, the first cathedral choir in Britain to introduce girls into its ranks.

Jazz Library continues on Friday 6th July evening with the music of the New Orleans clarinettist George Lewis. He led the traditional jazz revival from 1942 until his death in 1969. Alyn Shipton talks to Lewis's friend and protégé, Tom Sancton, and they have the difficult job of selecting highlights from a vast catalogue of recordings. Sancton was brought up in New Orleans and was a clarinet student of George Lewis. His recollections of Lewis and other musicians of the period will make for an unusually moving edition of the programme.

STOPPARD SEASON

We will celebrate the 70th birthday of playwright Tom Stoppard in an edition of Night Waves Landmarks devoted to one of his most famous plays, Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead . This extraordinary work established Stoppard's reputation overnight. On the evening of July 5th, Night Waves examines its origins with those who were involved in staging it, including the director of the very first production, Derek Goldby. This ingenious work is set "within and around the action of Hamlet", and has become a contemporary classic of British theatre. A new production will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday July 15th.

However, before that on the 8th you can hear Rock 'n' Roll, Stoppard's most recent play set against a backdrop of the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. Jan is a Czech philosophy student studying for a doctorate at Cambridge when the Russian tanks roll in to crush the Prague Spring in 1968. Jan's tutor, Max, is a Marxist idealist who is bitterly disappointed when his favourite student chooses to go home to Prague, apparently to help defend Dubcek's fragile shoots of liberalism against Soviet oppression. Meanwhile, in Cambridge, Max's faith in the Party gradually wanes as bigger truths about love and death confront him. When the Berlin Wall comes down and it is announced that "history has ended", Max and Jan are cautiously reunited. The all-new cast features Bill Paterson as Max, Daniel Evans as Jan, Penny Downie as Eleanor, Amanda Root as Esme and Ron Cook as Nigel. I hope you enjoy this radio premiere of a fascinating new Stoppard play.

THE PROMS

From mid-July the BBC Proms will play their usual prominent role on Radio 3. And if you wish to know what to look forward to over the summer, then listen on the evening of July 12nd as Petroc Trelawny presents a guide to the season in our Proms Preview Evening. Mark Padmore presents his personal highlights, and cellist Paul Watkins (soloist in the first night) plays music by Elgar and Britten. Nicholas Kenyon will talk about the landmarks in his ten years of running the Proms, and there are postcards from some of the visiting orchestras from around the world.

So, now my annual dilemma of which Proms to mention! Well, clearly the First Night of The Proms on July 13th must merit a mention by any standards! Walton's Portsmouth Point overture opens the evening, the 80th anniversary of the unique partnership between the BBC and the Proms. Walton's work was first heard in London during the BBC's first Proms season in 1927. Then British cellist Paul Watkins performs Elgar's Cello Concerto to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was left unperformed last year because of a fire at the Royal Albert Hall. We're going to make up for that with two performances this season! On the First Night soprano Maria Haan, mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon, tenor Paul Groves and bass René Pape will join conductor Jirí Belohlávek and the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra to launch the season in grand style. Later in the season Maris Janssons will conduct the work with his Bavarian Radio forces.

We then move on to a season which spans eight centuries of music in 90 concerts. We hear the 13th-century Icelandic sagas that inspired Wagner, a lost and newly-discovered Renaissance Mass, the baroque genius of Handel, Bach and Rameau, great orchestral repertoire from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries (including new commissions) – all performed by leading artists from around the world. In addition to the concerts, we will be previewing and discussing the Proms concerts, meeting the artists and some of the composers on a daily basis on Radio 3, so I will say no more now.

But do take time to browse yourself on the Proms site (http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2007) and earmark the events which interest you. We will bring them all to you on Radio 3. Of course it's a unique musical experience being in the hall itself, so if you can, why not try and join us in person for some of the festivities. Listen out too for our competitions in our Breakfast and In Tune programmes where you will have chance to win tickets to the Proms. I hope you enjoy this year's Proms season.

As always, the Radio 3 website provides all the information you'll need to plan your listening, and the Radio Player offers you the chance to catch up on programmes you've missed: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3.

All best wishes

Roger Wright

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

We have two major themes this month. We're celebrating the anniversary of one of Britain's most renowned composers, and we are launching a major series of programmes in a project with Radio 4.

SIR EDWARD ELGAR

The 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Edward Elgar falls on June 2nd. We begin on Friday night with a concert from the Philharmonia conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, who perform some of the composer's most popular orchestral works, including the First Symphony and Cello Concerto, in which the soloist is the Norwegian cellist, Truls Mork.

Over the following week we're going to hear many of his great works, and discuss the legacy of this enigmatic composer. His biographer Michael Kennedy recently wrote in the Daily Telegraph that public interest in his music has steadily risen in the past fifty years, since his centenary. This has been due to a growing realisation of the multi-faceted nature of his achievement, and that he can no longer be categorised as a bombastic relic of the Edwardian era. During the week, from Monday to Thursday at 11.00pm, The Essay will assess and reflect on different areas of his life and his place in society; the themes are academe, the establishment, religion and Englishness, all of which reveal the complexity of his personality. On Sunday evening in Drama on 3, we have Elgar's Rondo by David Pownall, which looks at Elgar's depression in the wake of the failure of his Second Symphony. He is so often associated with the Victorian notion of Empire, that we have devoted Sunday Feature at 9.30pm to exploring this area which is far from straight-forward, given both his Catholicism and admiration for German culture.

There is also a wonderful feast of his music, as we hear the three great oratorios over the coming weekend, starting on Saturday night with The Dream of Gerontius, regarded by many as his greatest masterpiece. This is followed on Sunday by The Apostles and on Monday by The Kingdom. All three works are performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo. Appropriately enough we visit Birmingham for these events, since Elgar helped found the orchestra there and was appointed Professor of Music at Birmingham University in 1905.

On Tuesday evening, the musical celebrations continue with another concert given by the Philharmonia, including the Violin Concerto with James Ehnes as soloist, and the Second Symphony. Across lunchtimes we have four contrasting programmes including his chamber music, including songs, the Violin Sonata, the String Quartet and Piano Quintet.

Complementing all of this, Composer of the Week takes to the Malvern Hills and the surrounding area to explore Elgar's music in the context of this landscape which he loved so much.

THE MAKING OF MUSIC

We are delighted to be working closely with Radio 4 telling the story of Western classical music in its historical context. In our new series, The Making Of Music, James Naughtie will present a programme each weekday afternoon on Radio 4 at 3.45pm. Immediately following this at 4pm, we are going to broadcast performances of the works to which James has referred. These joint programmes are going to run on weekdays for twelve weeks. The first half of the series leads up to the BBC Proms. It takes us from early ecclesiastical chant to the music of Renaissance courts and cathedrals. Along with much else, we track the birth of opera in Florence; the court of Louis XIV at Versailles; Bach in Leipzig and Handel in London. The first half of the series ends with the era of optimism epitomised by the Great Exhibition of 1851, and appropriately enough we then go to the Royal Albert Hall for the first of the Proms. But more about the Proms next month!

CUBA

If you are seeking something rather different, beyond these shores, and even beyond Europe, then do listen to World Routes on Saturday afternoon (3.00pm) when Lucy Duran will be presenting the first of three editions of World Routes from Cuba. She has made a 1,000-mile journey around the island to discover its music roots, and has made special recordings with many of the leading folk musicians from all parts of the country. The first programme includes an interview exclusive with Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, one of the main movers behind the Buena Vista Social Club – the album which brought Cuban music to a global audience. And on Friday evening at 10.30pm, Jazz Library takes up the Cuban theme.

BBC CARDIFF SINGER OF THE WORLD

Finally, a word about the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. This exciting biennial internatiional event runs from 9-17 June, and is covered by BBC Four, BBC 2, Radio 3 and the regional networks in Wales. Lots of information is now available for the next competition, including everything about the competitors and what they're singing, plus details about the jury and the broadcasts. And you can enter a quiz to win tickets for the final! http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/cardiffsinger/.

With best wishes

Roger Wright

RAJAR last week released the listening figures for the final quarter of the year 2006-07, allowing the yearly average to be calculated.

For Radio 3, the result was very poor. Last year the final quarter had given a bit of a kick to the year, ending on something of a high note at 2.099 million, but there was no repeat this year, with a closing figure of 1.902 million.

The first quarter of 2006-07 had been the lowest quarter ever, at 1.834 million. With such a disastrous result nothing was going to make this year's performance distinguished except an impossibly high final quarter. In fact, the last quarter was the second lowest ever – 1.902 million – and the two middle quarters were mediocre. The result was that the average weekly reach over the year was the lowest ever: 1.948 million.

The percentage of people listening reflects the same pattern: over the year the weekly percentage reach was 3.91%, below 4% for the first time.

Classic FM has had all the glory this year: winning the Sony UK Station of the Year award and with its recent RAJAR figures reported in glowing terms.

The station, however, has got away with very indifferent figures for some while, compared with its real glory days. Listening hit a highpoint in March 2003 when it reached 6.872 million. Since then there has been a downward trend, and in seven out of eight of the last quarters it has failed to reach 6 million, a drop of a million listeners in three years. This quarter it just cleared 6 million for the first time since June 2005. At 6.031 million, this is not a brilliant result and there is no obvious upward trend as yet.

The other headline feature is the '50%' increase in children under 15 listening to the station since the previous quarter. On the face of it, this looks like a nonsense: 50% increases do not occur from one quarter to the next other than by some bizarre statistical anomaly or in the case of extremely low figures where, for example, an increase from 6 to 9 would not on its own be regarded as a signal for immediate celebration.

The Independent's report is doubly misleading in giving Classic FM's audience as 6.5 million; in other words, they have added on the under 15s to the RAJAR figures which refer to 15 plus listeners. The figure quoted is not comparable to any other RAJAR-published figure, present or past, for any other station, including Classic FM's.

Putting it another way, the last two years' figures for Classic FM have been low: aside from those, you have to go back to December 1999 to find a lower figure than this latest one. But a good story is a good story even if it oversells the truth. Particularly if it oversells the truth.

Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note

Dear All

RADIO 3 REQUESTS

I have decided to write a little earlier than usual this month, because I am pleased to announce the launch of our new request show: Radio 3 Requests. It starts this Sunday at 2pm, and is presented by Chi-chi Nwanoku. As the principal bass player of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, she brings to the programme her experience as a performer. She is looking forward to her first programmes, and embarking upon this personal musical discovery in the company of the listeners. Each week there will be a contribution from a musician who shares something of their personal choice of music; on Sunday Chi-chi's first guest is the pianist Roger Vignoles.

PROMS 2007

You might by now have seen some details of the 2007 Proms programmes, and I know that many of you plan your summer listening around these special concerts. We have just had a conference in London about the Proms and its history, and it has shown the extraordinary place which this season holds in our music life. I am thrilled to have been asked to take on the responsibility for the BBC Proms in future seasons. It is an enormous honour.

ELGAR AND MORE

Next month there is more remarkable music making in the evenings. On May 1st there is the continuation of the acclaimed interpretation of Richard Strauss's orchestral music by the Hallé Orchestra and Mark Elder. Till Eulenspiegel is performed alongside Mendelssohn's miniature musical picture, The Fair Melusine; Sibelius's quietly radical Third Symphony, and Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto. And on Friday 4th we anticipate our Elgar celebrations as Nicholas McGegan conducts a concert from the Symphony Hall, Birmingham. It's part of the CBSO celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Sir Edward Elgar's birth, and includes his two Wand of Youth Suites. These are complemented by the Mendelssohn Concerto for Two Pianos and the Bizet Symphony in C. More, much more about Elgar next month!

TAKING THE PLUNGE

Starting on May 21st, we go live to the Bath Festival for four evening concerts, featuring some remarkably engaging performers: The Festival's Artistic Director, pianist Joanna MacGregor , interleaves Bach and Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, in a concert culminating in Gershwin; then the Borodin Quartet presents Galynin, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, and continuing the Russian theme we also have a recital by Maxim Vengerov. Friday evening of the same week is dedicated to the memory of the celebrated English pianist Clifford Curzon, who was born 100 years ago. We hear a wide range of his performances, concentrating on the classical repertoire for which he so renowned from Mozart to Schumann. And there is more Mozart in the afternoons starting on Monday 21st, as his piano concertos are featured throughout the week in Afternoon on 3.

RPS MUSIC AWARDS

On Wednesday 9th Petroc Trelawny presents Performance on 3 with highlights from this year's Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards. Dame Josephine Barstow presents this year's ceremony, which is hosted by Sean Rafferty. Nicholas Hytner, Director of the Royal National Theatre, is the keynote speaker. These awards recognise achievement in the field of classical music, and honour musicians, composers, writers, broadcasters and arts organisations. Some listeners have already made their nominations in an online vote for the BBC Radio 3 Listeners Award; the musicians nominated include include Sir Colin Davis, the pianist Paul Lewis, tenor Mark Padmore and Swedish soprano Miah Persson. Do listen out for this celebration of music making.

BACH'S MENTOR

An unusual and interesting series of Composer of The Week this month is based around the music of Buxtehude, a great influence on J S Bach. As usual, the programmes start on Monday 7th at noon, and are repeated each evening. The Dutch scholar and performer Ton Koopman is a great champion of his music, and Donald Macleod spent time in conversation with him in his preparation for the series. Though this year marks the 300th anniversary of Buxtehude, we still know little about him. We don't know his date of birth or what he looked like, and Germans, Danes and Swedes are still discussing (or arguing about) his nationality. The music is full of unexpected twists, groundbreaking techniques and intellectual games – for instance, seven sonatas are based on the mathematics of Kepler's astronomical research. Musical highlights include Koopman's recordings on the 1683 organ of the St Jacobi Church in Lüdingworth, with its remarkably colourful sounds, and the counter-tenor Andreas Scholl and soprano Emma Kirkby performing cantatas which wonderfully prefigure Bach's later output.

THE ESSAY

Our new programme, The Essay, has been very well received. Starting on May 14th in The Essay, poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen presents a second series of Lingua Franca, an investigation into the roots of European language. He deals with narrower bands of European language, starting with the Celts and the celtic group of languages. He then moves on to the so-called Finno-Ugric family – Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian; these don't come from the same Indo-European root as most of the rest. And we'll also be looking at Basque, which if you've been on holiday in north-east Spain, looks very unusual to our eyes. The third programme will deal with Borderlands – languages that are half-and-half, in countries like Switzerland and Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. And finally we'll be taking a short, sad look at the languages of Europe that are dead or dying. And The Essay ends its month with Night Walks. There's a long tradtion of writers walking to encourage their imagination, and simply – in the case of Dickens – to counteract insomnia. Starting of May 29th, four writers take to the streets, lanes and countryside, and recount their thoughts as they do so. Join Will Self, Tim Parks, Alain de Botton and Kate Pullinger on their nocturnal rambles. I hope you enjoy these and many other prorgammes [sic].

You'll find details of all Radio 3's programmes at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3.

With best wishes

Roger Wright

It was announced this afternoon that Roger Wright, Controller of Radio 3, would take over as Director of the Proms in October, when Nicholas Kenyon, the present Director, becomes Managing Director at the Barbican.

Mr Wright will continue as Controller of Radio 3.

The government has appointed Sir Michael Lyons to take over as the first chairman of the BBC Trust, the position Michael Grade would have succeeded to but for his unexpected departure from the BBC last November.

We wish him well, though on the whole the higher they stand the less interest they take in the detail. Points of interest are that Michael Lyons is chairman of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Will he be a champion of the arts? Perhaps – but it's not part of the job brief. The BBC needs to regain its commitment to seriousness before we are likely to see any change in policy. In the meantime, Public Value is light entertainment, and success is measured by healthy ratings. Television and New Media are the key areas. None of this looks hopeful for Radio 3.