Víkingur Ólafsson, Christabel Blackburn, Nitin Sawhney, Audiobooks

Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson will be Front Row's Artist-in-Residence during the lockdown, delivering weekly live performances on the grand piano of the currently empty Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík, Iceland. Each week will also feature a mini-masterclass about the piece. Tonight Víkingur performs his own transcription of Sigvaldi Kaldalóns’ Ave Maria. Kaldalóns was a doctor aswell as a composer and Víkingur dedicates this performance as a prayer to all the people suffering and to the health workers fighting against COVID-19.

Winner of the Sky Portrait Artists of the Year, Christabel Blackburn, gives us top tips on how to draw a portrait ourselves at home, and discusses why she's so drawn to the genre and what it was like winning the show.

British-Indian musician, producer and composer Nitin Sawhney discusses his forthcoming album Immigrants, a celebration of émigrés' culture across the globe, in which he showcases creations 'inspired and contributed to by artists who either identify themselves as immigrants, are from immigrant heritage or wish to express support for those international immigrants who have found themselves judged or disadvantaged by pure accident of birth.’

We conclude our ‘listening week’, focusing on entertainment available for the ear, with a look at audiobooks. Over the past decade this $3.5bn industry has been the success story of an otherwise sluggish publishing market and in a moment when many have more time on their hands there’s no better way to consume books whilst being productive. Times audiobook critic Christina Hardyment discusses the best and worst recent releases and what goes into making a good recorded reading.

Presenter Tom Sutcliffe Producer Jerome Weatherald