Covid pilot events, Ian Rankin, Janine Jansen, Neal Cooper

Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus crime novels, has recently completed a book left unfinished by the father of the ‘tartan noir’ genre William McIlvanney who died in 2015. Ian explains how he pieced together the fragments and notes left by McIlvanney and wrote his own sections of The Dark Remains, a prequel to McIlvanney’s Laidlaw series. He also reveals that the experience of working on the novel may mean a new lease of life for Rebus.

With summer music festivals linked to spikes in Covid cases and new pilot data released from the Government’s Events Research Programme, social psychologist Professor John Drury from the University of Sussex explains the risks posed by large crowds and the policy and behaviour changes he believes are needed to ensure live events can continue safely.

For the first time in history, 12 violins made by the finest violin maker of all time, Antonio Stradivari, have travelled across the world to feature in a ground-breaking new album with violin player Janine Jansen. She joins Samira Ahmed to discuss the end result, as well as the film she made to accompany it.

Operatic tenor Neal Cooper talks about singing both the roles of Tristan and Melot at last night’s Prom performance of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde at the Royal Albert Hall, when Simon O’Neill who was cast as Tristan lost his voice after the second act.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones

Main image: a crowd at a music festival