The Big Interview

Ludovico Einaudi is an Italian pianist and composer known for his unique blend of classical, folk and modern influences. His iconic albums, film scores and record-breaking concerts have made him one of the world’s most influential living composers. His new 13-track album, ‘The Summer Portraits’, is now available and Einaudi is also gearing up for a five-night residency at the Royal Albert Hall in London – the longest continuous headline run by a pianist at the historic venue. Sitting down with Monocle’s Laura Kramer, Einaudi speaks about his inspirations, his love of photography and paintings, and how he balances modern digital convenience with the beauty of analog technology in his creative process.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Damian Woetzel is a former principal dancer at the New York City Ballet and the current president of the world’s most prestigious performing arts conservatory, The Juilliard School. After an illustrious career as one of the world’s foremost male dancers, Woetzel went on to earn a degree from Harvard, serve on Barack Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and direct a series of major arts programmes, including at The Aspen Institute. As president of Juilliard since 2018, he hopes to one day make the school tuition-free. Woetzel spoke with Monocle’s Emma Nelson about discovering his passion young, his jeté-like rise in ballet and the role of art as a public good.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brandon Scott has been Baltimore’s mayor since 2020 and was re-elected in 2024. He is the youngest mayor in the city’s history and the first to be re-elected in 20 years, the latter achievement likely owed in no small part to his unprecedented success in reducing Baltimore’s notoriously high rates of crime, violence and homicide. A new documentary, ‘The Body Politic’, explores how he has managed to turn the city around. Mayor Scott sat down with Monocle’s Andrew Mueller to discuss his strategies, how he deals with political crises and the looming presidency of Donald Trump.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former journalist and editor at ‘The Wall Street Journal’, now president and CEO of The Atlantic Council, Fred Kempe’s life and career spans from the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall to the ongoing war in Ukraine and other geopolitical threats. A passionate advocate for American engagement in the world, Kempe sat down with Monocle’s Chris Cermak in Washington ahead of a US presidential election that could send the superpower in two very different directions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back in 2013, American singer and songwriter Jason Isbell released the album ‘Southeastern’, which tracked his life as an enthusiastic-if-reckless archetype of the dissolute southern rocker. It was an overwhelming critical and commercial success. Five more studio albums followed, turning Grammy-winning Isbell into a chart-topper and – as of Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ – a movie star. Here he sits down with Andrew Mueller for a candid chat about his life and music, his viral ‘feral hogs’ tweet and his acting debut alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gherardo Felloni, creative director of Parisian luxury-accessories house Roger Vivier, joins Monocle’s associate editor Grace Charlton to discuss the brand’s spring-summer 2025 collection. Felloni tells us about his vision for the brand, reissuing some of the most iconic buckled shoes to have walked this earth and updating house codes for the modern woman.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Widely considered to be one of the most influential figures in fashion and retail, the ad interim CEO and president of the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, Alison Loehnis, has been a leading force at the pioneering online retailer for more than a decade. Here, she joins Monocle’s fashion director Natalie Theodosi for a sprawling conversation about leadership, balancing creativity and business, nurturing young brands and entering a new chapter in the industry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than a decade after reaching worldwide acclaim with his six-volume autobiographical novel ‘My Struggle’, the Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard has returned to the fictional form in ‘The Morning Star’ series. Knausgaard sat down with Gunnar Gronlid to talk about the latest entry ‘The Third Realm’, embodying new perspectives and his fixation with death, family and freedom. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

British comedy veteran of ‘The Young Ones’ and ‘Bottom’ fame Adrian Edmondson sits down with Andrew Mueller to talk about his memoir ‘Berserker!’, his often violent skits with late collaborator Rik Mayall and using humour to deal with trauma.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former FBI director-turned-crime-fiction-author James Comey speaks with Andrew Mueller about his new novel, ‘Westport’, the dangers of a new Donald Trump presidency and whether he regrets reopening the Hillary Clinton investigation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.