Front Row

American composer Philip Glass is often cited as one of the most influential composers alive, combining minimalist, spare music with the harmonic tradition of Bach, Schubert and Mozart. Now, for the Manchester International Festival, he's teamed up with British performer and director Phelim McDermott to produce a very personal work with ten new pieces of music and ten meditations on life, death and Taoist wisdom. In the month that Ravelry, a community site for knitters with over 6 million members, bans patterns that support US President Donald Trump, we consider the power of knitting as a political tool with Geraldine Warner, author of Protest Knits and crafter and haberdashery owner Rosie Fletcher.How far has the representation of black women on stage changed in recent years? Martina Laird shares her experiences as an actor and tutor ahead of her talk, Standing on Shoulders, at the National Theatre.A colossal statue of Ed Sheeran, relaxing on a green plinth in tight red shorts and shades, has been unveiled in Moscow’s Gorky Park ahead of his concert there this week. Travel writer Simon Calder reports on examples of statues of performers worldwide.Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Hannah Robins

Dominic Dromgoole, used to run Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, he tried take a production of Hamlet to every country in the world (and very nearly succeeded), and he brought a year-long season of Oscar Wilde’s work to the West End. and now he's directed is debut feature film, Making Noise Quietly. It began life as stageplay, a triptych of stories, each involving the meeting of strangers and exploring the impact of war on them. Times, we’re told, are tough for the arts, theatre especially. And yet there will soon be at least ten new theatres in London alone. Theatres around the country are being refurbished: the Everyman in Liverpool, Bristol Old Vic, Theatr Clwyd. Why, how, and who's paying for all this? We hear from Tristan Baker of Troubabour Theatres - which is opening two huge new spaces in London this week, Julien Boast - CEO of the Hall for Cornwall in Truro, where a three-tier, 1,300-seat auditorium is under construction, and Dominic Dromgoole. After a momentous weekend in sport with the Cricket World Cup final and the Wimbledon finals, sports writer Simon Inglis reflects on the aesthetics of the trophy cup.. Why are some of them so ghastly? Karina Ramage arrived for her job restocking the biscuit aisle at Waitrose and carrying her guitar, when a customer asked her to sing him a song. She obliged with one of her own numbers and he offered her a management deal on the spot. He was Daniel Glatman, a music executive with a proven track record as the man behind chart-topping boyband Blue. 'That sounds like the sort of song the world needs to be hearing right now'. Her busking and biscuit days may soon be over. She'll be performing live in the studioPresenter: Kirsty Lang, Producer: Oliver Jones

Novelist and screenwriter Deborah Moggach whose eighteen novels include Heartbreak Hotel, Tulip Fever and These Foolish Things - made into the hit film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - talks to Stig Abell about her new novel The Carer, a poignant story about age, sibling rivalry and having to grow up – at last.Stig is joined by Jordan Erica Webber to play a new computer game based on the world of Hamlet. In Elsinore, released later this month, the player takes on the role of Ophelia and quests to save the lives of the characters and change the course of the story. We ask if an attempt to tell the story of the play in an interactive way bears fruit. The acclaimed Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove talks about staging Ayn Rand’s 1943 novel The Fountainhead at Manchester International Festival. The adaptation, like the book, tells the story of Howard Roark, an architect who refuses to compromise on his “perfect” designs. US president Donald Trump is a fan of The Fountainhead and the home secretary Sajid Javid revealed during the Conservative leadership debates that he re-reads it once a year. We’ll ask what this production has to tell us about liberalism, politics and individualism today.Following reports that while watching The Voice Kids a woman’s window shattered when a competitor sang a high note, Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford, tells Front Row whether the human voice really can break glass.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Hilary Dunn

Oscar winning director Ron Howard has made an in-depth look at the life and career of singer Luciano Pavarotti, featuring interviews with his family and other stars such as Placido Domingo and Angela Gheorghiu. Classical music critic Fiona Maddocks reviews. The latest British Attitudes Survey is published today, but how are attitudes reflected and influenced by the culture we consume? Research Director from the National Centre for Social Research, Miranda Philips, and cultural historian Matthew Sweet discuss.The organisers of Port Eliot Festival have released a statement saying that this year’s festival will be the last for the foreseeable future. In an age when the festival scene - literary or musical - seems to be thriving, what has gone wrong for them? Colin Midson, the Creative Director, explains.Wendell Berry is a farmer and activist, and the great chronicler of rural America with over fifty books. His latest, Stand By Me, is a collection of short stories chronicling the lives of the small farmers of Port William, Kentucky, their relationships with each other and the place: the fields and woods, animals and birds, and the soil itself. He talks to Samira Ahmed about how the stories connect and span a century.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

Peter Gynt is a new version of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt written by David Hare and starring James McArdle in the title role. Susannah Clapp reviews the National Theatre and Edinburgh International Festival's production.How to appreciate opera is the latest in our series of beginners' guides to art forms that are new to us. Stig, who has not spent much time at the opera, asks soprano Danielle de Niese for her top tips.The Left Behind is a hard-hitting BBC drama about a young working class man in South Wales who becomes radicalised by far-right propaganda. Writer Alan Harris and director Joseph Bullman discuss the show.Actor Rip Torn died yesterday aged 88. Most famous for his roles in the American hit TV comedy series The Larry Sanders Show and the Men in Black franchise, Rip Torn’s career spanned 6 decades. Journalist Michael Goldfarb talks about the life and career of the American actor.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Simon Richardson

Cressida Cowell is announced as the new Waterstones Children’s Laureate. We speak to the How to Train Your Dragon writer about her plans for the role which is mainly focused on encouraging primary school age children to read. With recent attempts by the USA to rekindle the Israeli-Palestinian peace process having foundered on the rocks, we talk to Cherie Blair about her role as Executive Producer of a new film about the crisis. The drama is in development and will be directed by John Deery who also joins John in the studio. The film, The Rock Pile, explores the lives of three little boys – a Muslim, an Arab-Christian and a Jew – who meet and play football together on the streets of Jerusalem.Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi won the Man Booker, selling over 3 million copies and was a critically acclaimed Hollywood movie. It’s the story of Pi, a 16 year old boy stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific with a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. Paul Allen reviews a new adaptation at the Crucible Theatre Sheffield and discusses the challenges of bringing the story to the stage. Presenter : John Wilson Producer : Dymphna Flynn

Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason talks about her love for the music of Clara Schumann, who in the 19th Century was famous as a virtuoso pianist but overshadowed as a composer by her husband Robert Schumann. Isata has recorded Clara's music for her debut album, Romance. Tree, a major production of the Manchester International Festival, is embroiled in controversy. The Festival states that Tree is a new work, based on a concept by Idris Elba with an original script by Kwame Kwei-Armah. But writers Tori Allen-Martin and Sarah Henley say that they spent 4 years working on the project, workshopping and writing drafts, and should be credited. Samira talks to Allen-Martin and Henley about this and why they have set up an organisation to help female playwrights. Jill Halfpenny and Babou Ceesay star in new BBC drama Dark Money as a parents who accept a huge pay off to keep quiet after finding out their child was sexually abused while shooting a film in Hollywood. The Radio Times's David Butcher reviews,Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser

In the week of Pride and following his Glastonbury speech about LGBTQ rights, Olly Alexander of Years & Years talks about writing lyrics that are overtly about gay relationships.Ari Aster's horror film Midsommar starring Florence Pugh has allegedly given its own stars nightmares. Isabel Stevens reviews. 17th century artists Joan Carlile, Mary Beale and Anne Killigrew were the first professional female painters in Britain. Art historian Bendor Grosvenor discusses the work of these trailblazing women showcased in “Bright Souls”: The Forgotten Story of Britain’s First Female Artists at the Lyon & Turnbull Gallery in London.William Feaver marks the life and work of renowned artist Leon Kossoff, known for his lyrical and energetic paintings of London life. His death has been announced at the age of 92.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson

We last saw the work of the Cuban artist Tania Bruguera when she was commissioned for the turbine hall of Tate Modern. She’s known for facing down police interrogation of her work in her native Havana. Now she’s harnessed Manchester’s international community for what she calls a School of Integration. In May, Ibrahim Mahama was one of the six Ghanaian artists chosen to represent the country as it made its debut at the Venice Biennale. Now, he’s come to Manchester to create Parliament of Ghosts – an exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery which reflects both on Ghana’s time under British rule, and the years following the country’s independence. The Mexican-Canadian electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s new work, Atmospheric Memory uses the very latest technology but is rooted in the story of the English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. We’ll be asking why this very contemporary artist is seeking inspiration in the nineteenth century.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producers: Ekene Akalawu and Olive Clancy

Filmmaker Chanya Button talks about Vita & Virginia, which explores the relationship between Virginia Woolf and fellow writer Vita Sackville-West, the inspiration for the protagonist of Woolf’s novel Orlando. Based on the correspondence between the two women, the film stars Elizabeth Debicki and Gemma Arterton.Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, hailed as one of the funniest plays ever written, was first performed in 1982 at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, where a new production has just opened. It’s a farce about a touring production of a farce, in which the Assistant Stage Manager Poppy struggles to control her actors. Front Row talks to Lois Chimimba, who plays Poppy, and her real life counterpart, Caroline Meer.Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, based on an ode by Friedrich Schiller, was adopted by the EU as its anthem. Following the Brexit party’s response to it being played at the opening of the European parliament, Norman Lebrecht discusses why this piece of music has had so much political resonance since its composition in 1824. Once upon a time, computer games - like much of the media - perpetuated negative stereotypes about mental health. Now they’re at the forefront of moves to tackle the stigma sometimes associated with conditions like depression and anxiety. Jordan Erica explains why the rise of the independent gaming sector and the mental health backgrounds of many developers makes modern gaming the perfect forum in which to boost empathy between sufferers and non-sufferers.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Rebecca Armstrong and Simon Richardson