The Music Show

Internationally renowned composer Max Richter is in the studio for his Music Show debut. On tour in Australia to perform at VIVID in Sydney and Dark Mofo in Hobart, Max speaks to Robbie about his "protest music" and how he the moon remains a generous source of inspiration. Perhaps best known for his extensive project SLEEP, Max also talks us through some of the thoughts behind the music to doze off to. And we are joined in the live music studio by musicians from two Melbourne groups - Firetail, an electro-jazz fusion outfit, and Gamelan DanAnda, a Balinese gamelan group. They've been brought together by The Boîte to join forces and ask the question "Does Balinese gamelan meeting electro-jazz fusion sound like Australia?" 

Pianist Leigh Harrold returns to the stage of Tempo Queer - a series of concerts run by Coady Green at Brunswick's Tempo Rubato. With oboist Dafydd Camp, Leigh presents "In Praise of the Vulnerable Man," a program of music by queer male composers. And clarinettist from the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Nicole van Bruggen gives us some insight into what it might have been like to be a female composer and pianist in mid-19th Century Paris through the eyes of Louise Farrenc. The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra are playing Farrenc's Nonet on their current tour. Click here to vote for your favourite musical instruments for Classic 100. 

Director Lisa Cortés’s new documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything traces the conflicts and contradictions of one of the pioneers of Rock n’ Roll. Lisa talks about Richard’s battles with his queerness and his religiosity with a particular gentleness, as well as revealing what made him one of the era’s greatest performers.And Joy Oladokun is another American artist whose music balances her queerness and her faith. Raised in a charismatic church community in Arizona, she was inspired to become a musician after watching Tracy Chapman play the guitar. Joy picked up the guitar herself, and now four studio albums later she talks to Robbie about the latest, which is called Proof of Life.  

Shirley Collins was a cornerstone of the English folk revival, releasing twenty something albums, travelling, and cataloguing traditional tunes with Alan Lomax between the 1950s and the 1970s. Then, after a tide of personal misfortune, she lost her voice. She sustained herself working clerical jobs until her pension came through, at which point she moved back to her native Sussex and reconnected with music. After a 38 year gap between albums, 2016’s Lodestar cemented her place as one of the genre’s most significant voices. Now her third – and possibly final – album in her era as an “octogenarian folk singer”, Archangel Hill, is released, featuring traditional songs as well as a handful of originals.

After arriving late to the music scene via a pub in Nottingham, Yazmin Lacey brings a fresh outlook to the world of British soul. After finding her voice through an open-mic-night, Yazmin has taken the little moments from her life that she captured as short voice notes to realise her debut album, aptly named Voice Notes. East of West brings a taste of the Balkans and the Mediterranean to the Music Show's live music studio. The trio (Goran Gajić, Malindi Morris and Philip Griffin) transport us to the other side of the world with their intertwining melodies and complex yet catchy rhythms that are emblematic of the music from Southeastern Europe. And we remember the late Tina Turner and the special space that she was able to carve out in the hearts of many Australians, whether it's singing along to The Best in the NRL finals, or dancing along to Nutbush City Limits at an aunt's wedding. Tina Turner died this week at the age of 83.

Behind Pinchgut Opera's production of Legrenzi's neglected military epic Giustino, and Polish pianist composer Hania Rani pulls apart the piano. 

Ali McGregor talks about falling into opera and cabaret (and a mixture of both!) And we take a trip into the Pear Garden with Li Fuhua, Li Mingliang and Lulu Liu as we chat about Chinese Opera. 

Madison McFerrin on her debut album  I Hope You Can Forgive Me. Released almost 7 years after her first EP Finding Foundations Volume 1, Madison chats to Robbie about her musical journey, from acapella to self-producing her own tunes. And Victoria Falconer talks about being the music director for the unique musical Once, and musical theatre across the UK, the US and Australia. 

Will Gregory and Hazel Mills open up the world of the synthesiser, and conductor Karina Canellakis on Bartok, broadcast orchestras and the future of classical music in the age of streaming.

Australian artists talk about how they use music to tell stories. David Arden is a Kokatha/Gunditjmara musician who has been writing and performing songs that tell stories of his family and spark conversation in the wider community. He tells Robbie about his career as a musician and his new album,  MEERTA: The Ballad of James Arden, which tells the story of his Great-Grandfather, James. And Andrée Greenwell drops by the Music Show studio ahead of the premiere of her new opera Three Marys at the Sydney Opera House.