Summary: Tom Service talks to the Italian singer Anna Caterina Antonacci about her unique voice, about saying no to opera directors when necessary and about why she left her homeland for good. We travel to the heart of the Midlands to eavesdrop on one of the most successful ensembles of the country, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group as they celebrate their 25th birthday: Tom talks about it with, among others, conductor Simon Rattle, composers Thomas Ades, Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews and Charlotte Bray as well as critic Christopher Morley. And as London's Royal Opera House embarks on Wagner's Ring Cycle, we get four different views about both the artistic and logistic challenges of staging this gigantic four-opera marathon from the ROH's Director of Opera Kasper Holten, soprano Susan Bullock, who's performing the role of Brunnhilde, composer Judith Weir and the novelist and critic Philip Hensher.
