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Nicky Spence takes over the presenter chair

Nicky Spence plays the best classical music and meets the musicians who make it happen, including rising star mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina.

Nicky Spence provides the ideal soundtrack for Saturday morning, with the best classical music, in new and landmark recordings, and one or two surprise guests introducing their own releases.

Nicky meets fellow opera star Aigul Akhmetshina, the award winning mezzo-soprano who already has a number of leading roles in major opera houses and two best-selling albums to her name.

Ahead of his appearance at the Last Night of the Proms, Nicky catches up with another mezzo-soprano, and his former teacher, Sarah Walker, to ask her advice and hear about her own experiences singing Rule, Britannia! at the Last Night two times.

And this week's Creator is the multiple academy award winning composer Alan Menken, celebrated for his long-standing collaboration with Disney.

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3 hours

Last on

Yesterday09:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Folk Festival (The Gadfly)

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vassily Sinaisky.
    • The Film Music of Dmitri Shostakovich, Vol.2: BBC Phil, Sinaisky.
    • Chandos.
    • 8.

  • Edward Elgar

    La Capricieuse

    Performer: Daniel Lozakovich. Performer: Stanislav Soloviev.
    • Elgar: La Capricieuse Op. 17.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 1.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Bassoon concerto in B flat major, RV 501 (La Notte)

    Performer: Sergio Azzolini. Orchestra: L’Onda Armonica.
    • Vivaldi: Concerti per fagotto VI.
    • Naive.
    • 1.

  • Franz Liszt

    Nuages gris

    Performer: Yulianna Avdeeva.
    • Metanoia.
    • Pentatone.
    • 7.

  • Andrew York

    Sunburst

    Performer: John Williams.
    • Spirit of the Guitar.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Carnival Overture, Op 92

    Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • PENTATONE.

  • Trad.

    Sekstur from Vendsyssel; The Peat Dance

    Music Arranger: Danish String Quartet. Ensemble: Danish String Quartet.
    • DaCapo.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225 (1st mvt)

    Choir: Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart. Conductor: Hans-Christoph Rademann.
    • J S Bach: The Motets.
    • Accentus Music.

  • Richard Wagner

    Albumblatt for Frau Betty Schott

    Performer: Jacques Forestier. Performer: Boris Kusnezow.
    • Song & Dance.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Georges Bizet

    Carmen Suite No 1

    Music Arranger: Ernest Guiraud. Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: François Leleux.
    • Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1, Symphony & Gounod: Petite Symphonie.
    • Linn.
    • 1.

  • Elena Roussanova

    Mujer fatal (La belle Otero)

    Performer: Sir Antonio Pappano. Author: Sheila del Bosque Fuentes. Singer: Aigul Akhmetshina.
    • Mujer Fatal.
    • Decca.
    • 1.

  • Consuelo Velázquez

    Besame mucho

    Performer: Sir Antonio Pappano. Music Arranger: Jonathan Lakeland. Singer: Aigul Akhmetshina.
    • Mujer Fatal.
    • Decca.
    • 6.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Cello Concerto No 2 in D major (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Jean‐Guihen Queyras. Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: Petra Müllejans.
    • Haydn: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Monn: Cello Concerto.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 6.

  • Bart Howard

    Fly Me To The Moon

    Performer: Kevin Miller. Music Arranger: John Holiday, Jr.. Singer: John Holiday.
    • Over My Head.
    • PENTATONE.

  • Leoš Janáček

    The Excursion of Mr Broucek to the Moon - Introduction

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • LSO Live.

  • Anthony Hopkins

    Bracken Road (1947: Suite for solo piano & orchestra)

    Performer: Sergio Tiempo. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel.
    • Anthony Hopkins: 1947: Suite for Solo Piano & Orchestra: II. Bracken Road.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 1.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Serenade in G major K.525 'Eine kleine Nachtmusik' (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: The English Concert. Conductor: Andrew Manze.
    • Mozart: Night music: The English Concert/Manze.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 4.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Sextet in D major, Op 110 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Yuja Wang. Performer: Kirill Troussov. Performer: David Aaron Carpenter. Performer: Maxim Rysanov. Performer: Sol Gabetta. Performer: Leigh Mesh.
    • Yuja Wang Plays Mendelssohn (Live).
    • Verbier Festival Gold.
    • 4.

  • Thomas Arne

    Rule! Britannia (Last Night of the Proms 1985)

    Singer: Sarah Walker. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Vernon Handley.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Apres un Reve, Op 7 No 1

    Performer: Malcolm Martineau. Singer: Sarah Walker.
    • CRD Records.

  • Cathy Berberian

    Stripsody

    Singer: Cathy Berberian.
    • Wergo.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Les Presents, Op 46 No 1

    Performer: Malcolm Martineau. Singer: Sarah Walker.
    • CRD Records.

  • Träd

    In The Pines

    Performer: Béla Fleck. Music Arranger: Béla Fleck. Singer: Dolly Parton. Singer: Renée Fleming.
    • The Fiddle and the Drum.
    • Renée Fleming Records.
    • 2.

  • Carl Orff

    Carmina Burana: O Fortuna & Fortune plango vulnera

    Choir: Audivi. Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jader Bignamini.
    • PENTATONE.

  • Alan Menken

    Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid

    Lyricist: Howard Ashman. Singer: Samuel E. Wright.
    • Walt Disney Records.

  • Alan Menken

    Go The Distance from Hercules

    Lyricist: David Zippel. Singer: Roger Bart.
    • Walt Disney Records.

  • Alan Menken

    Bedtime from The Little Mermaid

    Ensemble: [Disney].
    • Walt Disney Records.

  • Alan Menken

    A Whole New World from Aladdin

    Lyricist: Tim Rice. Ensemble: Paebo Bryson & Regina Belle.
    • EMI Gold.

  • Cecilia McDowall

    A Tree is a Song

    Performer: Caroline Jaya-Ratnam. Choir: BBC Singers. Choir: Brent Music Service. Conductor: Owain Park.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Prelude in G major, Op 28 No 3

    Performer: Alexandra Dariescu.
    • Preludes: Chopin & Dutilleux.
    • Champs Hill Records.
    • 3.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Wonderful Town (Overture)

    Music Arranger: Charlie Harmon. Orchestra: São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.
    • Bernstein: Marin Alsop's Complete Naxos Recordings.
    • Naxos.
    • 22.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday09:00
    BBC Radio 3