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Heroes And Villains With Mary Shelley Art And The City Bill Viola Gerald Scarfe The Birth Of Frankenstein The Eye Of The Heart

London From Bard To Verse Gauguin – The Full Story Byron ARTS 9/6/04 1:31 pm Page 3

Contents

2 Introduction from Franny Moyle, Commissioner,Arts & Culture, BBC Television

The Arts on BBC Television 3 BBC One 3 BBC Two 4 BBC Three 4 BBC Four

5 Recent Arts Programmes on BBC Television

8 A selection of BBC Arts Programmes coming up in 2004 and beyond

25 Contact details

26 Programme Index ARTS 9/6/04 1:31 pm Page 4

Introduction

FRANNY MOYLE It’s an exciting time for arts and music on BBC very much under way with BBC partnerships ranging COMMISSIONER, Television. from a major new deal with the Royal Opera House to ARTS & CULTURE an exciting partnership with the Tate galleries. In fact For the past two years we’ve been investing in more our BBC Four/Two series Art And The 60s is the first BBC TELEVISION landmark arts documentaries, ranging from Leonardo example of where the two organisations have worked JUNE 2004 and Michelangelo to The Genius Of Mozart and Wren, and hand in hand on the exhibition and series – with more in opening up arts to as wide an audience as possible to come in the future. THE ARTS ON through series such as Rolf On Art and large-scale event programming like The Big Read. Music and performance Our portfolio of television channels, from BBC One to BBC TELEVISION continue to flourish on all of our television channels; we BBC Four, offers a richer choice of cultural programmes are in the midst of a major season of opera across BBC that will appeal to everyone – from aficionados to Two and Four this summer and we’re extending our those less familiar with some of the arts and to coverage of the Proms by a whole week. younger audiences.The digital channels offer even more space for those really passionate about the arts. Our increased commitment to cultural programming continues this year with the third plank of our arts The following pages offer just a snapshot of some of strategy – to provide dedicated space in peak time to the arts and music programmes that you will see on topical arts journalism. Having talked to our audience BBC Television on 2004 and beyond. and to cultural opinion formers across the UK, we recognised that this is an area for growth. So, we are investing £8 million each year over the next two years in creating a new topical arts journalism unit that will generate programmes from across the portfolio of channels.

The centrepiece of our topical arts journalism will be The Culture Show, a new peak time BBC Two strand that will run for over 20 weeks a year (increasing in its second year). For people who are passionate about the arts and culture, The Culture Show will shine the spotlight on art and culture across the UK, engaging in and critiquing the big debates and events of the moment, using a range of voices and opinions.

The topical arts programmes will also enable us to build further on our relationships with cultural institutions across the UK; something that is already

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The Arts on BBC Television

BBC ONE BBC One’s arts and culture programmes aim to capture passionate about the arts, The Culture Show will dig deep the imagination of the broadest audience possible – into the big cultural issues and events of the day, using including those less familiar with the arts. some of the most passionate and opinionated voices.

This is done in three ways: with landmark documen- BBC Two also continues its commitment to landmark taries such as Leonardo, The Divine Michelangelo and documentaries and series – recent series include Peter Wren that engage viewers with some of the greatest Ackroyd’s London, visual arts series The Private Life Of A figures in the arts; with Imagine, the strand that looks at Masterpiece, and of course, the long-running award- what’s making waves in the world of arts and culture; winning strand, Arena (recent programmes on Dylan and with series such as Rolf On Art that have a very Thomas,Visconti,Alec Guinness, Richard Attenborough wide appeal. and John Lennon’s Imagine).

BBC One also captures large-scale music performances – Looking ahead, BBC Two is devoting a whole season to recent productions include Nutcracker! and Cirque du opera this summer (with BBC Four) with a mixture of Soleil – and of course, the BBC Proms. factual pieces and new performance, including a live production of Faust from The Royal Opera House and Looking ahead in 2004 and 2005, other major BBC One coverage of the first-ever production of an opera from pieces include the final chapter in the Renaissance Glastonbury. trilogy with a look at the life and work of Raphael; Elgar’s Enigma, in which Elgar’s famous Enigma Variations In 2005, BBC Two presents a landmark series on the are put under the spotlight and, in 2005, BBC One history of Venice, presented by writer, architect and art presents a major new series, A Picture Of Britain, historian Francesco da Mosta, and a major series on the considering the influence of the British landscape on Origins Of Art which investigates why people have always art, music and literature.The next two series of Imagine been moved to create art, what art is for and how the include programmes on Edward Hopper, DBC Pierre artist’s role in the world has changed over time. and legendary saxophonist John Coltrane. BBC Two has committed to a minimum of 200 hours of BBC One is committed to broadcasting a minimum of arts and music on the channel. 45 hours of arts and music programmes a year.

BBC TWO BBC Two’s arts and culture programmes look at arts subjects – both familiar and lesser known – in fresh and surprising ways.

2004 is an important year for BBC Two arts.The channel launches a brand new strand dedicated to UK arts and culture: The Culture Show. For those who are

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The Arts on BBC Television

BBC THREEBBC Three tackles arts programmes in distinctive new BBC FOUR BBC Four covers culture in its broadest sense – with ways for young adults. science, current affairs, news, philosophy and history sitting alongside a wide range of arts and performance Highlights of the past year have included a six-part programmes. guide to global contemporary art, Art And The City;a stylish weekly magazine programme exploring the Each week, BBC Four takes a topical approach to arts spaces that people inhabit, Dreamspaces; and in the UK with the Art Reports, as well as regular Shakespeare’s most famous monologues as performed literature programmes such as Before The Booker and by the UK’s hottest acting and comedy talent in From Battle Of The Books. Bard To Verse. Performance – from classical music to jazz and folk – is Turning the spotlight on creative writing, BBC Three particularly important on the channel with at least one recently launched a major new project, End Of Story,in new or archive piece each week. BBC Four covers big which top authors write the first half of a short story festivals such as Cambridge and WOMAD, as well as and members of the public are then given the extensive coverage of the BBC Proms.This year, BBC opportunity to complete the stories – with the eight Four is broadcasting a whole extra week of Proms winners having their entries published. (the final week), which means that TV coverage is greater than ever before. BBC Three supports live events and festivals, as well as acting as an arena for new music and bands and Over the past year BBC Four has broadcast several championing performance. successful arts series and documentaries including the quirky series on contemporary art fronted by Ben Lewis, Art Safari, and documentaries that have tied in with major exhibitions such as Heroes & Villains (tie-in with National Portrait Gallery) and Bill Viola – The Eye Of The Heart (tie-in with the National Gallery).

Looking ahead in 2004, BBC Four is joining forces with BBC Two to present a whole season of opera, including a live double bill broadcast from Glyndebourne; is dedicating a month to Sixties-related programmes including a major new art series, Art And The 60s (tied in with a new Tate Britain exhibition) and will once again be sponsoring the BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.

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Recent Arts Programmes on BBC Television

Just a few of the arts programmes on BBC Television over the past year:

BBC ONE Brilliantly British Nutcracker! Cirque du Soleil Rolf On Art Imagine series One and Two Star Portraits In Search Of The Brontes The Divine Michelangelo Leonardo Wren Mary Shelley – The Birth Of Frankenstein

BBC TWO Arena – Alec Guinness:A Britain’s Best Buildings Secret Man Byron Arena – Dylan Thomas: Dan Cruickshank On The Grave To Cradle Road To Armageddon Arena – Imagine Imagine Designing The Decades Arena – The Life And Die Fledermaus (& BBC Times Of Count Luchino Four) Visconti Essential Poems For Britain Arena – The Many Lives Of Eroica Richard Attenborough

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Recent Arts Programmes on BBC Television

BBC TWO Gauguin – The Full Story Private Life Of A BBC THREE Advent Calendar From Bard To Verse (& BBC Four) Masterpiece (series) Art And The City Whine Gums George Orwell – A Life In Restoration Dreamspaces Pictures St Petersburg Season In Search Of Shakespeare (& BBC Four) London The Big Read Larkin – Love Again The Cunning Little Vixen Madama Butterfly The Genius Of Mozart Newsnight Review (ongo- The Jews & German Music ing) Water Music On The Pepys Thames

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Recent Arts Programmes on BBC Television

BBC FOUR Andrew Davies season Art Safari Battle Of The Books Before The Booker Bill Viola – The Eye Of The Heart (tie-in with the National Gallery) Contemporary Dance Season Early Music Gauguin – The Full Story Heroes And Villains With Gerald Scarfe (tie-in with National Portrait Gallery) Hollywood Composers Kathleen Ferrier Maria Callas – Living And Dying For Art And Love Mediterranean Tales Painting Flowers Painting The People (tie-in with National Portrait Gallery) The Alchemists Of Sound The Blues

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

A PICTURE OF From Constable’s Suffolk and Lowry’s Manchester to ARENA – Luciano Pavarotti, a household name for most of his BRITAIN the Northern landscapes that inspired Ted Hughes and LUCIANO extraordinary career, is the subject of this Arena special. Emily Bronte, the rich and diverse scenery of the British Isles has been casting its spell on artists for centuries. PAVAROTTI: His thrilling voice and unique personality have touched BBC ONE, 2005 Behind many of the nation’s most famous paintings, THE LAST TENOR countless people throughout the world and he has sculptures, compositions and poems lie mysterious worked with the majority of great contemporary stories, feelings and powerful impressions of place that BBC TWO, 2004 musicians, from Placido Domingo to Kiri Te Kanawa, are inextricably linked with the spectacular scenery of from Claudio Abbado to Leonard Bernstein. Britain’s highlands, flatlands and sea shores. Pavarotti’s voice has touched a broad range of people – This major new presenter-led series is a nationwide not merely opera lovers. celebration of how British landscape has inspired our greatest artists, writers and composers over the last Millions have watched his televised concerts and many three hundred years. Combining travelogue, social associate him with football since his performance of history and the arts, the series visits a different British Nessun Dorma for the 1990 World Cup. region each week to explore the nation’s best-loved areas of natural beauty and how they stimulated His was the first ever classical music album to reach extraordinary creativity. number one in the pop charts.

Delving deep into the literature, music and art, both Arena looks at the life and career of one of opera’s past and present, inspired by this Fair Isle, A Picture Of modern icons. Britain features biographical stories of iconic artists from Gainsborough to Stubbs and writers including Dickens, Robbie Burns and Thomas Hardy. It unearths unknown facts behind many artworks and includes discussion of artistic techniques.The series explores the British Romantic spirit and how our island confronted the tidal wave of modern art. Each programme features surprising voices including contemporary artists, leading experts and local folk inspired today by the natural elements around them.

By dynamically connecting and exploring the Britain of yesteryear and that of today, A Picture Of Britain makes a powerful statement about Britishness, the British love- affair with landscape and the provocative power of the environment.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

ARENA – The fractured Europe after the Second World War is ARENA – Many of Britain’s finest comedians, including Stephen Fry, SHADOWING THE perfectly captured in The Third Man, Carol Reed’s REMEMBER THE the Monty Python cast, Rowan Atkinson, Lenny Henry, thriller set in Vienna,with a screenplay by Graham Alexei Sayle and Alan Bennett are reunited for an Arena THIRD MAN Greene and an unforgettable performance by Orson SECRET celebrating the 25th anniversary of the legendary Secret Welles as the mysterious Harry Lime. POLICEMAN’S BBC FOUR, 2004 BALL? Policeman’s Ball in aid of Amnesty International. Although the story is a work of fiction, for many the film is the best documentary ever made about post-war Arena takes a riotous look back at the institution that Europe. BBC FOUR, 2004 over the years has been both anarchic and pricked the global conscience. Featuring a stunning cast of comedians Almost all of its components are true: there really was and produced by original show director Roger Graef, a penicillin racket which killed many Austrian children Remember The Secret Policeman’s Ball? is a compendium of and the Soviets did allow kidnappings of Eastern bloc refugees. recent British comedy and a record of how humour, and society, have changed in the last 25 years. Shadowing The Third Man, an Arena special, revisits the original locations and talks to cast and crew to unravel ARENA – Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus is a captivating and the amazing web of fact and fiction that makes this SEARCHING FOR compelling road trip through the creative spirit of cinematic masterpiece so compelling. THE WRONG-EYED Southern America. JESUS Alt country singer Jim White – whose record The BBC FOUR, 2004 Mysterious Tale Of How I Shouted Wrong-Eyed Jesus inspired the film – takes his white-trash muscle car through a gritty terrain of churches, prisons, truck stops, biker bars and coalmines.

This is a journey through a very real contemporary Southern America, a world of marginalised white people and their unique and intense homemade culture.Along the way are roadside encounters with present-day musical mavericks including the Handsome Family, Johnny Dowd, 16 Horsepower and David Johansen; old-time banjo player Lee Sexton; rockabilly and mountain Gospel churches – and novelist Harry Crews telling grisly stories down a dirt track.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

Everybody has a story in some form, almost invariably engaged in the most sophisticated anti-radar research. of sudden death, sin or redemption – yet all Arena tells the story of this extraordinary and transformed by the characteristic grim humour and nat- fascinating woman. ural eloquence of the Southern imagination.And all the ASHTON Cinderella, transmitted at Christmas 2003, was the first while, a strange Southern Jesus looms in the of three performances from The Royal Ballet celebrat- background. CENTENARY ing one of the greatest choreographers of the 20th ARENA – THE Hedy Lamarr is often cited as the most beautiful star BBC FOUR, 2004 century, Frederick Ashton. HEDY LAMARR ever in the Hollywood firmament. But her little-known This autumn, BBC Four broadcasts a triple bill of STORY personal story makes her no average screen goddess. shorter ballets and divertissements, featuring one of Ashton’s acknowledged masterpieces, Scènes de ballet. BBC TWO, 2004 She rose to fame after her notorious Thirties role in Ecstasy, swimming naked in a lake in her native Austria. He described his one-act Scènes de ballet as “just an exercise in pure dancing”, but as set to Stravinsky’s score of the same title, it is a complex and lively hom- age to 19th-century classicism.

Her beauty was such that Walt Disney later used her as the model for Snow White.

Choreographed to the geometric studies of Euclid, Yet few people are aware that this captivating screen Ashton intended that this ballet could be viewed from idol was also a world-class physicist who spent the war any angle and still “work”. He himself regarded it as the

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

work he was most proud of.The final work, Daphnis And Kasmin and wildly promiscuous socialite,“Groovy Bob” Chloë, draws on the rich orchestral and vocal colours of Fraser – conjures up the Sixties of folklore. Ravel’s great score to evoke the classical myth of the lovers of its title, and here is seen in a return to the Another film tells the story of St Martin’s School of Art, original designs by John Craxton. where the seeds of today’s contemporary art were sown. The other ballets in this programme are: Awakening pas de deux (from The Sleeping Beauty); Voices Of Spring (a It traces art’s progression, in just ten years, from Henry pas de deux); Isadora Dances (a suite of dances for solo Moore’s bronzes, via Anthony Caro, to Gilbert and woman); Thais (a pas de deux); and Devil’s Holiday George serving up baked beans in ice-cream cones. (revival of a rarely performed piece – pas de deux and male solo). A third film considers artists working outside the com- ART AND THE 60S London’s art scene in the Sixties wasn’t just swinging – mercial art world whose stance reflected the counter- it was exploding. cultural politics of the time. BBC FOUR, 2004 A tidal wave of ideas, experimentation and social From the makers of BBC Four’s BritArt, and accompa- revolution brought the era of pop art; a landmark nied by a major exhibition at Tate Britain, this is the moment in the development of abstract art; and the captivating and often eccentric story of one of art’s early days of conceptual and performance art. most definitive decades, told by the artists, dealers and collectors themselves. The radical, flower-power Sixties spirit, which gave birth to peace activism and civil rights, also brought such highly influential artists as David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Anthony Caro, Patrick Caulfield and others to the fore, changing the artistic landscape forever.

With archive footage and a rare cast of interviewees, many of whom haven’t spoken on camera for decades – if ever – BBC Four tells the extraordinary story of London’s art world in the Sixties.

Each of the films highlights a different aspect of this era. The tale of two influential dealers – businessman

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

BBC FOUR Michael Wood, writer and presenter of many acclaimed BBC PROMS Television and radio audiences are given more opportu- SAMUEL history series, including BBC Two’s recent In Search Of nity than ever to experience the BBC Proms in 2004 JOHNSON PRIZE Shakespeare, takes the chair for the judging panel of this BBC ONE, BBC with more Proms being broadcast on television than 2004 year’s BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize. Now in its third TWO, BBC FOUR ever before.Thirty concerts, almost half of the year of BBC Four sponsorship, the Prize rewards the AND BBC RADIO, eight-week Proms season, are broadcast across BBC best of the UK’s current non-fiction writing, from One, BBC Two and BBC Four, making 2004 a record 2004 biography, travel and popular science to the arts and year for TV transmissions. BBC Radio 3 continues to current affairs. broadcast and web-stream every Prom live via the BBC Proms website. Wood says:“Over the last few years, the wonderful range and quality of works in non-fiction has proved This year BBC Four presents an extra week of Proms that truth is not only stranger than fiction, but often (bringing the total to 20 live concerts) and in the final more exciting and moving, too.” The other judges this week of the season leading up to the Last Night year are:Aminatta Forna, author, broadcaster and Charles Hazlewood and Tommy Pearson bring a mix of journalist; Martha Kearney, political editor of Newsnight; guests, competitions and, of course, great music to Simon Singh, science writer and broadcaster; and audiences at home. Highlights of the final week include Francis Wheen, author, journalist and broadcaster. concerts by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras and the celebrated Les Art Florissant, conducted by William Christie. bbc.co.uk will carry comprehensive programme notes.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

BRITTEN’S No composer has ever written so much music for and DIE WALKURE, English National Opera (ENO) makes history this CHILDREN about children as Benjamin Britten – a fascinating ACT 3 summer with the first opera performance at the subject explored in this psychological portrait. Glastonbury Festival. BBC TWO, 2004 BBC TWO Benjamin Britten wrote two operas specifically for ENO join headlining acts Sir Paul McCartney, Oasis and children to perform and there are plenty of concert Muse on the main Pyramid stage, performing to a huge works for children to sing. crowd. LIVE DEFERRED, Many of his operas deal with the loss of innocence in Paul Daniel, ENO’s Music Director, conducts the full the young and their corruption by adults.And he often 27 JUNE 2004 Orchestra of ENO and principal singers in a concert seems to regress to his own childhood, an idyllic period performance of Act 3 of Wagner’s The Valkyrie. when he, as the youngest of the family, was the golden boy and apple of his mother’s eye. Act 3 includes the Ride Of The Valkyries which few festival goers will fail to recognise as the theme music The film, directed by John Bridcut, explores Britten – to the film Apocalypse Now. the man and the music – through the prism of his work with young people.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

DON GIOVANNI Peter Brook’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at ELGAR’S ENIGMA Elgar’s Enigma Variations is one of the most famous Aix-en-Provence, considered to be one of the most pieces of English music.After he composed the work, BBC TWO, 2004 exciting operatic events of recent years, is broadcast as BBC ONE, 2004 Elgar was catapulted to fame virtually overnight, and he part of a whole summer of classical music and opera created a revival in the interest of British music almost across the BBC. single-handedly.

The international cast is led by Peter Mattei as the The programme is presented by Sir Andrew Davis, who feckless Don Giovanni, who loves women as much as also conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a selec- wine and can give up neither – leaving a trail of tion of the variations in the glorious setting of heartache and misery for those who succumb to his Worcester Cathedral. charms.

Peter Brook’s production brings out the energy, grace, humour, tenderness and seriousness of the opera.

Daniel Harding conducts the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with Gilles Cachemaille as Leporello and British singer Mark Padmore as Don Ottavio.

A renowned interpreter of Elgar’s music, Sir Andrew and BBCSO illuminate some of the accessible musical details such as the barking dog and the “charming stut- ter”. Music, photographs, archive footage, contemporary reconstructions and Malvern scenery are combined to create a living impression of Elgar’s world.

Elgar’s music is as relevant today as it was to Edwardian England, as are the characteristics of the friends he wrote about.This film brings them to life in a contemporary setting – a modern day tribute to them as well as to the man who gave them immortality.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

Elgar’s Enigma is followed immediately on BBC Four by from London’s Royal Opera House and boasts a stellar a full performance of the Enigma Variations, played by Sir cast. Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. World-renowned tenor Roberto Alagna plays the ambitious Faust, who barters his soul with the Devil in END OF STORY A thrilling new chapter in short-story writing – with exchange for sensual pleasures, while top soprano some of the top names in popular fiction – is set to take Angela Gheorghiu embodies these desires as his BBC THREE, 2004 the genre to a 21st-century level on television and doomed love, Marguerite. interactive media. Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel makes his role debut as A major new project from BBC Three, End Of Story, the manipulating Mephistopheles. presented by Claudia Winkleman, has lined up eight top authors – Ian Rankin, Joanne Harris, Marian Keyes, Ed Gounod’s Faust is one of at least 16 operas based on McBain, Fay Weldon,Alexei Sayle, Sue Townsend and the Faust legend. Having been performed more than Shaun Hutson – to write the first half of a short story. 2,000 times in Paris alone by 1934, this is one of the Then, members of the public are being given the most successful operas ever written. opportunity to complete the stories and eight winners will have their entries published.

Full details of the project are on the website, bbc.co.uk/endofstory. Free, limited-edition books, featuring all eight half-stories, will be circulated throughout the UK via bookstores, libraries and other public places. BBC Talent is running writing workshops throughout the country to tie in with the competition.

FAUST In a summer filled with classical music and opera across the BBC, BBC Two presents a live performance of BBC TWO, 2004 Gounod’s opera Faust, with its popular tale of magic, menace, sex and religion.

David McVicar’s brand-new production is broadcast live

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

FRANK HURLEY – The 60-year career of photographer Frank Hurley left GLYNDEBOURNE An exciting double bill broadcast from the beautiful THE MAN WHO behind an amazing legacy, most famously his breathtaking grounds of Glyndebourne offers two strikingly different MADE HISTORY images of Ernest Shackleton’s doomed, but legendary, BBC TWO, BBC short operas: Puccini’s popular comedy Gianni Schicci, Antarctic expedition made from 1914 to 1917. In recent FOUR, 2004 (LIVE and a rarity – Rachmaninov’s The Miserly Knight. BBC FOUR, 2004 years, Hurley’s work has been setting record prices at ON BBC FOUR ON auctions. Puccini’s only comedy features loveable rascal Gianni 11 JULY 2004) Schicci who can remedy any situation, down to This illuminating documentary marks the rediscovery of impersonating a notary and dictating a new will. one of the world’s great 20th-century photographers. His daughter’s future in-laws have been cut out of the Born in Sydney in 1885, Hurley ran away from home at will of a relative, Buoso Donati, who has just died. In the age of 13 and embarked on an extraordinary life order to save their inheritance, the family don’t filled with adventure and achievement. announce Buoso’s death publicly and Schicci disguises himself as the dead man, summons a lawyer and dic- The programme explores Hurley’s incredible and com- tates a new will, which amply provides for the family – plex character and his all-consuming dedication to his and for himself. craft: he once kissed his wife goodbye before heading off to work and didn’t come home for six years. Rachmaninov’s all-male cast opera, based on a Pushkin poem, is an altogether darker affair, featuring duels, denouncements and death.

The story focuses on Albert, a young medieval knight, and his father, a miserly baron who refuses to help him settle his debts and start a new life. Loving his money more than life itself, the baron dies under the strain of his wayward son asking for help, calling not for the knight, but for the keys to his beloved chests of gold.

Both operas are directed by Annabelle Arden.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

GRACIE FIELDS A quarter of a century after her death, this Under Robert’s tuition, his students rise from the ranks documentary looks at the legacy of Gracie Fields, of those with seemingly ordinary vocal ability to being BBC FOUR, 2004 arguably the greatest female performer Britain has ever able to attain full operatic sound by fully utilising their produced. voice.

During her lifetime the singer and comedienne became Christine Rice,Alice Coote and Paul Whelan, a national institution: in a career which spanned seven recognised as some of today’s brightest young opera decades, she was one of the few stars of the music hall talent, trained with Robert. era who made an enormously successful transition into variety, film, radio and finally television. Four of his protégés were real-life Billy Elliots, beginning as students at a rough comprehensive school in Leigh, Gracie Fields shows the history of the British Lancashire. entertainment industry in the 20th century through the comic genius, remarkable singing voice and unique Footage shows the transformation achieved under persona of one of its greatest stars. Robert’s tuition – all four students have gone on to sing principal roles in major opera houses.

I WANT TO BE Robert Alderson is a singing teacher whose ability to PAVAROTTI identify a singing voice with potential has made him both successful and controversial. BBC FOUR, 2004 He can spot new talent merely by hearing a child shout in a playground.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

With this success already achieved, the programme’s MERLIN This spectacular world premiere of Isaac Albéniz’s lost primary focus is on two of Robert’s newest students as opera, Merlin, takes place in Madrid’s state-of-the-art their voice, dress and attitudes are dramatically BBC FOUR, 2004 opera house, the Teatro Real. transformed. Stars include David Wilson-Johnson as Merlin, Stuart Imagine presents another feast for the senses with a IMAGINE Skelton as Arthur and Eva Marton as Morgan Le Fay. brand-new run of documentaries capturing what’s hot The conductor is José De Eusebio. BBC ONE, in the worlds of arts and culture. SUMMER SERIES Written 101 years ago, Merlin was intended as the first Last season, Imagine presented topics as diverse as 2004 part of a trilogy of Arthurian legends.Albéniz, who had quirky photographer Martin Parr, animation, the making (THERE WILL ALSO BE AN teamed up with the appropriately named banker and of the Oxford English Dictionary, and Welsh baritone AUTUMN SERIES) amateur poet Francis Burdett Money-Coutts – who had Bryn Terfel. offered Albéniz a pension for life if the composer agreed to use him as a librettist – died while working Highlights this summer include a look at Edward on the second instalment, and so the opera was never Hopper, the pre-eminent painter of modern America completed. and the subject of a major new Tate exhibition; and a biography of legendary saxophonist John Coltrane – Consequently this magical production is the world stage music to the ears for jazz fans. première of the long-awaited Merlin.

From architecture through to painting, literature and music, Imagine, presented by Alan Yentob, has something to inspire everyone.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

ONEGIN The most successful of Tchaikovsky’s ten operas, Onegin RAPHAEL In an age of great painters, the art of Raphael Santi was is a romantic tragedy of desperate lost love. dizzying in its diversity and brilliance. But, had Raphael BBC FOUR, 2004 BBC ONE, been born today, his hedonistic lifestyle, as much as his Eugene Onegin realises too late – after she has married 2004 art, would be making headlines. One of the youngest another man – that he has rejected the woman he and most successful artists at the court of Pope Julius loves,Tayana. II, his alleged appetite for fine wine and women is renowned. Based on Pushkin’s classic poem, the opera is full of passion, power, drama and excitement, with a soaring For the final chapter in BBC One’s Renaissance trilogy, emotional score.While writing it,Tchaikovsky was the life and work of this controversial artist is explored pursued by one of his students who claimed to be through contributions from leading experts, and desperately in love with him. Under the influence of his dramatic reconstruction featuring Joe McFadden as own opera, and not wanting to make the hero’s Raphael. Raphael reveals how this relative youngster mistake,Tchaikovsky married the girl. Unfortunately, this challenged the pre-eminence of his artistic rivals impulsive act led to a miserable marriage that ended in Michelangelo and Leonardo, until his life was tragically divorce. cut short.

The cast includes Vladimir Moroz,Amanda Roocroft, Marius Brenciu,Anna Kiknadze and Robert Tear.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

THE CULTURE As the centrepiece to a major new commitment by the THE ELGIN In the year in which the Olympic Games return to SHOW BBC to topical arts journalism, BBC Two unveils a MARBLES Greece, art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the brand-new programme dedicated to UK arts and fascinating story behind the greatest artistic controversy BBC TWO, 2004 culture. BBC TWO, 2004 of the last 200 years – the Elgin Marbles.

Sophisticated, intelligent and surprising, The Culture Show This is the tale of Lord Elgin’s mission to remove one of delves deep into the big cultural issues and events of the world’s greatest treasures from its homeland; of the the day, using a mix of investigative journalism and curse the marbles brought him; and of the scandal that review. his actions caused.

Celebrating and critiquing the range and diversity of Filmed on location in Greece, Scotland and London, this arts in the regions as well as the metropolis, The Culture 90-minute documentary uses drama reconstruction, Show uses some of the most passionate, vociferous and computer-generated images and expert debate to tell opinionated voices to reach the heart of UK cultural an extraordinary tale which stretches from the 5th life. century BC to the present day.

It explores why and how the marbles were removed in the early 19th century, whether Lord Elgin’s actions were legal and the ensuing controversy which continues unabated today.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

THE LITTLE The nation’s best young voices perform in this citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of PRINCE spectacular film production of the opera The Little Prince Ireland, the Man Booker Prize is widely recognised as for BBC Two. the publishing event of the year. BBC TWO, 2004 Picked from BBC Talent auditions across the UK earlier THE NEW SHOCK More than 20 years after leading art historian Robert in the year, the cast of children received professional OF THE NEW Hughes made the iconic eight-part arts series The Shock training over the summer before making their television Of The New for the BBC, he returns to chart the debut alongside soprano Lesley Garrett. BBC TWO, 2004 changes which have since assailed the world of modern art. Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman has adapted the classic French children’s novel. Francesca Zambello, In the aftermath of Hughes’s series in the early Eighties one of the world’s foremost directors of opera and the contemporary art market exploded in an orgy of musical theatre, directs. hype, fame, controversy and big money. Now Robert Hughes assesses the fall-out. THE MAN BOOKER Last year DBC Pierre scooped the big prize at the Man Booker Prize for Fiction with his dark comic novel PRIZE The New Shock Of The New also looks at Hughes’s own Vernon God Little.This year the battle for the top spot is attitudes to art, providing a reflective journey about sure to be equally as gripping. BBC Two and BBC Four BBC TWO, what art can offer the world, through one person’s follow the action with live coverage and discussion of BBC FOUR, 2004 eyes. the 2004 Man Booker Prize from the Lawrence Hall in London’s Royal Horticultural Halls. To tie in with The New Shock Of The New, BBC Four will show the original series, The Shock Of The New. This year’s judges are chaired by the Rt Hon Chris Smith MP and consist of novelist Tibor Fischer; writer and academic Robert Macfarlane; journalist and editor of The Erotic Review, Rowan Pelling; and literary editor of The Economist, Fiammetta Rocco.

The Man Booker Prize represents the very best in contemporary fiction. Often controversial and always enthralling, the prize continues to be one of the most fiercely debated events in the literary calendar.Aiming to reward the best novel of the year written by a

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

THE ORIGINS OF A major landmark series for BBC Two, The Origins Of Art purely aesthetic that art has served in different ART takes viewers on an extraordinary journey across five societies, and shows how that has determined the continents and 400,000 years, encompassing everything course of creativity right up to the present day. BBC TWO, 2005 from cave paintings to ceramics, pyramids to pottery, icons to artefacts in a search for the very beginnings of Incorporating the science and psychology of art human creativity. appreciation, the series also discovers whether the brain can instinctively determine what art is – what feels right and wrong, good and bad. It also finds out how culturally determined artistic tastes are: why different cultures can enjoy each other’s art; if there are some cultures whose creativity is particularly hard for others to comprehend; and why some works achieve the universal status of masterpiece.

Individual programmes look at prehistoric art in Africa, Australia and Europe; art in ancient Egypt; art in ancient Greece; art in ancient Rome; art in the East (Asia and China); and the beginning of the “modern” era of art, starting with the Maya in the New World and finishing with the Norman invasion of England.

THE WORLD IN The World In Art challenges our conventional view of the ART arts by putting them in a genuinely global context.

BBC FOUR, 2004 Each programme takes a single year in history and tells six parallel stories about the art which was being made simultaneously around the world.

The Origins Of Art investigates why people have always In 1517, for example, as Martin Luther sparked the been moved to create art, what art is for, and how the Reformation, Leonardo da Vinci was enjoying his old age artist’s role in the world has changed over time. It in France and Castiglione was writing The Book Of The discovers the many different purposes beyond the Courtier.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

Around the globe, the Incas were constructing the royal TURN OF THE Britten’s opera Turn Of The Screw, directed by Katie citadel of Machu Picchu, the Edo people of West Africa SCREW Mitchell, has been filmed specially for BBC Television were casting exquisite bronzes, and Japanese painter and shot on location in an 18th-century house. Soami was creating the famous Daisen-in BBC TWO, 2004 gardens in Kyoto. Based on the story by Henry James, Britten’s opera tells of a governess who takes charge of two children, Miles The World In Art is a unique combination of the arts, and Flora, at a distant country house.When the gov- history and travel. erness begins to hear and see strange things, these ghostly suspicions are confirmed by the housekeeper as being the dead former governess and her valet lover. As the ghosts begin to have an increasing effect on the young children, the governess realises she must either leave or confront the spirits. Finally confronting Miles, she is able to exorcise the supernatural visitors, but not without tragic consequences.

British singer Mark Padmore plays Peter Quint, Lisa Milne plays the Governess, Catrin Wyn Davies plays Miss Jessell and Louise Winter plays Mrs Grose.

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Forthcoming BBC Arts Programmes

VENICE Venice rose miraculously out of the mud and slime of Ducking underneath Venice’s bridges and partying at the an inhospitable lagoon to become the world capital of Carnival, Francesco gives a flavour of Venice today BBC TWO, 2005 romance, beauty, art and decadence.Where today alongside the city of centuries ago recreated through visitors see the dazzling Doge’s Palace, St Mark’s and CGI and dramatic reconstruction. For him,Venice is a countless stunning buildings and bridges, there was masterpiece, but this work of art has an uncertain once utterly barren, unstable watery ground inhabited future as even today the waters of the lagoon threaten by a frightened people fleeing barbarians and fighting off to claim back Venice forever. malaria.

BBC Two takes viewers on a journey through Venice’s history and the secrets and mysteries of its canals, palaces and homes.This new series explores Venice’s early days in the 5th century as one of the world’s earliest and richest republics and its transformation into a bejewelled wonder of the medieval world, to the city’s years spent contending with prostitution, fire, floods, plague and Napoleon’s armies.

Not simply a treasure trove of awe-inspiring art, architecture and luxury goods,Venice is a work of art in itself. It is a symbol of man at his most adventurous and creative, a place where everyday fishermen and firemen have always worked alongside artistic greats such as Titian, Palladio,Vivaldi and Canaletto to help their city triumph.

This is Venice’s inside story presented by Venetian aristocrat, writer, architect and historian Francesco da Mosto. His family have lived in Venice for over a thousand years and feature in almost every guidebook to the city.

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Programme Index

8 A Picture Of Britain 16 Glyndebourne

8 Arena – Luciano Pavarotti:The Last Tenor 17 Gracie Fields

9 Arena – Shadowing The Third Man 17 I Want To Be Pavarotti

9 Arena – Remember The Secret 18 Imagine Policeman’s Ball? 18 Merlin 9 Arena – Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus 19 Onegin 10 Arena – The Hedy Lamarr Story 19 Raphael 10 Ashton Centenary 20 The Culture Show 11 Art And The 60s 20 The Elgin Marbles 12 BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize 2004 21 The Little Prince 12 BBC Proms 21 The Man Booker Prize 13 Britten’s Children 21 The New Shock Of The New 13 Die Walkure,Act 3 22 The Origins Of Art 14 Don Giovanni 22/3 The World In Art 14 Elgar’s Enigma 23 Turn Of The Screw 15 End Of Story 24 Venice 15 Faust

16 Frank Hurley – The Man Who Made History

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Leonardo Britain’s Best Buildings The Blues Larkin

Arena – Imagine Imagine Art Safari Designing The Decades Whine Gums ARTS 9/6/04 1:32 pm Page 32

Arts and Culture on BBC Television