Seamus Heaney died in 2013. Had he lived tomorrow would have been his 80th birthday. Heaney was a rare writer - a poet both beloved and respected. He was an eloquent advocate for the place and craft of poetry. Who would have thought Beowulf could be a modern day bestseller? Seamus Heaney's translation was. He made a profound social impact, too, and at the time of the Good Friday Agreement President Clinton memorably quoted
his lines from 'The Cure at Troy' '...once in a lifetime/ The longed-for tidal wave/ Of justice can rise up,/ And hope and history rhyme.' Front Row this evening is devoted to Heaney's work, life and continuing inspiration. Kirsty Lang talks to Leontia Flynn, one of the leading younger writers of the North of Ireland; to his friend the poet Bernard O'Donoghue, who is working on a new edition of Heaney's Collected Poems with Rosie Lavan - from whom we hear, too. The composer Mohammed Fairouz explains how he set some of the poems in his piece for choir and viola, 'In a New Light', which will have its European premier performance tomorrow in Bellaghy, where Heaney was born, and is buried.And, from the BBC's archive, there is the wonderful voice of the poet himself, introducing and reading his work.Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Julian May
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Folge vom 12.04.2019The Work, Life and Legacy of Poet Seamus Heaney
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Folge vom 11.04.2019Jenny Saville, Laura van der Heijden, The art of the deadlineBritish painter Jenny Saville, the most expensive living female artist in the world, discusses her new self-portrait, painted in response to Rembrandt's masterpiece Self-Portrait with Two Circles. Cellist Laura van der Heijden, who won the BBC Young Musician competition when she was 15, plays live and discusses her debut album of Russian music called 1948, which last night won the BBC Music Magazine's Newcomer of the Year Award. Plus the art of working to a deadline, with authors Robert McCrum and Sophie Heawood and Teresa Amabile from Harvard Business School.Presenter Stig Abell Producer Jack Soper
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Folge vom 10.04.2019Composer Gavin Bryars, Isabella Hammad, Opera singers sing popThe contemporary classical composer Gavin Bryars talks about the latest incarnation of his acclaimed 1971 work, Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet – a 12-hour overnight rendition at Tate Modern in London. The piece is based on a fragment of tape of a homeless man singing, and this performance combines the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bryars’s own ensemble, the Southbank Sinfonia, and the participation of several homeless people.Gavin Bryars also contributes his thoughts to the question: can opera singers sing pop and vice versa? What are the main differences between a trained bel canto voice and what some would call the more natural approach taken by folk, jazz or rock singers? Music critic Anna Picard and Christopher Purves, opera singer and former member of jazz vocal group Harvey and the Wallbangers, discuss.Hailed by Zadie Smith as 'uncommonly poised and truly beautiful', the debut novelist Isabella Hammad discusses her 500-page epic The Parisian, set around the Palestinian struggle for independence in the early twentieth century. Presenter Janina Ramirez Producer Jerome Weatherald
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Folge vom 09.04.2019Useful Art, Embodying Ruskin, National Theatre for Northern Ireland? Unicorn StoreAlistair Hudson, Director of the Whitworth in Manchester and Charles Esche, Director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven have been awarded a Transformative Grant to rethink their respective art institutions. They join Front Row to discuss how the concept of useful art has the power to remake museums and galleries fit for the 21st century. England has one, Scotland has one, Wales has two, but Northern Ireland has none – we’re talking National Theatres. Nóirín McKinney, Director of Arts Development at Arts Council of Northern Ireland, reflects on the desire for a National Theatre of Northern Ireland, and why it has yet to be fulfilled.The bicentenary of the birth of celebrated art critic John Ruskin is being marked by events and exhibitions across the country, but one art historian has gone further than most in bringing Ruskin’s work to life for a modern audience. Dr Paul O’Keefe has been performing Ruskin’s lectures in character for two decades. He explains why a bad wig turned out to be the perfect prop for his transformation and what he’s learnt from portraying Ruskin as he gives his lectures.After winning the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Room, and before starring in the recent superhero adventure Captain Marvel, Brie Larson decided to make her directorial debut with the film Unicorn Store about a failed arts student who while struggling to make her way in the corporate world receives a curious invitation to a Unicorn store. Annabel Grundy, Major Programmes Manager at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham reviews.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Ekene Akalawu