Talking Classical Podcast Annabelle Lee

Ed Lyon is an internationally recognised tenor who enjoys a career in a wide range of repertoire from the Baroque to contemporary music, and performs in many of the major opera houses and concert platforms around the world. He is also a therapist, who specialises in helping people in the classical music industry deal with its unique challenges. 

Last month, I played in a concert of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion where Ed was singing the role of the Evangelist. The concert also featured the St. Albans Bach Choir and Sinfonia Verdi Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Lucas. A few weeks after the concert, I met Ed in London to talk more about the day, as well as his work and approaches as a singer and therapist. 

Among the topics we discuss include: what can be the impact of therapeutic techniques for classical musicians; identity as a classical musician; performance anxiety; the importance of creating a safe environment in rehearsals and performance; cultivating your mindset as a performer; and Ed’s approach to the role of the Evangelist.

I was moved by how openly Ed spoke about his own experiences. It was also really insightful to understand classical music performance within psychological and therapeutic frameworks.

Thank you so much Ed for taking the time to speak, and also to Ed Maitland Smith at the Barbican Centre for kindly hosting and providing us with a room. Check out their season for the rest of this year and next!

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https://edlyon.info

https://www.edlyon-therapy.co.uk

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Emily Pailthorpe is an internationally renowned oboist who also practises as a psychotherapist, seeing clients for the NHS and at The Door clinic in Chiswick, as well as online in private practice. I spoke to Emily in June when we talked about her versatile work in oboe playing and psychotherapy, and how both areas relate to each other. This led us to talk about a range of topics such as the healing power of music, mental health and wellbeing, breathwork, and two pieces that Emily has recorded for her YouTube channel: Britten's Six Metamorphoses after Ovid and an instrumental reinterpretation of Vaughan Williams's great art song, Silent Noon. These two works speak to the psyche and the great emotive sway music has on both player and listener. www.emilypailthorpe.comwww.emilypailthorpetherapy.comwww.conchord.co.uk

Trailer for Six Metamorphoses after Ovid film. The full film will be premiered on Emily's YouTube channel on 10 January 2024, followed by a Q&A. Subscribe to Emily's YouTube channel for the release: https://www.youtube.com/@EmilyPailthorpe.

Emily performs Silent Noon (for oboe and piano) by Vaughan Williams, accompanied by Julian Milford. Enjoy a sample of this performance towards the beginning and end of the podcast!

Emily talks about Silent Noon.

Interview with Emily recorded 26 June 2023 at Richmond Library Annexe, London. Updated and published 24 November 2023.

Thank you to Alitu for the amazing audio editing software to help with the podcast; it's so simple and easy to use for anyone looking to make a podcast and wanting to make editing stress free! https://alitu.com.


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Hattie Butterworth and Rebecca Toal are professionally trained classical musicians, Initially training as a cellist, Hattie is currently the editor of the Opera Now magazine and Rebecca is a freelance trumpeter who is training to be a counsellor. They also host a successful podcast called Things Musicians Don't Talk About, which is aimed at destigmatizing difficult conversations about aspects of being a classical musician and working in the music industry. I met Hattie and Rebecca to talk about their podcast, as well as their experiences of training at music college, developing transferable skills and other work assets alongside one's work as a classical musician and the future of the classical music industry.

Interview with Hattie and Rebecca recorded 20 April at the Royal Opera House and remotely 26 May 2023. Published 4 June 2023. Main editing from Your Podcast Editor. Intro and outro music by Helena and Annabelle Lee.


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Brandon Lawrence is a Principal Dancer of the Birmingham Royal Ballet company but will be leaving at the end of the 22/23 season to join Ballett Zürich, the ballet company of Opernhaus Zürich. In this wide-ranging discussion, Brandon and I discuss his love of classical music, specific aspects surrounding the relationship between music and dance, working with orchestras and conductors, favourite ballet scores, and dancing narrative and non-narrative ballets, among other things.



Brandon's real passion and extensive knowledge not only of the ballet canon but the classical music repertoire comes through immensely, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot from this discussion. I had a wonderful time visiting the Birmingham Royal Ballet headquarters and thank you to Brandon and the staff for making me feel so welcome!



Interview with Brandon recorded 13 April 2023; podcast published 21 April 2023.

Brandon's bio - https://www.brandonlawrence.co.uk/brandonlawrence.

Interview with conductor Jonathan Lo on Brandon's Open Barre podcast - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5gvujQG4LkE8JkWyyawKzF?si=NLcdJCJNQCy7X_b251Q5IQ.

Main editing by Your Podcast Editor. Intro and outro music by Helena and Annabelle Lee.


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Anthony Roth Costanzo is one of the world's most in demand countertenors who has recently completed a run of Philip Glass' opera Akhnaten at English National Opera, performing the title role of the legendary Egyptian king. In this short interview (Anthony was very kindly taking some time out from his off day to speak to me), we talked about some of the challenges of performing the very demanding role of Akhnaten, working directly with Philip Glass, the development of the countertenor voice, presenting classical music to new audiences, and bringing joy to audiences on stage.



Anthony's bio: https://anthonyrothcostanzo.com/About.

The i's review of Akhnaten: https://inews.co.uk/culture/akhnaten-london-coliseum-review-astonishing-staging-philip-glass-proves-why-we-need-the-eno-2216322.

Anthony's Humans of Classical Music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXab0t6dnSE.

Anthony's performance of Gershwin's classic "I Got Rhythm": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAnyv4LV8ko.



Interview with Anthony recorded 20 March 2023; podcast published 8 April 2023. Main editing by German at Your Podcast Editor.
Intro and outro music by Helena and Annabelle Lee.



Anchor is now part of Spotify for Podcasters.


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I'm delighted to be welcoming on this podcast Guy Johnston. Guy is one of Britain's leading cellists who was the winner of the BBC's Young Musician of the Year back in 2000 which set him on a glittering international career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and teacher.
This podcast was recorded after Guy had given two performances of Elgar's Cello Concerto at very short notice with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, having come for a short trip from the States to England. And we managed to cover a number of different topics over the short time we had including: performing last-minute concerts, being a musical parent, growing up in a musical household, training in the States, Guy's new YouTube series Creative Cello Chats, playing on a Stradivarius and interpreting Bach, which Guy has been a real exponent of.

Interview recorded 27 January 2023; podcast published 18 February 2023. Edited Joe Eftihiou at Clarion; additional edits Annabelle Lee. Intro and outro music by Helena and Annabelle Lee.


Guy's bio: https://guy-johnston.com/biography

Creative Cello Chats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ziGbwPHIR4 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8KqYRfsnIA

Live stream of Guy's performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth (available till 24 February): https://bsolive.com/book-online/106202


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