We are excited about a new and important podcast initiative recently launched by the charity SOUND WORLD, including an interview with house composer Sadie Harrison. The podcast asks: "is our musical culture facing an existential threat? With ever smaller numbers of young people learning instruments, the gradual erasing of music from state education and years of declining funding, things may be worse than you think. Sound World investigates the state of music today and looks at what we can do to safeguard it for future generations".
In the first episode, the podcast looks at the value of music both to individuals and to society and asks why those in power don't always recognise this value. In the second, guests talk about how they discovered music and what enabled them to develop their interest into a life-long passion; it also asks whether they would have had such opportunities had they been growing up today.
The series is written and presented by Julian Leeks with series guests Sally Beamish, Daisy Fancourt, Peter Flach, Jess Gillam, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Sadie Harrison, Iain McGilchrist, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, Nico Muhly, John Pickard, and Jörg Widmann.