Radio 3 autumn season marks BBC centenary

Florence Lockheart
Tuesday, October 4, 2022

The radio station also begins its partnership with the University of Birmingham’s Barber Concerts series this season

Mithras Trio (image courtesy of University of Birmingham)
Mithras Trio (image courtesy of University of Birmingham)

BBC Radio 3 has revealed its schedule for Autumn 2022, which will include live music, performances from concerts and festivals across the UK and a series of programmes marking 100 years of BBC radio broadcasts.

Radio 3 also begins its partnership with the University of Birmingham’s Barber Concerts series this season, starting with the Mithras Trio (pictured above) on 21 October. The series will feature stars including pianist Iyad Sughayer and guitarist Sean Shibe alongside University ensembles in a range of events including Lunchtime Concerts.

In the autumn season, Radio 3’s New Music Show will present highlights from last month's Venice’s Music Biennale and from the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in November and December as well as hosting the 20th Ivors Composer Awards Ceremony. Radio 3 will also broadcast performances from Lammermuir and Dartington Festivals.

BBC Radio 3 controller, Alan Davey, said: ‘We also celebrate 100 years of Broadcasting and the way Radio uniquely affects the lives of audiences, using sound to celebrate and reflect the work of radio pioneers who changed the world through the glorious multi-tonal and multi-dimensional experience radio offers.’

At the end of this month Radio 3 will present its Soundscape of a century celebrating the BBC’s 100th birthday with an eight-hour continuous soundscape made up of classical music and BBC archive material. Weekday Breakfast will celebrate the centenary by broadcasting commissioned arrangements by Daniel Whibley, performed by the BBC Philharmonic, throughout the month of November.

Radio 3 also celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s birth this month with programming including Afternoon Concerts and Lunchtime Concerts live from the Oxford Lieder Festival, as well as drama and discussion. Radio 3 will be marking Black History Month in programmes including Sunday Feature, the podcast Classical Fix and the radio station's regular Friday Poetry slot.

The station’s autumn season will also include performances by the Radio 3 New Generation Artists as well as the BBC orchestras and choirs and UK orchestras including the Hallé, London Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony and the Royal Northern Sinfonia among others.