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MusicMusic Interviews

The Music Show

ABC Australia

All kinds of music and all kinds of musicians in conversation with Andrew Ford.

38 episodes
Avg 54 min
English

Episodes 38

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Friday · 54 min
Art Isn’t Easy: revealing Stephen Sondheim through his music
Stephen Sondheim was the high priest of the modern musical, and almost five years on from his death, Daniel Okrent’s new biography Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn't Easy reveals probably more than the intensely private Sondheim would have liked. From the anger of Sweeney Todd, the struggle of the artist in Sunday in the Park with George, and the loneliness of Passion, his music reveals him even more than Daniel’s many interviews with his contemporaries ever could. Into the Woods, Sondheim’s fairytal
Friday · 54 min
Richard Tognetti on Beethoven’s Pastoral and celebrating Dame Joan Sutherland at 100
Beethoven’s 6th Symphony, his Pastoral, is one of the best known pieces in the repertoire. Whether your first encounter was a full orchestral performance, a crackling vinyl, or the soundtrack to prancing unicorns in Fantasia, it probably struck you. A more subtly radical piece than its sister-symphony, the bombastic 5th, it’s being performed across the country by the Australian Chamber Orchestra and director and violinist Richard Tognetti joins us to pull it apart. It’s the late Australian sopr
October 30 · 54 min
Live from the ABC studios: Katie Noonan & Lisa Miller
To celebrate AusMusic Month, The Music Show brings you The Dot Strong Sessions. Named for the ABC's formidable tea lady (and the outdoor terrace that bears her name at ABC Ultimo in Sydney), we'll bring you sessions from great Australian artists throughout November. Katie Noonan was the first to set her keyboard out under the jasmine vines, performing tracks from her 30th studio album, Alone But All One. And live in the Melbourne music studio, Lisa Miller celebrates the 30th anniversary of Qui
October 30 · 54 min
Fanny Lumsden has changed her mind about traditions
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised this program contains the names and voices of people who have died. Fanny Lumsden’s new album is a rollicking country record with her voice - both as a singer and songwriter - right at the centre of it. She’s brought her guitar and her bassist Dan Freeman into the studio to give us a live rendition of some tracks from the album. Assyrian-Australian vocalist Lillian Albazi and double bassist Oscar Neyland have come together to extend t
October 23 · 54 min
Loudon Wainwright III and k.d. lang
Loudon Wainwright III is a songwriter who falls somewhere between Woody Guthrie and Tom Lehrer. As well as being a storyteller and comedian, he's the father of a brood of musical children including Rufus and Martha Wainwright. He's 80 now and planning his first Australian tour in over twenty years. And from The Music Show's archives, another chance to hear Andy's favourite of a few interviews with Canadian singer k.d. lang, who spoke to him about creating a great Canadian songbook with her alb
October 23 · 54 min
Creative collaborations: Elena Kats-Chernin & Tamara-Anna Cislowska and Colin Stetson & Brìghde Chaimbeul
Composer and pianist Elena Kats-Chernin and pianist and ABC Classic presenter Tamara-Anna Cislowska share stories from a friendship and collaboration that's lasted decades, including how Tamara-Anna convinced Elena to perform with her, by sharing a single piano. Elena's concerto, Ancient Letters, was recorded by Tamara with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and that album is nominated for an ARIA Award. The collaboration between experimental saxophonist Colin Stetson and piper Brìghde Chaimbeul
October 16 · 54 min
The Avalanches and Patti Smith
Listening to the new album by The Avalanches is like being on the dancefloor and then getting hit in the head with a whole desktop computer. Electronic, nostalgic, sample-laden and manic, their latest record is called No Bad Memories. The band - Robbie Chater, Toni Di Blasi, and Andy Szekeres - join Andy to unpack the record. Patti Smith was Andy's guest on stage at the Melbourne International Festival's Spiegeltent back in 2008, where she performed live and talked about her relationship with p
October 16 · 54 min
Cezary Skubiszewski: a life's soundtrack
The musical voice behind Australian classics like Two Hands and Red Dog, Cezary Skubiszewski is being honoured at the 2026 Screen Music Awards for Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen. In an extended conversation with Andy, Cezary explores building tension in bank robberies, writing music based on the time signature of a pigeon’s coo, and bringing children to tears. Music heard in this program: Music from Two Hands, composed by Cezary Skubiszewski & Jan Skubiszewski - Love Theme,
October 10 · 54 min
Cellist Freya Schack-Arnott, and two foley artists on the thin line between sound effects and music
Cellist and composer Freya Schack-Arnott divides her time between classical and experimental music, exploring all of the possibilities of her instrument. Her latest project, Nornir - which premieres at the Melbourne Fringe Festival - is something different again: a mixture of movement and composition that breaks down the very idea of the cello. The line between foley (cinematic sound effects) and percussion can be a blurry one, and The Music Show loves a blurry line. Andy talks to foley artist
October 9 · 54 min
Emma Ruth Rundle finds her people in These Killing Times
Emma Ruth Rundle describes herself as a guitarist - an instrument she's taken from metal bands to ambient minimalism. But it's her voice that's been front and centre on recent albums, alongside her writing, which has recently extended to a book of poetry. Her latest album, These Killing Times, is a return to full-band mode after the stripped-back and confessional Engine of Hell, and it's a culmination of everything she's done thus far. Randy Newman’s songs are surprising, poignant, sardonic and
October 2 · 54 min
Sally Walker performs to an audience of one and Mixtape blends music and gameplay
In 2020, the only way of making concerts work was suddenly to have very small audiences, so the 1:1 series allowed Sally Walker to continue to perform and connect with listeners. Sally has kept the concerts going post-lockdown, and she tells Andy about the unusual places where she’s set up a stage, and why a concert for a single person has a unique power for both performer and audience. A coming of age story, featuring three teenagers on their last day together, the computer game Mixtape has be
October 2 · 54 min
What Pulp did for an encore
Australian mezzo soprano Jenny Duck-Chong, and soprano Nicole Thomson have developed a new resource for artists, teachers, and students: an online database called the Australian Art Song Resource. They join Andy to uncover some great and little known Australian art song, and perform live in studio. And director Garth Jennings on What Do You Do For An Encore?, his documentary covering britpop band Pulp's history as well as their recent reconvening, new record, and world tour. The documentary is
September 25 · 54 min
John Coltrane
In celebration of John Coltrane's centenary this week, we trace the style and influence of one of jazz's greatest musicians, composers, and collaborators. We’ll hear a wide range of voices from the Music Show archive: jazz legends like McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, and Gary Bartz, who played with him; artists like Branford Marsalis, Kurt Elling, Dave Liebman, Phil Slater, Andy Sugg and Lakecia Benjamin who were inspired by him; and John Scheinfeld, director of the documentary Chasing Trane. Mus
September 25 · 54 min
Takuya Nakamura's jazz-jungle fusion & a new book of letters between composer Larry Sitsky and Gwen Harwood
Some might think that jazz and electronic music don't have much in common, but Japanese DJ and trumpeter Takuya Nakamura has proven all that wrong. Growing up in 1980s Tokyo, he moved to the United States in 1990 to study under the legendary jazz composer George Russell, and went on to bring this expertise to the New York jungle electronic scene. He now performs live DJ sets of jungle, trip hop, dub, and all sorts of experimental electronic music with trumpet in hand. Larry Sitsky may be one of
September 18 · 54 min
Four hundred years of family singing: Bob Copper
For hundreds of years, the Copper family have sung for their own pleasure, and for the pleasure of the people of Rottingdean, the East Sussex village where the family have been living since at least the 1500s. Singing together in pubs and houses, the BBC first recorded them in 1951, and they've gone on to become stars, particularly in the United States, where they toured extensively. Andy went to East Sussex to sit down with Bob Copper, the paterfamilias of the family, in 2003 when Copper was
September 18 · 54 min
Bryce Dessner's Trembling Earth & Bob Scott's enormous radio
Drawing references to Kerouac, Munch, and Hildegard of Bingen, Bryce Dessner's music builds on a rich tradition of art that extends far beyond music. The classical composer (and guitarist for The National) is presenting the Australian premiere of his cello concerto, Trembling Earth, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and talks to Andy about his influences, NY's music scene, and his new opera. In a new sound installation called The Enormous Radio, Bob Scott and Roslyn Oades are tuning a huge ro
September 12 · 54 min
Benjamin Clementine isn't a jazz musician
To mark Andy’s departure from the show at the end of this year, we’re bringing you some of his favourite conversations from 32 years on air. This week, we’ll hear the American pianist, composer and teacher Seymour Bernstein in a conversation from 2015. Bernstein died earlier this year, just before his 100th birthday, and in that long life he passed on a huge amount of wisdom about music, from how to play Beethoven to helping Ethan Hawke overcome stage fright. Benjamin Clementine, who is an ama
September 11 · 54 min
John Farnham: The voice behind The Voice
You’re The Voice remains a favourite for generations of Australians and the album it's on, Whispering Jack, has sold more than 1.5 million copies. But John Farnham was 37 by the time he recorded that album and the music industry wasn’t all that interested in a new direction from a 60s pop star - until word of mouth began spreading that this was something special. In some ways it’s that background that makes the result so remarkable. Andrew Ford charts the story behind Farnham's biggest hit and
September 4 · 54 min
Robert Forster's Swedish Strawberries and the Red Spirit Singers let their voices ring out
Recorded (largely) as-live in Sweden, with a group of that country's indie luminaries, Robert Forster's latest album Strawberries shows the singer-songwriter in a playful mood and embracing the role of storyteller. Speaking to Andy for the first time in quite some time, Forster explains why he made the trip and why he refused to tour the album until he could bring the band over to play it with him. With up to thirteen singers and ten drummers, all clustered around a giant communal drum, the Red
September 4 · 54 min
Camp Cope's Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich on the artists rewriting the rules of the Australian music scene
Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich, or 'Kelso', of the great all-woman Australian rock band Camp Cope, is also a phenomenal writer. Her new book It's Not For You is part memoir, part feminist journalist project, in which she traces her own musical beginnings alongside conversations with a cross section of women and gender diverse musicians. She joins Andy to talk about the book. Noongar composer, violist, conductor and programmer Aaron Wyatt returns to the show to talk about Decolonising the Bells, a collab

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