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Last Saturday a new production of Gilbert and Sullivan鈥檚 The Pirates of Penzance opened at English National Opera directed by the award-winning film director Mike Leigh, known for his use of improvisation in evolving his works. Leigh, who is President of both The Gilbert Society and The Sullivan Society directed Topsy-Turvy, the bio-pic about the writing team. He stated that he 鈥渨anted to go back to basics鈥� with Pirates, presenting the piece honestly with no frills. Tom Service reviews Pirates with Michael Billington, theatre critic of The Guardian and the broadcaster and writer Geoffrey Smith.

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Photo:听 漏Tristram Kenton

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Following the General Election which resulted in an overall Conservative majority government, the prime minister David Cameron appointed John Whittingdale as the new Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport. Tom is joined by Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) and the arts journalist Richard Morrison to assess what the new government and culture secretary could mean for the arts and music education in the United Kingdom.

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The pianist Leif Ove Andsnes talks to Tom about his 'Beethoven Journey' - four years of performing and directing the composer's piano concertos with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. This journey will finish at the 麻豆社 Proms over three concerts in July. Last month Andsnes was awarded Recording of the Year by the 麻豆社 Music Magazine for his release of the second and fourth Beethoven concertos.

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Photo: 漏Chris Aadland

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In the final edition of our series Inside Song, Professor Cilff Eisen takes a look at an unfamiliar side of Mozart - his role as song-writer. Eisen focuses on a number of songs which prove to be revealing about the composer鈥檚 personal life.

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