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"Scholar, composer, conductor, teacher, author, music publisher, indefatigable advocate – Gunther Schuller isn't merely a musician, he's a monopoly." This is how New York Magazine described the Pulitzer-Prize winner who died earlier this week. In a tribute to one of the most important and influential musical figures of our time, Tom talks to the composer and conductor Oliver Knussen about his 45 year relationship with Schuller, (which started at Tanglewood in the 1970s), to Radio 3’s Geoffrey Smith on the merging of classical and jazz styles in Schuller’s work which led to him coining the term Third Stream, and to Mohammed Fairouz, on his legacy for a younger generation of American composers today. Plus there’s Â鶹Éç archive of Schuller in conversation and performance.

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The young Italian opera director Damiano Michieletto talks to Tom as he makes his Royal Opera House debut with a new production of Rossini's last opera, William Tell. A rising star in the opera world, in recent seasons Michieletto has directed for the first time at the Salzburg Festival and La Scala, Milan, and forthcoming debuts include at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and the Vienna State Opera.

Michieletto has developed a reputation in some circles for scandal, particularly with the productions he’s directed in Italy. His upbringing and early experiences as a children’s theatre director in Milan, gave him a passion for storytelling and surprise, which informs his work.

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Continuing a series of interviews with heads of the UK's leading arts organisations, Tom Service meets Alex Poots, the outgoing Artistic Director of the Manchester International Festival. After a successful decade in charge of the MIF, Poots recently announced his departure for a post in New York, running a brand new arts space The Culture Shed. He'll be replaced in Manchester by the Artistic Director of National Theatre Wales, John McGrath.

Alex talks to Tom about the musical vision he’s implemented at the MIF, from solo Bach in a pavilion designed by Zaha Hadid to operas by Damon Albarn, and world premieres by Tavener and Mark Simpson, and about his ambitious plans in New York.

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