Listening Club: Women in Music (Bad Girls and Heartbreakers)

Join Joanna MacGregor as she dives deeper into the music of our February concert, Bad Girls and Heartbreakers.

This talk opens with the music of Kurt Weill, and the songs that made him famous. We’ll touch on his relationship with Bertolt Brecht, as well as the tension between his ‘serious’ orchestral work and his music for Broadway.

We’ll also look at the turbulent story behind Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk – how a 19^th century novella inspired a widely successful, controversial opera, and how it led to Shostakovich’s political fall from grace. It was the beginning of his war with Stalin.

Designed to illuminate and entertain, our new series The Listening Club delves deep into this season’s music, uncovering composers’ intentions, social context, and musical motifs to listen out for. Most importantly, we’ll have fun.

‘Thanks too for Joanna’s concise but cogent introductions. The enthusiasm of her live comments makes these performances that bit more special!’ – Andrew Connal