Hollie McNish has been writing poems about – as she puts it – ‘anything and everything’ since she was seven years old. Her work now reaches audiences of millions, through her books, performances and short videos, making her one of the UK’s most widely shared poets. In 2017 she won the Ted Hughes Award for her book Nobody Told Me, a collection of poetry and diary entries that she kept from the moment she discovered she was pregnant until her daughter was three. She has published six other collections, including her most recent, Virgin, which explores how one six letter word holds such power. Her choices include music by Telemann, Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-George, Nina Simone and Tchaikovsky. Presenter Michael Berkeley
Producer Clare Walker
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Shobana Jeyasingh
The pioneering choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh has produced more than 60 original works, many of them created for outdoor or unusual settings.She was born in India and came to England in her late teens to study English literature at Sussex University. She had learned classical Indian dance as a child and in her early twenties, she drew on that passion, touring first as a dancer and then founding her own dance company in 1989 to develop her own work.Since then, she has collaborated with scientists, film-makers and numerous composers including Errollyn Wallen, Kevin Volans and Michael Nyman.Her most recent work is inspired by The Tempest, and views Shakespeare’s story through the eyes of Caliban, the so-called ‘monstrous’ slave.Shobana's music includes Mozart, Messiaen, Arvo Part and Purcell.
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Richard Armitage
The actor Richard Armitage refuses to be pigeon-holed. He first made a national impact as the mill-owner John Thornton in the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. Audiences around the world know him as Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson. He’s played a serial killer in Hannibal, a spy in Spooks, and has starred in four Harlan Coben thrillers on Netflix. He’s also written thrillers: the most recent is The Cut, which examines childhood trauma and the dangers of buried secrets - and also draws on his own musical experiences, because the main character, like Richard, plays the cello. His choices include works by Arvo Part, Mahler, Rameau, and Gluck. Presenter Michael Berkeley
Producer Clare Walker
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Deborah Prentice
Deborah Prentice became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 2023.She’s the first American to take on the role, and she’s leading the university at a challenging time for higher education in the UK, with questions about funding, freedom of expression, student protest, striking academics and even vice-chancellors’ pay never far from the headlines.Before Cambridge, she was Provost at Princeton University, and a professor of psychology, where she focused on the social norms that govern human behaviour and the impact of unwritten rules and conventions. And before that, her first degree at Stanford was in Biology and Music.Deborah's music choices include Beethoven, Bach, Mussorgsky and Ravel.
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Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode began reviewing films 40 years ago, and has established himself as one of our most foremost critics, both in print and on air. He co-presents Screenshot on Radio 4 and the podcast Kermode and Mayo’s Take, with his long-term collaborator Simon Mayo.
He’s said he goes to every screening hoping it will be the next Citizen Kane – but he’s also renowned for his energetic rants against the films he finds most disappointing.
Music is another lifelong love – and for nearly 30 years he’s played double bass in The Dodge Brothers, a skiffle band who have also performed live soundtracks for silent movies.
And film music is the subject of his most recent book, Mark Kermode’s Surround Sound, examining the complex relationship between what we hear and what we see.
Mark's music includes Mica Levi, Strauss and Jelly Roll Morton.
Ireland