Barry Male Voice Choir, new play Romeo and Julie, WNO’s Blaze of Glory and Welsh culture minister Dawn Boden

Front Row

English - March 01, 2023 21:17 - 42 minutes - 38.7 MB - ★★★★ - 108 ratings
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Previous Episode: Tracy-Ann Oberman, Director Michael B Jordan, Oldham Coliseum

Next Episode: Daisy Jones & The Six on TV. Lukas Dhont’s film Close. Edmund De Waal on potter Lucie Rie

On St David's Day Front Row is coming from Cardiff with Huw Stephens bringing the latest arts and culture stories of Wales.

Welsh National Opera’s latest production is Blaze of Glory. The librettist Emma Jenkins and composer David Hackbridge Johnson talk to Huw Stephens about their new opera. Set in a Welsh Valleys’ village in the 1950s, it follows the a group of miners who raise spirits following a pit disaster by reforming their male voice choir.

Dawn Bowden, Deputy Minister for Arts and Sports, and Chief Whip in the Welsh Government, discusses cultural policy in Wales.

Gary Owen talks about his new play Romeo and Julie, the story of young lovers in the Cardiff district of Splott. They’re faced with circumstances that threaten to separate them but there the similarity to Shakespeare ends.

And the Barry Male Voice choir, who are involved in the production of Blaze of Glory, perform live in the Front Row studio.

Presenter: Huw Stephens
Producer: Julian May and Rebecca Stratford