John Shea presents performances from the Music in Paradise Festival in Poland. Andrew McGregor
Andrew takes a thorough look at the week's classical music releases, with news and recommendations in CD Review.
Brought up in a home wallpapered by Radio 3, Andrew was installed at a piano from a tender age, picking out popular TV theme tunes with one finger. Over time his technique improved, and he added violin, voice and organ to the options. After spending school holidays trying to pick up a girlfriend on orchestra and chamber music courses, Andrew bluffed his way into the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain as a violinist, playing Shostakovich under Kondrashin, and Stravinsky under Chailly at the Proms, his first experience of live broadcasting on BBC Radio 3.
Andrew read music at Surrey University, and sang alto in Guildford Cathedral Choir, which involved broadcasts, recordings, and drinking. He has vague memories of providing string backing for rock groups, and studying Stockhausen. Funnily enough Capital Radio paid for his postgraduate year as a violinist at the National Centre for Orchestral Studies.
