What happened when Mark Elder took the Flying Dutchman to a Manchester school?

Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé impressed the kids by playing on as a thunder storm sent floods of water into a leaky school building.

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This week on her Culture Club, Charlotte Green was joined by one of Britain’s leading conductors, Sir Mark Elder – the Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. Listen to the podcast of the show:

Sir Mark talks about his work with the orchestra including taking it into schools in deprived areas of the city.

"Music does tell great stories,' he said. 'You just have to get the children listening with their imagination engaged.'

Sir Mark also talked about his love of Elgar, Sibelius and Wagner - and his own unique conducting style.

He also had some advice for aspiring young conductors:

Also on this week's show, Charlotte picks out and plays tracks from her favourite classical album releases from the first half of 2014.

They include a number of recent Classic FM Albums of the Week:

Chasing Pianos: The Piano Music of Michael Nyman
Valentina Lisitsa

Karl Jenkins: Motets
Polyphony/Stephen Layton

Antonin Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B minor
Alisa Weilerstein/Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Jiri Belohlavek

Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Kati Debretzeni/Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Piano Reflections
Ji Liu

Aranjuez
Milos Karadaglic

Eventide
Voces 8

Blanc
Angèle Dubeau

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