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Roger Allam

Actor Roger Allam talks to Michael Berkeley about his passions for music and Shakespeare and why he became an actor rather than an opera singer.

Roger Allam is an actor equally at home with Shakespeare, musical theatre, detective shows, and comedy on both radio and television. From the Globe Theatre to Game of Thrones, through Endeavour, The Thick of It and Cabin Pressure, to the RSC and the West End, he refuses to be typecast.

He talks to Michael Berkeley about his lifelong passion for music and why he became an actor rather than an opera singer. And he explains how he overcame his initial reservations about the Globe Theatre to play Falstaff there (a performance that won him the Olivier Award for Best Actor).

Roger鈥檚 musical passions are predominately 20th century, with music by Britten, Messiaen and Ravel, but he also chooses Bach, Schubert and a mesmerising piece of medieval music.

Producer: Jane Greenwood
A Loftus Media Production for 大象传媒 Radio 3

Available now

32 minutes

Last on

Sun 10 Jan 2021 12:00

Clip

Music Played

  • Claude鈥怣ichel Sch枚nberg

    Stars (Les Miserables)

    Singer: Roger Allam.
  • Maurice Ravel

    Asie (Sheherazade)

    Singer: Margaret Price. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
  • Benjamin Britten

    Nocturne (Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings)

    Performer: Dennis Brain. Singer: Peter Pears. Orchestra: Boyd Neel Orchestra. Conductor: Benjamin Britten.
  • Anonymous

    Estampie Royal no.6

    Performer: Stevie Wishart. Ensemble: Sinfonye.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Goldberg Variations: Variation no.14

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No.4 (4th mvt)

    Singer: Juliane Banse. Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
  • Franz Schubert

    Das Wirthaus (Winterreise)

    Performer: Gerald Moore. Singer: Dietrich Fischer鈥怐ieskau.
  • Olivier Messiaen

    La Vierge et 'Enfant (La Nativite du Seigneur)

    Performer: Jennifer Bate.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 1 May 2016 12:00
  • Sun 10 Jan 2021 12:00

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