Programme Information

BBC Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball

Zoe Ball sits in for Dermot O'Leary, with a Saturday Session from Cage The Elephant and unsigned London quartet Paul Cook & The Chronicles.

Cage The Elephant are a rock quintet from Kentucky, featuring singer Matt Shultz, guitarist Brad Shultz, bassist Daniel Tichenor, guitarist Lincoln Parish and drummer Jared Champion. They released their self-titled debut on a UK label back in 2009, when they took up residence in East London and enjoyed a hit with Ain't No Rest For The Wicked.

The band released their second studio album, Thank You Happy Birthday, last month. Described as "a ferocious kick of gut-grabbing rock 'n' roll", it peaked at No. 2 in the US Billboard 200.

Presenter/Zoe Ball, Producer/Ben Walker for Ora et Labora Ltd

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Tom Service meets Sir Harrison Birtwistle ahead of the première of his violin concerto in Boston by violinist Christian Tetzlaff, conductor James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Sir Harrison has never written a concerto for a stringed instrument. After meeting "Harry" in his Wiltshire home, Tom travels to Boston – spending time with him at rehearsals and in the hours before the première. Birtwistle talks candidly about what drives his music, his fears for the concerto and how a composer can never be satisfied with their music.

Presenter/Tom Service, Producer/Jeremy Evans

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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The Early Music Show –
The Musicians Of Maximilian I Ep 1/2

Saturday 19 to Sunday 20 March

1.00-2.00pm BBC RADIO 3

Lucie Skeaping presents a programme portraying the opulent musical life at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. He was the first of the Hapsburg rulers to support the arts and was devoted to establishing a thriving musical legacy at his court. Music in the programme includes repertoire by some of the important composers Maximilian employed, including Heinrich Isaac, Ludwig Senfl and Paul Hofhaimer.

This programme is the first of two across the weekend focusing on music form the Habsburg court.

Presenter/Lucie Skeaping, Producer/Rebecca Bean

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Presenter Banning Eyre heads into North-East Argentina, with internationally renowned Chamame accordionist Chango Spasiuk, to see the red earth and hear this unique accordion-driven music.

Banning follows Chango Spasiuk back to his roots in Misiones to hear about how he learnt the accordion and to meet and record local musicians. Sergio Tarnovsky is a young local talent from Apostoles who plays the 21-button diatonic accordion known as the verdulera. Lalo Doreto hails from the town of Obera, and is a local radio host, singer and guitarist. He puts on a special afternoon session with some friends in his back yard.

On the way back from the North East, they stop in at the Anconetani accordion factory in Buenos Aires, the first Argentine handmade accordion company, to meet its octagenarian patron Nazereno Anconetani, take a tour of the workshops and enjoy a session with one of Chamame's elder statesmen, accordionist Tilo Escobar.

Presenter/Banning Eyre, Producer/Peter Meanwell

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Opera On 3 – Live From The Met

Saturday 19 March

5.00-8.00pm BBC RADIO 3

Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor is live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Natalie Dessay stars as the innocent Lucia, forced by her brother into a political marriage with Arturo when she's desperately in love with Edgardo.

The heartbreak and ruthlessness of her brother become too much for the fragile heroine, with tragic consequences.

Margaret Juntwait presents with guest commentator Ira Siff.

Lucia is played by soprano Natalie Dessay, Edgardo by tenor Joseph Calleja, Enrico by baritone Ludovic Tezier and Raimondo by bass Kwangchul Youn.

Patrick Summers conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera.

Presenter/Margaret Juntwait, Producer/Ellie Mant

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Open Country Ep 1/9

Saturday 19 March

6.05-6.30am BBC RADIO 4

Helen Mark is on Dartmoor finding out about the problems faced by the ponies that have roamed the moors of Dartmoor and Bodmin for years.

The Dartmoor and Bodmin ponies are as much a part of the moors as the heathers that grow there. In this programme, Helen investigates whether the very survival of the Dartmoor pony, which is the symbol of the National Park, is now under threat.

Helen is on Dartmoor to meet some of the people whose lives revolve around the ponies and who are fighting to preserve them and ultimately the moorland on which they roam.

Presenter/Helen Mark, Producer/Helen Chetwynd for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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For One Night Only –
The Button-Down Mind Of Bob Newhart Ep 1/4

Saturday 19 March

10.30-11.00am BBC RADIO 4

BBC Radio 4 presenter Paul Gambaccini

Paul Gambaccini returns with this award-winning series to look back at four more occasions on which a classic live album was recorded. He hears from those who were there, on-stage, backstage and in the audience, to re-create the event.

In the first episode of the new series, Paul re-visits The Button-Down Mind Of Bob Newhart (1960), the first comedy album ever to top the charts. He talks to the now 81-year-old comedy star about the recording.

From The Driving Instructor to Abe Lincoln Versus Madison Avenue, the sketches that earned Newhart Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Comedy Performance were as popular in Britain as in the US and they still raise a laugh more than 50 years on. Paul hears the story of the making of this classic album

Also in this series, Paul looks back at: BB King's classic, Live At The Regal; the LSO's hit live performance of Berlioz's The Trojans; and Keith Jarrett's unsurpassed jazz improvisation, The Cologne Concert.

Presenter/Paul Gambaccini, Producer/Marya Burgess for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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In this original science-fiction adventure by Mike Walker, five lost souls are recruited to travel to an abandoned planet where all they know is that they are to retrieve the only known sample of an ore left over from an old mining operation.

But their task becomes considerably more complicated when one of their party has a close encounter with the indigenous plant life – plant life which seems to have some very odd, very powerful properties. Soon they are battling not only to stay alive but to hang on to the very things that make them human.

The cast includes Nicola Miles-Wilden as Cally, Cyril Nri as Intaba, Clare Perkins as Hudson, Alex Tregear as JD and Adeel Akhtar as Hussam.

Producer/Marc Beeby for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Saturday 19 March

12.00noon-10.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch looks ahead to the afternoon's sporting action, including England and Wales in the Six Nations, and the lunchtime kick-off in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur versus West Ham United. There are also reports from Australia versus Pakistan in Columbo, Sri Lanka, at the Cricket World Cup.

At 12.45pm, there's live Premier League commentary of Tottenham Hotspur versus West Ham United, plus regular Six Nations updates of Scotland versus Italy from 2.30pm and reports from Australia versus Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup.

Live coverage comes from all the 3pm kick-offs, including Manchester United versus Bolton and West Bromwich Albion versus Arsenal in the Premier League. There are also regular Six Nations rugby union updates of Scotland versus Italy.

From 5pm, Matt Dawson presents live Six Nations commentary of Ireland versus England from Dublin, followed by a post-game rugby phone-in and reaction from the game.

At 7.45pm, there's live Six Nations rugby union commentary from the final game in the competition, France versus Wales, live, from the Stade de France in Paris.

Presenters/Mark Pougatch and Matt Dawson, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

World Cup Cricket

Saturday 19 March

8.45am-5.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can enjoy uninterrupted commentary on the group match between Australia and Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup, live, from Colombo.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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Rugby League

Saturday 19 March

5.55-7.45pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted commentary comes from Leeds versus St Helens in the Super League.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity