Mid-century maestros

Tenor Nicky Spence explores the deep and often-overlooked connections between classical music and the world of musical theatre.

In episode 2, Nicky highlights mid-century composers who drew from both the classical and musical theatre worlds, most notably Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. He reveals the homages to classical composers in musicals such as Kismet, Carmen Jones, West Side Story and Sweeney Todd.

Nicky speaks to the conductor David Charles Abell, who was a protégé of Bernstein and is a noted Sondheim interpreter.

Nicky and his husband, the pianist Dylan Perez, also perform musical excerpts from Mozart's Così fan tutte and Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, drawing out hidden connections.