RADIO

This was a finely crafted piece of imaginative radio, with a gentle, Zen-like contemplative quality.  Two men discuss death, and specifically the recent deaths of their mothers, in a piece that mixed amusing and sharply observed anecdotes with more mystical thought. “Very moving, slightly hypnotic, innovative and imaginative”, said one judge, while another observed that the maker “brings an oriental sensitivity and originality to the production, transforming the dialogue by subtle use of gongs and bells, drones JORDYand audio overlays.” The judges also praised “a great piece of straight interviewing given how much the man opened up.  A minor critique from the judges was that the title was rather too puzzling for its own good!

The Trace Of A Cloud In A Chest By Weidong Lin SILVER 2015

Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall

Five radio producers from around the world hijack The Essay to offer a series of Radio 3's innovative Between the Ears features in miniature, in response to the five-line poem 'November Night'.

In tonight's edition, the Prix Italia-winning radio producer Kaitlin Prest, the woman behind Radiotopia's intimate podcast 'The Heart', explores how we can remain haunted by past loves 'Like Steps of Passing Ghosts'.

Produced by Kaitlin Prest
First broadcast 2nd December 2015, BBC Radio 3

Between the Essays: Like Steps of Passing Ghosts 3/5

Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall

Five radio producers from around the world hijack The Essay to offer a series of Radio 3's innovative Between the Ears features in miniature, in response to the five-line poem 'November Night'.

In tonight's edition, Australian musician and radio producer Jaye Kranz delves into the therapeutic possibilities of poetry, using the line 'The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees' to tumble down the rabbit hole into a dreamlike space of memories.

Featuring the voice of poetry therapist and clinical social worker, Sherry Reiter

First broadcast 3rd December 2015, BBC Radio 3
Produced by Jaye Kranz

Between the Essays: The Leaves, Frost-Crisp'd, Break from the Trees 4/5

The music writer Laura Barton visits four corners of Britain and listens closely to the music found in different landscapes. In this final programme, Laura explores two aspects of musical life in the capital.

Musical migrants, such as the Nigerian-born guitarist Femi Temowo, found a route into London's music scene via the church, whereas the American composer Nico Muhly has been adopted by the city's cosmopolitan contemporary music and arts milieu.

Their experiences contrast with archetypal London musicians Chas 'n' Dave, who made a point of singing in their own accents and created 'rockney' - a hybrid of cockney rock.

Laura examines immigrant and indigenous music within the landscape of London.

Laura Barton's Notes from a Musical Island: Wood and Metal 4/4

"A dancer dies twice", the legendary choreographer Martha Graham said, "once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the more painful."

This is a documentary about first deaths and last dances, about what happens when an instrument as finely tuned as a dancer's body begins to change.

From the music which prompts a twitch of muscle memory to the comedown which follows a burst of performance adrenaline, we hear stories of the last dances and what comes next from Gabriella Schmidt, Isabel Mortimer from Dancers' Career Development, and former principal ballerinas Natasha Oughtred and Wendy Whelan.

We eavesdrop on the training of young dancers at the Royal Ballet School as they shape muscle and bone into elegant lines, diving into the visceral excitement of pounding pointe shoes and powerful leaping bodies. And we visit Sage Dance Company and the Company of Elders as they work with dancers who move with grace and beauty in defiance of their changing bodies.

From the first anxious glance in the mirror to the last touch - how does the language of our bodies change as we age?

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
First broadcast 4th April on BBC Radio 4

A Dancer Dies Twice

Her heart it played
like well worn strings;
in her eyes
the sadness sings;
of one who was destined
for better things

Hana Walker-Brown's grandma was kept alive for seven hours in order for her family to rush to the hospital to say their goodbyes. One moment, alive like few 86 year olds; the next, parked in the one-way ward, a holding bay between this life and the next.

Swansong is a meditation on memory and loss, acceptance and death, with real life stories, imagined ones and the sounds and silences that weave our worlds together.

As Hana sat with her family waiting for the final moment, grief already upon them, her grandma lay in her own time and place - memories flooding in and around the reality of her situation, like a rolodex, flicking through years, moments, experiences in which she'd found happiness, sadness, weakness and strength. Content with death, after a life well-lived.

Comprising interviews with those who witnessed these final moments and audio captured by Hana with her grandma over the years, this feature blurs the lines between fact and fiction to take the listener through the precious final moments before passing to the other side.

Produced by Hana Walker-Brown
First broadcast 11th April 2016, BBC Radio 4

The Trace Of A Cloud In A Chest By Weidong Lin SILVER 2015

Charles Parker Prize