RADIO 3’S EUROPEAN ROADTRIP
Wednesday 1 – Sunday 5 January 2025
Live broadcasts 09:30 – 13:00, and across schedules for the rest of the day
Marking the start of 2025, Radio 3 presenters take listeners on a journey across Europe, with five live broadcasts from five European cities.
Beginning with the traditional New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna, then travelling to Paris, Budapest, Cologne and Reykjavik, Petroc Trelawny, Georgia Mann, Tom Service and Sarah Walker present music from these cities and explore the stories of composers and performers who called these places home.
On each European Roadtrip day, each city is celebrated across schedules, in programmes such as In Tune and Breakfast, featuring music and composers from these places.
- Wednesday 1 January: Vienna with Petroc Trelawny
Petroc Trelawny is once again live from the glittering hall of Vienna’s Musikverein. He presents the traditional New Year’s Day Concert of waltzes, marches and polkas with the Vienna Philharmonic led by Riccardo Muti, who has had an association with the orchestra for over 50 years.
2025 also marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss, and so this year Strauss takes centre stage. The programme mixes old favourites by Strauss with new discoveries, including: Jolly Brothers March, Demolition Men’s Polka and Village Swallows of Austria as well as the famous Blue Danube.
At 17:00 today, Georgia Mann looks ahead to the stops in Radio 3’s European Roadtrip in a two-hour programme showcasing performances by some of the musicians appearing along the journey.
- Thursday 2 January: Paris with Georgia Mann
Georgia Mann broadcasts live from Radio France’s studios in Paris – a city nicknamed the ‘City of Lights’ because it was a centre for education and learning during the Enlightenment.
Georgia explores the Palais Garnier, Paris’ renowned opera house, as it enters its 150th year, and talks to journalist Agnès Poirier about Notre-Dame Cathedral – newly-reopened after its shocking fire in 2019. She visits the home of singer-songwriter, actor and director Serge Gainsbourg and discusses his legacy with his daughter – actor and singer-songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg. Also on the programme, accordionist Laurent Derache explains the importance of the accordion in Parisian culture.
Georgia is joined live in the studio by French pianist Pascal Rogé performing music by Satie, and alongside fellow pianist Elena Font and soprano Anne-Sophie Duprels, whilst the Adrien Tarraga Quartet provides Hot Club de France-inspired jazz.
- Friday 3 January: Budapest with Petroc Trelawny
Petroc Trelawny catches a train from Vienna to the other capital of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire: Budapest. He broadcasts live from the Dohnányi Music Centre of Hungarian Radio. In a programme exploring the rich musical heritage of this city, Petroc presents performances from the Strings of Hungarian Radio and the Hungarian Radio Choir, as well as traditional musicians and rising stars of Hungarian classical music.
- Saturday 4 January: Cologne with Tom Service
Saturday Morning is live from Cologne, where Tom Service introduces music inspired by the Rhine, and visits the city’s iconic cathedral to find out about its long musical life – as the landmark survived the allied bombing 80 years ago. Tom explores how Cologne became the hotspot of post-war Avant-Garde and also how it became a centre of early music performance, and he talks to conductor Markus Stenz about his long association with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln.
Players from Concerto Köln and a wind quintet from the WDR Symphony Orchestra provide live music.
- Sunday 5 January: Reykjavik with Sarah Walker
Sarah Walker concludes Radio 3’s European Roadtrip looking out across the capital of Iceland, as she broadcasts live from one of Reykjavik’s most iconic buildings: the award-winning Harpa Hall.
Sarah invites one of the most in-demand pianist in Europe – Víkingur Ólafsson – and Umbra Ensemble, with their interest in early and contemporary music, to perform live. She also explores the many Icelandic contemporary composers writing new music, including Ólafur Arnalds and Björk.
Further details of guests and live music in each stop will be confirmed in due course.
Radio 3’s European Road Trip will also be broadcast on BBC Sounds, and available there on demand after initial broadcast.