Front Row

This year marks the centenary of Leonard Bernstein's birth and to celebrate the occasion Front Row explores his life and music. John Wilson is joined by his son, Alexander Bernstein, who remembers his father composing at home, and who attended many of his Young People's Concerts; by his friend and biographer, Humphrey Burton, who discusses Bernstein's multiple talents as a conductor, composer and educator; and by his pupil, the conductor Marin Alsop, who was inspired by Bernstein to take up the baton. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.

David Mamet, the American playwright, director and novelist, talks to Stig about his new novel, Chicago, set amongst the gangster rivalry of the 1920s. He explains his fascination with that era in the city of his birth, discusses the writers who have inspired him and explains the importance of imagination, inspiration and dialogue in the storyteller's craft.Meghan Markle's final season in US drama Suits is currently being broadcast on Netflix, last year the actress revealed she was retiring from the show and from acting following her engagement to Prince Harry. TV critic Emma Bullimore gives her verdict on Markle's performance in the glossy legal drama. This year is the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement which marked a significant step forward in the peace process in Northern Ireland. To mark the anniversary a Poetry Jukebox has been placed on a street in Belfast, allowing people to listen to a selection of 20 poems which reflect on that momentous event. Stig discusses bringing poetry to the streets with Poetry Jukebox creator Ondrej Kobza and Maria McManus who is the organiser of the jukebox in Belfast. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Kate Bullivant.

Wes Anderson discusses his film Isle of Dogs, including working with stop-motion animation and drawing inspiration from Studio Ghibli director Miyazaki for the Japanese setting for the film.What makes a great sports theme tune? As the 2018 Formula 1 season kicks off with a specially composed anthem, we speak to its composer Brian Tyler and consider the essential components of an iconic sports theme tunes with former BBC sport correspondent Adrian Warner.Seven publishers were in a bidding war to secure AJ Pearce's debut novel Dear Mrs Bird. The author comes in to talk about the book in which a young woman dreams of becoming a lady war correspondent during the Blitz but instead is employed as the assistant to a formidable agony aunt at a failing women's magazine.The winner of the National Poetry Competition is announced this evening, we hear from the winning poet, who will read one of their poems.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Hannah Robins.

Steven Spielberg, director of films like The Post, The BFG and Bridge of Spies, returns to the science fiction genre with an action adventure set in a virtual-reality game world sometime in the future. Julia Hardy reviews the film and tells Samira whether it is a classic of the genre like Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Back to the Future.The York Realist is a play set in 1963 when John, up from London and working as assistant director on a production of the York Mystery Plays, falls for local farm-worker, George, who is also a gifted actor and capable of a brilliant career - if he could bring himself to leave. Robert Hastie comes in to talk about the play which, after an acclaimed run in London, he is taking to Yorkshire where he is Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres. The Church of England has just appointed a "Pioneer Minister of the Arts" who will look to use art as a way of reaching out to different communities. For centuries religion and art have had a close relationship, with many artists drawing inspiration from their faith - from religious composers to Renaissance paintings. To discuss exploring faith through art we speak to Reverend Betsy Blatchley, the new Pioneer Minister of the Arts and Reverend Peter Gardner, who has been the Church of Scotland's Pioneer Minister to the Arts Communities of Glasgow since 2016. Steven Soderbergh's new film Unsane stars Clare Foy as a young woman involuntarily committed to a mental institution. But how are mental institutions and hospitals usually presented in films? Novelist and journalist Matt Thorne takes a look - from the German silent horror The Cabinet of Dr Caligari in 1920 to the supernatural slasher film Cult of Chucky released last year.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Kate Bullivant.

Anna Chancellor stars in the new TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's murder mystery Ordeal By Innocence this weekend, in which she plays Rachel Argyll, heiress, philanthropist and mother of five adopted children found murdered on Christmas Eve. Samira talks to the actress, who is well-known for her roles in Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Hour, Spooks and Mapp & Lucia. Harshdeep Kaur, the popular Indian playback singer known for her Bollywood Hindi, Punjabi and Sufi songs, performs live. Popularly known as the 'Queen of Sufi', she'll be performing her soulful Sufi renditions alongside a range of more modern Bollywood classics at the Barbican in London this week.American theatre critic Hilton Als won the Pulitzer Prize last year for his theatre reviews which the judges said puts drama 'within a real-world cultural context, particularly the shifting landscape of gender, sexuality and race.' He talks about White Girls, his new collection of essays, which blurs the line between criticism and memoir, fiction and nonfiction. Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Artist Sonia Boyce's career has been punctuated by series of firsts - the first black woman to have her work collected by the Tate, the first black woman to be elected a Royal Academician. As her first retrospective opens, Sonia discusses her art and why she removed a painting from the walls of Manchester Art Gallery.On the 100th anniversary of Debussy's death two interpreters of his music discuss his life, legacy and influences. Lucy Parham tours a show playing his piano music interspersed with readings from Debussy's own writings and letters while Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla the conductor of the city of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has curated a season of Debussy's orchestral works. Testament is a rapper, beatboxer and theatre maker who's now based in Yorkshire. That county is the setting of Black Men Walking, a touring production that takes as its real life inspiration a group of black men - and some women - who go walking in the Peak District once a month. It uses music, poetry and the rich and largely unsung history of black people in this country, and countryside, to tell its story. Presenter: Gaylene Gould Producer: Hannah Robins.

Macbeth is on at the National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House, and there will be at least 15 more Macbeths at theatres and festivals around the country this year. Rufus Norris, director of the National's production, and Kit Monkman, who has made the latest film version, discuss why Shakespeare's play has such urgent appeal today.The British Council has been in the news because Moscow has shut down its activities in Russia. But what does the Council actually do? Alastair Niven, who was for four years Director of Literature at the British Council, explains its work, significance and why it sometimes falls foul of certain regimes.As music superstar partners Beyoncé and Jay-Z announce details of their new joint tour, Front Row decided to examine the delights and drawbacks when artists, who are couples, hit the road together. John talks to comedian Francesca Martinez and her touring partner actor Kevin Hely, and married musical duo Cara Dillon and Sam Lakeman.

Director Steven Soderbergh on his latest film, Unsane, which stars Claire Foy as a woman admitted to a mental health facility against her will. The film was shot entirely on three iphones. Is this the future of film? America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper, a big exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford focuses on American artists in the early 20th century - including Georgia O'Keeffe and Edward Hopper - many of whom expressed their uncertainty about the rapid modernisation and urbanisation of their country. The show's curator discusses the significance of these paintings, prints and photographs made between 1915 and 1945, many of which have not been seen in the UK before. How to establish yourself as a solo artist after a successful career in a double act - Stephen Armstrong considers examples from cultural history as Ant McPartlin, one half of TV presenting powerhouse Ant and Dec, is admitted to rehab, leaving Declan Donnelly considering his options.A new RSC production of The Duchess of Malfi will involve the spilling of 3000 litres of stage blood throughout its run. To tell us how, why, and how much we should expect in the world of stage blood, we're joined by theatre critic Sam Marlowe and Giuseppe Cannas, Head of Wigs, Hair and Make-up at the National Theatre.Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Julian May.

Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon and Patti Smith are just a few of the artists who trusted an inexperienced recording engineer, Jimmy Iovine, at the controls of their albums in the '70s. Iovine discusses a new documentary series The Defiant Ones, in which he looks back at 40 years in the record business: from those early beginnings, teaming up with hip hop artist Dr Dre, creating the Beats audio brand and running Apple Music.Award-winning Irish novelist Donal Ryan on his fifth novel, From a Low and Quiet Sea, which tells the story of three men, from war-torn Syria to small-town Ireland. Three apparently disparate stories that come together in the most unexpected of ways.An international competition for young singers, The Glyndebourne Opera Cup is being televised this week. Samira talks Maria Mot, one of the jury, about what she's looking for in such a wide range of voices and styles and its appeal to a younger audience of opera aficionados.Today is the spring equinox and through the day Radio 4 has been broadcasting new poems to mark the (official) start of the season when life quickens. On Front Row we welcome, with a poem each, Caleb Femi, the Young People's Laureate for London, and Scotland's Makar Jackie Kay.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Harry Parker.

As Andrew Lloyd Webber turns 70, Kirsty Lang talks to the composer about how he transformed musical theatre with hits like Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.When Sunset Boulevard joined School of Rock, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway last year, Andrew Lloyd Webber became the only person to equal the record set in 1953 by his musical heroes Rogers and Hammerstein with four Broadway shows running concurrently. He talks about the process of how he composes, the future of musical theatre - and how he landed an extremely rare interview with Vladimir Putin. Unmasked, the autobiography and Unmasked, The Platinum Collection are both available now. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Hilary Dunn.