Thoroughly Good Classical Music Podcast

How do we make the classical music industry inclusive for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds — when even the “comfortable” ones struggle to get a foothold?How does an industry that desperately needs a diverse workforce to survive remove the barriers it has quietly maintained for decades?

Composer and sound artist Ruby Colley releases her new album Hello Halo on 14 November 2025 — a work shaped by field recordings, family archives, and her lifelong conversation with her nonverbal brother Paul.It premiered at King’s Place in February, evolved through performances at Aldeburgh’s Britten Weekend, and arrives now as both an album and a film — an invitation to listen differentlyI met composer Ruby for a cup of tea in Hastings. It was a joyous afternoon — unhurried, thoughtful, all very British. The resulting conversation was about the shared joy of listening — to sound, and to silence. It is one of those of handful of very special podcast interactions which captures the spirit of the moment and returns it in spades, perfect for a dark winter evening. Soothing, consolatory and motivating.

Carole Hayman is a writer, director and producer best known for creating the long-running Radio 4 comedy Ladies of Letters, and for her work across theatre, film and television.This conversation explores her fascination with understanding the motivations and actions of women who kill. When she began interviewing psychiatrists and families, a nurse warned her: “It’s a minefield — and no one escapes.”Material from those interviews became The Hive — an opera born from years of verbatim testimony, a four-screen installation, and, by Carole’s own admission, a slightly wine-soaked rehearsal that turned into something bigger.The Hive challenges the familiar, sensationalised image of the “female killer,” aiming instead to reconnect with the basic humanity of the people who’ve caused suffering.The opera premieres at The Tung Auditorium, Liverpool, in partnership with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, on Saturday 8 November at 7.30 pm.We talk about violence, laughter, and the ethics of turning other people’s pain into art — and about The Hive’s uncomfortable questions: how do we decide who’s guilty, and why do stories of murder fascinate us?

Vache Baroque didn’t start with a five-year plan. It started with a can-do attitude. In 2020, soprano-producer Betty Makharinsky and conductor Jonathan Darbourne looked at a locked-down industry and staged Purcell's Dido and Aeneas outdoors—in eleven weeks. Since then they’ve built a distinctive live experience: bold repertoire choices, playful staging, circus performers, and sound design subtle enough that you barely notice it but absolutely benefit from. In this episode, Betty charts that journey—from scratch startup to trusted aesthetic—and why serving the audience sometimes means re-thinking tradition. Bear in mind this podcast does battle with some automated announcements from the Southbank Centre.

Pianist Clare Hammond is no stranger to the Thoroughly Good Podcast. She appeared here a few years ago to talk about performing Schubert in prisons.This time she returns with composer Michael Betteridge to discuss another prison project — one in which they co-created new music with prisoners, pieces Clare later performed.What follows is a conversation about impact — about leadership, trust, and humanity revealed and sustained through participatory music-making.Themes that are equally evident in Clare’s recent album of piano concertos by Britten, Walton, and Tippett.Substance.