Welcome to BBC Music Magazine's October 2025 issue!
This month, on the 90th anniversary of his birth, we salute the genius of Luciano Pavarotti. Adored for his incredible voice and warm persona, Pavarotti enjoyed a unique cult status. As we mark the tenor’s 90th anniversary, Ashutosh Khandekar explains why that popularity hasn’t dimmed.
Elsewhere this issue, it's tango time. From Buenos Aires bars to parks in Denmark, the sizzling passion of the tango holds dance and music lovers worldwide in its grip, reports Claire Jackson.
In slightly more macabre mood, Steve Wright peers into the coffin as he investigates the deceased composers whose bodies continued to go on their own adventures. For example, the time when Chopin’s sister Ludwika honoured his wish – smuggling the composer’s heart from France to Warsaw in a jar of cognac.
Joe Phelan tells the story of The Piano Boat, a unique concert venue where moving recitals take place along the Grand Union Canal. And we also pay tribute to Roger Norrington. Following the death of the great conductor and historically informed performance pioneer, Terry Blain looks back over his life and career.
We've also got a big brass focus this month. We begin with an interview with Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth. When she was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, Tine reassessed her life and career - and has emerged with a healthy new outlook, as Rebecca Franks finds. Next, leading trumpeter Matilda Lloyd traces the history of her instrument through ten influential players, from the Tudor era to the present day.
This month's Building a Library is George Gershwin's iconic opera Porgy and Bess.
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high, as Mervyn Cooke recommends the finest recordings of the American composer’s genre-busting opera. And our Composer of the Month is the Italian modernist Luciano Berio. Ivan Hewett celebrates the 100th anniversary of a visionary composer who, in an era of change, took his music in its own distinctive direction
This month's cover CD features a selection of Northumbrian Folk Songs, plus works by Berlioz, Canteloube, Rebecca Clarke, Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann and Hugo Wolf, performed by Northumbrian mezzo soprano Kitty Whately with accompanists including pianists James Baillieu and Malcolm Martineau, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Wilson. Click here or on the image to see the track details for this month's cover CD.
