Broadcasting
For much of his professional life Stephen has been a musician working in broadcasting - for 30 years full-time at the BBC, where he produced many kinds of programmes for Radio 3 and worked with most of the admired artists, composers and ensembles of the day. He produced studio recordings of all the Beethoven sonatas and the major works of Schubert with Alfred Brendel, and in 1991 coordinated Radio 3’s celebration of the Mozart bicentenary and the special ‘live’ Mozart day promoted by the European Broadcasting Union. For many years he was an animator of international cooperation in music broadcasting and chairman of the EBU’s music group. At the BBC he was deputy head of Radio 3’s music department and editor of its contemporary music output, with special responsibility for the commissioning of new music.
His programme making activities for BBC Radio 3 continue in the independent sector with Cavendish Productions, of which he is a partner.
Some recent productions
Better Than It Can Be Played : a major series about the recorded legacy and teaching of Artur Schnabel.
Chopin : a celebration of his greatness in six recitals at the Wigmore Hall to mark the 150th anniversary of his death (in association with the Wigmore Hall)
Time Regained : explorations, with Gordon Stewart, of the BBC’s Sound Archive to present portraits of Emil Gilels, Suzanne Danco, Edith Vogel, Max Rostal, the Griller Quartet. the Borodin Quartet, Elly Ameling, Irmgard Seefried, Pierre Fournier, Ida Haendel, Norbert Brainin, Sandor Vegh, Vlado Perlemuter, and many others.
Broadcasting