THE BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INTERVIEW

Music by women and composers of colour is not a separate set of pieces from the ones we know

- John Andrews

‘My mission is to help people to rediscover their curiosity and their love of novelty,’ says John Andrews. ‘That’s not just about minor composers, it’s also about new composers. It’s about the fact that when the repertoire we revere was being written, it was in a culture where new works were produced every season. London in 1730, Vienna in 1780, Milan in the 1840s – you would see new works. I would love to kindle in modern audiences just ten per cent of that readiness to go into a concert hall and be surprised and delighted in the unexpected.’

That, in a nutshell, is what makes Andrews tick – and the conductor’s zeal is reaping rewards for listeners, who are being introduced to a smorgasbord of worthwhile lesser-known music thanks to his efforts. There are surprises galore in his recent discography. Readers may recall that Andrews waltzed off with the BBC Music Magazine Opera Award in 2021 for the first ever recording of Malcolm Arnold’s ‘inventive, eclectic’ The Dancing Master; in 2023, he repeated the trick with JF Lampe’s 18th-century spoof on Italian opera, The Dragon of Wantley; and just last year, a trio of British piano concertos, by Elizabeth Maconchy, Elisabeth Lutyens and Errollyn Wallen, won the Concerto prize.

This passion for ‘fabulous but forgotten repertoire’, as Andrews describes it, continues in his latest series of recordings. We have met up to talk about them at London’s Wallace Collection, which I soon realise is apt: the British conductor is also a devoted history buff, who loves immersing himself in the cultural milieu of the composers he’s performing. He’s already been for a tour of the art gallery before our interview. Although we’ve never met before, he’s easy to spot in the café – poring over a pile of music scores, making the most of a spare moment.