Front Row - 19/03/2009

Presented by Kirsty Lang. Richard Curtis talks to Kirsty about his latest two projects: the return of Alexander McCall Smith's private eye Precious Ramotswe in a new TV series of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and his cinematic tribute to the power of '60s pirate radio, The Boat That Rocked. Kirsty talks to Benjamin Zander, the pioneering Music Director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, about what orchestras can teach business leaders during the credit crunch, and why Mahler has been such an abiding passion throughout his career. Writer and academic Hermione Lee joins Kirsty to review an English language version of Madame De Sade, a drama by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright talks to Kirsty Lang about making his debut as an opera composer.