Simon Jenkins

Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins is a celebrated performer, who emerged in the early 2000s as Britain's all-time best-selling classical artist of the past 25 years. Blessed with a warm voice and charismatic stage presence, Jenkins achieved wide recognition in 2003 after performing at Westminster Cathedral during Pope John Paul II's silver jubilee. Buoyed by that appearance, her 2004 debut, Premiere, hit number one on the U.K. Classical Album Chart. She has enjoyed both critical and commercial success since, with six of her albums reaching the top of the U.K. classical charts. Two of those albums, 2004's Second Nature, and 2005's Living a Dream, also took home the Classic Brit Award for Album of the Year.

Award-winning violinist Daniel Hope presents an eclectic and accessible mix of neo-Baroque, minimalist and soundtrack favourites, including works and arrangements by contemporary masters like Ludovico Einaudi, Arvo Pärt, Karl Jenkins, Max Richter, Gabriel Prokofiev, Alex Baranowski and many more. “Spheres” features a curated collection of repertoire celebrating the idea, first brought forward by Pythagoras, that planetary movement creates its own kind of music, bringing beauty, harmony and simplicity to our complex solar system. This idea has fascinated philosophers, musicians, and mathematicians for centuries. Featured as main soloist on Max Richter’s acclaimed “Vivaldi Recomposed”, Hope is known for an effortless classical sound and intriguing approach to repertoire. Music of reflection, contemplation and relaxation.

The first short, single-volume history of the continent, from the author of the bestselling A Short History of England

By the former editor of the London Times, a vivid, evocative, and deeply knowledgeable history of this unique world capital.