Mark Forrest

Breakfast @BBCRadio3 marks International Dawn Chorus Day with Rossini, Howells and Caroline Shaw in praise of the magpie, nightingale and swallow respectively. I'm at R3 in Salford and a little bit far from home for a live DC update so here's yesterday morning's 0639 offering.

Here's this spring's first cuckoo flower happy in the back garden while its winged namesake arrived back from Africa to our Yorkshire Dale as it always does on St George's Day this week. I'll celebrate that and the Proms 2026 launch on Sunday Breakfast @BBCRadio3 6.30-9am

Fifth bird on the list always arrives on St. George’s Day.

Warm up for the Manchester Marathon with a Rodrigo Concerto for 4 guitars. Or for a more leisurely start to the day let me tempt you with a luminous Vaughan Williams Romanza, a Boulanger depiction of a spring morning and a dreamy, mysterious Sibelius symphony @BBCRadio3 6.30-9am

Desert Island Disc klaxon. Strauss' Four Last Songs with soprano Sarah Wegener from Bridgewater Hall with @BBCPhilharmonic Plus a dramatic Tintagel by Bax, forbidden love for Tristan & Isolde and the UK premiere of Edmund Finnis's The Landscape Wakes. See you @BBCRadio3 7.30pm

This morning I'm serving a Turkish Breakfast with a side accompaniment from Mozart, there's music for an Orthodox Easter Sunday and following last night's stunning Met Opera Don Giovanni we celebrate the unusual and innovative middle name. See you @BBCRadio3 from 6.30am to 9am.

Friday morning stroll with the girls then to the BBC studios in Leeds for Bach’s vibrant and celebratory Magnificat and Rachmaninov’s expansive and emotional Second Symphony. Classical Live ⁦@BBCRadio3⁩ 1pm-4pm

Classical Live from the BBC studios in Leeds takes you to Montpellier for a concert performance featuring the charismatic and techically brillliant Yuja Wang directing the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's dazzling and passionate First Piano Concerto @BBCRadio3 1-4pm

I think she’s a good and fit enough mum to handle triplet gimmers.

We've seen off Storm Dave now replaced by glorious sunshine in Yorkshire so join us for Classical Live from Leeds and an Easter Monday Bach Cantata from Les Talens Lyriques recorded live at the Philharmonie in Paris. Plus Arvo Pärt's pivotal Third Symphony @BBCRadio3 1-4pm

An eight foot dry stone wall protected this instinctive mother last night. Took herself away from the flock to find the most sheltered place to give birth as storm David blasted through at midnight.

Dodged Storm Dave to bring you mystical Easter magic from Vaughan Williams, a Bach oratorio first heard today in 1725 and Biber’s expressive Resurrection Rosary sonata. And I’ve hidden the treasures for the Easter Egg Hunt. You’re never too old. Breakfast 6.30-9am @BBCRadio3

Mark’s bringing provisions for Sunday’s Breakfast Show.

For the first Sunday Breakfast of BST we'll spotlight a new National Trail with music that celebrates nature and the countryside. Enjoy Butterworth, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and Heino Eller. And feel free to nominate your favourite long distance walk @BBCRadio3 from 6.30 to 9am

If you, like the day old chicks, enjoyed the Shostakovich Fifth yesterday come back and join us today on Classical Live for his monumental Eighth Symphony played by the Czech Philharmonic conducted by Semyon Bychkov. We're on air from Leeds from 1-4pm @BBCRadio3

Our Easter chicks hatched this morning. They'll be introduced to their broody hen foster mother later today. In the meantime they're enjoying their first Classical Live with Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending and Shostakovich's Fifth symphony the highlights. 1-4pm @BBCRadio3

@TonyTudor127788 @BBCPhilharmonic @BBCRadio3 May your hatches be battened down.

@ForrestMark @BBCPhilharmonic @BBCRadio3 Sunny Southport…

Sleet, hail and frozen rain sent everyone inside apart from hardy dogwalkers. Here on Classical Live we're reflecting four seasons in a day with a concert from @BBCPhilharmonic from their studio here in Salford. Plus chamber music from LSO St Lukes. Drop in @BBCRadio3

How stunning is that. You can see the Silberman Organ in the Katholische Hofkirche in Dresden; you'll hear it on today's Classical Live. Plus more hand picked live concert recordings from the Prague Spring Festival 2025. Join me live from @BBCRadio3 Salford studios 1pm -4pm

Classical Live is back at the BBC studios in Leeds preparing to take you to the Czech capital for a Prague Spring Festival preview with some of last year's highlights. And to begin we've a sell out live concert from Wigmore Hall with these two. Join us @BBCRadio3 from 1 to 4pm