BBC Music November 2024

This issue's captivating musical personalities include the American conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who - on the eve of his 80th birthday - looks back on a rich life of music-making in the company of Michael White. And we profile another American icon - Wendy Carlos, the pioneering composer and trans icon who switched millions on to electronic Bach.

This month's big interview is with the pianist Alexander Kantorow; for Musical Destinations, Adrian Mourby takes in the many musical delights of Oxford. For Composer of the Month we profile Leroy Anderson, the man behind the immortal Christmas classic 'Sleigh RIde'; and we're even staying with the wintry theme for Building a Library, in which Malcolm Hayes seeks out the best recordings of Richard Strauss's evocative Alpine Symphony.