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Live from St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh

Marking 200 years of Longstone Lighthouse, Radio 3 embarks on a live musical relay around Britain’s coast, celebrating our lighthouses through music, stories and sound.

One by one, the lights come on…

In the week of World Maritime Day, Radio 3 embarks on a unique live journey around Britain’s coastline, marking the 200th anniversary of Longstone Lighthouse and celebrating the lights that have guarded our shores for generations.

Across twelve hours of live broadcasting, Where the Light Sings travels the length and breadth of the UK in a lighthouse relay, broadcasting from wild and remote places rarely heard on national radio. Presenters around the coast will pass the baton from Dungeness in Kent to Ardnamurchan in Scotland, Strumble Head in Wales, Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland and St Aidan's Church in Bamburgh, where the legendary Victorian lighthouse heroine Grace Darling is buried, before the journey heads towards the far south-western edges of Britain.

Petroc Trelawny anchors the adventure with a special journey of his own - providing updates along the way - to reach his location for the final broadcast of the day as the sun goes down.

Music provides the soundtrack to the journey, from great classical works inspired by the sea, islands and lighthouses, to music rooted in the landscapes and communities around them. Live performances from around the coastline sit alongside the elemental sounds of the sea - crashing waves, wind, gulls and bells - and voices of lighthouse keepers, engineers, lifesavers, sailors, and those whose lives have been shaped by these extraordinary places.

From the first broadcast on the shingle landscape of Dungeness to a final destination on the Atlantic edge of Britain as darkness falls, Where the Light Sings is a shared adventure and a celebration of light, music and our enduring relationship with the sea.

For this fifth light of the day, Kate Molleson presents live from St Aidan’s Church in Bamburgh, looking out to Longstone Lighthouse - the churchyard that is the final resting place of Grace Darling, the heroine of the famous 1838 Longstone Lighthouse rescue, and home to the Victorian canopied monument to her, visible to sailors as they traverse the waters nearby.

Kate will explore the history of female lifesavers with the help of a member of the local RNLI and take a trip out across the waves to Longstone Lighthouse itself to explore Grace Darling’s story with local musician and field recordist Chris Watson. There’ll be live music from the Royal Northern Chamber Ensemble, the Berwick Brass Quintet and St Aidan’s church bell ringers. Also, foghorn expert Jennifer Lucy Allen drops in to chat about the disappearing, mysterious sounds of the coastline, and there will be a host of special RNLI guests.

23 days left to listen

2 hours

Last on

Last Saturday 16:00
BBC Radio 3

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Live from Strumble Head

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Live from St Agnes Lighthouse

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Music Played

  • Henry Russell

    A Life on the Ocean Wave

    Performer: Band of HM Royal Marines. Conductor: Lt. Col. N. J. Grace OBE RM.
    • Ocean Wave.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.

  • Henry Russell

    A Life on the Ocean Wave

    Performer: Band of HM Royal Marines. Conductor: Lt. Col. N. J. Grace OBE RM.
    • Sony.

  • Andrei Krylov

    Bamburgh Castle Prelude

    Performer: Andrei Krylov.
    • Andrei Krylov.

  • Lorenzo Gaetano Zavateri

    Violin Concerto in G major, Op 1 No 2, 'Tempesta di mare'

    Performer: Gottfried von der Goltz. Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.
    • Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 44 No. 1 - III. Andante espressivo ma con moto

    Ensemble: Royal Northern Sinfonia Ensemble.

  • Edward Elgar

    Sea Pictures Op.37 (Where Corals Lie)

    Singer: Dame Sarah Connolly. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vernon Handley.
    • Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius, Sea Pictures.
    • CHANDOS.
    • 4.

  • Edward Elgar

    Sea pictures Op.37 for mezzo-soprano and orchestra: no.4; Where corals lie

    Singer: Dame Sarah Connolly. Conductor: Andrew Davis. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra.
    • Chandos.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op 112

    Choir: Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis. Orchestra: Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Leif Segerstam.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, Op. 112

    Conductor: Leif Segerstam. Orchestra: Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Choir: Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis.
    • Beethoven: Mass in C Major & Other Sacred Works.
    • Naxos.
    • 3.

  • Edward MacDowell

    Nautilus (Sea Pieces, Op 55)

    Conductor: Charles Johnson. Orchestra: Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic.
    • Albany Records.

  • Karen Tanaka

    Water Dance for piano: 2nd mvt (Very softly with shimmering light)

    Performer: Signe Bakke.
    • Crystalline - Piano Music by Karen Tanaka.
    • 2L.
    • 3.

  • Various Trad

    Medley of Sea Shanties

    Ensemble: Berwick Brass Quintet.

  • Trad.

    The Fair Flower of Northumberland

    Performer: Amble Skuse. Performer: David McGuinness. Music Arranger: Alasdair Roberts. Singer: Alasdair Roberts.
    • Drag City.

  • Charles Avison

    Concerto in 7 parts in D minor Op4, no 1 - 1st and 2nd movements

    Ensemble: Royal Northern Sinfonia Ensemble.

  • Anna Clyne

    In the Gale

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Performer: Anna Clyne.
    • Downtown Records.

  • Alistair Anderson

    Air for Maurice Ogg

    Performer: Alistair Anderson. Performer: Tony Corcoran. Performer: Martin Dunn.
    • Topic.

  • Wilhelm Peterson‐Berger

    Waves Against the Shore (Frosoblomster, Book II)

    Performer: Noriko Ogawa.
    • BIS.

  • Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor

    Sea Drift

    Choir: Choir of King’s College, London. Conductor: Joseph Fort.
    • Delphian.

  • Philip Glass

    Light - for Orchestra (extract)

    Performer: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Marin Alsop.
    • Naxos.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Sibelius: The Oceanides, Op. 73

    Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Paavo Berglund.
    • Sibelius: Finlandia/Tone Poems.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 5.

  • Jean Sibelius

    The Oceanides Op.73

    Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Paavo Berglund.
    • Warner.

Broadcast

  • Last Saturday 16:00
    BBC Radio 3