Countertenor Alexander Chance – last year's winner of the International Handel Singing Competition – joins Gramophone Editor Martin Cullingford on this week's podcast to talk about his debut album of English lute songs, 'Drop not, mine Eyes', recorded with lutenist Tony Carr and available from Linn. 

Gramophone Podcasts are given in association with Wigmore Hall. (See below for the coming week's concerts.)

You can listen to the Podcast above. To hear other Gramophone podcasts, or to subscribe for free to new editions, search for 'Gramophone' in your Podcast App of choice, or visit Gramophone's page on Apple Music podcasts. Meanwhile, further down this page you can also listen to 'Drop not, mine Eyes' via Apple Music. 

This Gramophone podcast is published in association with Wigmore Hall, where this week's concerts begin on:

Saturday April 22: three concerts by the contemporary music ensemble JACK Quartet – at 11.30am, 3pm, and 7.30pm – each one featuring a range of works from our own era.

Sunday April 23, 11.30am: cellist Nathaniel Boyd and pianist Alexander Boyd perform music by Debussy, Falla and Shostakovich,

Sunday April 23, 7.30pm: pianist Javier Perianes performs a programme called Crossroads, featuring Clara and Robert Schumann, Brahms and Granados's Goyescas.

Monday April 24, 1pm: viola player Lawrence Power and lutenist Sergio Bucheli offer a programme called ‘Imitations’, which traverses different countries and periods and includes the first performance of a major new work by Fazıl Say.

Monday April 24, 7.30pm: The English Concert and Harry Bicket are joined by soloists Olga Kulchynska, soprano, Emily D'Angelo, mezzo-soprano, Oliver Wass on harp and Tom Foster on organ for an evening of Handel.

Tuesday April 25, 1pm: musicians from the Purcell school perform works by Danzi, Dohnányi, Franck and Rachmaninov.

Tuesday April 25, 7.30pm: cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Connie Shih offer a recital of Chopin, Mendelssohn, Moscheles and Schumann.

Wednesday April 26, 1pm: pianist Aidan Mikdad offers a recital of Schumann and Scriabin.

Wednesday April 26, 7.30pm: pianist Jonathan Plowright takes to the Wigmore Hall stage for a recital of music by Franck, Poulenc and Tchaikovsky.

Thursday April 27, 1pm: trumpeter Matilda Lloyd and the Britten Sinfonia Soloists launch their album 'Casta Diva' which explores the full emotional range of the trumpet through arrangements based on bel canto opera.

Thursday April 27, 7.30pm: the Castalian String Quartet perform music by Britten, Dvořák and Haydn.

Friday April 28, 1pm: Key Stage 1 pupils are invited into a Marvellous Magical Jukebox.

Friday April 28, 7.30pm: the Wigmore Hall week ends with a programme of Berberian, Berio, Cage and others from soprano Claron McFadden and pianist Alexander Melnikov.

The programme for the 2023-24 Wigmore Hall season has been announced. Full details can be found at Wigmore Hall's website where you can also watch a video of the Hall’s Director John Gilhooly introducing the season.

Priority booking for concerts between September and December 2023 is now open. General sale of tickets for the same period will open on Thursday, May 4 and tickets for under 35s concerts will go on sale Thursday, May 11.

And don’t forget that tickets for Gramophone’s Centenary Concert on May 14 are on sale now.