Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

Welcome to the latest episode of Harmonious World , in which I interview musicians about how their music helps make the world more harmonious. I've known about  Kim Cypher  - sax player, composer and vocalist - for several years, but we've never actually met. It was a delight to chat with her  about her new album,  Catching Moments . Thanks to Kim for allowing me to play clips of tracks from  Catching Moments  alongside our conversation. Get in touch to let me know what you think! Thank you for listening to Harmonious World. Please rate, review and share: click on the link and subscribe to support the show. Don't forget the Quincy Jones quote that sums up why I do this: "Imagine what a harmonious world it would be if every single person, both young and old, shared a little of what he is good at doing."

I was delighted to be able to help Hitchin Creative and Visit Hitchin decorate the streets of our town with the very first Winter Art Trail. Designing the posters was fun. You can read some of the press release I wrote below: Repurposing stands originally used for hand sanitisers around the town, Hitchin Creative has created a trail of large paintings produced by members of our local artistic community. “We’re grateful to Town Centre Manager Tom Hardy and his team for coming up with the idea of making creative use of the stands,” says Hitchin Creative Chair Hilary Seabrook. “The 11 artists featured in the trail are all working locally and it’s great to be able to produce this first Winter Art Trail to coincide with the second Hitchin Winter Festival.” Hitchin Creative has taken over the administration of Hitchin Festival and details of Hitchin Winter Festival and the Winter Art Trail map are available online at www.hitchinfestival.co.uk . For more information about Hitchin Creative, ju...

On one of the coldest days of the year, we spent a relaxing and interesting day around the middle of the UK in Warwickshire, which prides itself on its connections with William Shakespeare. What I hadn’t realised was the connection with Jane Austen, via her mother’s cousin. Stoneleigh Abbey, a stunning connection with Jane Austen Christmas at Packwood House Baddesley Clinton Three stunning stately homes all gave a fascinating insight into how families have lived in the UK across centuries. The fact that these buildings - with a lot of original contents - are open to the visiting public is thanks to a lot of hard work, much from volunteers.

Singer, pianist and composer Laila Biali was my first guest on Harmonious World in June 2020. Tonight, we met for the first time at Ronnie Scott’s iconic jazz club, where she was joined on stage by the extraordinary sax player Emma Rawicz , whose gig I loved just ten days ago. It’s a great story, how these two unlikely musical talents met, as they’re both recording artists with ACT Music and performed a gig together a few months ago. For Canadian vocalist and pianist Laila, it was an obvious choice to including UK saxist Emma on her date at Ronnie Scott’s.  Also on stage with Laila and Emma was Laila’s husband, Ben Wittman, on drums and the brilliant bass player Max Luthert .  Laila and Emma together entranced the packed audience at Ronnie Scott’s, with originals from Laila’s impressive repertoire, including the recent release of ‘Wintersongs’. Thr pianist’s arrangements of standards such as ‘Autumn Leaves’, ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ and ‘Pennies From Heaven’ were equally inventive...

One of the joys of last week was spending time in Abbey Road studios, hearing the first notes of Michael Shapiro 's opera 'The Slave', based on the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer. The aria 'Let Me Live' was recorded by members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the incredible soprano Miah Persson, all conducted by Michael himself. Now it's time to start re-reading the novel.

The weather is often challenging in the UK and many people have been suffering because of the arrival of Storm Bert this weekend. All it brought for me was a little snow while I was staying with friends in Yorkshire. It was gone by lunchtime.