Radio choice Charlotte Runcie

And Then There Were Nun RADIO 4, 11.00AM

Bishop Martin Shaw offers a meditative reflection on his role as an official visitor offering pastoral care and support to dwindling religious communities in Devon. These communities – sometimes consisting now of only three or four nuns, living in a building designed for 20 or 30 – are often ageing, and struggling to continue their way of life. With few new recruits, there are important questions to be asked about how nuns and monks can adapt to changing cultures while preserving something fundamental to British religious life.

BBC Proms 2017 RADIO 3, 7.30PM

 The BBC Proms finish off the week with a sumptuous performance of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, live from the Royal Albert Hall. It’s the first of three politically themed staged works to take place as part of this year’s season, and was first performed in Vienna hot on the heels of the French Revolution. Juanjo Mena conducts the BBC Philharmonic with Spanish choir Orfeón Donostiarra, and a cast featuring tenor Stuart Skelton as Florestan and Australian soprano Ricarda Merbeth as his resourceful wife Leonore.