The Bee Cello

What this episode covers

Writer and musician Kate Kennedy takes a personal look at five lost cellos, and what they can tell us of those who played and loved them and how our identities are shaped by the physical, social and psychological impacts of performance.An abandoned cello rescued from a skip stands alone under a pergola in an orchard of a stately home on the outskirts of Nottingham. In an eccentric experiment, created by one of the world experts in honeybees, apiarist and physicist Prof. Martin Benscik has donated the instrument to 400,000 bees who now live very happily inside the cello. Kate Kennedy reflects on how the colony has 'improved' the cello's design by gluing wax onto specific resonant parts whilst the intelligent bees’ buzzing, duets with the cello as the wind whistles through its strings in its exposed location. This is the story of sharing vibrations with them, sharing music, and learning what a cello means to a community of bees.Producer: Adrian Washbourne Technical production by Mike Sherwood Executive Producer: Rami TzabarA TellTale Industries production for BBC Radio 3

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