PODCAST · society
Alain Elkann Interviews
by Alain Elkann
Alain Elkann Interviews podcasts are an unprecedented window into the minds of some of the most well-known and -respected figures of the last twenty-five years. Alain Elkann has mastered the art of the interview, approaching the task as somewhere between snapping a photograph and writing a short story. With a background in novels and journalism, and having published over twenty books translated across ten languages, Alain infuses his interviews with innovation, allowing them to flow freely and organically. A small selection, to which we will gradually add, are presented here as podcasts for the first time.
Episodes
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Amos Gitai on Art, War and the Power of Ideas - 306 - Alain Elkann Interviews
Amos Gitai, the acclaimed 75-year-old Israeli architect-turned-filmmaker known for his politically charged and deeply reflective documentaries, premiered his latest work, The Road to Jericho, out of competition at the 2026 International Venice Film Festival. The 75-minute film chronicles the…
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Inside New York's Most Beloved Museum: Axel Rüger on the New Era of The Frick - 271 - Alain Elkann Interviews
THE REGENERATION OF THE FRICK. Axel Rüger is a German art historian, curator and museum director. Director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from 2006 to 2019, he previously worked as a curator of Dutch art at the National Gallery in London. He led the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2019...
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Paddy McKillen - 14 - Alain Elkann Interviews
REINVENTING LONDON'S LEGENDARY LUXURY HOSPITALITY. International entrepreneur Paddy McKillen has a passion for the hospitality business and property development. In 2004 he was part of a group that bought four of London's 5-star hotels: Claridge's, The Berkeley, The Connaught and The Savoy.
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"Identity Is Something You Choose" - Simone Fattal on Art, Exile, and Belonging - 266 - Alain Elkann Interviews
MANIFESTATIONS OF THE VOYAGE. Simone Fattal is a Lebanese-American artist. Born in 1942 in Damascus, she was educated in Beirut and Paris, studying philosophy at the École des Lettres and the Sorbonne, as well as archaeology at the École du Louvre. Simone Fattal and Etel Adnan (1925–2021) were…
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Aimone di Savoia-Aosta: Russia, Italy and a Life Between Two Worlds - 300 - Alain Elkann Interviews
A LIFE OF HONOR. Aimone di Savoia Aosta, 6th Duke of Aosta, was born in Florence in 1967. After studying at the Naval College in Venice and beginning his professional life in London, he moved to Russia in the early 1990s. He later joined the Pirelli Group and more recently returned to Italy after...
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Alejandro Aravena - 124 - Alain Elkann Interviews
BUILDING TOWARDS EQUALITY. Alejandro Aravena is a Chilean architect and executive director of the firm Elemental S.A. In 2016 he won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture's highest honour, and was the director and curator of the Architecture Section of the 2016 Venice Biennale. From 2000…
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Alvise Casellati: Can Music Heal? The Powerful Story Behind Opera & Therapy - 280 - Alain Elkann Interviews
CHAMPION OF ITALIAN OPERA. Alvise Casellati was born in Padua, Italy, from a Venetian musical family with important ties to the top classical music scene in the 19th and 20th centuries. He is currently serving as Artistic Director of the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, one of the most prestigious…
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Andrew Graham-Dixon: The Hidden Meaning of Vermeer - 282 - Alain Elkann Interviews
LUMINARY IN ART CRITIQUE. Andrew Graham-Dixon is a leading art critic and presenter of arts television in the English-speaking world. With a long history of public service in the field of the visual arts he has won numerous awards for writing and broadcasting. His book "Caravaggio A Life Sacred…
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Antonio Citterio: Why Good Design Starts With the End of a Product's Life - 276 - Alain Elkann Interviews
DAY TO DAY BRILLIANCE. ANTONIO CITTERIO is an Italian architect, furniture and industrial designer. Today his cross-disciplinary practice for architecture and interior design is known as "ACPV ARCHITECTS Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel". The firm works internationally, developing projects on all...
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Antony Gormley - 42 - Alain Elkann Interviews
CONNECTING THE WORLD. The sculptor ANTONY GORMLEY is perhaps best known for his large installations in public space. A major exhibition of his work was recently held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. His next exhibition is at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Marais.
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Architecture as a Language - Sean Griffiths on Cities, Power & Design - 260 - Alain Elkann Interviews
MODERN ARCHITECT. Sean Griffiths is Professor of Architecture at the University of Westminster and former Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University. His current architecture and design practice Modern Architect was founded in 2014 and has worked largely on residential,...
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Barry Diller: Either You Are or You Aren't - A Life of Bold Decisions - 247 - Alain Elkann Interviews
WHO KNEW. Barry Diller is an American businessman and philanthropist who recently published his life story in his book Who Knew with Simon and Schuster. The chairman and senior executive of IAC and Expedia Group, he founded the Fox Broadcasting Company with Rupert Murdoch and USA Broadcasting. He...
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Benoist F. Drut: The Art of Collecting - What Most People Get Wrong About Taste - 289 - Alain Elkann Interviews
SEAMLESSLY BLENDING ART DECO AND CONTEMPORARY DESIGN. Benoist F. Drut is managing partner of Maison Gerard, a leading source for French Art Deco furniture, lighting and objects, and — more recently — postwar and contemporary design. Founded in 1974 by Gerardus Widdershoven, Maison Gerard…
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Bianca Jagger: "I Am a Human Rights Defender. That Is My Mission" - 279 - Alain Elkann Interviews
DEFENDER OF JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS. Bianca Jagger is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation (BJHRF), a UK-based human rights organisation that defends human rights and civil liberties, promotes international justice, campaigns to end violence...
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Caravaggio, Vermeer & the Power of Museums - Dr Caroline Campbell - 254 - Alain Elkann Interviews
ART FOR PUBLIC PURPOSE. Dr Caroline Campbell was born and educated in Belfast, and became Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in 2022. She studied Modern History at University College Oxford, and has an MA and PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. A former Fellow…
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Charles Zana - 199 - Alain Elkann Interviews
CLASSIC WITH A MODERN TWIST. Charles Zana is a highly sensitive architect who imagines each project through the lens of a French lifestyle. He is also a passionate collector like his father, and has done in-depth research on the great Italian design masters of the 20th century such as Ettore...
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Colin Bailey: The Caravaggio Masterpiece New York Rarely Gets to See - 270 - Alain Elkann Interviews
REALISING WONDERFUL IDEAS. Colin Bailey is a British art historian and Director of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. He is a scholar of eighteenth and nineteenth century French art, with a specific interest in the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. For the first time ever in America,...
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Dambisa Moyo - 160 - Alain Elkann Interviews
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND HUMAN PROGRESS. Dambisa Moyo is a Zambian-born economist and writer whose books, articles, and public lectures centre on the creation of wealth in a global economy.
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Dame Caroline Michel on How AI, TikTok and Amazon Are Transforming Publishing - 297 - Alain Elkann Interviews
IN LOVE WITH LITERATURE. Caroline Michel is since 2007 both the CEO of literary agency Peters Fraser and Dunlop (PFD) and has served as Chair and previously Trustee of Hay Literary Festival. She is a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), a high-ranking official award that is…
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Damien Hirst - 48 - Alain Elkann Interviews
CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN PARIS. Damien Hirst discusses his career and the new paintings on beauty, life and death that he plans to exhibit at Fondation Cartier.
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Diana Widmaier-Picasso - 129 - Alain Elkann Interviews
PICASSO THE MAGUS. Diana Widmaier-Picasso recently published a book with anthropologist Philippe Charlier (Gallimard) titled Picasso Sorcier and curated an exhibition about her mother Maya with Emilia Philippot that is on until December 31, 2022 at Musée Picasso-Paris. She has also had a...
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Fabrizio Moretti - 122 - Alain Elkann Interviews
TOP QUALITY. Fabrizio Moretti's new London gallery in Duke Street, St. James's, will open on July 1st 2022. The gallery will focus on Old Master paintings and sculptures for top clients and museums.
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Federico Campagna - 234 - Alain Elkann Interviews
SPEAKING TO THE DEFEATED. Federico Campagna is an Italian philosopher based in London. His research concerns the metaphysics, politics and history of world-building. His books are Technic and Magic (Bloomsbury, 2018) and Prophetic Culture (Bloomsbury, 2021) and his next book Otherworlds,...
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Francesco Billari on Population Decline, AI & Identity - 275 - Alain Elkann Interviews
LEADING AN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY. Francesco Billari is Professor of Demography at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. He became Rector in November 2022 after having held the role of Dean of the Faculty. He has worked at the University of Oxford Department of Sociology, at Nuffield College, and...
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François Halard - 85 - Alain Elkann Interviews
CURIOUSLY SUCCESSFUL. The French fashion photographer François Halard is well known for his interior and architectural images.
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From Hollywood to the Art World: Marco Brambilla on AI, Cinema & Creativity - 294 - Alain Elkann Interviews
PIONEER OF VIDEO ART AND CULTURE. Marco Brambilla is a leading figure in contemporary video art, internationally recognised for his pioneering use of digital imaging technologies and immersive moving image installations. The Italian-born Canadian artist and film director is best known for work…
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Graydon Carter - 231 - Alain Elkann Interviews
GOOD GOING. Graydon Carter launched his enjoyable digital weekly newsletter Air Mail in 2019. He was the editor of Vanity Fair for twenty-five years, and under him Vanity Fair won numerous awards. Named to the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame, he is also an author and editor of...
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Hans Ulrich Obrist - 183 - Alain Elkann Interviews
I WANT TO CREATE JUNCTIONS. Hans Ulrich Obrist is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian who lives and works in London where he is Artistic Director at Serpentine. Obrist is the author of The Interview Project, an extensive ongoing project of interviews, and is also co-editor of the…
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Hope, Friendship, and Faith: A Life of Service with Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe - 245 - Alain Elkann Interviews
IN CONVERSATION WITH CARDINAL TIMOTHY RADCLIFFE : A LIFE OF HOPE AND HUMANITY. Timothy Radcliffe OP is an English priest who served as Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. He is the only friar of the Dominican Order's English Province to hold the office of Master-General. Created a...
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Inside Global Power: Giuliano da Empoli on Trump, Putin & the New Tech Elites - 262 - Alain Elkann Interviews
MPERIAL PLAY. Giuliano da Empoli was born in 1973. He is an Italian and Swiss writer and political scientist living in France. He was a senior advisor to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. His debut novel The Wizard of the Kremlin became an international bestseller and was translated into 35...
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Inside Italy's Most Romantic Hotels with Marie-Louise Sciò - 237 - Alain Elkann Interviews
CURATING THE VERY DIFFERENT IDENTITIES OF THE PELLICANO HOTELS GROUP. Marie-Louise Sciò is CEO of the Pellicano Hotels group in Italy, which today comprises Hotel Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole in Tuscany, La Posta Vecchia Hotel near Rome, and Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa in Ischia. The youngest...
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Inside LUMA Arles: Maja Hoffmann on Art, Nature & Change - 252 - Alain Elkann Interviews
A VISION OF TRANSFORMATION. Explore the impact of Maja Hoffmann on contemporary culture through her LUMA Foundation and innovative art projects. Maja Hoffmann is a Swiss art collector and patron. The Founder and President of LUMA Foundation, she has led the development of LUMA Arles in Provence…
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Inside the Mind of a True Original: Why Rolf Sachs Refuses to Copy - 243 - Alain Elkann Interviews
ALWAYS ON A ROLL. Rolf Sachs is an artist born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1955 who works across a diverse range of media, from photography, painting, sculpture and installation, to interiors and set design. In 2018 he moved to Rome where he opened a new studio in 2020. From July 17, 2025 to...
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Ivor Braka - 151 - Alain Elkann Interviews
WORKING FROM HOME. Ivor Braka is an art dealer and collector who works privately from his home in London rather than a gallery. For many years he has also been involved in the restoration of Gunton Park in North Norfolk, where he now owns and runs two celebrated pubs.
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James Daunt - 233 - Alain Elkann Interviews
A REMARKABLE BOOKSELLER. James Daunt is the founder of the Daunt Books chain in the UK, and has been managing director of Waterstones, the bookshop chain of more than 300 stores, since 2011. In 2019 he also became CEO of Barnes & Noble, the American bookstore chain of some 650 stores. An Honorary...
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Jay McInerney on New York During COVID: A City Without People - 283 - Alain Elkann Interviews
COVID REFLECTIONS. Jay McInerney is a well-known American writer, one of the most gifted of his generation. Novelist, screenwriter and wine connoisseur, McInerney recently published See You on the Other Side, the eagerly anticipated final volume of his stunningly accomplished and profoundly...
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Joseph Dirand - 51 - Alain Elkann Interviews
THE MINIMALIST WITH MAXIMUM EXPRESSION. Joseph Dirand is an architect and interior designer based in Paris. He started his own design firm in 1999.
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Larry Gagosian - 34 - Alain Elkann Interviews
GLOBAL ART. The art dealer Larry Gagosian has evolved his business into a global network of seventeen exhibition spaces with a vibrant contemporary program that features the work of leading international artists.
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Luc Tuymans on the Problem with Today's Art World - 238 - Alain Elkann Interviews
A LINEAGE OF THE REAL AND THE AUTHENTIC. Luc Tuymans is a Belgian visual artist, many of whose paintings explore people's relationship with history and confront their ability to ignore it. World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust is a recurring theme in his many faceted work. Tuymans is a…
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Luke Syson - 136 - Alain Elkann Interviews
CHAMPION OF THE REMARKABLE. Luke Syson is Director and Marlay Curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University since 2019. From antiquity to the present day, the Fitzwilliam houses a world-renowned collection of over half a million beautiful works of art, masterpiece paintings and...
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Marcantonio Brandolini d'Adda: How to Turn Family Legacy Into a Modern Business - 288 - Alain Elkann Interviews
A CREATIVE ENTREPRENEUR. Marcantonio Brandolini d'Adda, born in 1991, is a Venetian entrepreneur and artist with diverse creative pursuits. The family business, Laguna~B, specialises in contemporary Murano glassware, and from this base Brandolini d'Adda is now expanding his activities into a...
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Michelle Yeoh: "The Harder You Work, the Luckier You Become" - 301 - Alain Elkann Interviews
FEARLESS, ALWAYS EVOLVING. Michelle Yeoh, the Malaysian actress born in 1962, is considered to be one of the greatest female action movie stars. In a career spanning over four decades, she has acted in film and television productions covering a wide range of genres and received various accolades....
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Miquel Barceló - 100 - Alain Elkann Interviews
CONTINUOUS TRANSFORMATION. The Spanish contemporary artist Miquel Barceló is known for his relief-like mixed-media paintings, expressive bronze sculptures and ceramics.
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Mishal Husain: The Art of the Interview in an Age of Noise - 261 - Alain Elkann Interviews
A JOURNEY THROUGH JOURNALISM. Mishal Husain is a celebrated British journalist who joined Bloomberg from the BBC, where she presented its leading news programme Today on BBC Radio 4 for over a decade. Before joining Today in 2013, she was an anchor on the international news channel BBC World…
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Nathalie Droulers: Architecture, Taste and the Balance of Opposites - 284 - Alain Elkann Interviews
COMBINING ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN. Nathalie Droulers and her twin sister Virginie were born in Milan in 1973. Nathalie graduated in Architecture from the Polytechnic University in Milan in 1997. She worked in New York as a Creative Director in product design development and in 2000...
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Patti Smith: The Difference Between Wanting To Be and Being an Artist - 295 - Alain Elkann Interviews
PATTI SMITH – WORKER. Patti Smith was born in Chicago in 1946. In the 1970s the American poet, songwriter, singer, and visual artist blazed a trail for punk rock artists, especially women. Patti Smith earned herself such titles as "godmother of punk" and "punk's poet laureate" with her…
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Paul Theroux - 195 - Alain Elkann Interviews
WRITERS ARE UNBALANCED PEOPLE. Paul Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer known for his highly personal award-winning observations on many locales. Over 50 works of fiction and travel writing include modern classics The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, My Secret…
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Piero Lissoni on Design, Architecture & Creative Freedom - 286 - Alain Elkann Interviews
MILANESE MASTER OF CONTEMPORARY DESIGN. Piero Lissoni is a multi-award-winning-architect, designer and art director. One of the masters of contemporary design, he has an almost forty-year history in the development of projects the world over in the fields of architecture, landscape, interior,...
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Roula Khalaf - 112 - Alain Elkann Interviews
DOING BRILLIANTLY. Roula Khalaf is the Editor of the Financial Times (FT). Born in Beirut, after studying in the United States at Syracuse University and Columbia University she first worked for Forbes magazine. From 1995 she was a foreign correspondent at the FT, and in 2016 became Deputy Editor...
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Saskia de Rothschild - 92 - Alain Elkann Interviews
AN EXTRAORDINARY LOVE OF NATURE. Saskia de Rothschild became the youngest person to lead a first growth Bordeaux wine estate in 2018 at the age of 31.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Alain Elkann Interviews podcasts are an unprecedented window into the minds of some of the most well-known and -respected figures of the last twenty-five years. Alain Elkann has mastered the art of the interview, approaching the task as somewhere between snapping a photograph and writing a short story. With a background in novels and journalism, and having published over twenty books translated across ten languages, Alain infuses his interviews with innovation, allowing them to flow freely and organically. A small selection, to which we will gradually add, are presented here as podcasts for the first time.
HOSTED BY
Alain Elkann
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Alain Elkann Interviews have?
Alain Elkann Interviews currently has 278 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Alain Elkann Interviews about?
Alain Elkann Interviews podcasts are an unprecedented window into the minds of some of the most well-known and -respected figures of the last twenty-five years. Alain Elkann has mastered the art of the interview, approaching the task as somewhere between snapping a photograph and writing a short...
How often does Alain Elkann Interviews release new episodes?
Alain Elkann Interviews publishes regularly with 278 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Alain Elkann Interviews?
You can listen to Alain Elkann Interviews on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Alain Elkann Interviews?
Alain Elkann Interviews is created and hosted by Alain Elkann.
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