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Kate Molleson meets Norma Waterson, one of the doyennes of the English folk song revival, and Mark-Anthony Turnage, one of the UK's leading composers.

Norma Waterson grew up in Hull and under the influence of her grand-mother spent her childhood singing with her brother Mike and her sister Lal. Later, with her husband the guitarist Martin Carthy, she formed the eminent Waterson:Carthy band which included their daughter Eliza. These groups delved into a heritage of traditional English folk song, a heritage that when they began performing together in the 1960s existed mainly in archive recordings and song books but which The Watersons fired back into life with their uncompromisingly direct voices and harmonies of the severest beauty.

Mark-Anthony Turnage's fairy-tale opera, Coraline, is about to open on the London stage. Inspired by Neil Gaiman's bestselling fantasy novel, Mark-Anthony shares what attracted him to the subject, how he conjures up spooky opera, and Michael Rosen offers reflections on why scary stories transfer so well to the stage.

Lutes, theorbos, strings and things: Elizabeth Kenny & Paula Chateauneuf discuss the musical world of the Renaissance, when soft plucked strings reigned supreme, and lutes were tuned with your teeth.

Plus, Robert Hollingworth of vocal group, I Fagiolini, offers an alternative playlist of Easter choral works.