Ivo van Hove

Private Passions

Michael Berkeley talks to the award-winning theatre director Ivo van Hove about his musical passions.

The director of Amsterdam's prestigious Toneelgroep theatre, Ivo works all over the world, notably with the New York Theatre Workshop and at the Barbican in London. Equally at home with Sophocles, Shakespeare and contemporary American drama, he won huge acclaim for his stripped-back production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America, and his recent A View From The Bridge with the Young Vic won, among many other awards, two Oliviers and two Tonys.

Ivo talks to Michael Berkeley about working with David Bowie on his musical Lazarus; about the close working and personal relationship with his partner, the designer Jan Versweyveld; and the dramatic decision he made to leave law school at the age of 20 to pursue a life in theatre.

His musical choices reflect the emotional intensity and sparse aesthetic of his directing style, with pieces by Brad Mehldau, Webern and Ligeti, as well as songs by Rufus Wainwright and Joni Mitchell.

Producer: Jane Greenwood A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3.