Before Sunrise

From sunset until sunrise on the solstice, Verity Sharp presents a special dream-like night of radio documentaries from Radio 3's archives, celebrating the imaginative possibilities of radio, accompanied by music for enchantment.

During nine hours of overnight programming, Between the Ears documentaries are interspersed with music that speaks to the theme of the night (midsummer, nighttime, dreams, the forest, enchantment...). Midsummer Dreaming also pays homage to the spirit of the Third Programme, Radio 3’s predecessor, which took to the air 80 years ago in 1946.

Just before the light returns, we step into a nightmare, lose ourselves in the forest and ask if we can trust what we see...

03.30
Private Dreams and Public Nightmares (1957)
Sound by Daphne Oram and Desmond Briscoe
Produced by Donald McWhinnie

A radiophonic poem by Frederick Bradnum. This pioneering work was seen as the last step on the road to the formation of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Described by producer Donald McWhinnie as 'an attempt to convey a new kind of emotional and intellectual experience by means of radiophonic effects'. Featuring Joan Sanderson, Andrew Sachs and Frederick Treves.

03.56
Omay (2018)
Produced by David Waters (Phantom Productions)

A young anthropologist and her daughter enter the Amazon to live alongside a previously uncontacted tribe. Featuring an immersive binaural forest soundscape, recorded in the Amazon by multi-award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry and mixed with Laura's taped forest recordings, we journey deep under the forest canopy.

04.35
Sight-Reading (2023)
Produced by Jon Tjhia (Falling Tree)

In a series of instructions, speculative directions and personal knowledges – overlapping images composed of old light – we encounter a choreography of gestures that house the incalculable forms of our living. How are we displaced from what we see? And what kind of unstable authority do we wield over a world constantly evading our grasp?

Midsummer Dreaming was produced by Alan Hall and Eleanor McDowall
Exec produced by Phil Smith from Reduced Listening
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3