To celebrate 50 years since Stravinsky’s death, BBC Radio 3 is presenting a weeklong Stravinsky focus across all its schedules, from the weekday series Composer of the Week to Music Matters and Record Review. It culminates on Saturday April 10 with ‘Stravinsky Day’, the highlight of which is River of Music, a five-and-a-half hour curated ‘flow’ of 50 works written between 1904 and 1965 and showcasing the composer’s genius.

‘Stravinsky 50’ starts on Saturday April 3 with a special episode of J to Z, where pianist Julian Joseph explores the relationship between Stravinsky and jazz. From Monday April 5, Stravinsky is the subject of Donald Macleod’s Composer of the Week, during which his connections with Rimsky-Korsakov, Diaghilev and Bach are discussed, along with his exile in LA and his late move towards serialist methods of composition.

On the final day, prior to River Music, Nigel Simeone discusses different recordings of Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with Andrew McGregor for Building a Library, part of Record Review which also includes Southbank Director Gillian Moore surveying Stravinsky recordings from the archives. And for River Music itself, which begins at 1pm, in addition to the 50 recordings (some performed by the composer himself), 10 leading musicians – including Sakari Oramo, Vasily Petrenko and Beatrice Rana – discuss their approach to performing Stravinsky’s music.

‘Stravinsky’ 50’ concludes with Opera on 3, introduced by Kate Molleson, which presents The Rake’s Progress from 1997 in a semi-staged performance from the Royal Festival Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis. Said Radio 3 Controller Alan Davey: ‘Stravinsky is one of the most influential figures of 20th-century cultural and musical life … In our week of special programming, we [are] showcasing the full range of his music and taking the opportunity, 50 years on, to consider his far-reaching legacy.’

Read our fascinating feature on ‘Stravinsky the conductor’ in our April issue, on sale now; read Tony Palmer’s recollections of making his centenary film on the composer by clicking here