Beginning Tuesday 13 November at 9pm on Sky Arts 1 HD and Sky Go

Sky Arts today announces an extraordinary line-up of guests for Sir Michael Parkinson’s exclusive new series, which will begin on Sky Arts 1 in November. Sir Michael will welcome an astonishing array of guests from across the artistic spectrum and, in his inimitable , embark on a fascinating and intimate insight into their careers that have set them apart from their contemporaries and propelled them to the very top of their field. Each show features unique performances from the guests who are able to demonstrate the work for which they have become so well-known.

Classical pianist Lang Lang, war photographer Don McCullin, jazz artist Jamie Cullum, principle dancer Carlos Acosta, author Michael Murpurgo and portrait artist Jonathan Yeo will join Sir Michael Parkinson for an in-depth interview which gets to the heart of how they have honed and perfected their techniques and abilities throughout their careers. 

Each programme will also feature questions from the studio audience. The audience is made up of the general public and also students from a vast array of disciplines that have been specially selected to gain an astonishing insight into the subject.   

Jamie Cullum and Carlos Acosta’s Masterclasses have been filmed in 3D and will be available as a simulcast on Sky 3D.

Lang Lang: Tuesday 13 November at 9pm  

Regarded as one of classical music’s greatest and most gifted talents, Lang Lang joins Sir Michael Parkinson for the first interview of the series. The first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and all of the top American orchestras, Lang Lang has performed to sell-out crowds all over the world and in this illuminating interview, Parkinson uncovers the story behind his incredible career which has inspired more than 40 million Chinese schoolchildren to take up the piano and follow in his remarkable footsteps. Lang Lang plays some of his favourite classical pieces and demonstrates his technique, as well as offering a Royal Academy of Music student his insight on how she can improve as a pianist.  

Don McCullin: Tuesday 20 November at 9pm  

With images described by critics as ‘candles you couldn’t extinguish and stains you couldn’t remove’ the award-winning photo-journalist talks candidly about the inhumanity he has witnessed in his career as a prominent war photographer. McCullin started his career as an ambitious and gifted photographer on Fleet Street and quickly gained a reputation for being the best in his field. He has documented conflicts including troubles in Indochina, Latin America and the Middle East. Talking through some of his most iconic works to date, the photographer opens up to Sir Michael about capturing images in warzones and the physical and psychological strain he’s suffered for his art. “I’d been sleeping near a body, which I didn’t know was there, that’s what war’s like, you sleep with the dead, you embrace the dead, the smell of them, the sight of them.”

Jamie Cullum: Tuesday 27 November at 9pm

It’s hard to believe that international jazz artist Jamie Cullum never passed his grade 4 piano exam and that he never expected to forge a successful career as a solo artist. Talking to Sir Michael he reveals that “I was thinking about being a session musician with other bands and do my jazz thing on the side. I was hoping to play at Ronnie Scott’s someday, or the 606 Club or the Pizza Express. I didn’t think I’d be releasing an album on a major label.” In a warming conversation Cullum describes how he became obsessed with collecting records when he was young and how he became fascinated with jazz when he learnt that tracks from stars such as Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and Benny Goodman were used and remixed by modern day hip-hop stars. He demonstrates to Sir Michael his passion for music giving a quick demonstration of jazz improvisation and how he writes songs. He also shares his thoughts on the future of the jazz genre with the studio audience.

Carlos Acosta: Tuesday 4 December at 9pm

“Thank God I didn’t become a footballer and thank God I’m a ballet dancer because it’s the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me.” Carlos Acosta was born in Communist Cuba as the 11^th child of a truck driver. His family grew up in poverty and as a child he frequently played truant and grew up playing football in streets, dodging trouble and the law. Seemingly destined for a life of delinquency, Acosta turned his life around; winning the Prix de Lausanne aged 16 and becoming the principal dancer at the Royal Ballet aged 25. Carlos reveals how he became a perfectionist at an early age and how he learned to cope with the pain of Ballet which he describes as ‘anti-human’. Demonstrating his craft, Carlos performs three different dances and is joined by principal ballerina of the Royal Ballet, Roberta Marquez for a performance of the final pas de deux from act one of Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling.

Michael Morpurgo: Tuesday 11 December at 9pm  

Michael Morpurgo has written more than 100 books but his career was transformed by his novel War Horse. Sir Michael Parkinson quizzes the author on the secret of his success and discovers how the book, first published 30 years ago, became an international success when it was transformed into a theatrical masterpiece by the National Theatre and later a feature-film directed by Stephen Spielberg. Admitting his first reaction to the idea of using puppets in the stage adaptation was one of trepidation stating “when I first heard they were going to do a puppetry display, I thought well how on earth are you going to do that?” Morpurgo confesses he included a note simply stating ‘don’t mess it up’ alongside a copy of his novel sent to the puppeteers. Morpurgo also admits he felt ‘deeply wounded’ about not winning the Whitbread prize for the book and that he turned to his close friend Ted Hughes for advice and solace who said, “Prizes are rubbish, if you win them they’re not very good for you, if you don’t win them you’re miserable: they don’t matter.”

Jonathan Yeo: Tuesday 18 December at 9pm.

Sir Michael interviews and sits for the prominent contemporary portraitist in order to understand his technique and fascinating career path. Yeo believes “Portraits generally are most powerful if you’re engaging someone directly…” and he is renowned for creating iconic and controversial paintings of celebrities and powerful figures in society including Dennis Hopper, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Spacey, Tony Blair and David Cameron.  Sir Michael discovers how Jonathan grew his interest in art and his fascination with the human face at an early age. “I remember from early on, when I was bored at school, I’d do drawings of the teachers and I quickly learned that that was a way of making people laugh and getting a little bit of kudos.” Yeo reveals how being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease at 22 had a profound effect on his career path and how it gave him drive and ambition to create works with a unique satirical nature including his infamous portrait of George Bush made from pornography cuttings and his painting of a woman during a plastic surgery recovery period.  

Sir Michael Parkinson is one of the UK’s greatest broadcasters, having worked in the business for over forty years. Having worked extensively on BBC One and ITV for many years, he stepped down from presenting a talk show in 2007. However, far from ‘retired’ the broadcaster published his enormously successful biography in 2008 and embarked on a tour of Australia and New Zealand with his one man show.

The series is Sir Michael’s first involvement with Sky and his first talk show in over five years.

“This is the only show that could have tempted me back into my interviewer’s chair,” comments Sir Michael Parkinson. “It is a chance to sit opposite the cream of the arts world and discover the source of their talent and success while witnessing them demonstrating why they're the best at what they do. It's a show I've always wanted to do.”  

“Sir Michael has a unique, fascinating and much loved interview and it’s his easy-nature which really resonates with Sky Arts customers,” comments James Hunt, channel Director of Sky Arts. “It’s thanks to his genuine interest in the subject that Sir Michael can makes his guests feel completely at ease and we are confident that, with such an extraordinary calibre of talent involved, this series will prove highly illuminating and wholly entertaining.”

Michael Parkinson: Masterclass reflects Sky’s promise to deliver high-quality, exclusive content to customers, supported by a commitment to increase investment in home-grown programming to £600 million by 2014, an increase of more than 50% over three years. The series was filmed at Sky Studios.

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NOTES TO EDITOR

About Sky Arts

Sky is the only broadcaster in the UK and Ireland with channels dedicated solely to the arts, with 48 hours of the best arts content from around the world across Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 2 daily. Recent highlights include the latest season of the Met Opera, Chekhov Comedy Shorts, a season of brand new plays starring the cream of British comedic talent, the world’s first opera in 3D and The South Bank Sky Arts Awards.

Sky Arts also seeks to connect with culture on the ground; creating and collaborating with the best of the arts in the UK and Ireland to bring new experiences to life. The flagship show, The Book Show, now goes to four literary festivals including Hay and Cheltenham. Sky Arts Creative Wish is part of Sky Arts Ignition Series which launched in in 2011 to invest in the arts landscape of the UK. The Series will seek to collaborate with six arts organisations over the next three years in the creation of brand new works; Sky Arts Ignition Series: Futures Fund will support five young artists with a bursary of £30,000 each, enabling Sky Arts to back the creation of new works of art as well as nurture emerging talent. Sky Arts also encourages new formats and methods for accessing opera; beaming the world’s first live opera in 3D to cinemas across the UK and Ireland from ENO.

Follow us on twitter @skyarts. See sky.com/arts

About Sky 3D

Since launching as Europe’s first domestic 3D channel in October 2010, Sky 3D has broken new ground across a range of genres, including natural history, live music, the arts, sports and movies. Highlights have included David Attenborough’s BAFTA winning Flying Monsters and The Bachelor King 3D, a number of summer music festivals, opera and ballet, Kylie Minogue live from the O2, Got to Dance, the 3D TV world premieres of Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and the Toy Story Trilogy as well as more than 150 live sports broadcasts including the UEFA Champions League final, the Ryder Cup and US Masters golf.

Sky 3D is the UK’s only dedicated 3D TV channel and is available at no extra cost to Sky World HD customers with a 3D TV. Sky World HD customers are those taking our Entertainment, Entertainment Extra, Sports, Movies and HD Packs. Sky 3D is compatible with all 3D TVs and works with both ‘active’ and ‘passive’ 3D formats. To find out more visit Sky.com/3D.