Follow Fr Alex on X @alexdjfrostFollow Venice on X @roseveniceallanVenice is a campaigner for women and children. In 2017 she organised a series of panel discussions called We Need To Talk UK and Ireland, with expert speakers on sex, gender and feminism. She was also part of the women’s collective that in 2020 started regular meet ups at Speakers’ Corner in London, which went on to become Let Women Speak. During last year’s General Election, Venice joined the What Is A Woman? campaign, asking prospective candidates their stance on these issues. She currently works as a research assistant in the House of Lords for Baroness Claire Fox.

Julie Bindel is a journalist, author, broadcaster and journalist, primarily concerned with human rights abuses towards women and girls. She is the author of two books on this topic. One of which is based on a UK-wide study on the opportunities and barriers for women to exit prostitution, the largest study of its kind (Exiting Prostitution: A Study in Female Desistance by Bindel et al, Palgrave, 2014). Her most recent work examines the global sex trade, and is based on research spanning almost 40 countries cities and states around the world and on 250 face-to-face interviews (The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth, Palgrave, 2017).Julie has investigated the trafficking of women and girls into prostitution for both academic research and journalistic long-form articles in dozens of countries around the worldJulie has been active in research, grassroots campaigning, advocacy and governmental consultation since 1999. During this time, she has sat on many advisory boards and consultation panels alongside governmental officials, parliamentarians, policy advisors and UN organisations.To date, Julie has trained in excess of 1,000 individuals in issues relating to the sexual exploitation in more than 20 countries. Julie has also conducted more than 100 face-to-face interviews with female victims of trafficking.Over the past 20 years, Julie has provided support to a number of NGOs, IGOs and state agencies in their efforts to prevent trafficking into sexual exploitation, improve the prosecution of perpetrators, protect victims, and build international counter-trafficking partnerships.Websites/blogshttps://www.thejuliebindel.comBooksThe Map of My Life: The Story of Emma Humphreys, Astraia Press, 2003Straight Expectations, Guardian Faber, 2014Exiting Prostitution, editor, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014The Pimping of Prostitution, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017Feminism for Women, Little Brown, 2021Transcript

Acclaimed worldwide for his profound musicianship and technical mastery, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a unique and distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster.As a concerto soloist he appears regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including the Berlin Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, London Philharmonic and Zurich Tonhalle orchestras. He gives recitals every season in major musical centres, and plays with many of the world’s foremost chamber orchestras, including the Australian, Mahler, Norwegian, Scottish, Zurich and St Paul Chamber Orchestras, as well as period-instrument ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Unusually, he also directs chamber orchestras from the cello in classical programmes.Recent and upcoming highlights include performances with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the Salzburg Mozartwoche; the US premiere of Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, following world and UK premieres in Lucerne and at the BBC Proms, and a further performance of the work in Amsterdam with the Britten Sinfonia, conducted by the composer; Prokofiev’s Concerto Op. 58 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, in London and at the Dresden Music Festival; and Haydn’s C major Concerto with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Adam Fischer.As a chamber musician, he has curated series for many of the world’s most famous festivals and venues, including the Wigmore Hall, the 92nd St Y in New York, and the Salzburg Festival. These specially devised programmes have included ‘In the Shadow of War’, a major four-part series for the Wigmore Hall to mark the centenary of the First World War and the 75th anniversary of the Second World War; explorations of Czech music; the teacher-pupil line of Saint-Saëns, Fauré and Ravel; the affinity of the cello and the human voice; varied aspects of Robert Schumann’s life and music; and the music of Sergei Taneyev (teacher of Steven’s grandfather, Julius Isserlis) and his students. For these concerts Steven is joined by a regular group of friends which includes the violinists Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Pamela Frank, and Janine Jansen, violist Tabea Zimmermann, and pianists Jeremy Denk, Stephen Hough, Alexander Melnikov, Olli Mustonen, Connie Shih, and Dénes Várjon.He also takes a strong interest in authentic performance. This season’s projects include a recording of the Chopin Cello Sonata and other works with Dénes Várjon for Hyperion, using ones of Chopin’s own piano; and a recital of Russian sonatas with Olli Mustonen. In recital, he gives frequent concerts with harpsichord and fortepiano. Recent seasons have featured a special performance with Sir Andras Schiff at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, using Beethoven’s own cello; and performances and recordings (selected for the Deutsche SchallplattenPreis) of Beethoven’s complete music for cello and piano with Robert Levin, using original or replica fortepianos from the early nineteenth century. With harpsichordist Richard Egarr, he has performed and recorded the viola da gamba sonatas of J.S. Bach as well as sonatas by Handel and Scarlatti. This season, they tour together in the US.He is also a keen exponent of contemporary music and has premiered many new works including John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil (as well as several other pieces by Tavener), Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés, Stephen Hough’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Left Hand (Les Adieux), Wolfgang Rihm’s Concerto in One Movement, David Matthews’ Concerto in Azzurro, and For Steven and Hilary’s Jig by György Kurtág. In 2016, he gave the UK premiere of Olli Mustonen’s of Frei, aber einsam for solo cello at the Wigmore Hall.