With complementary programming on BBC Radio 3, including free downloads of introductions to 50 key musical works, and a BBC learning project to reach out to teachers and young people, the series presents Howard’s personal view of musical invention from the Stone Age to the Digital Age, including the influence of classical music on the growth of popular music as well as the evolution of blues, jazz and world music.

Abandoning the traditional categories of ‘Baroque’, ‘Classical’ or ‘Romantic’, Howard instead reshapes the chronology into distinct ‘ages’, following the way music has shocked, challenged and entranced audiences across the centuries – the Age of Discovery, the Age of Invention, the Age of Elegance & Sensibility, the Age of Tragedy, the Age of Rebellion and the Popular Age.

Howard, himself an accomplished performer, arranger, composer and conductor will perform and demonstrate the techniques and theories encountered along the musical journey. He will also reflect on historical and social developments which have led to the bewildering musical exuberance of our own time, arguing that the perceived gap between classical and popular music is mostly an artificial one. The series will also feature specially recorded performance excerpts from, among others, violinist Nicola Benedetti, the Sacconi Quartet, singers Noah Stewart, Emma Williams, Meeta Raval and Nathan Vale, and the Maria Fidelis Convent School Gospel Choir, as well as a host of other performers.

To provide further depth and discussion, extracts of the series will be made available online by BBC Learning for Teachers and Schools in 2013 along with learning resources. BBC Learning is also filming young people creating their own compositions in response to some of the key works featured in the Story Of Music as part of a Learning Zone special about composition, featuring the BBC Philharmonic.