Online music video platform Qwest, founded by jazz legend Quincy Jones and French music producer Reza Ackbaraly, has announced its move into classical music, with Qwest TV Classical. The new channel will be dedicated to classical music concerts, dance and opera and is available in Australia online and for free through Samsung TV Plus. Ackbaraly spoke to Limelight about the philosophy behind the launch of the new channel and how studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris informed Quincy Jones’ remarkable career.

Reza Ackbaraly and Quincy Jones. Photo courtesy of Qwest

What inspired Qwest TV’s move into classical music?

Well, firstly, both myself and Quincy have a background in classical music. I had the opportunity to work for Mezzo, a leading classical music channel, for over a decade while Quincy studied classical music and composition under Nadia Boulanger in Paris in 1957. Nadia is known as the “greatest music teacher who ever lived,” having taught the likes of Stravinsky, Phillip Glass, Leonard Bernstein, Michel Legrand and more.

Quincy drew lessons from classical music that have stayed with him ever since and these permeated his compositions in funk, hip hop, film scores and...