Features & Interviews
Bizet in 150th anniversary year: rich and rare French offerings from Palazzetto Bru Zane
Saturday, 25 October 2025
Georges Bizet was born on this day in 1838. He died at the tragically early age of 36, 150 years ago, and the anniversary year has brought forth for the most part only multiple productions of Carmen, his greatest masterpiece, with a spattering of Pearl Fishers (though not in the UK).
First Person: clarinettist Oliver Pashley on the new horizons of The Hermes Experiment's latest album
Saturday, 18 October 2025
“Why the name?” and “Why the instruments?” are the two most common things we get asked about our group. As a member of The Hermes Experiment, a quartet consisting of harp, clarinet, soprano and double bass, it’s perhaps understandable that these are the two things that stoke people’s curiosity.
First Person: Manchester Camerata's Head of...
Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Over the past decade, Manchester Camerata has gained a reputation for continually innovating and redefining what an orchestra can do. But what does...
Robert Redford (1936-2025)
Thursday, 18 September 2025
Somehow both rugged and smooth, embodying American values yet often turning up his collar against them, Robert Redford – who died on 16 September,...
First Person: Musician ALA.NI on how thoughts of...
Thursday, 18 September 2025
I’ve never thought of myself as a political artist. I write about love. The tender bits, the messy bits, the heartbreak that rearranges a life. That’...
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Interview: Quinteto Astor Piazzolla on playing in London and why Mick Jagger's a fan
Music Director Julián Vat and pianist Matias Feigin compare notes on Piazzolla |
Sir Brian Clarke (1953-2025) - a personal tribute
Remembering an artist with a gift for the transcendent |
The Road to Patagonia review - journey to the end of the world
In search of love and the meaning of life on the boho surf trail |
First Person: country singer Tami Neilson on the superpower of sisterhood
The Canadian-born, New Zealand-based artist on how women have empowered her career |
Alfred Brendel 1931-2025 - a personal tribute
A master of feeling and intellect |
10 Questions for musician Michael Gira
Experimental rock titan on never retiring, meeting his idols and Swans’ new album |
'Classic-era prog’s Olympian pinnacle': Pink Floyd's 'Echoes' returns in their restored Pompeii concert film and as Nick Mason's band's vinyl hit
The band's legendary track from 1971 resurfaces not once, but twice |
First Person: young cellist Zlatomir Fung on operatic fantasies old and new
Fresh takes on Janáček's 'Jenůfa' and Bizet's 'Carmen' are on the menu |
First Person: rising folk star Amelia Coburn on her French inspiration
The Middlesbrough singer-songwriter on the background story to her latest single |
First Person: St John's College choral conductor Christopher Gray on recording 'Lament & Liberation'
A showcase for contemporary choral works appropriate to this time |
First Person: singer-songwriter David Gray on how the songs on his new album came to him
One of this century's most successful British singers still finds magic in the act of creation |
Oscars 2025: long day's journey into 'Anora'
'Anora' creator Sean Baker wins four trophies in a night full of firsts - and a second trophy for Adrien Brody |
First Person: writer Lauren Mooney on bringing bodies together in the new Royal Court play, 'More Life'
Kandinsky Theatre co-creator on a new play tethering technology to existence |
David Lynch: In Dreams (1946-2025)
The director, who has died aged 78, rewired cinema with nightmare logic, an underground ethos and weird, wondrous innocence |
Best of 2024: Books
As 2024 comes to an end, we look back at the books that have thrilled and enthralled us |
Best of 2024: Film
theartsdesk's movie critics pick their favourites from the last 12 months |
First Person: cellist Matthew Barley on composing and recording his 'Light Stories'
Conceived a year ago, a short but intense musical journey |
First Person: singer-songwriter Sam Amidon on working in Dingle with Teaċ Daṁsa on 'Nobodaddy'
Michael Keegan-Dolan’s mind-boggling total work of art arrives at Sadlers Wells this week |
First Person: Alec Frank-Gemmill on reasons for another recording of the Mozart horn concertos
On ignoring the composer's 'Basta, basta!' above the part for the original soloist |
'His ideal worlds embraced me with their light and love': violinist Irène Duval on the music of Fauré
On the centenary of the great French composer's death, a fine interpreter pays homage |
Documentary highlights from the 2024 London Film Festival
A close look at insightful new non-fiction films about single motherhood, visionary photographers, scam artists, legacies of colonialism, and more |
First Person: Bob Riley on Manchester Camerata's championship of a Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia
Making a difference out of the musical ghetto |
First Person: Lindsey Ferrentino on the play that has led Adrien Brody to the London stage
The American dramatist on bringing 'The Fear of 13', and its Oscar-winning lead, to the Donmar |
First Person: Tim Etchells on 40 years of making a noise with Forced Entertainment
The experimental theatre company marks four decades with its new production 'Signal to Noise' |
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