theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
David Nice
Tuesday, 21 August 2018
Those of us schooled in the English choral tradition know and love Hubert Parry's "My soul, there is a country", but few have sung or heard it live as the first of a mighty cycle...
Tom Birchenough
Tuesday, 21 August 2018
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s It Happened Here surely deserves the acclaim often accorded it as “the most ambitious amateur film ever made”, and the supporting extras on this...
Boyd Tonkin
Monday, 20 August 2018
If history repeats itself, better hope that it corrects its mistakes as well. This year’s nominations for the h100 awards in publishing and writing reflect the welcome drive...
David Nice
Monday, 20 August 2018
Brits are the folk you expect to encounter the most in the rural-England-on-steroids of the beautiful Dordogne. In my experience they outnumber the French, at least in high summer...
Liz Thomson
Monday, 20 August 2018
Birth and death are nowhere more entwined than in folk music, and the seventh album by Radio 2 Young Folk Award-winner Jackie Oates poignantly honours both her father and her...
Marina Vaizey
Sunday, 19 August 2018
Hegel, Kant, David Hume, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Leibniz are all adduced, referred to, and paraphrased, and that’s just for starters. Add Rameau, Schubert, Beethoven, Benjamin...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 19 August 2018
The cover images of the four albums Teenage Fanclub issued on Creation Records suggest ambivalence. While Bandwagonesque’s...
Russ Coffey
Sunday, 19 August 2018
Kate Nash is no quitter. For years her heavy London accent and kitchen-sink lyrics made her an easy target for mockery. Nash...
Jessica Duchen
Saturday, 18 August 2018
North of Brisbane, south of Cairns and a short boat trip from the turquoise waters around the Great Barrier Reef, Townsville...
Steve O'Rourke
Saturday, 18 August 2018
Technical innovators, industry role models and champions of inclusivity make up the shortlist of nominees in the games...
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 18 August 2018
Bernstein: Symphonies 1-3, Prelude, Fugue and Riffs Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Antonio...
Joe Muggs
Saturday, 18 August 2018
This may be tempting fate, and minutes after publication of this she'll probably be arrested for stabbing a dog or something...
David Nice
Friday, 17 August 2018
Who is the greatest British conductor in charge of a major orchestra? It's subjective, but my answer is not what you might...
Thomas H Green
Friday, 17 August 2018
Initially, this month’s theartsdesk on Vinyl began with the sentence after this one, but it's so dry readers might drowse...
Caspar Gomez
Friday, 17 August 2018
One of the biggest crowd roars of the night comes right at the start when Jake Shears runs onstage. He is wearing a grey top...
David Kettle
Friday, 17 August 2018
Orpheus ★★★★ This unashamedly sentimental storytelling show got its premiere a couple of years back in...
Owen Richards
Friday, 17 August 2018
It’s an event that only comes around once a generation: a new Matt Groening TV series. The Simpsons is rightly regarded as...
Veronica Lee
Friday, 17 August 2018
Rosie Jones ★★★★There are two versions of Rosie Jones, she tells us; one nice, one not so nice. And who knows which of those...
Tom Birchenough
Friday, 17 August 2018
There are plenty of reasons to be apprehensive about biopics of poets. The activity of writing is most often, after all,...
disc of the day
DVD/Blu-ray: It Happened Here
Britain under Nazi rule: landmark 'alternative history' film revisited
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tv
Disenchantment, Netflix review - Matt Groening show has promise after poor start
Fantasy animation from the creator of The Simpsons lacks the quality of his best work
On the Edge, Channel 4, review - fast and furious new dramas
4Stories initiative to promote young writers and directors bears fruit
h 100 Awards: Broadcast - TV's national treasures
Rising stars, veterans venerated and the Welsh go global
film
DVD/Blu-ray: It Happened Here
Britain under Nazi rule: landmark 'alternative history' film revisited
The Guardians review - beautifully crafted drama
French release offers an artful look at farming during World War One
new music
Reissue CDs Weekly: Teenage Fanclub
From ‘Bandwagonesque’ to ‘Howdy!’: a decade’s worth of albums from Scotland’s pop-rock sensation
CD: Kate Nash - Yesterday Was Forever
The cockney songbird continues her adventures in American indie
classical
Proms at...Cadogan Hall 6, BBC Singers, Oramo review - excellent choristers need to diversify
Too monochrome for Laura Mvula, but Parry dazzles in the hands of a great conductor
theartsdesk at Itinéraire Baroque 2018 - canaries in front of a Périgord altar
Distinguished Dordogne dweller Ton Koopman and friends meet in a Romanesque priory
theartsdesk at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music - stratospheric performances by a tropical sea
New artistic director Kathryn Stott personalises a much-loved Antipodean fixture
opera
theartsdesk at Itinéraire Baroque 2018 - canaries in front of a Périgord altar
Distinguished Dordogne dweller Ton Koopman and friends meet in a Romanesque priory
Greed as the keynote: Robert Carsen on the timelessness of 'The Beggar's Opera'
The director brings his contemporary take on John Gay's satire to the Edinburgh Festival
Vanessa, Glyndebourne review - blowsy histrionics and a great finale
Does the end justify Barber's screamy little mystery, even when as well done as this?
theatre
Edinburgh Festival 2018 reviews: Orpheus / Bottom / Backup
Three intimate storytelling shows at Summerhall offer mixed insights
Emilia, Shakespeare's Globe review - polemic disguised as a play
Great performances save this uneven tribute to a forgotten Elizabethan poet
F Off: National Youth Theatre puts social media on trial
NYT's new work is aimed at digital natives. Its playwright introduces it
dance
theartsdesk in Riga - 43,290 Latvians sing and dance for their country
Individual souls conjoined with a passionate belief in peace and music achieve miracles
Enter theartsdesk / h Club Young Influencer of the Year award
In association with The Hospital Club's h.Club100 Awards, we're looking for the best cultural writers, bloggers and vloggers
The Sleeping Beauty, London Coliseum review - a triumph for English National Ballet
Kenneth MacMillan's timeless staging brings out the best in ENB
comedy
Edinburgh Fringe 2018 reviews: Rosie Jones/ Marcus Brigstocke/ Alice Snedden
More from the world's biggest and best arts festival
Edinburgh Fringe 2018: Luisa Omielan/ Brennan Reece/ Olga Koch
More from the world's biggest and best arts festival
Edinburgh Fringe 2018 reviews: Ari Shaffir/ Ashley Blaker/ Janeane Garofalo
More from the world's biggest and best arts festival
gaming
h Club 100 Awards: Video games - pioneers with heart and soul
High tech meets high calibre in this year’s list of gaming’s brightest sparks
Jurassic World Evolution review - manage a dinosaur theme park and make a killing
A comprehensive management sim where you feed the exhibits, the punters and your bank balance
Enter theartsdesk / h Club Young Influencer of the Year award
In association with The Hospital Club's h.Club100 Awards, we're looking for the best cultural writers, bloggers and vloggers
visual arts
Roderic O’Conor and the Moderns, National Gallery of Ireland review - experiments in Pont-Aven
Friendship and rivalry among the Post-Impressionists
theartsdesk in Riga - 43,290 Latvians sing and dance for their country
Individual souls conjoined with a passionate belief in peace and music achieve miracles
latest comments
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