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We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the…
Thomas H. Green |
By the time Marina Diamandis reaches “Cuntissimo”, Birmingham’s O2 Academy is a sing-along sauna. We’re squeezed in like rice in vine leaves, drenched in human juice. Attempts to…
David Nice |
Richard Strauss, who conducted this orchestra and programme to an audience of 7000 in the Royal Albert Hall on 19 October 1947 aged 83, would have shared our mixed feelings about…
Erin Lewis |
Lizzo used to be fun. For a long time, the now 38-year-old singer-songwriter emitted a vibrant energy but that has lately seeped out of her music. This may be down to any of a…
David Nice |
If the Wigmore Hall sought perfection in its 125th Anniversary Festival, it found it in the two concerts I've attended this week - in the greater part of Lise Davidsen's and James…
Bernard Hughes |
Sathnam Sanghera’s previous books have included a memoir about growing up Sikh in Wolverhampton, and two acclaimed (and very good) accounts of colonialism – so it wasn’t entirely…
Demetrios Matheou
Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert is one of those albums that transcends its genre; it’s not only the best-selling jazz solo album of all time, but the best-selling piano…
Joe Muggs
The concept of political rap has always been a slippery fish. Even as hip hop first hit the mainstream, there was a myth perpetuated by well-meaning cheerleaders that it was a…
Rachel Halliburton
War Horse was without a doubt one of the boldest experiments in the National Theatre’s history. As Tom Morris, co-director with Marianne Elliott of the original production says in…
David Nice
It's nine years since soprano Lise Davidsen gave a Wigmore Hall audience her first credentials as a recitalist, in true partnership with a pianist to whom she's remained faithful…
Sebastian Scotney
Whereas the more venerable European jazz festivals, founded from the 1960s onwards, are typically faced with challenges of mid- or later life, Montrachet Jazz is a newcomer and is…
Tom Carr
A new album from Evanescence doesn’t come around all that often. But when they do, they are always worth at least a pause and cursory listen: their reputation precedes them ever…
Helen Hawkins
South Korea’s soft power isn’t restricted to K-pop and K-drama. The latest Festival of Korean Dance, hosted by venues around the UK, is a demonstration that its contemporary dance…
David Nice
Spirit of place first: Nevill Holt, which I was visiting for the first time, is a beauty. There's an Oxford college look about the facades, from 13th century to more recent…
Guy Oddy
“Pruning, pruning, pruning, pruning, pruning” declaims a suited and booted Robin Dallaway into his microphone on stage at Birmingham’s Castle and Falcon on Sunday night, and it’s…
Graham Rickson
Freshly-exhumed from the vaults, this latest Children's Film Foundation selection follows an established template. We get nine pacy short features taken from different eras in the…
David Nice
If you find endless riches in Hugo von Hofmannsthal's words and Richard Strauss's score for their "Comedy for Music", as I do, you'll be very happy to catch Bruno Ravella's…
Adam Sweeting
Aptly scheduled for our Great British Heatwave, writer Catherine Shepherd’s eight-part drama whisks us away to a remote Greek island, where a band of friends (four of them having…
Jonathan Geddes
Caution is evidently needed when moving around at a Pins gig. A woman who wandered off to the bar or the toilet returned and appeared slightly startled to realise the group's…
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An undeniable talent seems determined to go over old ground on album no. 3
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Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
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tv
Friendships tested to destruction in Catherine Shepherd's satirical drama
Steve Coogan and Tom Burke lead a formidable cast in Neil Forsyth's drama
Gripping three-part saga is smarter than the average pop-doc
film
Fictionalised account of Keith Jarrett’s iconic concert feels as improvised as its subject
Life-enhancing vintage entertainment, for children of all ages
When Lucian Freud and Kate Moss brushed up against each other
new music
L.A.-based Welsh singer delivers a sweaty maximalist pop love-in
An undeniable talent seems determined to go over old ground on album no. 3
A brilliant new sound, and some rabble rousing, from a mercurial hip hop talent
classical
'Santtu' clearly loves 'Symphonia Domestica', the composer's family mock-epic
Mozart with other-worldly refinement, focused passion in Brahms
The Norwegian soprano has arrived as a great recitalist in partnership with a vivid pianist
opera
Not a huge number of laughs, but plenty of vocal charm from tenor and soprano
Niamh O'Sullivan is the perfect Knight of the Rose in classy revival
40th anniversary event overcomes disruption with exquisite music-making
theatre
The OIivier is exploited to its full epic potential in scenes of war and redemption
Just too geared to a multiplex audience to succeed as it could on stage
Peter Schaffer's 1965 hit is still the perfect vehicle for premium physical comedy
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
The latest tranche of Korean contemporary dance offered a mesmerising instant classic
A handsome production in need of a stronger score and deeper characterisation
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Comic revisits her alma mater to talk politics
Absurdist comic's most personal show yet
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
This not-a-biography of the 80s pop icon feels like an overextended magazine feature
Latest entry in BFI's Film Classics series offers fresh perspectives and media insights
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Her large sculpted butterflies act both as an inspiration and a warning
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