theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
David Nice
Monday, 19 August 2019
It was a Disney theme-park of Russian music, and in an entirely good way: none of the usual rides, but plenty of heroes and villains, sad spirits and whistling witches, orientalia...
Christopher Lambton
Monday, 19 August 2019
To celebrate the 60th birthday of Sir James MacMillan, the Edinburgh International Festival has programmed his music over five concerts, including the Nash Ensemble with Fourteen...
Guy Oddy
Monday, 19 August 2019
Justin Sullivan, the last remaining original member of Bradford post-punkers New Model Army, has always given the impression of taking things all a bit seriously. After all, he...
Boyd Tonkin
Sunday, 18 August 2019
The trend-hopping taste-makers who run British literary publishing have lately decided that “working-class” writing merits a small dole of their precious time and cash. To assess...
Miranda Heggie
Sunday, 18 August 2019
Returning to Edinburgh International Festival, Berlin's Komische Oper brought Barrie Kosky’s sumptuous production of Eugene Onegin to the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. It’s a...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 18 August 2019
Diamond Head was Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera’s first solo album. Released in May 1975 and recorded the previous December and January during a lull in his parent band’s...
Jessica Duchen
Sunday, 18 August 2019
There could be no greater gift to any festival director than Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Where the exploration of his life,...
Lisa-Marie Ferla
Sunday, 18 August 2019
Foo Fighters are an unlikely candidate for one of the biggest bands in the world. There’s nothing workmanlike about the...
David Nice
Saturday, 17 August 2019
There it gleamed, the pearl in the massive oyster of Albert's colosseum: the gilded, decorated piano supplied to his Queen...
Guy Oddy
Saturday, 17 August 2019
While Pram could hardly be described as representative of the UK psychedelic scene, it would be hard to imagine South...
Saskia Baron
Saturday, 17 August 2019
If you’re looking for escapism from anxieties about Brexit, the worldwide refugee crisis and rising authoritarianism,...
Miranda Heggie
Saturday, 17 August 2019
Performing as part of Edinburgh International Festival’s Queen’s Hall series, American tenor Lawrence Brownlee, with...
Veronica Lee
Saturday, 17 August 2019
The Red Pleasance Dome ★★★★Comic Marcus Brigstocke has spoken in the past about his addictions and now he has written...
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 17 August 2019
Gounod: Symphonies 1 and 2 Iceland Symphony Orchestra/Yan Pascal Tortelier (Chandos)Roger Nichols’ lucid sleeve note...
Thomas H Green
Saturday, 17 August 2019
South-coast four piece Grenades’ debut album is that most unlikely of musical outings, an ecological grunge-punk concept...
Demetrios Matheou
Friday, 16 August 2019
Quentin Tarantino’s made a big deal of this being his ninth film, while heralding his retirement after number 10 with...
Jessica Duchen
Friday, 16 August 2019
A clever programme, a vivid premiere, a Proms debut for an exciting young conductor and the first appearance there by...
Veronica Lee
Friday, 16 August 2019
Alun Cochrane Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★Alun Cochrane is going to treat us like adults, he says by way of introduction,...
Tim Cumming
Friday, 16 August 2019
It’s been a period of upheaval and change for singer-songwriter, and compelling interpreter of traditional ballads, Josienne...
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tv
Kathy Burke's All Woman, Channel 4 review - warts and all
Comedy legend asks what is beauty, and why is there so much pressure to achieve it?
Keeping Faith, Episode 4 Series 2, BBC One review - murders aplenty
Husband Evan leaves prison, just as Faith risks going in
This Way Up, Channel 4 review - hilarity with a dark undercurrent
Funny or die: Aisling Bea stars in her self-penned comedy series
film
Transit review - existential nightmares for a German refugee
Christian Petzold eschews the conventions of Holocaust drama to create an edgy, unnerving thriller
Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood review – Tarantino’s mellowest film yet
Leo and Brad are an engaging double act as actor and stuntman facing the end of an era
JT Leroy review - pseudonym, avatar, literary hoax
Revisiting the scandal of 2006: Kristen Stewart shines as Savannah Knoop/JT LeRoy
new music
Reissue CDs Weekly: Phil Manzanera - Diamond Head
Roxy Music man’s overlooked first solo album is a winner
Foo Fighters, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow - communal singalongs and career highlights
A muddy bucket list show from one of the biggest bands in the world
classical
Prom 41: Ghindin, LPO, Jurowski review - perfect sound in a Russian spectacular
An unwieldy early piano concerto is the curious pachyderm in a rainbow parade
Edinburgh International Festival 2019: MacMillan birthday concerts - searing world premiere
Triumphant new choral symphony for our rudderless times
theartsdesk at Bard Summerscape Festival 2019: unknown treasures and crosscurrents galore
'Korngold and His World' explores a heady confluence of old and new
opera
Edinburgh International Festival 2019: Eugene Onegin, Komische Oper review - no-holds-barred romanticism
Stunning singing in a luxuriant and lovely production
Rinaldo, Glyndebourne Festival review - teenage dreams
Stale stereotypes abound in a production that’s a bit past its sell by date
theartsdesk Q&A: composer Alastair White on his new opera ROBE
Emerging Scottish talent describes creating layers of reality in his latest work
theatre
Edinburgh Fringe 2019 reviews: The Red/ Gone Full Havisham
More from the world's biggest and best arts festival
Edinburgh Fringe 2019 review: How Not to Drown
Autobiographical refugee story feels like a boy's own adventure
Once on This Island, Southwark Playhouse review - folkloric Caribbean musical charms
Class, calypso and warring gods feature in this enthusiastic revival
dance
Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet, Sadler's Wells review - heart-stopping drama
The plot isn't perfect, but this bad romance still packs a punch
The Bright Stream, Bolshoi Ballet review - a gem of a comedy
Ratmansky and Shostakovich offer up old-fashioned fun with an undercurrent of sweetness
Spartacus, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Opera House review - no other company could pull this off
Visiting Russians transform wooden material into muscular spectacle
comedy
Edinburgh Fringe 2019 reviews: Alun Cochrane/ Sarah Keyworth/ Glenn Moore/ Sophie Duker
More from the world's biggest and best arts festival
Edinburgh Fringe 2019 review: Arabella Weir - Does My Mum Loom Big In This?
Fringe debut on her overbearing mother feels too polite to confront its own darkness
Edinburgh Fringe 2019 reviews: Catherine Bohart / Matt Parker / Nigel Ng / Zoë Coombs Marr
More from the world's biggest and best arts festival
gaming
Rage 2 review – garish but great post-apocalyptic shooter
Challenge The Authority in this 'Mad Max on mushrooms' renegade romp
Win a Luxury Weekend for Two to Celebrate Brighton Festival!
An eclectic line-up spanning music, theatre, dance, visual art, film, comedy, literature and spoken word could be yours with boutique hotel and exquisite meals included
World War Z review - bloodthirsty fun with the zombie apocalypse
Chainsawing the brain-eaters as you battle against the tide of the undead
visual arts
Edinburgh Festival 2019 reviews: Below the Blanket / Samson Young: Real Music
Two Edinburgh shows meld music, sound and visual art to beguiling effect
Black Sabbath: 50 years, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery review – not heavy going
Half a century of metal is celebrated in Sabbath's home city
Helen Schjerfbeck, Royal Academy review - watchful absences and disappearing people
Retrospective of Finnish artist turns on mortality and absence
latest comments
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MacMillan's new symphony. Le Grand Inconnu, can...
As good an opera production as I have ever seen!
Heavenly sounds. Beautiful album.
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