tue 15/07/2025

Features & Interviews

Sir Brian Clarke (1953-2025) - a personal tribute

Mark Kidel

Brian Clarke died on 1 July 2025, after a long illness. He was one of the most original British artists of our time – wide-ranging, ground-breaking and influential. His painting was first-class, but it was in the field of architectural stained glass, which he approached as a fine artist, and in a radically innovative manner, that he truly made a name for himself. 

The Road to Patagonia review - journey to the end of the world

Hugh Barnes

The journey not the destination matters in The Road to Patagonia, an epic pilgrimage of 30,000 miles that, unexpectedly, turns into a love story. Surfer boy and ecologist Matty Hannon grew up in Australia but after reading a book at university about the shamans of Mentawai in western Sumatra he dropped out and went to live with them in the Indonesian rain forest.

First Person: country singer Tami Neilson on the...

Tami Neilson

I was born Tamara Lee Neilson. I had an Uncle Kenny and an Aunt Dolly (who played guitar and banjo, respectively). I mean, did I really have a choice...

Alfred Brendel 1931-2025 - a personal tribute

Mark Kidel

Alfred Brendel’s death earlier this month came as a shock, but it wasn’t unexpected. His health had gradually deteriorated over the last year or so,...

10 Questions for musician Michael Gira

Guy Oddy

Michael Gira (born 19/2/54) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, author and artist. He founded Swans, a band in which he sings and plays...

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'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

Graham Fuller

The band's legendary track from 1971 resurfaces not once, but twice

First Person: young cellist Zlatomir Fung on operatic fantasies old and new

Zlatomir Fung

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

Amelia Coburn

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'

Christopher Gray

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

David Gray

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'

Matt Wolf

'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'

Lauren Mooney

Kandinsky Theatre co-creator on a new play tethering technology to existence

David Lynch: In Dreams (1946-2025)

Nick Hasted

The director, who has died aged 78, rewired cinema with nightmare logic, an underground ethos and weird, wondrous innocence

Best of 2024: Books

Theartsdesk

As 2024 comes to an end, we look back at the books that have thrilled and enthralled us

Best of 2024: Film

Theartsdesk

theartsdesk's movie critics pick their favourites from the last 12 months

First Person: cellist Matthew Barley on composing and recording his 'Light Stories'

Matthew Barley

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'

Sam Amidon

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

Alec Frank-Gemmill

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

Irène Duval

On the centenary of the great French composer's death, a fine interpreter pays homage

Documentary highlights from the 2024 London Film Festival

Saskia Baron

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

Bob Riley

Making a difference out of the musical ghetto

First Person: Lindsey Ferrentino on the play that has led Adrien Brody to the London stage

Lindsey Ferrentino

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

Tim Etchells

The experimental theatre company marks four decades with its new production 'Signal to Noise'

First Person: conductor Robert Hollingworth on a four-choir rarity by Benevoli

Robert Hollingworth

I Fagiolini join with two other choirs for a spectacular in St Martin-in-the-Fields

10 Questions for Black String’s Youn Jeong Heo

Tim Cumming

K-Music special: The founder of Korea’s finest quartet discusses their intense and otherworldly music

theartsdesk in Bradford - Leeds International Piano Competition 2024 finalists shine in St George's Hall

David Nice

A clear winner, but all pianists worked superbly with a great conductor and orchestra

First Person: soprano Elizabeth Atherton on the decimation of the classical music sector in Wales

Elizabeth Atherton

Singer who began her career on contract with Welsh National Opera clarifies savage cuts by Welsh and English Arts Councils

The law's sick voyeurism - director Cédric Kahn on 'The Goldman Case'

Hugh Barnes

Kahn's drama about the 1976 trial of Pierre Goldman mirrors conflicts in modern France

Here comes the flood: Bob Dylan's 1974 Live Recordings

Tim Cumming

Night after night: Sony's latest gargantuan release from the vaults

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