Features & Interviews
'This goes beyond music and drama': tenor Nicky Spence on Martinů's 'The Greek Passion'
Friday, 13 September 2019
I’m a big fanboy of Czech music, Janáček and Martinů especially, but I’d never seen The Greek Passion before being cast as Manolios in Opera North’s new production, as it remains quite a rarity in the opera house. For those who don’t know the work, it tells of a group of refugees who arrive in a villa
First Person: Matthew Xia on why his production of 'Amsterdam' feels especially pertinent and vital now
Monday, 09 September 2019
I’m currently opening Amsterdam, my first production for Actors Touring Company since being appointed Artistic Director last year, at the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond and then in Plymouth early in 2020. And what better time to premiere a play for the Europe of the present, triggered by the Europe of the past.
theartsdesk at the Southrepps Music Festival -...
Monday, 02 September 2019
When you've found some of the best young musicians in the world, and they've found that they love working in the peaceful surroundings of a magical...
Foragers of the Foreshore - London's...
Sunday, 01 September 2019
Over the weekend, exhibitions and installations have started to bubble-up on the riverside walkway in London. Still-life photography of mudlark finds...
Power, politics and Peaky Blinders - the Shelby...
Thursday, 22 August 2019
This is how Steven Knight pictured Peaky Blinders when he first set about creating it. “I was very keen not to do a traditional British period drama...
Making new waves: Royce Vavrek on forging a libretto from Lars von Trier
Missy Mazzoli's collaborator on their new operatic version of 'Breaking the Waves' |
theartsdesk at the Pärnu Music Festival 2019 - super-orchestra, top clarinettists, transcendent strings
Paavo Järvi motivates an ever-growing family of musicians in Estonia's summer capital |
theartsdesk at Itinéraire Baroque 2019 - a musical journey through the Périgord
Instrumental/vocal conversations and collisions celebrate the full breadth of the baroque |
theartsdesk in Dalarna: Rhinegold in a Swedish barn by a lake
Intimate Wagner works a treat with a uniformly world-class cast and a 32-piece orchestra |
10th Odessa International Film Festival review - exquisite gay love stories and visionary new music
Not so far from the war zone, the 'Cannes of the East' keeps the film flag flying |
theartsdesk Q&A: documentary maker Karen Stokkendal Poulsen
The Danish director discusses her film ‘On the Inside of a Military Dictatorship’ |
Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek: 'Is our film porny?'
Directors of My Friend the Polish Girl respond to claims they've set the female cause back two decades |
theartsdesk at the Ravenna Festival 2019 - in heaven with Dante's Purgatorio and Estonian rites
A dramatic tour from the tomb of Italy's greatest poet and music among the mosaics |
On making The Left Behind: 'We've plugged into the mains'
The director of Killed By My Debt introduces his new BBC drama about a hate crime |
'A product not only of his era but also of his travels': Ian Page on Mozart's cosmopolitan education
The Mozartists' main man on how an early life moving around Europe shaped a genius |
theartsdesk in Treviso - cultural patronage, Italian style
High-level attention to detail in the Fondazione Benetton's support for the arts |
First Person: Damian Cruden on reinvigorating the Bard away from London with Shakespeare's Rose
The onetime director of 'The Railway Children' sets out his vision for bringing Shakespeare afresh to the country's 'cultural pageant' |
theartsdesk in Svalbard: cultural excellence at the top of the world
At 78 degrees north, polar bears outnumber people - but Norway's musical flag flies high |
Franco Zeffirelli: 'I had this feeling that I was special'
Recalling a two-day audience at the home of the great maestro, who has died aged 96 |
Roger Wright on Oliver Knussen: ‘his challenge to us all to remain curious lives on’
Inspiring composer, conductor and mentor remembered by Snape Maltings CEO |
First Person: Matt Henry on fulfilling 'a dream come true' to play the legendary singer Sam Cooke
The Olivier Award-winning alumnus of 'Kinky Boots' shifts gears to tell a vibrant story of 1960s America |
Bob Dylan Special - Rolling Thunder Revue, Netflix
Martin Scorsese reexamines the legendary 1975 tour |
Bob Dylan Special - theartsdesk Q&A: Scarlet Rivera
The violinist on 'Desire' and 'Rolling Thunder Revue' talks about working with Dylan at his peak |
theartsdesk in Bergen: Gothic shocks and Romantic treats
Genres and periods mix and match in style at Norway's premier arts festival |
theartsdesk in Gothenburg: concert-hall storytelling rivets at the Point Music Festival
Galvanizing Santtu-Matias Rouvali kicks off, and two dozen instrumentalists go barefoot |
First Person: Conductor Maxime Pascal on Stockhausen at the Southbank Centre
The man in control of a cosmic opera tonight on its visionary German composer |
Cannes 2019: Week One - a genre-heavy opening
The 72nd film festival showcases ghouls, the gig economy, and gun-wielding avengers |
First Person: Ellen McDougall on finding the commonality in the American classic 'Our Town'
The director explains what drew her to the season-opener this summer at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park |
First Person: Liam Byrne on bringing Versailles to the City's 'Culture Mile'
The viola da gamba player on pleasures at the Barbican's free Sound Unbound festival |
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