Features & Interviews
The Royal Ballet - variations on a comeback
Friday, 16 April 2021
Like the British high street, the once richly diverse landscape of dance in the UK is likely to look very different once lockdown is fully lifted. There will be losses, noticeably among the smaller companies whose survival was always precarious. There will be downsizings. There will be painful gaps where a major talent has given up the fight, retired to run a flower shop or become a hill farmer.
The Master Musicians of Joujouka review - a 4000 year-old rock'n'roll band
Thursday, 15 April 2021
The Master Musicians of Joujouka, described by William Burroughs as a “4000 year-old rock’n’roll band”, and recorded by Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones in the late 1960s, have always been something of a cult – even in their own land.
Filmmaker Darius Marder: 'Deafness is a...
Saturday, 03 April 2021
Sound of Metal has been a long time coming. Director and writer Darius Marder faced years of delays ranging from casting changes to the whole world...
Extract: TV by Susan Bordo
Tuesday, 30 March 2021
"Television and I grew up together." As a baby boomer born in 1947, Susan Bordo is roughly the same age as our beloved gogglebox, which began life as...
First Person: violinist Abigail Young on getting...
Friday, 26 March 2021
February 2020: an item a long way down the agenda of the nightly news caused me to remark, fairly casually, “I wonder if that will affect me”....
Extract from Sauntering: Writers Walk Europe, introduced and edited by Duncan Minshull
An ode to leisurely aimlessness |
First Person: Anna Lucia Richter on Monteverdi and a transition from soprano to mezzo
A last gift from the pre-Covid era followed by surprises in a time of pandemic |
theartsdesk Q&A: Daryl Hall
Legendary singer-songwriter talks recording, vaccines and reaching a billion streams |
First Person: Clare Norburn on how she came to write her ambitious Zoom-era drama, 'Love in the Lockdown'
Writer-producer Clare Norburn elaborates upon her self-isolation online play |
‘The Healing Power of Music’: composer Nigel Hess on great-aunt Myra’s wartime concerts
Parallels between lockdown solace and a great Dame's National Gallery events |
Britney Spears (1998-present): The Video Special
Britney on video: 23 years of salacious self-objectification and hyper-kitsch |
Disc of the Day 10th Anniversary: the level playing field
Ten years of record reviews show how sometimes deranged variety works in our (and the records') favour |
Reviewing music off-piste: reflections on working beyond the comfort zone
The joy of adventure on unfamiliar ground |
Classical musicians on life after Brexit - 4: singers speak out
Top tenor Nicky Spence introduces five other distinguished voices on the visa debacle |
Classical musicians on life after Brexit - 3: violinist Sara Deborah Struntz-Timossi
Another previously free-ranging player adds her voice to individual stories featured here |
Classical musicians on life after Brexit - 2: violinist Victoria Sayles
First sequel to pianist Sophia Rahman's assembly of musical voices on the visa situation |
'The total confusion about post-Brexit rules adds to the distress': classical musicians speak out
Ten players and administrators on the fallout in government restrictions to EU touring |
'Having to establish a real conversation with the audience is a good challenge': Raffaello Morales on a possible musical future
Pioneer of a rare 2020 success story, the Fidelio Orchestra Cafe, on adapting to change |
Book extract: Fat by Hanne Blank
The multiple personalities of a public enemy, sexual fetish and essential organ |
Dame Fanny Waterman (1920-2020) - some recollections, with love and affection
The Leeds International Piano Competition's Artstic Director remembers its founder |
First Person: conductor Johannes Vogel on Beethoven’s Ninth as re-orchestrated by Mahler
The importance of celebrating the anniversary year’s end with a bang |
First Person(s): soprano Susan Bullock and baritone William Dazeley on filming Britten’s Owen Wingrave
Grange Park Opera makes the most of Covid restrictions by producing a TV opera |
Filmmaker Frank Marshall: 'People don’t understand what geniuses The Bee Gees were'
Director of the new Bee Gees documentary discusses the brothers' legacy in music |
Not-quite-solitude on the 34th floor: violinist Maxine Kwok on the short film 'Rising'
The LSO player relates her lockdown experience in the City of London she loves so much |
First Person: Avi Avital on 'Art of the Mandolin'
Master of an exquisite instrument turns to works written specifically for it |
‘Our whole industry is supported by vulnerable freelance creators': Chen Reiss on the artist in a time of Coronavirus
The soprano, now on screen in the Royal Opera 'Ariodante', on recognition for performers |
First Person: Paul Bullock on making BBC Young Jazz Musician 2020
The BBC Young Musician executive editor on the challenges of making the competition work for TV in lockdown |
Book extract: Nativity by Jean Frémon, with drawings by Louise Bourgeois
Reckoning with the question of how to represent Christ |
First Person: horn player Alec Frank-Gemmill on authenticity and enlightenment in lockdown
Treading a fine line in Brahms between historical evidence and creative freedom |
latest in today
Album: Toumani Diabate and the London Symphony Orhcestra - K...
Toumani Diabate, master of the 21-string kora, along with some other Malian musicians, collaborated on a concert at London's Barbican Centre in...
The Royal Ballet - variations on a comeback
Like the British high street, the once richly diverse landscape of dance ...
Citizen Lane review - fascinating dramadoc about Irish arts...
On first sight, Citizen Lane's appeal may seem limited to those with an...
Hough, Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester online rev...
Sir Mark Elder is back with the Hallé for the latest (...
Isserlis, LPO, Elder, Southbank Centre online review – songs...
The Southbank Centre automatically stuck the...
True Mothers review - how many people does it take to raise...
On the 30th floor of a Tokyo apartment building, a charming little boy brushes his teeth, watched over by his smiling mother who sings...
Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty, BBC Two review - wh...
As Line of Duty aficionados debate the identity of H and wonder who DCI Joanne Davidson shares her DNA with, this new three-part series...
The Master Musicians of Joujouka review - a 4000 year-old ro...
The Master Musicians of Joujouka, described by William Burroughs as a “4000 year-old rock’n’roll band”, and recorded by Brian Jones of the Rolling...
Blu-ray: I Was at Home, But...
The term most often used about Berlin director Angela Schanelec’s filmmaking seems to be “elliptical”, and...