tue 18/03/2025

Features & Interviews

First Person: singer-songwriter David Gray on how the songs on his new album came to him

David Gray

Occasionally, when I pass my own reflection, out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of the likeness of my father, shining out through the bones in my face. In this way his ghost walks with me. Sometimes the making process can feel like that, a matter of training our peripheral vision to retrieve the images and ideas that are flickering at the edge of our field of view, existing in the same dimly lit space as dreams, primal impulses and hazy memories. 

Oscars 2025: long day's journey into 'Anora'

Matt Wolf

Amid these troubling times, can we not all live in the world of the 2025 Oscars' runaway success story, an ever-smiling Sean Baker? That thought increasingly crossed my mind as the 97th Academy Awards crawled towards its close, a promise early on from host Conan O'Brien not to "waste time" abandoned more or less as soon as it had been spoken.

First Person: writer Lauren Mooney on bringing...

Lauren Mooney

It started with a Guardian long-read. I’m ashamed to admit it since so many shows could say the same, but that was the beginning.It was the summer of...

David Lynch: In Dreams (1946-2025)

Nick Hasted

David Lynch’s final two features mapped a haunted Hollywood of curdled innocence and back-alley eeriness. Mulholland Drive (2001) seemed the ultimate...

Best of 2024: Books

Theartsdesk

Billie Holiday sings again, Olivia Laing tends to her garden, and Biran Klaas takes a chance: our reviewers discuss their favourite reads of 2024.Joe...

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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

First Person: Alexandra Dariescu on highlighting women at the Leeds International Piano Competition

Alexandra Dariescu

A distinguished pianist fights for more balanced international programming

theartsdesk in Switzerland: Lucerne and Gstaad offer curious audiences fresh perspectives on much-loved works

Gavin Dixon

Two summer festivals find ever new ways to make each concert a memorable event

theartsdesk at Jaminaround 2024 - preview of the unique Dorset venue's second edition

Mark Kidel

A music venue that prizes intimacy

theartsdesk Q&A: Nina Ananiashvili, founder of the State Ballet of Georgia

Ismene Brown

Bolshoi superstar who made her name in London returns with a new generation

The Micro Golden Age of Mid Eighties Fantasy Films

Justine Elias

They don't make 'em like 'The NeverEnding Story', 'Labyrinth', and 'Legend' anymore

theartsdesk at the Ryedale Festival: dances, and songs, to the music of time

Boyd Tonkin

North Yorkshire's summer celebration blooms, and grows

Bill Viola (1951-2024) - a personal tribute

Mark Kidel

Video art and the transcendent

First Person: trans opera singer Lucia Lucas on Tippett’s 'New Year' and her life in music

Lucia Lucas

The baritone’s success with Birmingham Opera Company has led to further reflections

First Person: Katharina Kastening on directing slimline Bizet in a year rich in 'Carmen' productions

Katharina Kastening

Peter Brook's 'La Tragédie de Carmen' further reimagined at Buxton

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