Features & Interviews
theartsdesk in Brussels - jazz, openness and youth at the start of the cultural year
Tuesday, 14 January 2020
“Brussels – The Cultural Guide” for 2020 is a very substantial book. It consists of 212 tightly-packed pages in a quite small font. The message is that there is indeed a lot going on culturally in Belgium’s capital city.
Bridging the cultural divide: Armenian conductor Sergey Smbatyan on marrying east and west
Tuesday, 14 January 2020
We’re touring across Europe in January 2020, visiting five countries to perform eight concerts with the world-class violinist Maxim Vengerov as our leading soloist. The tour has been organized by the European Foundation for Support of Culture.
'Divinity is all around us': soprano...
Sunday, 12 January 2020
In 2010, my best friend and I made a whimsical decision to go backpacking in India over the Easter break. I had developed an interest in Eastern...
Planting seeds for change: Helen Wallace on a...
Wednesday, 08 January 2020
When I mention Nature Unwrapped, a year-long series at Kings Place subtitled "Sounds of Life", the responses are often tinged with cynicism: "Oh,...
Celebrating the musicals of Jerry Herman (1931-...
Friday, 03 January 2020
How is it that, in the nearly 900 pages of Sondheim's collected lyrics with extensive comments Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat, with...
theartsdesk in Zurich and Tallinn: celebrating great Estonians
A Swiss inauguration for Paavo Järvi, a significant birthday for Erkki-Sven Tüür |
theartsdesk Q&A: Conductor Semyon Bychkov in Prague
A tutorial on Smetana's epic of Czechia from the man its leading orchestra calls 'daddy' |
Remembering Mariss Jansons (1943-2019)
The great Latvian conductor has died at the age of 76, but he leaves a powerful legacy |
10 Questions for Techno Musician Carl Craig
Catching up with the prince of Detroit techno as he revives an old alter ego |
Is this Jimi Hendrix’s greatest posthumous release? Producer Eddie Kramer talks about a legendary live album
The complete set of Hendrix's Band of Gypsys performances at the Fillmore East is released this week |
theartsdesk in Warsaw: musical perspectives on culture beyond communism
Troubled history beneath the surface in festival of music from Poland and its neighbours |
'Shakespeare is mistakenly considered something for the elite': director Claire McCarthy on 'Ophelia'
Upcoming adaptation shines a new light on Shakespeare's famous tragic maiden |
Book extract: Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich
Extract III of III - On Romeo and Juliet... Except Their Names Were Margarita and Abulfaz |
Book extract: Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich
Extract II of III - On a Loneliness That Resembles Happiness |
'The Academy and I': composer and viola-player Sally Beamish on a special relationship
On composing anniversary pieces for an ensemble she knows from the inside |
Book extract: Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich
Extract I of III - A Man's Story |
Music for Youth's Judith Webster: '91% of the young people we work with are from state schools'
As their big Albert Hall Proms approach, MFY's CEO explains the essentials |
'These were the quartets that made us fall in love with the genre': Dudok Quartet Amsterdam on Haydn
The Dutch players speak as one on recording the Austrian composer's Op 20 |
First Person: Simon Stephens - the contemplation of kindness
A journey to the North, into the playwright's past, provides the genesis for ‘Light Falls’, opening at the Royal Exchange |
First Person: Hannah Khalil on museum as metaphor in her new play for the RSC
The playwright on 'A Museum in Baghdad', and how she discovered the story of Gertrude Bell |
‘We must not allow boorish, opportunistic autocrats to hijack music’: Gabriela Montero on life and art
The Venezuelan pianist and composer on the creative impulse and how she uses it |
The deathless Alicia Alonso, in person
Remembering the woman who was Cuban ballet's legend and monster |
theartsdesk at the Tsinandali Festival: young Caucasians join hands and instruments
World-class chamber players and young orchestras on a Georgian country estate |
Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Extract III of III - She Rides along the Coast toward a Historic |
Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Extract II of III - Days of the Dead |
Book extract: Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
Extract I of III - Translations |
'A laboratory for everything': Jasper Parrott on the future of his classical music agency
As Harrison Parrott celebrates 50 years with concerts on Sunday, its main mover reflects |
Jessye Norman, 1945-2019
The great soprano has died at the age of 74, leaving behind a fabulous legacy |
Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva on the London Piano Festival: 'It's not just playing one concert and going home'
On a meeting of musical friends with a Two-Piano Marathon at its heart |
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