Features & Interviews
First Person: composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad on a musical love letter to the natural world
Wednesday, 24 November 2021
In the darkness my dreams are interruptedI see the blackbird in my mind and the whirring of my brain begins
First Person: composer Conor Mitchell on challenging religious orthodoxy from a queer perspective in MASS
Wednesday, 17 November 2021
A mass, in its simplest form, is the order of prayers that are said in a religious service. It is standardised and has been for centuries, in order to create a theatrical journey that takes us through a service. Composers have always been drawn to the mass as a structure because it has an inherent drama. It draws on themes of rebirth, change, redemption.
Remembering Henry Woolf, Harold Pinter's...
Tuesday, 16 November 2021
Henry Woolf's place in theatre history is small but significant, a bit like Woolf was himself. Until his death on November 11, at the age of 91, he...
Judith van Driel of the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam...
Saturday, 13 November 2021
In every life there are moments of great significance. Experiences that stick with us and define our own personal story.Growing up as a young...
'A nun destroyed my tent': artist Kate...
Wednesday, 10 November 2021
It’s been a turbulent week for British artist Kate Daudy. Am I My Brother’s Keeper, her refugee tent (main picture), the art installation...
First Persons: Susan Bullock, Gerald Finley and Stephen Higgins on a 'Bluebeard's Castle' with a difference
How experience of dementia led to a unique take on Bartók's dark masterpiece |
'Everyone who played for him always gave their very best': remembering Bernard Haitink (1929-2021)
Singers, instrumentalists, conductors and a photographer pay loving homage |
Royal Opera House lullabies for Little Amal
Near the end of her long journey, our refugee gets a welcome her real-life kin are denied |
'Of course art doesn't change the world': Situationist artist Jacqueline de Jong on violence, eroticism and the importance of humour
The Dutch veteran's first UK retrospective has opened at MOSTYN in Wales |
First Person: ethnomusicologist Shumaila Hemani on global musical traditions and Concert for Afghanistan
No boundaries between east and west, north and south, in tonight's live music-making |
First Person: Rachel O'Riordan on the enduring power of a sad, funny, and extraordinary play
The director on the renewed power of 'The Beauty Queen of Leenane' 25 years on |
'The din is loud these days': playwright Cordelia Lynn on her imminent premiere at the Donmar Warehouse
The author of 'Love and Other Acts of Violence' sets out her stall |
Extract: The Breaks by Julietta Singh
Mothering when the future must look different and tomorrow will not resemble today |
K-Music 2021: striking the right note for musical fusion
Stars of this year's festival of Korean music discuss East-West fusions and shared roots |
'Rest now, you God': remembering bass-baritone Norman Bailey (1933-2021)
Greatest of Wagnerians remembered by four fellow-singers and two conductors |
Summer seasons in a Covid world: five opera company movers and shakers reflect
The admins are the heroes now: how festivals surmounted all obstacles |
First Person: theatre director Christopher Haydon on how the Rose Theatre, Kingston, can bloom anew
The former artistic director of the Gate Theatre moves his theatrical vision further west |
Out of the shadows: Dylan’s Eighties reappraised
Bootleg Series co-producer Steve Berkowitz gives an insider’s run-down on the latest Bootleg Series release, 'Springtime in New York' |
First Person: pianist Filippo Gorini on head, heart and the contemporary in Bach's 'The Art of Fugue'
Taking off from a masterly marriage of rigorous means and expressive ends |
Through hoops and hurdles to sheer joy: BBC Proms Director David Pickard on a season like no other
It isn't over yet, but an international institution has already triumphed against the odds |
First Person: composer Joseph Phibbs on rescoring Britten
Tonight at Snape: chamber arrangement of an early masterpiece, 'Our Hunting Fathers' |
Remembering Graham Vick (1953-2021) - top colleagues on one of the greatest opera directors
Five singers, a conductor and a casting director recall an irreplaceable visionary |
First Person: theartsdesk writer Bernard Hughes on composing for the BBC Proms
Classical music reviewer on sitting on the other side of the artist-critic fence |
First Person: young musicians Brooke Simpson and Erin Black on the National Youth Orchestra's 'Hope Exchange' project
NYO double bass player and orchestral pianist on their part in a very special collaboration |
First Person: conductor Enrique Mazzola on Verdi's time-travelling 'Luisa Miller'
Notes from the musician who knows Glyndebourne's last main-season production best |
10 Questions for Harry Grafton of Red Rooster Festival
On The Rolling Stones, Americana, and his festival surviving COVID-19 |
First Person: Héloïse Werner on a live collaboration with fellow composers and performers
New music in a trio concert with a difference |
An Oral History of Glastonbury Festival 1992
Take a 29 year time-trip back to the world's greatest festival with those who were there |
'In music, we are together': saxophonist Jess Gillam on returning to concerts with audience
One of our liveliest musical communicators on the slow journey out of lockdown |
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