Interviews with leading figures from the arts
'The first thing I do when I wake up is write.' Hilary Mantel, 1952-2022
Friday, 23 September 2022
Hilary Mantel, who has died at the age of 70, was a maker of literary history. Wolf Hall, an action-packed 650-page brick of a book about the rise and rise of Thomas Cromwell, won the Man Booker Prize in 2009. Three years later its successor, Bring Up the Bodies, became the first sequel ever to win the prize in its 44-year history.
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theartsdesk Q&A: Abel Selaocoe
Friday, 23 September 2022
South-African cellist Abel Selaocoe is about to begin his third major concert in London in under a year. As the support artist for kora player Ballake Sissoko and cellist Vincent Segal at the Roundhouse in January, he received a lengthy ovation for his 30 minute set, having demonstrated an uncanny ability to play the audience as dexterously as he plays his cello.
theartsdesk Q&A: Horn player Sarah Willis on...
Saturday, 03 September 2022
Berlin Philharmonic Horn player Sarah Willis’s Mozart y Mambo caused a stir in 2020, its mixture of Mozart and traditional Cuban music making it a...
theartsdesk Q&A: bass-baritone Christopher...
Tuesday, 28 June 2022
He’s the most haunting, at times terrifying Wozzeck I’ve seen, in Richard Jones's Welsh National Opera baked-bean-factory production, and the...
10 Questions for art historian and fiction writer...
Saturday, 11 June 2022
“Is she at a pivotal point in her life but unable to pivot…?” Eve, the young heroine of Chloë Ashby’s dazzling debut novel, Wet Paint, asks this...
theartsdesk Q&A: Marc Almond of Soft Cell
The Eighties icon tells how Andy Warhol, Chernobyl, nostalgia and the colour purple inspired the first Soft Cell album in 20 years |
10 Questions for Musician Jarboe
'skin blood women roses', collaboration and the secret to excellent hearing |
William Hurt, great Hollywood contrarian, has died at 71
A string of brilliant performances cemented his place as a great face of 1980s cinema |
The unexpurgated Clement Crisp - in memoriam
The titan of ballet critics, who has died at 95, once agreed to be grilled - with scorching results |
10 Questions for filmmaker Romola Garai
The star’s macabre directorial debut 'Amulet' is fuelled by anger |
10 Questions for musician and DJ Pete Tong
On his latest EP and his musical life thus far |
theartsdesk Q&A: jazz musician Charles Lloyd
Jazz Zelig’s long, strange trip from Howlin’ Wolf to Norah Jones |
theartsdesk Q&A: Low, the band - 'Structure is key in minimalism. Especially in pop minimalism'
Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk reveal their thoughts about recent album ‘Hey What’ and offer a gardening tip |
'A nun destroyed my tent': artist Kate Daudy talks about NFTs, refugees, and having her work thrown out with the trash
The artist's first 'Non-Fungible Token' goes live as part of a new online exhibition |
Documenting the unimaginable: photographer Sebastião Salgado talks about climate change, dodging caimans and changing perspectives
How does Western behaviour risk turning the Amazonian paradise into a hell? |
RIP dancer and photographer Colin Jones - obituary
Dubbed the George Orwell of photojournalism, Jones married Lynn Seymour |
10 Questions for writer Lucia Osborne-Crowley
The author of 'My Body Keeps Your Secrets' on trauma, shame and community |
theartsdesk Q&A: filmmaker Marco Kreuzpaintner
What his new film 'The Collini Case' says about Germany, the Nazis, justice and the law |
theartsdesk Q&A: writer and comedian Tom Davis
From singing Disney songs in drag to 'Murder in Successville' and BBC One's 'King Gary' |
10 Questions for novelist Mieko Kawakami
Assaying 'Heaven' - the Japanese writer on childhood, vulnerability, and violence as a complement to beauty |
10 Questions for Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream
The singer talks concept albums, Mary Chain days, and his new music with singer Jehnny Beth |
theartsdesk Q&A: choreographer Christopher Scott
The creator of the sizzling dance scenes for 'In The Heights' on how they came about |
theartsdesk Q&A: composer and conductor Carl Davis
The silent film specialist on shot lists, bass drums and the perils of projection speeds |
Singer-songwriter Peggy Seeger: still in the vanguard of her musical dynasty
A member of America's great musical clan, Peggy Seeger has been a fixture on the British folk scene for more than 60 years |
Filmmaker Darius Marder: 'Deafness is a culture. That's not being PC'
Writer and director on Sound of Metal's long journey from concept to award nominations |
theartsdesk Q&A: Author Sam Mills on the phenomenon of the 'chauvo-feminist'
The novelist and non-fiction writer discusses #MeToo and her latest long-form essay |
theartsdesk Q&A: conductor Klaus Mäkelä
Balancing freedom and control in Oslo and Paris |
10 Questions for Vocalist-Lyricist Georgia Mancio
Portraying beauty, dignity and hope - and love, joy and sadness - in song |
theartsdesk Q&A: Daryl Hall
Legendary singer-songwriter talks recording, vaccines and reaching a billion streams |
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