Interviews with leading figures from the arts
Interview: Roy Haynes, Jazz Drumming Giant (1925-2024)
Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Roy Haynes, who had begun to seem immortal, has died aged 99. In this extensive Arts Desk interview from 2011, one of the greatest jazz drummers ranges across his remarkable life with sharp intelligence and generous feeling.
theartsdesk Q&A: director Jacques Audiard on his Mexican trans gangster musical 'Emilia Pérez'
Friday, 25 October 2024
Jacques Audiard – creator of such subversive crime dramas and alternative romances as Read My Lips (2001), The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), A Prophet (2009), and Rust and Bone (2012) – isn’t an aficionado of film musicals. But in blending one into his comic Spanish-language trans gangster thriller Emilia Pérez, the 72-year-old director has made the most beautiful aberration of his career.
theartsdesk Q&A: Anna Bogutskaya on her new...
Tuesday, 22 October 2024
You may have heard the phrase “elevated horror” being used to describe horror films that lean more toward arthouse cinema, favouring tension and...
theartsdesk Q&A: Alice Lowe on '...
Friday, 11 October 2024
Before Alice Lowe wrote her first short film scripts, she was, despite success in television and theater, “terrified” of making a full-length feature...
theartsdesk Q&A: young pianist Ignas...
Friday, 20 September 2024
The high level of entries for this year’s Leeds Piano Competition – 366, almost twice the number who entered in 2018 – is just one reminder that any...
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The Third Man rides again - 75th anniversary of Carol Reed's noir classic
Script supervisor Angela Allen on Orson Welles and filming in a war-ravaged Vienna |
theartsdesk Q&A: conductor Dalia Stasevska on her new album of contemporary orchestral music
Finnish-Ukrainian conductor looks to bring the music of today to new audiences |
theartsdesk Q&A: David Morrissey on (among other things) the return of 'Sherwood' and 'Daddy Issues'
Liverpool-born actor reflects on a journey from Everyman Theatre to film and TV stardom |
theartsdesk Q&A: violinist Braimah and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, guitarist Plínio Fernandes, on their two Fantasia Proms
String siblings and old friend reunite with Tom Fetherstonhaugh's inspiring orchestra |
10 Questions for DJ-producer Dave Clarke
The techno don talks new music, Brexit, cars, Gustav Holst and much more |
theartsdesk Q&A: Lucie Shorthouse is flying high with 'We Are Lady Parts' and 'Rebus'
An actor's progress from Cambridge Footlights to 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie', a female Muslim punk band and crime-fighting in Edinburgh |
theartsdesk Q&A: Viggo Mortensen on 'The Dead Don't Hurt', Westerns and the dangers of patriotism
The star considers romance in Durango, co-star Vicky Krieps, his outsider childhood and taste for adventure |
theartsdesk Q&A: Matthew Modine on 'Hard Miles', 40 years in showbusiness and safer cycling
An eventful journey from 'Full Metal Jacket' to 'Oppenheimer' and 'Stranger Things' |
'I think of her as a proto-punk': documentarist Svetlana Zill on Anita Pallenberg
The co-director considers her revelatory account of the Stones' muse of mayhem |
theartsdesk Q&A: Eddie Marsan and the American Revolution, posh boys and East End gangsters
Versatile actor on playing John Adams opposite Michael Douglas in Apple TV+’s ‘Franklin' |
theartsdesk Q&A: Marco Bellocchio - the last maestro
Italian cinema's vigorous grand old man discusses Kidnapped, conversion, anarchy and faith in cinema |
10 Questions for folk singer-songwriter Olivia Chaney - 'deeply personal songs that open out to the universal'
The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter on 'Circus of Desire', her strongest album to date |
theartsdesk Q&A: Singer Dee C Lee
The vocalist chats through music, life, love, heartbreak and glorious Eighties times with The Style Council and WHAM! |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Karl Wallinger
RIP Karl Wallinger: a 2012 interview with the World Party wizard on aneurysms, Robbie Williams, drugs and fame |
theartsdesk Q&A: Wim Wenders on 'Perfect Days'
The German director explains why he made a drama about a Tokyo toilet cleaner |
10 Questions for 'The Settlers' film director Felipe Gálvez Haberle
Why he made a Western to condemn the Chileans responsible for the Selk'nam genocide |
Scala!!! interview with documentary co-directors Jane Giles and Ali Catterall
How the Scala became London's most infamous repertory cinema |
theartsdesk Q&A: Steven Wilson on Porcupine Tree, 'The Harmony Codex' and electro-dominance
Travelling not arriving drives the reluctant prog star onto fresh musical terrains |
32 Sounds: Interview with innovative documentarian Sam Green about his audio and visual feast
Rare chance to catch a unique documentary that explores the listening world |
10 Questions for the avant-pop icons Stereolab
Laetitia and Tim on Nineties tribes, new-age technology and their lifelong affinity with music |
'The people behind the postcards': an interview with Priya Hein, author of 'Riambel'
The writer discusses her prize-winning debut novel, the power of fragments, and the motivations that drive her work |
Warhol, Velázquez, and leaving things out: an interview with Lynne Tillman
Allongside its British re-release, the author of Motion Sickness discusses the state of fiction and her ways of writing |
'We wanted to make a record we really love': The Rolling Stones at Hackney Empire
Mick, Keith and Ronnie at their Hackney Diamonds press conference on Wednesday |
Composer and conductor Carl Davis, 1936-2023
theartsdesk Q&A from 2021 with the silent film specialist on shot lists, bass drums and projection speeds |
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