reviews

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support

theartsdesk |

We are bowled over! 

We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the response to our appeal to help us relaunch and reboot has been something else.

Kim, BBC Philharmonic, Bihlmaier, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - scary, dark, beautiful and big

Robert Beale |

There are few concert experiences as satisfying as hearing cornerstone works of the Romantic repertoire played with energy, commitment and panache, which is what Saturday’s BBC Philharmonic delivered in generous measure.

Wozzeck, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - harrowing tale told in brutal-tender music and thousands of photographs

David Nice
Before last night's still-shocking saga of a downtrodden soul began, Southbank Artistic Director Mark Ball came on to tell us that while concerts…

Rose of Nevada review - ghosts of Cornish community

Nick Hasted
In Mark Jenkin’s Cornish cinema, lost boats, drowned men and ways of life wash back in with the tide, nothing truly gone. Where his feature debut…

Music Reissues Weekly: Jon Lucien - Search For The Inner Self

Kieron Tyler
Last year, Paul Weller compiled a collection of his favourite soul tracks. A highlight of That Sweet Sweet Music was Jon Lucien’s affecting “Search…

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

Please Please Me, Kiln Theatre review - too much, and not enough

aleks.sierz
Life of Brian Epstein explored in new play which never really satisfies

The Art of Fugue, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Circa, QEH review - an inspiring combination of Bach and acrobatics

Rachel Halliburton
Circa's acrobatics bracingly express a philosophical idea of the body

Big Thief, 02 Academy, Brixton review - an evening of understated radiance

Katie Colombus
The Brooklyn four prove less is more

Osborne, Lartigau, RPO, Petrenko, RFH review - orchestral classic ruined by a tiresome film

Bernard Hughes
Messiaen’s 'Turangalîla' well played, but overwhelmed by a trivialising animation

Olivia Dean, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - pop's new star has a slow start but euphoric finish

Jonathan Geddes
The singer has gone from tiny clubs to arenas in just three years

Altstaedt, Várjon, Hallé, Adès, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - the Unanswered Question answered?

Robert Beale
A scenic journey through 20th and 21st century landscapes

Between the River and the Sea, Royal Court review - wry take on insoluble antagonisms

aleks.sierz
Autobiographical show about the Middle East prefers utopian longing to political engagement

Kraggerud, Irish Chamber Orchestra, RIAM, Dublin review - Mozart and movement

David Nice
Fiddly but felt, the interpretations of the ICO's Norwegian violinist-director always compel

In the Print, King's Head Theatre - a moment that changed the newspaper industry for ever

Rachel Halliburton
A spiky depiction of the struggle between trade union leader Brenda Dean and Rupert Murdoch

Mint, BBC One review - when crime families collide

Adam Sweeting
Charlotte Regan's genre-jumping drama defies categorisation

The Dream of Gerontius, LSO and Chorus, Pappano, Barbican review - drama beyond belief

Boyd Tonkin
Tenderness, and terror, outshine majesty in Elgar's journey of the soul

Jasper Høiby's 3Elements, Bristol Beacon review - incandescent jazz conversation

Mark Kidel
Brilliant trio seamlessly combine composition and improvisation

Bergerac, Season 2, U&Drama review - murder most tasteful, served sunny side up

Helen Hawkins
Well paced and excellently cast, this revival still needs more of a sense of danger

Láng, Bretz, BBCSSO, Chan, City Halls, Glasgow review - Bluebeard's Castle threatens and yearns

Simon Thompson
Love among the chills in Bartók’s House of Horrors

Avenue Q, Shaftesbury Theatre review - we need that puppet sex now, and the rest

Gary Naylor
Can it be as good as it was 20 years go? Of course it can!

Gerald Barry's Salome, NSO Ireland, Kuhn, National Concert Hall, Dublin review - funny-queasy genius

David Nice
Paradoxically both ordered and wild(e), with weird twists and superb performances

The Rite by Heart, Aurora Orchestra, Multitudes Festival, RFH - exhilarating display of changing rhythms and moods

Rachel Halliburton
This semi-dramatised evening was as illuminating as it was exhilarating

The Flying Dutchman, Welsh National Opera review - running, jumping and standing still

stephen.walsh
Lusty singing, plenty of space and not a sail in sight

Carsie Blanton & the Burning Hell, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - a fine revolutionary singalong

Guy Oddy
Socialist troubadours spread hope and optimism

Frang, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - Los Angeles meets Leningrad

Boyd Tonkin
Secret handshakes between works that weathered trauma

The Blue Trail review - take it to the river

Saskia Baron
Full steam ahead for Rodrigo Santoro and Denise Weinberg

Diamanti review - welcome to the vaginodrome

Markie Robson-Scott
Soap-opera in the Roman style: Ferzan Özpetek's opulent, melodramatic meta drama

Heart Wall, Bush Theatre review - deeply felt, but frustratingly incomplete

aleks.sierz
New play about family trauma and grief is subtle, sensitive, but pitted with plot holes

theartsdesk on Vinyl Record Store Day Special 2026

Thomas H. Green
Check our reviews of 28 Records Store Day exclusives

the future of arts journalism

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing! 

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

latest in today

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages of love and support
We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts…
Kim, BBC Philharmonic, Bihlmaier, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - scary, dark, beautiful and big
There are few concert experiences as satisfying as hearing cornerstone works of the Romantic repertoire played with energy, commitment and…
Wozzeck, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - harrowing tale told in brutal-tender music and thousands of photographs
Before last night's still-shocking saga of a downtrodden soul began, Southbank Artistic Director Mark Ball came on to tell us that while…
Kneecap kick the doors down again with ‘Fenian’
It must be exhausting to be a member of Belfast hip-hop crew, Kneecap. Having already recorded a debut album and fistful of fine singles…
Rose of Nevada review - ghosts of Cornish community
In Mark Jenkin’s Cornish cinema, lost boats, drowned men and ways of life wash back in with the tide, nothing truly gone. Where his feature…
Music Reissues Weekly: Jon Lucien - Search For The Inner Self
Last year, Paul Weller compiled a collection of his favourite soul tracks. A highlight of That Sweet Sweet Music was Jon Lucien’s affecting…
Please Please Me, Kiln Theatre review - too much, and not enough
Decades are never neat: they don’t simply go from 1 to 10, or 0 to 9. So it is with the Swinging Sixties, which actually began – like…
The Art of Fugue, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Circa, QEH review - an inspiring combination of Bach and acrobatics
I have to confess, I hadn’t been sure what to expect when I heard about The Art of Fugue staged with acrobats. This latest collaborative…
Big Thief, 02 Academy, Brixton review - an evening of understated radiance
In an era of excessive production for live shows, it is striking to see a band of Big Thief’s stature walk onto a stage this large and…
Osborne, Lartigau, RPO, Petrenko, RFH review - orchestral classic ruined by a tiresome film
Messiaen’s Turangalîla, his sprawling 10-movement, 75-minute extravaganza, is garish, graphic and glorious. It is a full-bore, Technicolor…