Features
The Seckerson Tapes: Petrenko's Shostakovich EightMonday, 03 May 2010
The charismatic St Petersburg-born Vasily Petrenko has really been turning things around at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra since he took over as principal conductor in 2005. With both standards and audiences on the up he has embarked... Read more... |
theartsdesk in the Vatican: In an Audience with the PopeSunday, 02 May 2010
At the Vatican, recently, the Pope attended a concert in his honour in the Sala Clementina. This is the great double-height room which stands at the entrance to the private papal apartments; it is where Pope John Paul II’s body lay in state almost... Read more... |
Interview: Rokia TraoréTuesday, 27 April 2010
Rokia Traoré has always seemed most comfortable creating at trysting points, darting between different worlds without ever quite belonging to any one of them. The daughter of a Malian diplomat, as a child her favourite locations were airports, “this... Read more... |
Interview: Heiner Goebbels, on staging strange worldsMonday, 26 April 2010
First, the name. There’s no family link between the 57-year-old German composer and Hitler’s Doctor Death. This Goebbels cuts an impressive figure. Solidly built, with thick white hair and slightly cherubic features, and speaking fluent English, he’... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Helsinki: Sunflowers By the Frozen BalticSunday, 25 April 2010
Venezuela's joyful musical education programme known as El Sistema is the phenomenon of the age, the success story that many western countries now seek to replicate. And that's great. But Britain, for a start, might re-engage its own back-to-basics... Read more... |
Interview: Barrie Keeffe on Sus, The Long Good Friday and London's Changing East EndWednesday, 21 April 2010
Within the space of a single year - 1979 - Barrie Keeffe wrote two scripts which together summed up the very essence of the East End on the eve of Thatcherism. The first, which barely needs introduction, was the now-classic The Long Good... Read more... |
The Seckerson Tapes: Fiona ShawMonday, 19 April 2010
Fiona Shaw talks about the not inconsiderable demands of juggling Restoration comedy with German Expressionism. It almost doesn’t bear thinking about. Between shows at the National Theatre, where she’s been delighting audiences with her rollocking... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Glasgow: Glasgow International Festival of Visual ArtSunday, 18 April 2010
During my two-day whistlestop tour of various galleries and arts venues across Glasgow, I’m afraid I didn’t spot one white bike. There are, apparently, 50 of them that punters are free to use for the two-week duration of the city’s second biennial... Read more... |
The Return of Metal Machine MusicThursday, 15 April 2010
With Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Trio landing on these shores this weekend, I found myself remembering one of the most memorable listening experiences of my life; the first time I heard Reed’s 1975 album Metal Machine Music. How do you get your... Read more... |
The Seckerson Tapes: Opera Holland ParkWednesday, 14 April 2010
The auditorium has risen once more, the box office is open and busy, and the peacocks are out – Opera Holland Park in London is gearing up for the new season. In this “live and uncut” podcast Edward Seckerson talks to James Clutton (above, left) and... Read more... |
Corin Redgrave, 1939-2010Saturday, 10 April 2010
I once witnessed Corin Redgrave, who died last week, terrify a member of the audience at the National Theatre. He was playing an old beast of a journalist in Joanna Murray-Smith’s play, Honour. It opened with Redgrave in mid-rant, so when a... Read more... |
Breakfast with Laurie AndersonFriday, 09 April 2010
Laurie Anderson's new show Delusion opens at the Barbican in London next week. Since the late 1960s she has been at the forefront of artistic innovation. From early pieces where she appeared in art galleries (wearing ice-skates in a block of ice... Read more... |
