Features
theartsdesk in Fes: A world music festival that's a beacon of toleranceSunday, 29 June 2014
You are or maybe wish you were at Glastonbury this weekend. Not me. I last went six years ago and it’s just too big for me. And you need about four different passes to get backstage should you have a good or a bad reason to get there. Too... Read more... |
First Person: Who is Mozart's fake garden girl?Saturday, 28 June 2014
La finta giardiniera is about seven characters in search of love. They are all pretending to some extent – they are not being truthful to themselves. It’s a classic Mozartian conceit which comes back in Così fan tutte in particular but also in Le... Read more... |
First Person: Gotta Have Faith?Thursday, 26 June 2014
A still Sunday morning in late October… the sky monotone grey… my friend and I are on a fact-finding mission in Jackson, Mississippi. We drive to the outskirts of the city, take a left onto Hanging Moss Road, and see ahead of us, in isolation among... Read more... |
David Schneider Makes Stalin LaughMonday, 23 June 2014
When Dostoyevsky was asked why he wrote Crime and Punishment he famously replied, “To further my career and get shortlisted for book prizes.” He didn’t, of course. I made that up. But what artist/writer/actor creates a piece of art/writing/acting... Read more... |
'Here they come again': Zulu at 50Friday, 20 June 2014
I can remember the exact moment that Zulu grabbed me. I was seven at the time and watched the film at some now-defunct widescreen cinema in Brighton early in 1964, probably just a few weeks after it was released.I had been intrigued by the posters... Read more... |
American TV not always better, claims BBC boss Danny CohenThursday, 19 June 2014
Here at theartsdesk we still receive the occasional missive from readers on several continents incensed at the BBC's axing of Zen in February 2011, a decision taken by then-controller of BBC One Danny Cohen. Zen didn't get a mention in Cohen's... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Transylvania: An unearthed Dr Dolittle and disquieting shadowsWednesday, 18 June 2014
Transylvania in Northern Romania remains yoked to the memory of Vlad the Impaler, the ruthless individual immortalised as Dracula in Bram Stoker's novel, but, on a sunny midsummer week in early June, the mood was anything but stygian in Cluj, the... Read more... |
Extracts: John Tusa - Pain in the ArtsMonday, 16 June 2014
In the midst of ferment as the arts world faces fast-shrinking public subsidy, Sir John Tusa, former managing director of the BBC World Service and the Barbican Arts Centre, publishes this week a brisk new book that urges arts and politicians to... Read more... |
theartsdesk at The Inntöne Jazz FestivalSunday, 15 June 2014
New Orleans. New York. Kansas City. Chicago. These are the places where the soul of jazz breathes free. In London, you’d head to Soho. Dalston, or Camden; none of these places have a blade of grass to share between them. Jazz must be one of the most... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Dresden and Berlin: Happy Birthday, Richard StraussWednesday, 11 June 2014
Richard Strauss was born in Munich 150 years ago today. Christian Thielemann is celebrating the fact by conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden in the juiciest of all-Strauss operatic potpourris, a festive concert to be held in the city’s glorious... Read more... |
East End Film Festival 2014: PreviewWednesday, 11 June 2014
Sprawling over the East End of London for the next thirteen days and boasting an illuminating line-up of new voices, retrospectives and debate in its 13th year, the East End Film Festival ensures no cinematic rock is left unturned with its bold... Read more... |
Marina Abramović: 512 Hours, Serpentine GalleryTuesday, 10 June 2014
I’ll admit, there's a scene that made me well up during the excellent Marina Abramović biopic The Artist is Present. If you've seen it you’ll know the scene I mean – it’s where Ulay, Abramović’s former partner, in art and in life, takes the seat... Read more... |
