Features & Interviews
Robert Redford (1936-2025)
Thursday, 18 September 2025
Somehow both rugged and smooth, embodying American values yet often turning up his collar against them, Robert Redford – who died on 16 September, aged 89 – was one of the biggest movie stars of the post-war period, as well as a stalwart, transformative supporter of independent film.
First Person: Musician ALA.NI on how thoughts of empire and reparation influenced a song
Thursday, 18 September 2025
I’ve never thought of myself as a political artist. I write about love. The tender bits, the messy bits, the heartbreak that rearranges a life. That’s where songwriting usually finds me. “TIEF”, from my forthcoming album Sunshine Music, arrived differently. It’s built around an interpolation of “Slave” by the legendary calypsonian singer Mighty Sparrow.
Interview: Quinteto Astor Piazzolla on playing in...
Wednesday, 16 July 2025
“I still can’t believe that some pseudo-critics continue to accuse me of having murdered tango,” Astor Piazzolla once declared. “They have it...
Sir Brian Clarke (1953-2025) - a personal tribute
Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Brian Clarke died on 1 July 2025, after a long illness. He was one of the most original British artists of our time – wide-ranging, ground-...
The Road to Patagonia review - journey to the end...
Thursday, 10 July 2025
The journey not the destination matters in The Road to Patagonia, an epic pilgrimage of 30,000 miles that, unexpectedly, turns into a love story....
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First Person: country singer Tami Neilson on the superpower of sisterhood
The Canadian-born, New Zealand-based artist on how women have empowered her career |
Alfred Brendel 1931-2025 - a personal tribute
A master of feeling and intellect |
10 Questions for musician Michael Gira
Experimental rock titan on never retiring, meeting his idols and Swans’ new album |
'Classic-era prog’s Olympian pinnacle': Pink Floyd's 'Echoes' returns in their restored Pompeii concert film and as Nick Mason's band's vinyl hit
The band's legendary track from 1971 resurfaces not once, but twice |
First Person: young cellist Zlatomir Fung on operatic fantasies old and new
Fresh takes on Janáček's 'Jenůfa' and Bizet's 'Carmen' are on the menu |
First Person: rising folk star Amelia Coburn on her French inspiration
The Middlesbrough singer-songwriter on the background story to her latest single |
First Person: St John's College choral conductor Christopher Gray on recording 'Lament & Liberation'
A showcase for contemporary choral works appropriate to this time |
First Person: singer-songwriter David Gray on how the songs on his new album came to him
One of this century's most successful British singers still finds magic in the act of creation |
Oscars 2025: long day's journey into 'Anora'
'Anora' creator Sean Baker wins four trophies in a night full of firsts - and a second trophy for Adrien Brody |
First Person: writer Lauren Mooney on bringing bodies together in the new Royal Court play, 'More Life'
Kandinsky Theatre co-creator on a new play tethering technology to existence |
David Lynch: In Dreams (1946-2025)
The director, who has died aged 78, rewired cinema with nightmare logic, an underground ethos and weird, wondrous innocence |
Best of 2024: Books
As 2024 comes to an end, we look back at the books that have thrilled and enthralled us |
Best of 2024: Film
theartsdesk's movie critics pick their favourites from the last 12 months |
First Person: cellist Matthew Barley on composing and recording his 'Light Stories'
Conceived a year ago, a short but intense musical journey |
First Person: singer-songwriter Sam Amidon on working in Dingle with Teaċ Daṁsa on 'Nobodaddy'
Michael Keegan-Dolan’s mind-boggling total work of art arrives at Sadlers Wells this week |
First Person: Alec Frank-Gemmill on reasons for another recording of the Mozart horn concertos
On ignoring the composer's 'Basta, basta!' above the part for the original soloist |
'His ideal worlds embraced me with their light and love': violinist Irène Duval on the music of Fauré
On the centenary of the great French composer's death, a fine interpreter pays homage |
Documentary highlights from the 2024 London Film Festival
A close look at insightful new non-fiction films about single motherhood, visionary photographers, scam artists, legacies of colonialism, and more |
First Person: Bob Riley on Manchester Camerata's championship of a Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia
Making a difference out of the musical ghetto |
First Person: Lindsey Ferrentino on the play that has led Adrien Brody to the London stage
The American dramatist on bringing 'The Fear of 13', and its Oscar-winning lead, to the Donmar |
First Person: Tim Etchells on 40 years of making a noise with Forced Entertainment
The experimental theatre company marks four decades with its new production 'Signal to Noise' |
First Person: conductor Robert Hollingworth on a four-choir rarity by Benevoli
I Fagiolini join with two other choirs for a spectacular in St Martin-in-the-Fields |
10 Questions for Black String’s Youn Jeong Heo
K-Music special: The founder of Korea’s finest quartet discusses their intense and otherworldly music |
theartsdesk in Bradford - Leeds International Piano Competition 2024 finalists shine in St George's Hall
A clear winner, but all pianists worked superbly with a great conductor and orchestra |
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