Interviews with leading figures from the arts
Simple Minds and Ultravox, NIA, Birmingham
Saturday, 30 November 2013
Age can do interesting things to musicians who have once been regular fixtures in the media and who reappear in the public consciousness some years later. Time, it has to be said, has been kind to the two remaining members of Simple Minds’ original line-up. The band’s guitarist, Charlie Burchill, may look like Stan Smith, the star of the cartoon American Dad but he looks good with it. Jim Kerr also seems to be ageing gracefully. In fact, he looks better than he did almost 30 years ago, having...
The Wagner Interviews
Saturday, 30 November 2013
The last act of the Wagner bicentenary is upon us as a new production of Parsifal is unveiled at the Royal Opera House. There has been plenty to savour and ponder. The BBC Proms staged concert performances of seven of the operas. Opera North got on with their Ring cycle and Longborough Opera completed theirs. There was a Lohengrin from Welsh National Opera, an acclaimed Flying Dutchman from Zurich Opera at Festival Hall, while various orchestras dipped into various parts of the repertoire and...
Tenacious D, second best spoof rock band
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
“There is a misconception that we have called ourselves the greatest band on earth.” Jack Black, the self-styled “lead singer” of Tenacious D, is all...
10 Questions for Actor Simon Russell Beale
Monday, 25 November 2013
It’s difficult to give Simon Russell Beale a brief introduction, so encyclopedic is his list of stage and screen acting credits. He has cruised...
10 Questions for Cellist Oliver Coates
Monday, 18 November 2013
Oliver Coates is the very model of a modern musical generalist – able to jump, or ignore, the boundaries between musical categories yet retaining...
10 Questions for Count Arthur Strong
Monday, 11 November 2013
Old-school variety act shamelessly plugs half-baked memoir |
theartsdesk Q&A: Actor Robert Vaughn
Thursday, 07 November 2013
The former Napoleon Solo tries to keep his temper as Reginald Rose's 'Twelve Angry Men' comes to the West End |
10 Questions for DJ/Producer Richie Hawtin
Monday, 04 November 2013
How is the techno elder statesman feeling about stepping into Lloyd Wright's space? |
'It could be a zebra out there for all I care'
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
A 2010 meeting with the late Lou Reed gives an insight into his creative priorities |
theartsdesk Q&A: Playwright Jez Butterworth
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Frank and wide-ranging interview with the author of 'Jerusalem' as his first play is revived |
10 Questions for Phil Campbell of Motörhead
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Long-serving guitarist talks Johnny Cash, Hawkwind and, of course, Lemmy |
theartsdesk Q&A: Singer Linda Thompson
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Folk's most fragile but enduring voice on her new album, old friends, the Thompson family, and surviving a 1970s Sufi commune |
10 Questions for Lars Ulrich
Tuesday, 08 October 2013
Metallica's drummer on their new movie, and metal maturity |
theartsdesk Q&A: Sex researcher Shere Hite
Saturday, 05 October 2013
As Channel 4 launches its sex season, we publish an interview with the author of The Hite Report into Female Sexuality |
theartsdesk Q&A: Writer Hanif Kureishi and director Roger Michell
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Their 20-year collaboration has yielded three films about getting on. Next up, Le Week-end |
10 Questions for Musician Yoko Ono
Saturday, 21 September 2013
Twentieth-century icon on the Beatles, Meltdown, and a new album at 80 |
theartsdesk Q&A: Actress Sheridan Smith
Sunday, 15 September 2013
From Tallulah to Titania, the new queen of the West End on her vertical rise |
Wagner at the Proms remembered
Sunday, 08 September 2013
Five singers, three conductors and a director look back on a collective triumph of the bicentenary year |
theartsdesk Q&A: Mezzo-Soprano Joyce DiDonato
Friday, 06 September 2013
The First Lady of the Last Night of the Proms discusses Donizetti and her new disc |
10 Questions for Conductor Marin Alsop
Thursday, 05 September 2013
The first female conductor of the Last Night of the Proms speaks out about gender |
Bald on blondes: what makes Terry Johnson tick?
Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Freud would have had fun with a dramatist who exhumes comics, geniuses and sex symbols |
Rhapsody! How to programme a Hollywood Prom
Sunday, 25 August 2013
The conductor John Wilson on putting together a musical celebration of Hollywood |
How Ratmansky exited the Bolshoi, in Flames
Sunday, 18 August 2013
A look back at ex-Bolshoi chief's reflections on his theatre and his ballet, The Flames of Paris |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Johnny Marr
Saturday, 17 August 2013
The former Smiths guitarist reflects at length on a life of musical wanderlust |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Frank Turner
Friday, 09 August 2013
Folk-punk troubadour talks festival season, feuds and why he always picks his own support bands |
10 Questions for Russell Smith of Terminal Cheesecake
Sunday, 04 August 2013
Guitarist from recently resurrected noise mentalists talks Beatrix Potter, marijuana and Nigel Kennedy |
Interview: Serge Dorny of Opéra de Lyon
Friday, 02 August 2013
Can a space-age 'Fidelio' really take opera into the future? Yes, says opera's outspoken impresario |
10 Questions for Atom Egoyan
Monday, 29 July 2013
The Armenian-Canadian director of 'The Sweet Hereafter' discusses his films' deeply personal roots |
'Why do I feel like I got screwed?'
Monday, 22 July 2013
Robert B Weide's film on Woody Allen is full of insights. He explains how he got the story |
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theartsdesk is changing
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. In September we reached our fourth birthday and feel that the time is now right, in line with other media outlets, to start asking our regular readers for a contribution to help us develop the site further. Theartsdesk has therefore moved to a partial subscription model. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 7,000 pieces, we're asking for £2.95 per month or £25 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
Take an annual subscription now simply click here.
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