new music reviews, news & interviews
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! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts…
“When it comes to a dance roundup, you surely won’t be able to come up with a Top Ten, will you? Even a Top Five might be a stretch”. This…
Pop music and politics, fiction and fact, debut novels and posthumous publications: TAD’s reviewers reveal their best reads of 2025…
For a beautiful treatment of Matsuo Bashō's celebrated haiku “A frog jumps in”, the dreamlike stream-of-consciousness of “I am a volcano”,…
Concert one-offs can be experiences to last a lifetime (immediately springing to mind is Jakub Hrůša’s BBC Symphony Orchestra…
It wasn't exactly a stellar year for comedy but there were plenty of shows that shone brightly and have stayed with me, even if the…
Actors who play someone with Tourette syndrome have to take a huge step out of their comfort zone. Robert Aramayo accepted that challenge…
Analysts tell us that the UK’s top-rated TV show this Christmas was the King’s speech, with the Strictly Christmas special coming in a mere…
It was a year for outstanding individual performances, especially from relative newcomers, and at least three flawless ensembles, less so…
A foreign-language release steeped in Catholicism isn’t exactly what you’d expect to top virtually every end-of-year album list. But…
Most read
Turner and Constable, Rivals and Originals, Tate Britain, November 2025Whoever thought of creating an exhibition comparing the brilliance…
Pop music and politics, fiction and fact, debut novels and posthumous publications: TAD’s reviewers reveal their best reads of 2025…
Concert one-offs can be experiences to last a lifetime (immediately springing to mind is Jakub Hrůša’s BBC Symphony Orchestra…
For as long as I can remember – back when I was not yet a teenager, listening to Joan Baez first as a way to learn guitar – voices and…
“When it comes to a dance roundup, you surely won’t be able to come up with a Top Ten, will you? Even a Top Five might be a stretch”. This…
For a beautiful treatment of Matsuo Bashō's celebrated haiku “A frog jumps in”, the dreamlike stream-of-consciousness of “I am a volcano”,…
Some albums announce themselves with a roar. Others arrive quietly, kind of casually strolling into your life when you weren’t looking.…
Image
My album of the year came as a real surprise to me, Arvo Pärt’s output…
A foreign-language release steeped in Catholicism isn’t exactly what you’d expect to top virtually every end-of-year album list. But…
It’s 1952 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, seven years after the Enola Gay dropped a bomb on the Japanese empire, but one skinny New Yorker…