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We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts lovers and professionals alike – but the…
Adam Sweeting |
Can you remember what you were doing on 23 June 2016? You might well have been out to cast your vote in the EU referendum, which has thrown its interminable shadow over our…
Boyd Tonkin |
“Never have I had such a day,” sings the baffled Emperor Tito as he wearily forgives all and sundry for their conspiracies, treacheries, deceits, attempted murders – and, by the…
Joe Muggs |
There’s not – and never has been, really – that much discourse about commercial dance music as music. It’s either talked about by ageing doomers (“oh the kids just want to film on…
Bernard Hughes |
Danish by name, and very much Danish by appearance (the cellist is Norwegian, but we’ll let that go). This quartet combines a glorious selection of blonde beards and moustaches…
Rachel Halliburton |
Kurt Vonnegut’s hallucinatory countercultural classic, Slaughterhouse Five, famously took his experience of being a prisoner of war in Dresden and turned it into a story about a…
stephen.walsh
The first question is always: Don Carlos or Don Carki? Verdi’s opera was originally composed for Paris in 1867, in French, with the requisite five acts and the inevitable ballet.…
Mark Kidel
In a cultural world with no frontiers, French-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf has a musical CV that ranges very widely: collaborations with Angélique Kidjo, Sting, Quincy Jones…
Guy Oddy
The Ryland Caravan Festival is an annual festival put together by local musical eccentrics, Independent Country, and held in the outside amphitheatre at the Midlands Arts Centre (…
Jonathan Geddes
As Metallica have long known, Ennio Morricone's Ecstasy of Gold is a rousing choice of walk on music. Deadletter might not be playing the stadiums the metal giants ply their trade…
Kieron Tyler
“My Ice Queen” immediately makes its case. A mid-to-low tempo chugging rhythm underpins choppy guitar, a contemplative, distant vocal and a general air of disassociation. Brief…
Nick Hasted
Charli xcx’s cinema blitz includes seven acting roles and Wuthering Heights’ soundtrack, reinforcing her cultural ubiquity since 2024’s Brat summer. Film remains an adjunct to her…
Bedouine
I watched a video online recently of a three-year-old girl being quizzed with questions about her mom (adorable). It was a Mother’s Day video set up by her father who was speaking…
Graham Rickson
Carl Nielsen: The Ultimate Solo Piano Collection Rikke Sandberg (OUR Recordings)
Image
Good compilations of Nielsen’s piano…
Aleks Sierz
Okay, theatre is all about acting, but then so is most porn. Except for amateur stuff. Sort of. And then there is AI, deep fakes and digital manipulation, while not forgetting…
Thomas H. Green
Back when One Direction alumnus Niall Horan released his second album, Heartbreak Weather, in 2020, songs such as “Nice to Meet Ya”, “Arms of a Stranger” and “Small Talk” hinted…
Thomas H. Green
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By the time Marina Diamandis reaches “Cuntissimo”, Birmingham’s O2 Academy is a sing-along sauna. We’re squeezed in like…
David Nice
Richard Strauss, who conducted this orchestra and programme to an audience of 7000 in the Royal Albert Hall on 19 October 1947 aged 83, would have shared our mixed feelings about…
Erin Lewis
Lizzo used to be fun. For a long time, the now 38-year-old singer-songwriter emitted a vibrant energy but that has lately seeped out of her music. This may be down to any of a…
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Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
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tv
Ten years later, the Euro-controversy still rages
Friendships tested to destruction in Catherine Shepherd's satirical drama
Steve Coogan and Tom Burke lead a formidable cast in Neil Forsyth's drama
film
The Brat star convinces in a freewheeling, nouvelle vague-ish Polish excursion
Fictionalised account of Keith Jarrett’s iconic concert feels as improvised as its subject
Life-enhancing vintage entertainment, for children of all ages
new music
World-bestriding Australian house DJ hits all the right notes, albeit maybe too consistently
The master of the Arabic-tinged quarter-tone trumpet in party mode
Independent Country’s shindig takes on a grey Saturday and wins out
classical
Striking performances by a quartet with a strong sense of identity
Life-enhancing Danish piano music and a trio of epic symphonies
'Santtu' clearly loves 'Symphonia Domestica', the composer's family mock-epic
opera
In concert, Mozart's farewell opera burns bright
Not much to look at, good on the ear
Not a huge number of laughs, but plenty of vocal charm from tenor and soprano
theatre
A versatile ensemble of four brings the countercultural classic to life
New play about the real and the fake in the online world is both humorous and distressing
The OIivier is exploited to its full epic potential in scenes of war and redemption
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
The latest tranche of Korean contemporary dance offered a mesmerising instant classic
A handsome production in need of a stronger score and deeper characterisation
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Comic revisits her alma mater to talk politics
Absurdist comic's most personal show yet
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
This not-a-biography of the 80s pop icon feels like an overextended magazine feature
Latest entry in BFI's Film Classics series offers fresh perspectives and media insights
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Her large sculpted butterflies act both as an inspiration and a warning
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