Features & Interviews
theartsdesk at Leipzig's Blüthner Piano Factory - a perfect family business
Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Have you ever wondered why the Steinway grand piano is invariably the instrument of choice in every hall you visit, great or small? Why do the halls in question not offer a choice between two or three pianos of different manufacture, as so many did before the Second World War?
Ismaili a Go-Go: How the Aga Khan funded a music renaissance
Tuesday, 19 June 2018
Many of us recognise that rather striking modernist building in Cromwell Gardens near South Kensington tube, having seen it on the way to the V&A or perhaps a Prom at the Albert Hall but not been sure what it is exactly. I hadn't actually been inside until last week when I was given a guided tour. The space was discussed at one point as a potential site for the National Theatre.
'That brick red frock with flowers...
Friday, 15 June 2018
The well-known portrait of New Zealand’s greatest writer, Katherine Mansfield, is exactly 100 years old on 17 June 2018 (main picture). It was...
theartsdesk at the Setúbal Music Festival 2018:...
Friday, 15 June 2018
"Get those creatures off the stage, or I won't answer for what I'll do". The exclamation of the Prima Donna in the backstage prologue of Richard...
Michael Chance on continuing opera in Hampshire...
Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Out of the blue comes a phone call. A freelance career is based on those to a certain extent. Certainly mine has been. But this one was a bit...
Franco Fagioli on performing the Baroque: 'a challenge is to interpret beyond the musical notation'
The Argentinian countertenor on the pleasures and challenges of singing Handel and Co |
Ryuichi Sakamoto: 'Ideally I'm recording all the time, 24 hours a day' - interview
From Xenakis to Oneohtrix Point Never via Bowie and Bootsy, Sakamoto recalls an extraordinary life in music |
Michel Hazanavicius: 'Losing himself is how he found himself'
The Oscar-winning director's new film, 'Redoubtable', charts the turning point in the life and career of the legendary Jean-Luc Godard |
Jazz FM Awards 2018 - a banner year for Ezra Collective
Free jazz icons to bona fide jazz royalty are honoured at the fifth edition of the Awards |
theartsdesk in Ramallah - the music biz turns its sights on Palestine
A new music Expo aims to highlight a music culture with massive potential |
10 Questions for Courtney Pine: 'How do you express rage?'
Pioneering solo jazz artist hails the community of jazz |
theartsdesk in Bremen: 150 years of A German Requiem
Paavo Järvi conducts Brahms's dramatic masterpiece in its original cathedral location |
Helaine Blumenfeld: Britain’s most successful sculptor you’ve never heard of
The director of a new Sky Arts documentary profile of the sculptor explores her work |
theartsdesk in Kraków - Easter music with a British focus
Edinburgh’s Dunedin Consort in residence at one of Poland’s flagship music festivals |
Soprano Ruby Hughes on Handel's last prima donna
Giulia Frasi researched and reincarnated in a much-loved singer's latest CD |
Manon, Royal Ballet review - glitter and betray
Francesca Hayward makes a virtue of a pleasure-loving enigma in pacy MacMillan revival |
theartsdesk at the Lucerne Easter Festival: Haitink, Schiff and an alternative Passion
Greatest living conductor lights the way as mentor in three days of musical excellence |
Glyndebourne Opera Cup - a view from inside
A Mozartian challenge pulls its weight at prestigious new forum for young singers |
Listed: The 10 Best Biblical Novels
An Easter pick of Scriptural stories that command belief |
Sir Matthew Bourne remembers Scott Ambler 1960-2018 – 'A prince among men'
New Adventures Artistic Director's tribute to his core collaborator and star performer |
'There's a poetry in painting that gives endless possibilities'
Painter Alexandra Baraitser on curating her sixth exhibition, 'Silent Painting' |
Antony Sher: Year of the Mad King - extract
The actor's Lear Diaries tell of his preparation to clamber up theatre's tallest peak for the RSC |
'In order to write my book I had to kill Jane Austen'
Rachel Halliburton's novel The Optickal Illusion confronts the settled narrative of Regency heroines |
theartsdesk in Korea: national pride and candour
Music and art without borders in a country cut in half |
Oscars 2018: The shape of a snoozefest
Frances McDormand, Gary Oldman and 'The Shape of Water' triumph at a very serious ceremony |
theartsdesk in Germany - Baltic mastery in Berlin and Leipzig
Neeme Järvi conducts an Estonian epic, Latvian Andris Nelsons becomes 21st Gewandhauskapellmeister |
theartsdesk in Minsk: feasting with Belarus Free Theatre
The renowned underground theatre company confronts the past and present at home and abroad |
'The greatest play ever written': translating The Cherry Orchard
Rory Mullarkey introduces his new version of Chekhov's masterpiece for Bristol Old Vic |
Tony Banks: ‘You either do it by diplomacy or you do it by violence’ - interview
From Genesis to regeneration, the keyboard player's tale |
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