Features & Interviews
First Person: singer-songwriter David Gray on how the songs on his new album came to him
Thursday, 13 March 2025
Occasionally, when I pass my own reflection, out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of the likeness of my father, shining out through the bones in my face. In this way his ghost walks with me. Sometimes the making process can feel like that, a matter of training our peripheral vision to retrieve the images and ideas that are flickering at the edge of our field of view, existing in the same dimly lit space as dreams, primal impulses and hazy memories.
Oscars 2025: long day's journey into 'Anora'
Monday, 03 March 2025
Amid these troubling times, can we not all live in the world of the 2025 Oscars' runaway success story, an ever-smiling Sean Baker? That thought increasingly crossed my mind as the 97th Academy Awards crawled towards its close, a promise early on from host Conan O'Brien not to "waste time" abandoned more or less as soon as it had been spoken.
First Person: writer Lauren Mooney on bringing...
Thursday, 06 February 2025
It started with a Guardian long-read. I’m ashamed to admit it since so many shows could say the same, but that was the beginning.It was the summer of...
David Lynch: In Dreams (1946-2025)
Monday, 20 January 2025
David Lynch’s final two features mapped a haunted Hollywood of curdled innocence and back-alley eeriness. Mulholland Drive (2001) seemed the ultimate...
Best of 2024: Books
Tuesday, 31 December 2024
Billie Holiday sings again, Olivia Laing tends to her garden, and Biran Klaas takes a chance: our reviewers discuss their favourite reads of 2024.Joe...
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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 |
First Person: soprano Elizabeth Atherton on the decimation of the classical music sector in Wales
Singer who began her career on contract with Welsh National Opera clarifies savage cuts by Welsh and English Arts Councils |
The law's sick voyeurism - director Cédric Kahn on 'The Goldman Case'
Kahn's drama about the 1976 trial of Pierre Goldman mirrors conflicts in modern France |
Here comes the flood: Bob Dylan's 1974 Live Recordings
Night after night: Sony's latest gargantuan release from the vaults |
First Person: Alexandra Dariescu on highlighting women at the Leeds International Piano Competition
A distinguished pianist fights for more balanced international programming |
theartsdesk in Switzerland: Lucerne and Gstaad offer curious audiences fresh perspectives on much-loved works
Two summer festivals find ever new ways to make each concert a memorable event |
theartsdesk at Jaminaround 2024 - preview of the unique Dorset venue's second edition
A music venue that prizes intimacy |
theartsdesk Q&A: Nina Ananiashvili, founder of the State Ballet of Georgia
Bolshoi superstar who made her name in London returns with a new generation |
The Micro Golden Age of Mid Eighties Fantasy Films
They don't make 'em like 'The NeverEnding Story', 'Labyrinth', and 'Legend' anymore |
theartsdesk at the Ryedale Festival: dances, and songs, to the music of time
North Yorkshire's summer celebration blooms, and grows |
Bill Viola (1951-2024) - a personal tribute
Video art and the transcendent |
First Person: trans opera singer Lucia Lucas on Tippett’s 'New Year' and her life in music
The baritone’s success with Birmingham Opera Company has led to further reflections |
First Person: Katharina Kastening on directing slimline Bizet in a year rich in 'Carmen' productions
Peter Brook's 'La Tragédie de Carmen' further reimagined at Buxton |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
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Mr Burton review - modest film about the birth of an extraor...
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