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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…
Kieron Tyler |
The opening track initially seems straightforward. To begin “Sons of Art,” Michael Garrick runs up and down his piano keyboard. Norma Winstone adds wordless vocals which weave in…
Adam Sweeting |
Among the many versions of America on parade in the ever-expanding universe of Taylor Sheridan, the one portrayed in Mayor of Kingstown is surely the bleakest. As AI helpfully…
Graham Fuller |
Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident is a shattering absurdist anti-caper – a kind of minimalist take on It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World inspired by Iran’s ongoing tragedy.…
David Nice |
Would it be possible to get to the end of the year without hearing a single Bruckner symphony live? I’d reckoned without the presence in Dublin of fabulous conductor Anja…
Bernard Hughes |
Zum Roten Igel – the “Red Hedgehog Tavern” – was a concert venue with pub attached in 19th century Vienna, frequented by the like of Schubert and Brahms. It is also the name…
graham.rickson
Leopold Godowsky: Java SuiteTobias Borsboom (piano) (TRPTK)
Image
There’s surely a thick book to be written…
Tim Cumming
American R&B singer Eric Benet is the latest star to throw Santa’s hat into the ring and spin a Christmas album out of the seasonal market – the cover has him in 1950s mode,…
James Saynor
Given that the British Red Cross has slammed Britain’s little archipelago of lock-ups for immigrants, and given that the government seems to have upped its xenophobia of late,…
Ibi Keita
Nightmares On Wax’s new album Echo45 Sound System feels like the soundtrack to a twilight walk through memory and possibility. At its core is a deep reverence for sound system…
Helen Hawkins
As reports come in of theatre audiences behaving badly, slumped drunkenly in the aisles, gorging on noisy food and wrestling with their latest smartphones, it’s refreshing to…
Guy Oddy
On her latest Melody’s Echo Chamber album, Unclouded, gentle Gallic psychedelicist, Melody Prochet wastes absolutely no time in setting out her stall, making clear her chosen…
Liz Thomson
On a rainswept Monday, “Miss American Idol 1956”, as Judy Collins likes to introduce herself these days, drew a near-capacity crowd to the Union Chapel, Islington, for an intimate…
Kieron Tyler
The voice is fluting, translucent. The melodies it carries are linear yet sinuous, their rise and fall akin to undulating terrain. The instrumentation – acoustic guitar, bass…
Rachel Halliburton
It was, without doubt, a moment unlike any witnessed in Fabric’s history of just over quarter of a century. Hundreds of us crammed into the superclub seen worldwide as an icon of…
mark.kidel
The feelgood vibe that made Dreadzone famous nourishes a sensibility that reaches beyond time and space. Their music, originally honed in the early 1990s, hasn’t aged one bit, and…
Boyd Tonkin
For the final concert in their 80th birthday season, the Philharmonia swept us into the great outdoors. Three works imbued with the forces of nature made up a sort of musical…
Rachel Halliburton
Puck is an assassin in a tutu and Theseus is a murderous thug. In Headlong's deliciously macabre dramatisation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for midwinter audiences, director Holly…
Thomas H. Green
The Last Dinner Party’s second album, From the Pyre, is one of this year’s most enjoyable. Its lead single, “This is the Killer Speaking”, is a belter that’ll be around for years…
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Seasonal classics and a handful of self-penned songs light up this quietly sophisticated set
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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
Jeremy Renner keeps chaos at bay in Taylor Sheridan's traumatic crime drama
Vintage documentary series boosted by sound and vision upgrades
Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in addictively twisty mystery
film
Jafar Panahi's devastating farce lays bare Iran's collective PTSD
Single-set film speaks volumes
The French writer-director discusses the unique way her new drama memorialises the AIDS generation
new music
Album of previously unissued BBC recordings is a valuable addition to the British jazz maverick’s catalogue
Seasonal classics and a handful of self-penned songs light up this quietly sophisticated set
A perfect selection for sound system veterans, and newcomers too
classical
Clear-sighted Bruckner follows transcendent Mozart and Schumann
Iconoclastic re-working of the ineffable String Quintet divides opinion
Pianistic journeys to Java and the solar system, plus an impressive debut disc and contemporary song
opera
Best of all possible casts fill every moment of Christopher Alden’s Handel cornucopia
Heggie’s Death Row opera has a superb cast led by Christine Rice and Michael Mayes
Katie Mitchell sucks the strangeness from Janáček’s clash of legalese and eternal life
theatre
The 23-year-old Noel Coward scrubs up well as a provocative farceur
This is Athens as a violent dictatorship
Classic musical, staged in intimate setting, loses little
dance
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Christopher Marney's revitalised company gains momentum with each appearance
ENB set the bar high with this mixed bill, but they meet its challenges thrillingly
comedy
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Reunion of sketch show's creators
Storytelling that playfully wrongfoots the audience
books
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
Bennett’s virtuosic prose returns to ponder intimacy, but treads some old ground
Broad and idiosyncratic survey of classical music is insightful but slightly indigestible
visual arts
Much-appreciated words of commendation from readers and the cultural community
The sky’s the thing
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