tue 19/03/2024

Reviews

St Mary's Music School, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - a shining role for young choristers

Christopher Lambton

For the second year in a row the Royal Scottish National Orchestra chose to share its platform in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall with the young musicians of St Mary's Music School. As RSNO chief executive Alistair Mackie pointed out in a short opening speech, the links between the two organisations run deep, as many players in the RSNO started their musical careers at St Mary's.

Manhunt, Apple TV+ review - all the President's men

Adam Sweeting

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on 14 April 1865, five days after General Robert E Lee’s surrender at Appomatox signalled the end of the American Civil War. The ensuing chase to catch his killer, John Wilkes Booth, is the basis of Manhunt (based on James L Swanson’s book).

Bevan, Williams, BBCSO, MacMillan, Barbican...

Rachel Halliburton

It began with the tolling of a lone bell and ended in a transcendent blaze of golden light. The UK premiere of James MacMillan’s Fiat Lux – first...

Salome, Irish National Opera review -...

David Nice

“Based on the play by Oscar Wilde,” declared publicity on Dublin buses and buildings, reminding opera-cautious citizens that the poet whose text...

Music Reissues Weekly: The Mystic Tide -...

Kieron Tyler

Crashing chords are followed by a spindly, untrammelled solo guitar. After this subsides, the singer lays out the issue: “I try, I cry, I just can't...

Hughes, SCO, Kuusisto, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - Clyne shines, Grime fragments

Simon Thompson

Playing and programming admirable, but this concert bulged at the seam

The New Boy review - a mystical take on Australia's treatment of its First Peoples

Adam Sweeting

Warwick Thornton's parable is too mysterious for its own good

Winterreise, Clayton, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, QEH review - new maps for the great journey

Boyd Tonkin

A mighty tenor surmounts obstacles on stage and in score

Monster review - superbly elliptical tale of a troubled boy

Saskia Baron

Hirakazu Kore-eda, on top form in his native Japan, directs an intricate psychological drama

Esther, London Handel Festival, St George’s Hanover Square review - a lopsided celebratory oratorio

David Nice

Anniversary acclaim rooted in the honorary Londoner's first concert drama

Drive-Away Dolls review - larky lesbian road movie with some iffy gear changes

Helen Hawkins

Comic violent caper meets queer romcom, both ending up shortchanged

Jane Harris: Ellipse, Frac Nouvelle-Aquitaine MÉCA, Bordeaux review - ovals to the fore

Mark Sheerin

Persistence and conviction in the works of the late English painter

Jenůfa, English National Opera review - searing new cast in precise revival

David Nice

Jennifer Davis and Susan Bullock pull out all the stops in Janáček's moving masterpiece

Harry Clarke, Ambassadors Theatre review - an entertaining curio

Demetrios Matheou

Billy Crudup essays multiple characters as a fake Englishman abroad

Janey review - fitting punchline for a contentious comedian

Helen Hawkins

A rounded portrait of the Scot who told Trump to go home

theartsdesk in Strasbourg: crossing the frontiers

Boyd Tonkin

'Lohengrin' marks a remarkable singer's arrival on Planet Wagner

Theresienstadt-Terezin 1941-1945, Nash Ensemble, Wigmore Hall review - memorial music of stunning impact

Ed Vulliamy

Masterpieces from composers murdered by the Nazis in a rich day of offerings

The Gentlemen, Netflix review - Guy Ritchie's further adventures in Geezerworld

Adam Sweeting

Riotous assembly of toffs, gangsters, travellers, rogues and misfits

The Last Year of Darkness review - a loving portrait of a Chengdu gay bar

Sarah Kent

Disaffected Chinese youth find a safe haven in a venue that is under threat

Oscars 2024: politics aplenty but few surprises as 'Oppenheimer' dominates

Matt Wolf

Christopher Nolan biopic wins big in a ceremony defined by a pink-clad Ryan Gosling and Donald Trump seeing red

Osborne, BBC Philharmonic, Bihlmaier, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - an orchestra at the top of its game

Robert Beale

Another Bruckner symphony for the 200th anniversary year

Uncle Vanya, Orange Tree Theatre review - Chekhov served up choice

Matt Wolf

Trevor Nunn, age 84, makes a blinding return to form

Scottish Ensemble, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall New Auditorium review - making a move

Miranda Heggie

Music and motion combine for an engaging performance

Music Reissues Weekly: Groove Machine - The Earl Young Drum Sessions

Kieron Tyler

A deep dig into the studio musician integral to creating disco music

For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, Garrick Theatre review - exhilarating, moving show makes West End return

Jane Edwardes

Ryan Calais Cameron brilliantly uses storytelling, music and verse

Giant, Linbury Theatre review - a vision fully realised

David Nice

Sarah Angliss serves a haunting meditation on the strange meeting of giant and surgeon

Catherine Bohart, Soho Theatre review - girlfriends, gossip and gay parenthood

Veronica Lee

Full-throttle show from Irish comic

Morison, Big Noise Wester Hailes, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh - shimmering delicacy and surging swell

Simon Thompson

Fine Impressionism from resident orchestra, but young players bring the broadest smiles

High & Low: John Galliano review - Kevin Macdonald charts the fashion designer's rise and fall

Markie Robson-Scott

Galliano's latest show has been widely acclaimed but can he be redeemed after his racist outburst in 2011?

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St Mary's Music School, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, E...

For the second year in a row the Royal Scottish National...

Manhunt, Apple TV+ review - all the President's men

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on 14 April 1865, five days after General Robert E Lee’s surrender at Appomatox signalled the end of...

Blu-ray: Beautiful Thing

Beautiful Thing’s opening scene plays out like a sweary take on Bill Forsyth’s Gregory’s Girl, Meera Syal’s potty-mouthed PE...

Bevan, Williams, BBCSO, MacMillan, Barbican review - inspira...

It began with the tolling of a lone bell and ended in a transcendent blaze of golden light. The UK premiere of James MacMillan’s Fiat Lux...

Salome, Irish National Opera review - imaginatively charted...

“Based on the play by Oscar Wilde,” declared publicity on Dublin buses and buildings, reminding opera-cautious citizens that the poet whose text...

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On this, their 10th album, the melodious...

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There's something undeniable about the way music can weave itself into the fabric of our lives, shaping our passions and leaving an indelible...

Music Reissues Weekly: The Mystic Tide - Frustration

Crashing chords are followed by a spindly, untrammelled solo guitar. After this subsides, the singer lays out the issue: “I try, I cry, I just can...

Hughes, SCO, Kuusisto, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - Clyn...

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The New Boy review - a mystical take on Australia's tre...

This is writer-director Warwick Thornton’s third...