2016
Albums of the Year: Dolly Parton - Pure & SimpleSaturday, 31 December 2016
The unsinkable Dolly Parton turned 70 in 2016 and the new year marks the 50th anniversary of her debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly. Pure & Simple is her 43rd studio album, its genesis a brace of stripped-down concerts given at Nashville’s Ryman... Read more... |
Best of 2016: TVFriday, 30 December 2016
If there's one big question hanging over the television industry, it's "how long can the old broadcast networks survive in the new era of subscription and downloading services?" No doubt there will be a variety of answers, with different hybrid... Read more... |
Best of 2016: OperaThursday, 29 December 2016
It was the best and worst of years for English National Opera. Best, because principals, chorus and orchestra seem united in acclaiming their Music Director of 14 months, Mark Wigglesworth, for his work at a level most had only dreamed of (“from the... Read more... |
Best of 2016: ClassicalWednesday, 28 December 2016
Revelations in the classical year never stop coming. Even the week before Christmas yielded two performances as good as you're going to get: the sheer effervescence and light-flourishing of Lucy Crowe in ecstatic Bach and Mozart with La Nuova Musica... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Sia - This Is ActingWednesday, 28 December 2016
I am an official Sia wanker. If you tell me you love "Titanium", I’ll be all like “Yeah, I prefer her early work with Zero 7”, and if you tell me about a major Coachella gig you saw recently, I’ll tell you about when I was basically the only one in... Read more... |
Best of 2016: TheatreTuesday, 27 December 2016
Life threw numerous, possibly irrevocable curveballs at us all during 2016, which in turn made one even more aware of how lucky we were to find ourselves in the midst of so much sustenance by way of art. Time and again throughout the year, one... Read more... |
Best of 2016: ComedyTuesday, 27 December 2016
There have been some treats on the comedy circuit in 2016, a year when we definitely needed something to laugh at. Here, in no particular order, are my comedy highlights of the past 12 months. I hope you had as much fun seeing them, or reading about... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Blackstar - David BowieTuesday, 27 December 2016
A year on, what can be said about Blackstar that hasn’t been said already? The answer is: what I have to say about it. That’s not to claim any special insights, it’s simply because the artist designed it that way. Even though Bowie said not a word... Read more... |
Best of 2016: Dance & BalletMonday, 26 December 2016
The criteria used by theartsdesk's critics in selecting pieces for this list are simple, but demanding: did a piece or a programme stir and shake us? Did it move us, and make us still - weeks or months afterwards - think, yes, I'd go see that again... Read more... |
The Best Games of 2016Monday, 26 December 2016
It was the year of Pokémon Go, and it was the year the mainstream offered sequels. There were also some gems on console and mobile platforms. Steve O'Rourke and Steve Houghton look back on the developments in the world of gaming in 2016. ... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Swans - The Glowing ManMonday, 26 December 2016
2016 was the year that US underground titan Michael Gira began to wind down the current “iteration” of long-standing musical mavericks Swans and their final album, The Glowing Man, proved to be no whimpering exit. Intense and challenging sounds that... Read more... |
Reissue CD of the Year: Robert BensickSunday, 25 December 2016
French Pictures in London was a bolt from the blue. Issued in June, four decades after being recorded, it was a previously unknown, unreleased album better than most mid-Seventies rock offerings. It was also better than about 99 percent of albums... Read more... |
