sat 08/03/2025

stephen walsh

Bio
Stephen is a former Observer music critic and a regular contributor to The Times, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Independent and the BBC. He is the author of a major biography of Stravinsky and other books on Stravinsky, Bartók and Schumann. He holds a chair in music at Cardiff University.

Articles By Stephen Walsh

Kim, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bancroft, St.David's Hall, Cardiff review - finding a style in the Eighties

Read more...

Blaze of Glory!, Welsh National Opera review - sparkling entertainment up the valleys

Read more...

The Magic Flute, Welsh National Opera review - Mozart remodelled and remuddled

Read more...

BBC National Chorus of Wales, BBC NOW, Jeannin, BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff review - competent music-making, interesting choices

Read more...

Mahler 9, BBC NOW, Stenz, St David's Hall, Cardiff review - passionate without bloodshed on the rostrum

Read more...

The Makropulos Affair, Welsh National Opera review - complexity realised brilliantly on the stage

Read more...

Spell Book/La liberazione di Ruggiero dell'isola di Alcina, Longborough Festival review - the pitfalls of diversity

Read more...

Quo vadis, Three Choirs Festival review - a hundred minutes of smug serenity and flowing piety

Read more...

Alcina, Glyndebourne review - Handel on the strand

Read more...

Die tote Stadt, Longborough Festival review - Korngold on the way back

Read more...

Tamerlano, The Grange Festival review - Handel brilliant in parts, but you have to wait for the drama

Read more...

Siegfried, Longborough Festival review - happily concept-free but with 'Good Ideas'

Read more...

Jenůfa, Welsh National Opera review - powerful drama with a kitsch tailpiece

Read more...

Don Giovanni, Welsh National Opera review - fine young cast let down by unhelpful conducting

Read more...

Madam Butterfly, Welsh National Opera review - decent performance, disagreeable context

Read more...

The Barber of Seville, Welsh National Opera review - back to work in an old banger

Read more...

Pages

latest in today

Help to give theartsdesk a future!

It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.

It followed some...

Drive to Survive, Season 7, Netflix review - speed, scandal...

Last year’s sixth season of Drive to Survive radiated an air of diminishing returns. It was as though the novelty of its spy-in-the-...

Matt Forde, Touring review - politics, poo and Viagra

Matt Forde gives a warning: “Don’t heckle the disabled - that’s a hate crime.” What an opener for his latest touring show, The End...

On Falling review - human cogs in a merciless machine

Alienation, isolation, and instability are the fruits of working as a “picker” in the chilling labour drama On Falling. The first feature...

theartsdesk Q&A: Oscar-winner Adrien Brody on 'The...

Adrien Brody is on a roll. Following his Golden Globe and BAFTA Best Actor wins for his performance as László Toth in...

Blu-ray: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) was uniquely disturbing, with its monster Leatherface’s first primal eruption to hang a...

A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, ITV1 review - powerful d...

The story of Ruth Ellis’s execution in 1955 has found its own macabre niche in British folklore, and has been been the subject of several film,...

Album: Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea

Within the loud realm of metal, it often exists happily unbothered by the mainstream. And although a metal band going mainstream isn't always well...

Towards Zero, BBC One review - more entertaining parlour gam...

The BBC’s latest “cool” Agatha Christie adaptation has many...