Features & Interviews
Alfred Brendel 1931-2025 - a personal tribute
Friday, 27 June 2025
Alfred Brendel’s death earlier this month came as a shock, but it wasn’t unexpected. His health had gradually deteriorated over the last year or so, and I was fortunate to see him just a few days before he died. I visited him for one of our regular film nights – evenings when we’d eat dinner together, prepared by his partner Maria, and then watch a movie. On this occasion we’d decided to take in the recently-made German documentary about Leni Riefenstahl.
10 Questions for musician Michael Gira
Friday, 30 May 2025
Michael Gira (born 19/2/54) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, author and artist. He founded Swans, a band in which he sings and plays guitar, in New York during the late 1970s. Since that time, Gira and Swans have been a major influence in the experimental rock scene and in the 1980s were lorded as the “loudest band on the planet”. Not ones to sit still, however, they evolved continuously, taking on new sounds and influences until grinding to a halt in the late 1990s.
'Classic-era prog’s Olympian pinnacle...
Friday, 09 May 2025
Pink Floyd’s “Echoes”, the ineffable progressive rock epic that occupies side two of 1971’s Meddle, is having a moment. Nick Mason’s Saucerful of...
First Person: young cellist Zlatomir Fung on...
Tuesday, 06 May 2025
My new album, Fantasies, recorded with pianist Richard Fu, is the culmination of my years-long fascination with the wonderful genre of instrumental...
First Person: rising folk star Amelia Coburn on...
Thursday, 01 May 2025
“Sandra” is one of my favourite tracks from my album Between The Moon and the Milkman which was released last year. While living in Paris a few...
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First Person: St John's College choral conductor Christopher Gray on recording 'Lament & Liberation'
A showcase for contemporary choral works appropriate to this time |
First Person: singer-songwriter David Gray on how the songs on his new album came to him
One of this century's most successful British singers still finds magic in the act of creation |
Oscars 2025: long day's journey into 'Anora'
'Anora' creator Sean Baker wins four trophies in a night full of firsts - and a second trophy for Adrien Brody |
First Person: writer Lauren Mooney on bringing bodies together in the new Royal Court play, 'More Life'
Kandinsky Theatre co-creator on a new play tethering technology to existence |
David Lynch: In Dreams (1946-2025)
The director, who has died aged 78, rewired cinema with nightmare logic, an underground ethos and weird, wondrous innocence |
Best of 2024: Books
As 2024 comes to an end, we look back at the books that have thrilled and enthralled us |
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 |
The future of Arts Journalism
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