Wales
David Pountney to head Welsh National OperaFriday, 01 April 2011
After what must seem like a long exile, the opera director with one of the most distinctive track records in the business is to return as chief executive of a company which has been on fitful form recently. As, it must be said, has Pountney's recent... Read more... |
SubmarineWednesday, 16 March 2011
Comedian Richard Ayoade’s kinetic, charismatic and accomplished directorial debut follows an introspective adolescent with his feet clamped firmly on dry land but with his head all at sea. In Submarine, our protagonist haplessly negotiates the... Read more... |
PatagoniaWednesday, 02 March 2011
To anyone less than familiar with a transatlantic migration of 150 souls which took place in 1865, a bilingual film with dialogue in Spanish and Welsh may look like a subtitled bridge too far. Any such prejudgement would be a mistake. Patagonia is a... Read more... |
Accolade, Finborough TheatreSaturday, 05 February 2011
Emlyn Williams may have been dubbed the “Welsh Noël Coward” and the action of his long-neglected Accolade may take place in a drawing room, but there’s little of the smiling social comedy to be found here. Trading sparkling cocktails and repartee... Read more... |
The Marriage of Figaro, Dragon Opera, The Gate, CardiffWednesday, 02 February 2011
Dragon Opera (or Opera’r Ddraig, if you insist: they don’t) is in every sense a young company, founded a mere two years ago, and based at Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Its singers, directors and orchestral players are nearly all... Read more... |
Regional Opera, 2011-12 SeasonMonday, 31 January 2011
Opera outside London flourishes in the hands of Opera North, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera. In 2011 the popular hits such as Carmen, The Merry Widow and La Traviata intermingle with rarer landmarks such as From the House of the Dead,... Read more... |
Dame Margaret Price, 1941-2011Saturday, 29 January 2011
Perhaps her greatest achievement on disc is a role she would never have attempted in the theatre, Wagner's Isolde. Supported by the great Carlos Kleiber, the sheer meaning and luminous tone colours Price brings to every line make this one of the... Read more... |
Manic Street Preachers, Brixton AcademySaturday, 22 January 2011
The annals of rock’n’roll are littered with complacency, fading stars, and acts who’ve had it and then lost it, forever. So, after 20 years, what makes the Manics different? How come they’re still turning out hit albums? Possibly it’s their hand-on-... Read more... |
Manic Street Preachers: theartsdesk Video ExclusiveThursday, 02 December 2010
It's been a while since the pop/punk and post/pre-Richey comparisons have been made. Ironic considering how seemlessly the Manics slip between modes these days. Today theartsdesk brings you an exclusive preview of the live, power-popping video of "... Read more... |
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, St David's Hall, CardiffFriday, 12 November 2010
How much do you know about centaurs? Probably you know they are horses below the withers, human above. But did you know they were heavy drinkers who once got out of hand at the wedding of the King of the Lapiths, tried to rape the bride and got... Read more... |
Emanuel Gat Dance, Sadler's Wells/ Henri Oguike Dance, TouringTuesday, 02 November 2010
How do young modern choreographers engage with their audience? With references from the street - motion that the audience knows and recognises? With musical expressiveness? With the development of a technical style that has a language of its own?... Read more... |
Michael Jarrell, Hoddinott Hall, CardiffWednesday, 13 October 2010
Music, Wagner famously pronounced, is the art of transition. For the Swiss composer Michael Jarrell, by contrast, music is “the art of punctuation”. On the one hand, how to get from one thing to the next; on the other hand, how to separate one thing... Read more... |
