Arts feature
Magic bullet
Stephen Bayley explains why he has become addicted to Japan’s Shinkansen
Loose, wild and free
Martin Gayford talks to Wynton Marsalis about the rigours of playing jazz
Four years of war
Kate Chisholm on the BBC’s ambitious new radio series
Voice of enchantment
Some of my most enjoyable evenings, when I reviewed opera weekly for The Spectator, were spent at the Royal College…
Knights of the baton
Matthew Stadlen talks to three conductors about growing old very gracefully
Living dance
Giannandrea Poesio talks to Natalia Osipova about her ballet-based philosophy
Dutch jewel
Laura Gascoigne on the treasures in the newly reopened Mauritshaus museum in The Hague
The producers
Robert Gore-Langton talks to Duncan Weeldon and Paul Elliott about the good old days – and getting shafted
Drawing room
Ariane Bankes talks to Quentin Blake about a new project that will bring illustration out of the shadows
Tears of a clown
Stand-up comedian John Bishop tells Matthew Stadlen about the depression that triggered his career
His dark materials
Alex Jennings, the new Willy Wonka, tells Lloyd Evans why Dahl’s ‘misanthropic world’ is fascinating to inhabit
Back to basics
Roderick Conway Morris is edified and entertained by the Venice Architectural Biennale
Northern soul
Matthew Stadlen talks to the violinist Nicola Benedetti about what drew her to Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy
Camera shy
Award-winner Bill Forsyth tells William Cook why he was happy to walk away from film-making
Firmly in focus
Lloyd Evans talks to the good-natured theatre director Polly Teale
New ways of seeing
Andrew Lambirth talks to Justin Partyka, whose photographs show Constable Country in an unexpected light
Musical youth
Michael Henderson talks to Glyndebourne’s fresh-faced new music director, Robin Ticciati
Finding the emotional charge
Richard Eyre traces the history and popularity of the American musical
Family guy
Batman is 75. Peter Hoskin considers the septuagenarian’s enduring appeal
Glorious Veronese
The National Gallery’s exhibition succeeds triumphantly, says Andrew Lambirth
Coming out of the shadows
Niru Ratnam highlights the revival of interest in artists who were popular in the 1960s and 1970s
Best in show
Britain may have educated the most talented curators, but, as Jack Wakefield says, we can’t always keep them
Women’s world
Shakespeare did not give his female characters pivotal roles, but some of his contemporaries did, as Lloyd Evans discovers
Old school ties
Robert Gore-Langton talks to Julian Mitchell about the painful roots of his hit play Another Country
Lords of the dance
Giannandrea Poesio meets Ivan Vasiliev and Roberto Bolle, ballet’s demigods
