Arts
Magnetic north
Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…
Magnetic north
Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…
Angry bird
Dynastic affairs and international relations were once a seamless continuum. Royal weddings accompanied peace treaties. An heirless realm was vulnerable…
Angry bird
Dynastic affairs and international relations were once a seamless continuum. Royal weddings accompanied peace treaties. An heirless realm was vulnerable…
Brief encounters
When Mozart was commissioned to write an opera for the coronation of Emperor Leopold II, he produced La clemenza di…
Brief encounters
When Mozart was commissioned to write an opera for the coronation of Emperor Leopold II, he produced La clemenza di…
Country music
There was something unexpectedly moving about hearing not just one but several renditions of the somewhat naive and rose-tinted but…
Country music
There was something unexpectedly moving about hearing not just one but several renditions of the somewhat naive and rose-tinted but…
Crown jewels
Nairobi. February 1952. Laughing children brandishing sticks are driving an indignant bustle of ostriches up a rudimentary 1950s-Africa semi-bush runway…
Heaven knows they’re miserable now
The Light Between Oceans is one of those films that comes issued with a handy how-to-use manual. Shudder as hero…
Mistaken identity
The Romanovs were a hot topic in 1967: it was the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, memories of Ingrid…
Enigma variations
On 2 August 1933 one of the more improbable meetings of the 20th century took place when Albert Einstein had…
Valda Wilson sings Theodora
Antioch on the Orontes River, founded in late 4th century BC, became an important city in the East of the…
Buried treasure
Wexford is to opera-goers what casinos are to gamblers. The uncertainty, the hope, the exhilaration — they’re all a crucial…
Music matters
There’s nothing new about Radio 3 tearing up the schedules, temporarily abandoning regular favourites such as Private Passions, The Early…
Losing heart
In 2015, the first series of Humans (Sunday) was apparently Channel 4’s most watched home grown drama since The Camomile…
Napoleon dynamite
I shall never forget my first encounter with Abel Gance’s Napoleon. I saw it under the most unpromising circumstances —…
Just kidding
Amadeus by Peter Shaffer is haunted by its own antecedents. Viewers are apt to feel that a new production lacks…
Napoleon dynamite
I shall never forget my first encounter with Abel Gance’s Napoleon. I saw it under the most unpromising circumstances —…
Heaven knows they’re miserable now
The Light Between Oceans is one of those films that comes issued with a handy how-to-use manual. Shudder as hero…
Mistaken identity
The Romanovs were a hot topic in 1967: it was the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, memories of Ingrid…
Enigma variations
On 2 August 1933 one of the more improbable meetings of the 20th century took place when Albert Einstein had…
Just kidding
Amadeus by Peter Shaffer is haunted by its own antecedents. Viewers are apt to feel that a new production lacks…
Just kidding
Amadeus by Peter Shaffer is haunted by its own antecedents. Viewers are apt to feel that a new production lacks…
Buried treasure
Wexford is to opera-goers what casinos are to gamblers. The uncertainty, the hope, the exhilaration — they’re all a crucial…
