Arts
Northern brag
The last thing we need right now, in these divisive times, is a series that spends all its time crowing…
Northern brag
The last thing we need right now, in these divisive times, is a series that spends all its time crowing…
Pussy galore
I think I might be turning into Alf Garnett. When I was growing up I saw him as an obnoxious,…
Martha Argerich
This is the time of the year when the major performing arts companies announce their seasons for next year, beginning…
House style
Last Sunday, I went to see two of the greatest paintings in Britain — at least in the estimation of…
Where new is good
On Saturday night, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra makes its first appearance at the BBC Proms under its new…
When autumn comes
You know when late summer has arrived because conkers are starting to form on the horse chestnuts, your eagerness to…
Red hot
Everything about Julieta feels totally Almodóvarian. It’s a family saga that smoothly blends tragedy and levity, with exquisite performances from…
Doctor Death
‘European premiere of classic American musical’ is a phrase that deeply alarms the experienced playgoer. As I tootled along to…
What’s the buzz?
Crystal Pite, the Canadian dancemaker who combines intellectual, emotional and physical intelligence in rare degree, is classically trained, but her…
Distant voices
One of the weirdest responses when someone close to you dies is the gradual realisation that now at last you…
House style
Last Sunday, I went to see two of the greatest paintings in Britain — at least in the estimation of…
Red hot
Everything about Julieta feels totally Almodóvarian. It’s a family saga that smoothly blends tragedy and levity, with exquisite performances from…
What’s the buzz?
Crystal Pite, the Canadian dancemaker who combines intellectual, emotional and physical intelligence in rare degree, is classically trained, but her…
Doctor Death
‘European premiere of classic American musical’ is a phrase that deeply alarms the experienced playgoer. As I tootled along to…
Doctor Death
‘European premiere of classic American musical’ is a phrase that deeply alarms the experienced playgoer. As I tootled along to…
Distant voices
One of the weirdest responses when someone close to you dies is the gradual realisation that now at last you…
Distant voices
One of the weirdest responses when someone close to you dies is the gradual realisation that now at last you…
When autumn comes
You know when late summer has arrived because conkers are starting to form on the horse chestnuts, your eagerness to…
Super human
‘We think we’re in charge of this stuff but we’re not,’ said Quincy Jones, the composer, arranger, jazz trumpeter, musical…
Out – and not proud
‘Many people are mourning,’ said Sam West on a BBC panel show discussing the response of the arts world to…
1976 and all that
Forty years ago, I spent 14 hours in a large field near the A1 in Hertfordshire. I had just taken…
Young at heart
The second half of the Bolshoi tour brought much fresher fare than the first: following the ubiquitous warhorses Don Quixote…
What’s love got to do with it?
Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades is probably his greatest opera, certainly the one in which his characteristic strengths are on…
Business as usual
I should probably nail my colours to the mast and state that The Office is possibly my favourite TV sitcom…
