Arts
The greatest pianist you’ve never heard of
William Kapell was an American concert pianist with the looks of a male model and the fingers of a wizard.…
French connection
Walter Sickert was fluid in both his art and his personality: changeable in style and technique, mutable in appearance —…
Northern lights
In the clammy shadows of Cowgate I was leafleted by a chubby beauty wearing all-leather fetish gear. ‘Hi! Want to…
Stravinsky’s ingenious toy
Is Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress anything more than an exercise in style? ‘I will lace each aria into a tight…
Male order
Gemma Bovery is a modern-day refashioning of Gustave Flaubert’s literary masterpiece Madame Bovary, and while such refashionings can work well…
Poldark porn
My favourite moment in The Scandalous Lady W (BBC2, Monday) was when the heroine played by Natalie Dormer was shown…
Summer listening
Just back from a few nights in Sweden to find the perfect programme on Radio 3. It was one of…
Ai Weiwei
In September, the Royal Academy of Arts will present a solo exhibition of works by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.…
Culture buff
Last week’s opening by the Sydney Theatre Company of The Present was a high water mark in its history. Adapted…
Male order
Gemma Bovery is a modern-day refashioning of Gustave Flaubert’s literary masterpiece Madame Bovary, and while such refashionings can work well…
The master returns
There’s a scene in 887, Robert Lepage’s latest show, which opened at the Edinburgh International Festival last week, in which…
The greatest pianist you’ve never heard of
William Kapell was an American concert pianist with the looks of a male model and the fingers of a wizard.…
The greatest pianist you’ve never heard of
William Kapell was an American concert pianist with the looks of a male model and the fingers of a wizard.…
Ai Weiwei
In September, the Royal Academy of Arts will present a solo exhibition of works by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.…
Ai Weiwei
In September, the Royal Academy of Arts will present a solo exhibition of works by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.…
Summer listening
Just back from a few nights in Sweden to find the perfect programme on Radio 3. It was one of…
Poldark porn
My favourite moment in The Scandalous Lady W (BBC2, Monday) was when the heroine played by Natalie Dormer was shown…
Summer listening
Just back from a few nights in Sweden to find the perfect programme on Radio 3. It was one of…
I reshot Andy Warhol
Stephen Smith finally sees the point of Empire, one of the dullest films in cinema history
Afterthoughts
The blackness that sweeps along the stage behind Sylvie Guillem’s disappearing figure in the Russell Maliphant piece on her farewell…
Watching the clocks
When I saw the first performance of this production of Ravel’s two operas at Glyndebourne three years ago, I thought…
Great expectations
Trainwreck is a romcom as written and directed by Amy Schumer, the American comedy prodigy whose Comedy Central sketch show…
Seeking closure
A while ago, David Hockney mused on a proposal to tax the works of art stored in artists’ studios. ‘You’d…
Edinburgh round-up
Propaganda is said to work best when based upon a grain of truth. Ukip! The Musical assumes that most electors…
Sick and tired
When the link between tobacco and lung cancer was first established in the early 1950s, one obvious question arose: should…
