Interviews, Q&amp;As and feature articles<br />

The Royal Ballet - variations on a comeback

THE ROYAL BALLET How one major ballet company survived to dance another day

How one major ballet company survived to dance another day

Like the British high street, the once richly diverse landscape of dance in the UK is likely to look very different once lockdown is fully lifted. There will be losses, noticeably among the smaller companies whose survival was always precarious. There will be downsizings. There will be painful gaps where a major talent has given up the fight, retired to run a flower shop or become a hill farmer. It will take years for the sector to recover.

The Master Musicians of Joujouka review - a 4000 year-old rock'n'roll band

THE MASTER MUSICIANS OF JOUJOUKA A 4000-year-old rock'n'roll band

Healing music from the Rif Mountains of Morocco

The Master Musicians of Joujouka, described by William Burroughs as a “4000 year-old rock’n’roll band”, and recorded by Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones in the late 1960s, have always been something of a cult – even in their own land. Based in the rural foothills of the Rif Mountains in Northern Morocco, they are a professional clan that delivers performances renowned for their extraordinary transformative power.

Filmmaker Darius Marder: 'Deafness is a culture. That's not being PC'

Q&A: FILMMAKER DARIUS MARDER Taking 'Sound of Metal' from concept to award nominations

Writer and director on Sound of Metal's long journey from concept to award nominations

Sound of Metal has been a long time coming. Director and writer Darius Marder faced years of delays ranging from casting changes to the whole world shutting down. Was it worth the wait? Well, six Academy Award nominations including Best Film certainly suggest it was.

Extract: TV by Susan Bordo

EXTRACT: TV BY SUSAN BORDO On 75 years of changing TV, changing habits and the relationship between TV and Trump

On 75 years of changing TV, changing habits and the relationship between TV and Trump

"Television and I grew up together." As a baby boomer born in 1947, Susan Bordo is roughly the same age as our beloved gogglebox, which began life as a broad box with a ten-inch screen, chunky and clunky and encased in wood. With the rapid changes in technology in the years since, "television", as Bordo points out, has become estranged from its material status.

First Person: violinist Abigail Young on getting back to her Japanese orchestra in Covid year

ABIGAIL YOUNG The violinist on getting back to her Japanese orchestra in Covid year

Leader of the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa on the trials of returning to what she loves

February 2020: an item a long way down the agenda of the nightly news caused me to remark, fairly casually, “I wonder if that will affect me”. I had already heard about Covid-19, the new virus emerging from China; now it was spreading into places where I earned my living. I was beginning to worry.

First Person: Anna Lucia Richter on Monteverdi and a transition from soprano to mezzo

FIRST PERSON: ANNA LUCIA RICHTER Monteverdi and a transition from soprano to mezzo

A last gift from the pre-Covid era followed by surprises in a time of pandemic

It’s actually quite a strange feeling to know that my CD Il delirio della passione is now out. I recorded this amazing, all-embracing Monteverdi project with Luca Pianca and Ensemble Claudiana over a year ago, in January 2020. That was another world, another time. At that point, PPE and masks belonged in hospitals, we greeted each other with hugs and many of us musicians were known to groan at the prospect of months of busy touring – a luxury now.

theartsdesk Q&A: Daryl Hall

SINGER-SONGWRITER DARYL HALL On recording, vaccines, reaching a billion streams

Legendary singer-songwriter talks recording, vaccines and reaching a billion streams

Writing something people want to stream one billion times is inconceivable for most of us. But then, most of us aren't Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Daryl Hall. Alongside John Oates, he is behind some of the greatest pop songs of all time: "Maneater"; "She's Gone; "Out of Touch"; "Rich Girl"; "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"; and of course, the billion-stream masterpiece that is "You Make My Dreams".

First Person: Clare Norburn on how she came to write her ambitious Zoom-era drama, 'Love in the Lockdown'

CLARE NORBURN On writing her ambitious Zoom-era drama, 'Love in the Lockdown'

Writer-producer Clare Norburn elaborates upon her self-isolation online play

Love in the Lockdown started out as my “Lockdown 1.0 project” - although, of course, we didn’t call it Lockdown 1.0 back then. We didn’t know other lockdowns would follow and that nearly one year on, here we would be, locked down again with theatres and concert halls still closed. 

‘The Healing Power of Music’: composer Nigel Hess on great-aunt Myra’s wartime concerts

THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC Nigel Hess on his great-aunt Myra’s wartime concerts

Parallels between lockdown solace and a great Dame's National Gallery events

It has been well-documented over the last few months that there has been an upsurge in listener numbers for many radio stations offering classical music – notably BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and Scala Radio – and, during these unprecedented times it comes as no surprise to discover that so many people (of all ages) are finding solace in music which, in some cases, they are turning to for the first time.