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Zen axed by BBC One

So goodbye then, Aurelio

Horror and dismay have greeted BBC One controller Danny Cohen’s decision to axe detective drama series Zen, after the network aired a solitary three-part series in January which pulled a very respectable 5.7m viewers per episode.

Now McCartney writes a ballet...

Former Beatle scores for New York City Ballet - latest pop star drawn into ballet

Hot on the heels of the Pet Shop Boys’ foray into ballet for Sadler’s Wells next month, it’s revealed that Sir Paul McCartney has composed a ballet for New York City Ballet, a love story called Ocean’s Kingdom.

Scheduled to premiere on 22 September, the four-act ballet so far has 45 minutes of music, and a cast of around 40. The New York Times reports that the first act is having its first run-through next Thursday at the Lincoln Center, NYCB’s home stage.

DIY taxidermist is live and armed

Keep Away from Idiots: DIY taxidermy from Charlie Tuesday Gates
Taxidermy – the rather morbid art of stuffing and mounting dead animals – has witnessed a rise in popularity not seen since its Victorian heyday in the last few years. Vintage dead artefacts are being given an afterlife in trendy lounge bars all over east London, while taxidermist Polly Morgan has enjoyed further fame after her first major exhibition last summer. However, few have attempted to bring the scalpel to the stage as well as Charlie Tuesday Gates.

Graham Norton comes to your local

Amira Hashish: part of a generation of performers forging their own path
Every now and then an idea comes along so perfectly formed that you think, “I wish I’d thought of that.” And so it is with The London Chat Show, one of the many exciting projects being developed by young urban arts professionals who come into the industry at a time when public funding continues to dwindle and major arts venues play increasingly safe with their programming. These self-starting individuals deserve not a little admiration and a lot of support as they keep live performance going, often on a shoestring and giving all profits to charity.

Bolshoi prima and violinist Repin have baby

Proud parents: Ballerina Svetlana Zakharova and violinist Vadim Repin are Russian megastars

To Svetlana Zakharova and Vadim Repin, a daughter

The Bolshoi Ballet’s prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova gave birth in Moscow yesterday to a baby girl, the child of the celebrated violinist Vadim Repin. Weighing 3.1 kilograms, the baby is named Anna.

Judge of major art prize in intimate relationship with winner

Abbie Trayler-Smith's 'Untitled', from her series 'Childhood Obesity', was not among the strongest works in the competition

We usually leave art award controversies to the Turner Prize at Tate Britain. So it’s a surprise to hear that the National Portrait Gallery has stepped up to the plate with their annual Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. And if you’ve already seen the exhibition, we’re not talking about any eyebrows that might have been raised over second prize-winner Panayiotis Lamprou’s rather revealing portrait of his young wife.

Cob Studios & Gallery: Is north the new east?

'Les Amants (Cascade )', 2009, Noemie Goudal: The Cob Gallery opens with an exhibition that contemplates our modern relationship with nature
A burgeoning North London art scene, which includes the Zabludowicz Collection in Chalk Farm and one of the London outposts of the Gagosian Gallery, suggests that the art world has the North firmly in its sights and tomorrow sees the opening of its latest addition, Cob Studios & Gallery, based in the heart of Camden Town. Cob is jointly run by playwright Polly Stenham and Victoria Williams and aims to be a truly collaborative venue exhibiting work by emerging and established artists and comprising a large ground-floor gallery, a communal first-floor studio with enough space for four artists plus a separate room where Stenham will write.

Giving thanks for La Stupenda

Sutherland as Elvira in Bellini's 'I Puritani' at Covent Garden, 1963

Bright seraphic soprano resounds at Westminster Abbey Thanksgiving

Rumour has it that Snoop Dogg may be serenading the royals there in a couple of months' time, but this afternoon it was the most agile, even and full soprano voice of all which rang from the vaulting of Westminster Abbey. Thanks to the noble co-operation of the Royal Opera House - serving up its orchestra and music director, Antonio Pappano - the Australian High Commission and the Australian Music Foundation, we celebrated the life and works of Dame Joan Sutherland in the high, orchestrated style which only this kind of event could have done full justice.

Competition: Band of Horses box sets

To mark the release of their new single "Dilly" theartsdesk has limited-edition box sets of Band of Horses album Infinite Arms to give away. The box sets have a CD version, a vinyl version and artwork unique to the set. All potential winners have to do is to answer the four questions below, and just to make it easy the answers will be found by following the embedded links.

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