The Mysterious Art of Conducting
An inside look at music’s widely misunderstood profession
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BBC Symphony Orchestra/Venditti review – a fervent but lithe-limbed Stabat Mater
Royal Albert Hall, London Nil Venditti’s animated account of Rossini’s choral work embraced its lyricism and theatricality – paired on the bill with the Proms debut of Respighi’s Church Windows Cheered to the rafters at its 1842 premiere, Rossini’s Stabat Mater has held its place in the repertoire ever since. Its nonchalant bel canto tunefulness, however, has attracted its fair share of…
Ukraine May Be Just the Ally America Needs
The country Trump once disdained as a burden has become a military powerhouse.
The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls review – in a world of toxic masculinity, this feels radical at points
As the survivalist takes the cast of the Christian drama out in the wild to discuss faith, it’s surprisingly moving to find two very confident men so comfortable in their gentleness Judas Iscariot is so nice ! That’s a surprise. Just goes to show – you betray ONE messiah, the scroll-media gets to work and people forget everything else. I’m joshing, of course. I’m having a little religious joke…
‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom
Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back? If you set out to design from scratch a tool to facilitate authoritarian rule, it would look exactly like AI. You would cherish it for its ability to destabilise our shared reality and its creation of disinformation on a scale unprecedented in…
‘I’ve always felt too old and too young at the same time’: The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey on swapping child stardom for cult television – and Celebrity Traitors
At 22, Ramsey has already been on our screens for a decade, and nominated for every award going. So why do they find it strange to be called an actor? Bella Ramsey often feels more comfortable around older people. The actor, 22, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, has been working professionally since they were 11, when they got their first TV job as the child noblewoman Lyanna Mormont…
How a former GB Olympian curbed his porn problem - and the signs and steps to recovery
Experts share the signs to look out for if you are worried about your porn use, and how to seek help.
I went for a full body MOT and the results came as a shock
The private body scan industry is booming, but is it doing more harm than good?
Obesity rates have doubled in England since 1993 - what's going on?
Around seven million more adults are living with obesity than would have been if obesity rates had stayed the same as 1993.
Olivia Rodrigo review – crushing riffs and infectious hooks at secret New York show
Warsaw, Brooklyn, New York Playing to just 1,000 fans, Rodrigo’s pop-up show is a thrillingly intimate showcase of her tour de force talent At 10am on Thursday, Olivia Rodrigo announced in an Instagram post that she would play a concert in Brooklyn later that night. Tickets went on sale at precisely the same moment – for the princely sum of $25 a pop – not through a Ticketmaster presale code or a…
Monsters of God review – a messy feud between rival reptile smugglers gets the Tiger King treatment
Director Eric Goode has found two enemies to rival Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin in his new documentary about the animal trade’s underworld Through the fear and general miasma of the Covid pandemic, TV brought people together like never before. Among the most-watched series of 2020 was of course Tiger King, Netflix’s hit about an improbably twisty feud between a gay, polyamorous big-cat breeder…
Prince to Madonna, Blur to Beth Orton: William Orbit’s 12 greatest recordings
The late producer’s gift for bringing in elements from dance music’s cutting edge drew all manner of music royalty – and he often made them sound better than ever before • William Orbit, pop producer for Madonna, All Saints and more, dies aged 69 William Orbit’s first band were a curious business. Torch Song had one foot in the pop mainstream – their biggest success came about when one of their…
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Tammy Fine to Lead Talent Development at NBC News
Tammy Fine, a veteran NBC News producer who spent a significant part of her career overseeing key newsmaker interviews in the first hour of “Today,” is getting a new passel of responsibilities. Fin…
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California Attorney General Slams David Ellison’s Plan to Pull Paramount Out of the State as ‘Blackmail’ Attempt That ‘Won’t Work’
Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California who is leading a 12-state coalition’s lawsuit seeking to block Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, responded to David Ellison’s threat to p…
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Leah Remini Signs With WME (EXCLUSIVE)
Leah Remini has signed with WME for representation, Variety has learned exclusively. She continues to be repped by Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano. WME will work with Remini to furthe…
Variety -
Isabelle Stever Discusses Challenges of Shooting Locarno Competition Title ‘I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming’ During War
“The reality changed our plans,” explains Ukrainian writer Anna Melikova of her new screenplay “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming.” She is seated next to her wife Isabelle Stever, the director of their new…
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ACLU Demands FCC Release Records Pertaining to ABC Early License Renewal, Alleging Agency’s Stated Rationale for Review ‘Does Not Seem Credible’
The American Civil Liberties Union submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the FCC for records pertaining to the agency’s decision to require Disney’s eight owned-and-operated ABC …
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‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ Trailer: Ella Beatty Is an Axe Murderer in the Fourth Chapter of Ryan Murphy’s Bloody Anthology Series
Netflix has released the trailer for “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story,” the fourth chapter in Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s anthology drama series. This time around, the subject is Lizzie Borden, …
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Mateo Ybarra’s ‘Small Talk,’ a Locarno Premiere, Takes a Peek Into Switzerland’s Last Remaining Etiquette School for Women
“Small Talk,” directed my Mateo Ybarra (“Over Our Hills,” “Summer Camp”), will have its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on Aug. 11. The film stars Hélène Bares (“Evy & Me”) as Charlie, …
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RioFilme to Announce New Incentives for International Co-Productions, Unveiling Them at Brazil’s Gramado Fest (EXCLUSIVE)
RioFilme, the film-TV agency of Rio de Janeiro City, will launch a call for proposals amounting to R$15 million ($3 million) for up to four international co-production projects involving Rio-based …
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Taylor Swift Named to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Becoming Its Youngest Inductee Ever
Taylor Swift will be adding another trophy to her shelf, as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame announced Tuesday that the superstar will be inducted into the hall this fall, becoming, at 36, th…
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Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder Will Play Their ‘Hacks’ Characters on Stage in One-Night Event ‘Deborah Vance & Friends & Enemies Live!’
Deborah Vance finally returned to the stage in the final season of “Hacks” and now she will in real-life too — sorta. In a first for “Hacks” and stars Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, the stars (an…
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The Atlantic Festival announces interview with Colin Kaepernick and exclusive preview of Netflix’s <em>East of Eden,</em> with Florence Pugh, Zoe Kazan, and Bela Bajaria
New speakers include: Senator Mark Kelly, Padma Lakshmi, Joe Kahn, Gina Raimondo, Ben McKenzie, Malcolm Gladwell, Richard Linklater
The Atlantic -
‘There is no age-limit on love!’: Lesley Manville and Peter Mullan on their heart-melting TV romance
Ten years later, the actors are stopped in the street to talk about their chemistry in the fantastic BBC sitcom Mum. The pair open up about joy, naughtiness and Tinder swiping More from our series …
The Guardian Culture -
Edgier than the TV series, Michael Mann’s take on Miami Vice is gritty and intoxicating
Where the 80s series was all pastels and shoulder pads, the noughties action thriller has flip phones and Linkin Park – a better fit for a less optimistic world On its release in 2006, Michael Mann…
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‘Everything about me is good in his eyes’: the women in China choosing AI boyfriends over human men
In her new documentary Replica, film-maker Chouwa Liang taps into her own experience of finding love with artificial intelligence and makes contact with other women like her Sign up for a weekly em…
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Copernicus! Tony Soprano! The inventor of the semicolon! The heroic obsessions of artist Isabel Nolan
Ireland’s artist at the Venice Biennale steals religious imagery for her secular celebrations of scientists and humanists, including an Italian punctuation master – and even TV’s famous mobster It’…
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Spotify to distinguish AI artists from real people – and stop recommending them
Music streaming platform creates ‘AI persona’ label that will appear on profiles and track listings in crackdown on fake performers Spotify is to label AI artists and exclude them from algorithm re…
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Feel the burn: why holidays from hell make for blistering fiction
Family fallouts, failing marriages, sunburn, food poisoning ... from Deborah Levy’s hypnotic and disturbing Hot Milk to All In, Claire Powell’s all-inclusive nightmare, Leon Craig looks at the best…
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Juilliard Orch/Royal Academy Symphony Orch / Salonen/Frang review – student players let rip, eventually
Royal Albert Hall, London Esa-Pekka Salonen led an orchestra of players from London’s Royal Academy of Music and New York’s Juilliard School through 20th-century classics with Vilde Frang the elect…
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Never Had a Chance review – a slice of gritty British Asian life with a side of drug dealing and addiction
Two likely lads in their 20s deal with problematic lives that dramatically intersect in this persuasive London drama This gritty crime drama unfolds entirely within the Punjabi community in London’…
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A Deeply Layered Novel About Masculinity
Chang-rae Lee’s new novel examines a young man’s attempt to be tough—and its far-reaching consequences.
The Atlantic -
Isaac Mizrahi on stage, style and the legacy of Unzipped: ‘Fashion has no real spine any more’
The designer defined the glory days of 90s style with a wit that made him every supermodel’s best friend. As he gears up for a new cabaret show, he’s as outspoken as ever There’s a lot to look at i…
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Spin Cycle review – romcom hits full speed as couple air their dirty laundry
Underbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh There is crackling chemistry between Zofia Zerphy and Rhiannon Bell while their washing gets done but this play remains a puzzle Names go missing like lost socks…
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Spain Is Ready for an Extraordinary Run of Eclipses
Tomorrow’s eclipse will be the country’s first in a century. Next year’s will be even more dramatic.
The Atlantic -
Are Men to Blame for the Birth-Rate Collapse?
Whether dads do their fair share of the housework appears to have no effect on fertility.
The Atlantic -
Disunion
February 2045 I took longer than some people to start calling it the war. And by some people, I mainly mean my husband, Asher. “This is it, Natalie,” he said to me that first Friday, back in June 2…
The Atlantic -
The Man Who Refused to Sit on the Sidelines
Kevin Dowdell, a lieutenant in an elite FDNY rescue unit, taught his sons to take action. When he disappeared on 9/11, they went to Ground Zero to search for him.
The Atlantic -
Marlon James Returns to Realism, and to Jamaica
In his new novel, gay men struggle to escape violence in Kingston.
The Atlantic -
The Key to Understanding the Traditionalists
Readers respond to our May 2026 issue.
The Atlantic -
I Give You My Silence by Mario Vargas Llosa review – Nobel laureate’s final novel is a love letter to Peru
This fascinating, eccentric book becomes a quirky primer on Peruvian music and culture When I Give You My Silence was published in Spanish in 2023 its author, the Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Varg…
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Momo and the Time Thieves review – kids’ fantasy jaunt sticks the boot into capitalism
This new adaptation of Michael Ende’s 1973 novel contains some neat parables for our digitally nihilistic age, but even a mystical tortoise can’t save it it from monotony Momo – the 1973 fantasy no…
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The Democrats Can’t Just Laugh Off ‘Woke 1’
Republicans have no incentive to let them forget past excesses.
The Atlantic -
Frankie McNair: Huge Ass Mindset review – a stellar comic finds laughs in the darkest places
Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh With charisma and craft, the Australian standup discusses childhood sexual abuse in a show with a healing quality If fringe audiences know Frankie McNair’s work at …
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‘A horrible nightmare’: the shocking story of the eBay harassment scandal
Jaw-dropping documentary Whatever It Takes details an aggressive stalking campaign targeted towards a couple whose reporting criticized the tech company When Massachusetts husband-and-wife team Ina…
The Guardian Culture -
Virtue and a Sledgehammer – take a literal hammer to your past
What do you do when you return to your home town, with your dead mother in your car boot, to find the inhabitants have been turned into robots? In the boot of her car, Pratelle carries the corpse o…
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Inside Health
Plus, how much do people really change their habits for a free coffee?
BBC Health -
England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C
England is on track to become one of the first countries in the world to eliminate hepatitis C, a dangerous virus that attacks the liver, figures show.
BBC Health -
Fancy a Nobbly Bobbly? Or a Jelly Terror? The eye-popping guide to the greatest ice lolly wrappers ever
From Fonzie to Elvis to the Daleks, from a Mini Milk to a Seaside Saucy to a Freak Out, incredibly rare vintage ice lolly wrappers have now been memorialised in a 96-page, nostalgia-inducing deligh…
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You Won’t Get Free of It by Rachel Aviv review – a subtle study of the mother-daughter bond
The most complex of female relationships is thrown into sharp relief in this moving series of essays Rachel Aviv has a profound interest in the vagaries of human psychology: Strangers to Ourselves,…
The Guardian Culture -
Nimrods review – Green Day’s early years inspire teenage kicks in amiable punk road movie
San Francisco’s pop-punk pioneers Green Day loom large in this fun, puppyish film about a scrappy band desperate to meet their idols Inspired by their own youthful rowdy escapades – “our early days…
The Guardian Culture -
Mourinho review – if he didn’t want to open up, maybe he shouldn’t have starred in a docuseries…
Football manager José Mourinho stars in a three-parter from the creators of Bros: After the Screaming Stops. Don’t expect it to be quite so entertaining… Among his previous credits, the director of…
The Guardian Culture -
A bit on the nose! The world’s longest-running photography exhibition – in pictures
Now on its 167th edition, the Royal Photographic Society’s annual show features moving explorations of kinks, visual disorders … and long-snouted clowns Continue reading...
The Guardian Culture -
Yeehaw! Bring on the tap-dancing cowgirls! How the Edinburgh Military Tattoo suddenly got cool
With its marching bands, billowing flags and precision drills, the Tattoo has never exactly been cutting edge. But now an experimental theatre-maker has been let loose on it … Dusk has settled on E…
The Guardian Culture -
Amanda Knox in Cartwheel review – rookie standup acquitted of murder tells her story
Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Performer cleared of death of her roommate in Italy uses new motherhood as framework for her defiant comedy show ‘Welcome to the most controversial show on the frin…
The Guardian Culture -
Hindsight Is 2024
Some institutions jumped onto the MAGA bandwagon after the 2024 election, but it hasn’t taken long for those decisions to look shortsighted.
The Atlantic -
Harriet Richardson: Creep review – a scandalous delve into shame and desire
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh With the air of a hungover postmortem, Richardson gives a head-spinning account of an encounter with an older comedian If you’re partial to a bit of gossip and scanda…
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Tupac Shakur: jury selection begins in trial of ex-gang boss for rapper’s killing
Prosecutors allege Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis ordered killing and provided gun in Las Vegas drive-by shooting 30 years ago Jury selection began on Monday in Las Vegas as the murder trial of a former gan…
The Guardian Culture -
Barack Obama launches podcast about books that ‘shaped his worldview’
The former US president will host six episodes of A Great Book for Audible, discussing work from Toni Morrison and John le Carré to James Baldwin Barack Obama is set to host a podcast about books t…
The Guardian Culture -
Photos: European Rivers Fall to Record Lows
While Europe braces for yet another heat wave, prolonged drought conditions have dropped inland waterways to record-setting low levels, exposing long-submerged shipwrecks and affecting navigation.
The Atlantic -
Never Trump, Still a Republican
Why Jeff Flake still believes the spell over his party will break
The Atlantic -
The Galloping Cure review – powerful new opera tackles the opioid crisis with bite and black comedy
Festival theatre, Edinburgh Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s new music theatre work boasts a richly textured score with a direct but sophisticated musical language. Daniela Mack is ideal as the con…
The Guardian Culture