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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‘The Last House’ Debuts With 27.5 Million Views in Three Days
“The Last House,” a new thriller film starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura, debuted with 27.5 million views in its first three days of streaming on Netflix. With that total, the movie easily sailed …
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Julie Andrews Turned Down ‘Princess Diaries 3’ Offer Because ‘I Think I’m Retired’ From On-Screen Acting: ‘They Asked Me All Last Year’ If I’d Return
Julie Andrews recently told InStyle magazine that she is not returning for “The Princess Diaries 3” opposite Anne Hathaway. The 90-year-old icon turned down the offer to reprise her role of Queen C…
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‘The Daily Show’ Releases Audition Tapes for John Oliver, Michael Che, Current Hosts and More
“The Daily Show” released a slew of never-before-seen audition tapes from past and present correspondents in a 10-minute compilation posted to YouTube. The video, honoring the satirical news progra…
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‘The Odyssey’ Photo Books Reveal Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Filming the Trojan Horse, Battles and More
Insight Editions, Universal Pictures and Syncopy are releasing two new books capturing the making and behind-the-scenes of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” James Mottham’s book, “Filming the Odys…
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Ann Hui Named Camellia Award Recipient at Busan Film Festival – Global Bulletin
CAMELLIA CONFERRED Ann Hui, one of Hong Kong cinema’s defining figures, will receive the 2026 Camellia Award at the opening ceremony of the 31st Busan International Film Festival on Oct. 6 at Busan…
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Emmy Predictions: Lead Actor (Comedy) — Matthew Rhys Takes on Two Legends Still Seeking Their First Wins
Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and…
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Kennedy Center Ordered to Pay $250,000 to Jazz Musician It Unsuccessfully Sued for Backing Out of Concert After Trump Rebranding
A judge has ruled that the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. must pay a jazz musician $252,000 in legal fees and costs, following the organization’s unsuccessful lawsuit against him for pulling ou…
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Emmy Predictions: Lead Actor (Drama) — Which Submission Has the Edge? Noah Wyle, Sterling K. Brown, Mark Ruffalo and More
Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and…
Variety -
Kris Bowers Set to Compose Netflix Animated Feature ‘Steps’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Emmy-nominated composer Kris Bowers is set to score Netflix’s upcoming animated comedy “Steps.” The score was recorded in July and August at London’s Abbey Road Studios. Slated for release on Nov. …
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‘The Office’ U.K. Star Lucy Davis Reveals ‘Incurable’ Cancer Diagnosis: It’s ‘Too Late for Chemo’ and ‘I’m Not Scared of Whatever Comes Next’
Lucy Davis, best known for playing receptionist Dawn Tinsley in the original U.K. edition of “The Office,” has revealed that she has terminal cancer. Writing on Instagram, Davis said she was diagno…
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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
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‘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 …
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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…
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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