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Poem Of the Week: Union Jack By Khadijah Ibrahim
Union Jack Mum always said she should have gone back home when Rivers of Blood ran deep in the current of Enoch Powell’s hate …the River Tiber foaming with much blood… an urgent encouragement of re-emigration… Send them back: load the ship with chocolate smiles, send them back before the blacks take the whip hand… No blacks, no dogs, no Irish! One down a million to go!
Books
The Three-Legged Stool: More Confessions Of A Forty-Something F**k Up By Alexandra Potter
Artis-Ann 
Features Writer
Have you noticed what a perfect world we live in? Well, according to social media at least, where everyone seems to enjoy the ideal existence.
1:03 AM 9th December 2023
Interview
From Eastenders To York Nina Wadia Talks About Her Pantomime Role
NIna Wadia
Growing up in India and Hong Kong, EastEnders and Goodness Gracious Me star Nina Wadia didn’t have the chance to see that peculiarly British form of Christmas theatre called pantomime. No wonder she was taken aback when she auditioned for what became her first job after drama school – a pantomime version of Robin Hood at Theatre Royal Stratford East.
1:00 AM 9th December 2023
Review
Albums: Gregory Porter – Christmas Wish
Graham Clark
Music Features Writer
Following in the footsteps of other jazz greats, Gregory Porter has released his first Christmas-themed album.
1:00 AM 9th December 2023
Festivals
Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Announces Bestselling Author As 2024 Programming Chair
Harrogate International Festivals has announced that international bestselling novelist Ruth Ware will be taking the reins as Festival Programming Chair in 2024, when the world’s largest and most prestigious celebration of crime fiction, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, returns with a world class line-up of authors and special guests.
8:52 AM 8th December 2023
Film
Silver Screen Weekly - What's Coming Up At The Cinema From Friday 8th December 2023
Jack Bottomley
Media Correspondent
Our film critic and media correspondent has been looking and trawling the new releases. Here's what you can see on the big screen this week.
1:00 AM 8th December 2023
Review
Classical Music: Echoes Of Bohemia: Czech Music For Wind
Andrew Palmer
Group Editor
Echoes of Bohemia: Czech Music for Wind Leoš Janáček Mládí (1924); Pavel Haas Wind Quintet, Op. 10 (1929); Martinů Sextet for wind and piano in E flat major, H 174 (1929); Antoine Reicha Quintet for Wind Instruments in E flat major, Op. 88 No. 2 (1811 – 17).
1:00 AM 8th December 2023
Art Exhibition To Depict Multi-Racial God
An art exhibition depicting God and characters from the Bible through different cultural and racial lenses will be held in Manchester in April 2024. Emerging artists from Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria are being encouraged to enter their 2D work into the exhibition.
2:52 PM 7th December 2023
Theatre
A Christmas Carol At The Dukes
The Dukes is offering a mesmerising sneak peek into their production of A Christmas Carol with a series of stunning new show images. Audiences are invited to unwrap the magic this season with a musical adaptation of Charles Dickens classic tale, featuring toe-tapping music, festive fun and a touch of Christmas magic.
1:00 AM 6th December 2023
Review
Christmas Music: Sweet Was The Song
Andrew Palmer
Group Editor
The repertoire is all accessible and melodic, with many of the pieces commissioned for the choir. There is plenty to enjoy, including a salmagundi of festive ingredients: eclectic, many first recordings of new music from the 21st century, all excellently sung with good diction and finely controlled under Simon Bell’s direction, coupled with Carleton Etherington’s lovely and effective accompaniments.
10:21 AM 5th December 2023
Music
Leeds Feestival 2024 Line Up Announced
The headliners for Leeds Festival 2024 have been announced with tickets now on sale. Fred again.., Lana Del Rey, Blink-182, Liam Gallagher, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Gerry Cinnamon who are set to top the bill on the most prestigious main stage. Also announced are Raye, Skrillex, Spiritbox and Digga D.
12:49 PM 4th December 2023
Music
In Conversation With Jazzie B From Soul II Soul
Graham Clark
Music Features Writer
Jazzie B
With hits like Keep on Movin, and Back to Life, Soul II Soul became household names in the mid-nineties. Coming from a sound system DJ collective into a twenty-five-piece band, they have captivated audiences across the globe.
1:00 AM 4th December 2023
Review
Classical Music: Prokofiev Symphony No 5
Mike Tilling
Arts Correspondent
The first movement sees Prokofiev in a reflective mood. The lush strings intertwine with flaring brass before returning to calmness and ending on a triumphant note. It was a pure coincidence, surely, but during its first performance, Russian forces were crossing the Vistula and entering Nazi Germany. The end of the war was only a few months away.
12:11 PM 2nd December 2023
Review
Classical Music:Painted Light
This CD stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but the surprise was enjoyable. The Solem Quartet has chosen an interesting concept for its first recording on the Delphian label, and in doing so, it has created a stunningly atmospheric disc.
1:02 AM 2nd December 2023
Review
Albums: Take That – This Life
The decision to record some of the album in Nashville at RCA’s historic studio was a wise one. The sound is of a band spreading their wings, taking risks, though overall the feeling is one of celebration and soaking up the atmosphere of their American surroundings.
1:01 AM 2nd December 2023
Music
Classical Music: César Franck Piano Works
Andrew Palmer
Group Editor
Franck was a virtuosic pianist, which Lazar, who has fully immersed himself in the composer's world, mirrors with a deft technique.
1:00 AM 2nd December 2023
Theatre
Intermission Is Like Putting Your Soul On A Spin Cycle
Claire Kenny
Features Writer
Intermission is like putting your soul on a spin cycle Are these actors, or angels? How a transformative experience of wellness and theatre restored me to my factory settings. The Intermission experience begins well before you step through the theatre doors. Firstly, you complete a pre-performance questionnaire positioned as a gentle virtual conversation in a zen consultation room.
1:00 AM 2nd December 2023
Dance
The Nutcracker, Northern Ballet, And A Controversy
Richard Trinder
Editor
Northern Ballet dancers in Nutcracker. Photos by Bill Cooper
A mini-picket on the door of Leeds Grand is not the usual reception we might expect as Northern Ballet's Nutcracker returns this winter. Like a true perennial, the ballet itself pops with colour, joy, vivacity, and downright goodness.
3:23 PM 1st December 2023
Film
Silver Screen Weekly - What's Coming Up At The Cinema From Friday 1st December 2023
Jack Bottomley
Media Correspondent
Our film critic and media correspondent has been looking and trawling the new releases. Here's what you can see on the big screen this week.
12:00 AM 1st December 2023
Music
Shane MacGowan
Shane MacGowan, diagnosed with viral encephalitis, a serious condition that leads to brain swelling, has passed away at age 65. The Irish songwriter’s wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, announced his death in a family statement, saying, 'Shane will always be the light that I hold before me, the measure of my dreams, and the love of my life.
4:36 PM 30th November 2023
University Of Manchester Launches Innovative Programme To Fuel The Future Growth Of The Cultural Sector
A new course to help students pursue a career in the creative and cultural sector has launched at the University of Manchester. The BA Creative and Cultural Industries programme (CCI) aims to give students an understanding of the policy matters impacting the creative sector, whilst equipping them for careers in management and leadership across a variety of industries.
2:50 PM 29th November 2023
Books
Yorkshire Writers Retreat To Host Quadruple Children’s Book Launch
Claire Kenny
Features Writer
Family-run creative hub and events venue Writers Retreat is launching four children’s books on Sunday 10 December in Beal, North Yorkshire.
9:00 AM 28th November 2023
Rachel McLane Ltd Wins Northern Design Award For York Minster Refectory
York Minster Refectory Photo: ©York Minster Refectory
Interior design consultancy Rachel McLane Ltd has won a Best Commercial Design award in the Northern Design Awards 2023 for the York Minster Refectory owned by Michelin Star restaurateur Andrew Pern and partners.
1:00 AM 28th November 2023
Books
Poem Of The Week: Hostess Trolley By Keith Hutson
Steve Whitaker
Literary Editor
I make no apology for including an old favourite as this week’s Poem of the Week. Keith Hutson’s poetry is an extension of the life he once lived. As an experienced comedy writer and old hand in the theatre industry, he has a natural sympathy with comics and entertainers of a certain historical vintage, their predecessors in Music Hall and on the early twentieth century stage.
7:36 AM 26th November 2023
Review
Classical Music: Bob Chilcott Christmas Oratorio
Andrew Palmer
Group Editor
Christmas, for many, is a magical time, especially when it comes to the musical feast offered by the season. It is also a time when the spirit of participation becomes ever-present, a sentiment that has not been lost on Bob Chilcott.
3:00 AM 25th November 2023
Review
Classical Music: Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé (Complete Ballet)
Conductor John Wilson spent his lockdown reconstructing a fractured score, which contained numerous errors and omissions. With his work on Hollywood film scores, he seems to be making a speciality of this type of remodelling.
1:03 AM 25th November 2023
opera
Newcastle Is Peru: The Barber Of Seville In Bradford
With the collective sentiments so thoroughly slapped and tickled, and the audience washed-up in a tide of goodwill, it would be both pointless and churlish to find fault in Thursday’s premiere of The Barber of Seville at Bradford’s St George’s Hall.
1:00 AM 25th November 2023
Books
Review: The Woman In Me - Britney Spears
Graham Clark
Music Features Writer
When Britney Spears appeared at the Open-Air Theatre in Scarborough in 2018 the experience was rather like watching a clockwork doll that had been wound up and sprung into action; the performance was almost robotic with little emotion and hardly any communication with her audience.
12:59 AM 25th November 2023
Film
Silver Screen Weekly - What's Coming Up At The Cinema From Friday 24th November 2023
Jack Bottomley
Media Correspondent
Our film critic and media correspondent has been looking and trawling the new releases. Here's what you can see on the big screen this week.
4:00 PM 24th November 2023
Dance
Yorke Dance Project Presents California Connections: Three Pioneering Women
Richard Trinder
Editor
A scene from Isadora. Dancers Edd Mitton and Amy Thake. Photo by Deborah Jaffe
Yorke Dance Project, the contemporary ballet company run by Yolande Yorke-Edgell, gave its world première of a new mixed bill called California Connections: Three Pioneering Women, at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds last night before embarking on a UK tour in autumn 2023 and spring 2024. California Connections: Three Pioneering Women is a warm…
3:13 PM 24th November 2023
Festivals
West Coast Folk Festival Comes To Blackpool This January
Coming to Blackpool's Winter Gardens this January, The UK West Coast Folk Festival 2024 is set to bring 33 acts across 3 stages to the iconic seaside resort, topped off by a rare headline set from the legendary guitarist Richard Thompson.
8:45 AM 24th November 2023
Review
Classical Music: Haydn Piano Sonatas
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is adept at performing the music of whichever composer he has chosen to showcase. His attention to detail and exceptional skill in delving into the minutiae of each score, coupled with his fabulous knack for bringing out the nuances, mean he delivers perceptive and captivating performances.
1:00 AM 24th November 2023
opera
Eeh, By Gum, It’s Rossini, But Don't Worry About It, Yer Daft 'Apeth'
Ey up, ow do. ‘Ave tha heard that, as part of the inaugural Bradford Opera Festival, there’s to be the premiere of Yorkshire poet, playwright, and broadcaster Ian McMillian’s new adaptation into the Yorkshire dialect of Rossini’s comical masterpiece The Barber of Seville?
1:30 AM 22nd November 2023
opera
Masque Of Might: New Climate-Change Themed Opera To Stream On Operavision
Masque of Might Photo: © James Glossop
Opera North’s “brilliantly bonkers” (The Times) production of climate-change themed opera Masque of Might will be streamed online for free this December. Renowned director Sir David Pountney has assembled the opera from the music of Henry Purcell to create an entirely new work, which received its world premiere in Leeds in October 2023.
6:50 AM 21st November 2023
Review
World Music: Koum Tara Baraaim El-louz
Andrew Palmer
Group Editor
It is an engaging sound that compels the listener to get up and dance. This is my first encounter with Koum Tara, and I was taken with the pulse and the mix of different types of instrumentation associated with the region. The different cultural styles are subtle, with a freshness and inventiveness that have been creatively blended.
1:00 AM 20th November 2023
Film
Chicken Girl
In this year’s round of short film festivals, a new talent is beginning to make her mark with a ten minute comedy, Chicken Girl, which is entertaining audiences in the North of England and abroad. Written, directed and starring Em Humble, the film is a tragicomedy about a young woman’s obsession with chickens and golden eggs.
12:00 AM 20th November 2023
Review
Film: Saw X
Jack Bottomley
Media Correspondent
In the wake of many recent horror franchise re-awakenings (Halloween trilogy, Candyman, Scream 2022 and Scream VI, Chucky TV series) Saw X marks perhaps the most unexpected of all.
4:18 PM 18th November 2023
Books
Poem Of The Week: The Starfish By Isabel Galleymore
The Starfish creeps like expired meat – fizzy-skinned, pentamerously-legged, her underfur of sucking feet shivers upon an immobile mussel whose navy mackintosh is zipped against the anchor of this fat paw, this seemingly soft nutcracker who exerts such pressure until the mussel’s jaw drops a single millimeter.
1:03 AM 18th November 2023
Books
Friends Or Lovers: Lovelight Farms By B.K.Borison
Lovelight Farms could not be more different from the last book I reviewed but as they say, a change is as good as a rest. It is a romantic comedy in which best friends become so much more – eventually, when the obvious is pointed out to them! Once started, you need to read it to the end just to discover how the inevitable actually comes about.
1:00 AM 18th November 2023
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