In Conversation: Sarah Jane Morris

Few artists embody resilience and creative independence quite like Sarah Jane Morris. First emerging through theatre before forging a distinctive musical career, Morris has long been celebrated for her powerful, soulful voice and her refusal to follow convention.

The Skids - Still Winning The Game

Back in the late seventies and early eighties, Scottish punk band The Skids brought a sense of melody and mischief to the charts with their blend of powerful and energetic music punctuated with the distinctive vocals of Richard Jonson and the unmistakable guitar sound of guitarist Stuart Adamson.

New Appointments Announced As Leeds Venue Shares Ambitious Plans For The Future

The Howard Assembly Room, part of Leeds cultural life, has announced four key appointments to its core team. They join Tony Green, who took on the role of general manager and lead programmer last year. With a background in national broadsheet journalism and the charitable sector, Michael Wilkinson becomes Director of Strategy and Commercial for both Opera North and the Howard Assembly Room.

Small City, Big Landscape: Ripon Theatre Festival At Five

Five years in, Ripon Theatre Festival has grown from promising newcomer to cultural cornerstone — and this year it's bigger, bolder, and more inclusive than ever. There are festivals that happen to a city, and there are festivals that happen with one.

Full Service History: Matt Miller's Joyful Solo Show Gets Right Under The Bonnet

There is a phrase that recurs in Fixing like a mechanic's mantra: 'holistic car care, going on a journey — together'. By the time Matt Miller's 75 minutes are up, you realise that sentence has done rather a lot of quiet, patient work. The Ripon Theatre Festival could hardly have wished for a more propitious launch event.

Albums:(Feels Like) Heaven 1978- 1985

When punk rock and disco music had a hold of the singles charts in 1978, something more adventurous and new was waiting in the wings that would change the face of popular music – the arrival of the synthesiser.

Albums: Robyn Sexistential

Sexistential feels like the latest, and perhaps boldest, chapter in that evolution. Now deep into a career spanning decades, she turns inward without losing her instinct for rhythm. The result is a body of work that doesn’t chase immediacy but rewards patience—something she’s long prioritised, even as others like Beverley Knight and Calum Scott have carried her compositions into broader chart success. Where they amplify her songwriting, she refines it, ensuring each release stands as a precise reflection of her current state.

AI In Music – A Personal View From Sarah Bardwell, Managing Director At The RPO

The industry debate on AI in music is gathering momentum but we felt it was vital to plug the audience view into the industry discussion. For any performing ensemble, we are nothing without our audience and supporters, so hearing their views on AI was very important to us.

Classical Music: Arise Shine

After nine years at the helm of the Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Anna Lapwood has produced in Arise, Shine an album that is at once a valediction and a celebration — meticulous in conception, deeply personal in spirit, and glowing with the kind of affectionate musicianship that only comes when a director and choir have truly grown together.

Classical Music: Fireworks And Fanfares

On this ebulliently programmed St Patrick's Day release on the Regent label, he deploys the historic Willis instrument – four manuals, eighty-one speaking stops, some four thousand pipes – as a kind of one-building orchestra, ranging freely from the Appalachians to the Super Bowl, from Tin Pan Alley to a galaxy far, far away.

In Conversation: Clare Grogan

Few artists have balanced pop success and acting acclaim as seamlessly as Clare Grogan. As the frontwoman of Altered Images, she helped define the early ’80s with bright, infectious hits, while also carving out an impressive screen career—from her breakout role in Gregory's Girl to appearances in cult favourites like Father Ted and Skins.

Albums: Squeeze Trixies

Releasing their first new album in eight years, Squeeze return with Trixies. The collection of songs is set in a fictional nightclub named Trixies and was written by the group’s founders Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook at the very start of their songwriting partnership when they were aged nineteen and sixteen respectively.

Classical Music: Edmund Rubbra Crucifixus Pro Nobis: Choral Music

For many, Edmund Rubbra will be an unfamiliar name. For those immersed in the English choral tradition, he is known chiefly for his contribution to the office of Evensong — the Evening Service in A flat, with its finger-testing demands on the accompanist. However, as Alexandra Coghlan highlights in her insightful liner notes, Adrian Boult was the one who truly understood Rubbra, noting that he "never made any effort to popularise anything he has done but continues to create masterpieces".

Deer Shed Festival And EMI North Seek Emerging Artists For 2026 Lineup

North Yorkshire's Deer Shed Festival has reopened its 'Apply to Play' artist development programme in partnership with EMI North, offering emerging musicians the chance to perform at this summer's event.

Rock N Roll Circus Completes Sheffield 2026 Line-Up With Babyshambles, Gurriers And Cruz Beckham

Rock N Roll Circus has completed its Sheffield 2026 bill, with a wave of new additions cementing what organisers are calling the festival's most ambitious line-up to date. Babyshambles, the cult band fronted by Peter Doherty, will headline Friday night alongside The Streets, who will perform their landmark album A Grand Don't Come For Free in full.

People Yorkshire And The Humber Believe Music Is The UK’s Greatest Export To The World

People in Yorkshire and the Humber are more likely than anyone else in the UK to regard music as Britain’s greatest export to the world, according to new research from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), with 81% of adults saying they have a relationship with orchestral music.

Eurovision 26: Veronica Fusaro

Few countries can claim a Eurovision legacy as rich and varied as Switzerland. From winning the very first contest in 1956 to producing global icons like Celine Dion, Switzerland’s journey has been one of quiet influence punctuated by standout triumphs.

2026 Northern Aldborough Festival Tickets Go On Sale

Tickets for one of Yorkshire’s music festivals, the Northern Aldborough Festival, go on sale this Saturday 28 March. Now in its 32nd year, the Northern Aldborough Festival puts the North Yorkshire village at the epicentre of classical music for ten days, from 18 to 27 June, 2026.

Halifax Chamber Choir's Spring Concert

Halifax Chamber Choir are really looking forward to celebrating the spring season with our next concert on Saturday 25th April at 7:30pm at Holy Trinity and St Jude's Church in Savile Park, Halifax (HX1 2XE). Join us as we perform Palestrina's "Missa Brevis" and assorted sacred motets from Orlando di Lasso, Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms and Bob Chilcott.

Kenny Thomas - Still Outstanding

Back in the late eighties and early nineties a new generation of blue eyed soul singers emerged from the country, the most famous being Rick Astley whose pop songs tinged with a touch of soul elevated him to the top of the singles and album charts. Following an even more soulful path was Kenny Thomas who before finding fame was an amateur boxer.

Crime Writer Leads Children’s Storytelling Workshops

Children in six Harrogate and Knaresborough schools are getting the opportunity to hone their storytelling skills thanks to a series of workshops led by crime fiction writer Rachael Blok.

Kim Wilde Announces Her Singles Tour – March 2027 With Support From Tiffany

Kim Wilde Singles Tour Dates March 2027. 13th Liverpool Philharmonic 14th Gateshead Glasshouse 16th Edinburgh Usher Hall 17th Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 19th Manchester Bridgewater Hall 26th Nottingham Royal Concert Hall 27th Sheffield City Hall 28th York BarbicanKim Wilde has graced our screens and stages for four and a half decades.

Louder Than War - Indoor Festival

There’s very little that John Robb doesn’t know about the alternative music scene.

Ripon Theatre Festival 2026: Celebrating Five Years Of Culture, Colour And Community Spirit

Ripon Theatre Festival (RTF) launches its 2026 programme on 27 March, promising a summer to look forward to. Firmly established as a key date in the region’s cultural calendar, this year’s festival runs 5-12 July with 8 days and nights of performances and activities.

The Brand New Heavies - The Heavyweights Return

York fans of The Brand New Heavies have had to be patient – the acid jazz band last appeared in the city over fifteen years ago. The nucleus of the group is guitarist Simon Bartholomew, bassist Andrew Levy, and vocalist Angela Ricci in an outfit that mixes pop, jazz, and soul into a cohesive force that had the York fans up and out of their seats at the Barbican.

Alison Moyet Adds Bradford And Another York Date To Autumn Tour

Demand for Alison Moyet’s ‘Songs of Yazoo, the minutes & Other’ tour has been huge. 20 shows across the UK and Ireland sold out within days, as did nights in Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, with many others set to follow in the near future.

The Gondoliers

If you fancy an evening’s entertainment that is full of fun and frivolity, then the English Touring Opera’s performance of The Gondoliers is definitely the show for you. From the moment the curtain was raised, the stage was filled with colour, energy, humour and joy.

“I Knew That I Was Put On This Earth To Communicate Through Music”

The world’s only one-handed professional concert pianist – Nicholas McCarthy – makes his much-anticipated Harrogate International Festivals debut this month. Over the past 60 years, the Festivals have brought some of the most gifted, boundary-shaping classical musicians to Harrogate, with Nicholas the latest iconic star to grace the Festivals’ stage.

Eurovision 26: Lithuania's Lion Ceccah

Lithuania has come a very long way since they debuted at Eurovision in 1994- After entering with the song Lopšinė mylimai, Ovidijus Vyšniauskas sadly saw the country's debut achieve nul points. Having since appeared another 24 times, they have an impressive qualification record - with 18 to date.

Albums: The Black Crowes – A Pound Of Feathers

Can a rock band who are well into their careers have a renaissance? The answer is a resounding yes if you happen to be The Black Crowes, who have returned with one of their best albums to date.

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