All Things Orchestral To Close Roundhay Festival
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Roundhay Festival has announced that the classical music experience, All Things Orchestral, will be coming to Leeds for the first time next month. Hosted by Myleene Klass MBE, the Hallé Orchestra – conducted by Stephen Bell – will whisk the audience on a journey through time, celebrating Cinematic Classics and much more.
Duran Duran Announce Northern Concerts
Duran Duran has announced their first full UK arena tour in three years. Taking place in October, the shows land amongst another landmark year for Duran Duran, surrounded by the release of the new single Free To Love featuring Nile Rodgers, a huge returning moment headlining London’s BST Hyde Park on 5th July for the second time, and more major touring plans.
Whitby Museum Celebrates Yorkshire Day With Fossils!
Whitby Museum will mark Yorkshire Day this year with an event celebrating the amazing range of fossils found on the North Yorkshire coast. Whitby Fossil Day, on Saturday 1 August, will encourage fossil fans of all ages to get hands on with its fossil handling collection and bring their own fossils for identification by the museum’s experts.
In Conversation: Grace Newton-Wordsworth
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Melbourne alt pop-rock outfit Joan & The Giants are rapidly emerging as one of Australia’s most exciting breakthrough acts. Fronted by queer songwriter Grace Newton-Wordsworth, the four-piece blend raw vulnerability with soaring hooks and anthemic energy.
Global Sensation Abel Selaocoe To Open 60th Harrogate Music Festival In Style
Genre-defying cellist and singer Abel Selaocoe kicks off this year’s HACS Harrogate Music Festival with a bang this coming weekend.
More Opportunities For Aspiring Musicians Across North Yorkshire
Young musicians of all abilities and backgrounds are set to benefit from a greater programme of opportunities to strike the right chord for years ahead. North Yorkshire Council is the lead organisation for North Yorkshire and York Music Hub.
BBC Concert Orchestra Records Original Soundtrack for Kynren
Kynren – The Storied Lands has joined forces with the world-renowned BBC Concert Orchestra to record original music for two major new shows opening this summer at the UK’s first live-action show park in County Durham.
Orchestral Music Tops The Charts For Discovery As Yorkshire Leads The Nation's Love Of The Classics.
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Orchestral music has overtaken pop, rock, and country to become the genre Britons most want to explore, according to a major new survey by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra—and Yorkshire is at the heart of the nation's enthusiasm.
In Conversation With Jimmy Brown From UB40
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Arguably one of the biggest British groups to bring reggae music to the masses is UB40. The band was formed in the late seventies in Birmingham against a backdrop of strikes and rising unemployment – even their name was taken from the number one of the unemployment benefit forms.
World Premiere Inspired By Helen Rebanks’ Best-Selling Memoir
Theatre by the Lake presents the world premiere of a brand-new play The Farmer’s Wife inspired by Helen Rebanks’ best-selling memoir and shaped by the voices of women within Cumbria’s farming community.
In conversation: Ellen Benediktson
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Following a string of standalone singles, Swedish artist Ellen Benediktson returns with WID4L, her sophomore EP released via Icons Creating Evil Art. Built around emotional impulsivity, obsession and self-awareness that changes nothing, the project pushes further into darker, more volatile territory than her debut Good Girl.
Creation – The North York Moors Chamber Music Festival Celebrates Its 18th Birthday With Six World Premieres
The North York Moors Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 18th consecutive year this August with the premieres of six brand new compositions from some of the UK’s finest contemporary composers.
Real Stories, Real Lives: Harrogate Residents Take Centre Stage This June In Sinfonia: Stories From Harrogate
Poem of the Week: When I Land in Northern Ireland By Colette Bryce
When I Land in Northern Ireland When I land in Northern Ireland I long for cigarettes, for the blue plume of smoke hitting the lung with a thud and, God, the quickening blood as the stream administers the nicotine. Stratus shadows darkening the crops when coming in to land, coming in to land.
Albums: Freya Ridings Mother Of Pearl
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There is a distinct moment on Mother Of Pearl where it becomes impossible to think of Freya Ridings as anything other than a fully realised artist. Not simply a remarkable vocalist or gifted pianist, but a songwriter with the confidence to expose every bruise, every fracture, and every hard-earned revelation without softening the edges. This is, unquestionably, her finest record to date.
Albums: Violet Grohl Be Sweet To Me
Violet Grohl Be Sweet To Me Tracks: THUM; 595; Bug In The Cake; Last Day I Loved You; Big Memory; Mobile Star; Often Others; Applefish; Cool Buzz; Pool Of My Dreams; Plastic Couch Label: Republic Records There is something immediately compelling about Violet Grohl’s presence.
Looking Ahead To The RPO's 80th Anniversary Season
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) has recently announced its London season for 2026-2027, celebrating 80-years of music-making in the capital.
Classical Music: Barber's Vanessa
Samuel Barber's Vanessa is not an opera one stumbles upon every season, and that is precisely why this gripping new recording from Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra demands attention. Captured live in concert in 2025, it makes the most persuasive case I have heard for a work that ought to occupy a far more secure place in the affections of opera-goers. If the piece is unfamiliar to you — and for many listeners it will be — then this recording is the disc to put that right.
Classical Music: Copland
Aaron Copland's Third Symphony is one of those works that seems to contain an entire continent within its bars. Composed in the dying days of the Second World War, it reaches towards the horizon with the confidence of a nation steeling itself for brighter times, its vast sonic landscapes shaped by a mind equally at home in the concert hall and on the open plains. Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra bring it to life here with a performance that is, in every sense, the real thing.
In Conversation With Later Youth
Musician Jo Dudderidge has already been a few times round the musical block with Manchester indie outfit The Travelling Band. And while all members have meandered down different paths for the time being, Jo has more to say. And as Later Youth with his wicked juxtaposition of melody and meaning and the mighty use of a Wurlitzer, he’s making himself heard.
Stellar Line-Up Announced For 60th HACS Harrogate Music Festival
Harrogate International Festivals is celebrating its 60th anniversary in style by bringing some of the biggest names and brightest emerging stars in classical music to Harrogate this summer – from the boundary-pushing stars such as Abel Selaocoe and Aurora Orchestra to legendary cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and the renowned BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
London Concertante Announces Three Candlelit Concerts Across Yorkshire This June
Internationally acclaimed chamber orchestra London Concertante will bring three atmospheric candlelit concerts to Yorkshire in June 2026, with performances at Leeds Minster, Sheffield Cathedral and Selby Abbey.
The Karate Kid – The Musical Strikes Hard In Leeds
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The fashion for turning eighties films into stage productions continues with this version of the popular movie The Karate Kid. On one of the hottest nights of this spring so far, the prospect of sitting through a story in Leeds’ Grand Theatre that I was unfamiliar with wasn't an enticing prospect – how wrong my assertion turned out to be.
In Conversation: Boys Go To Jupiter
Brooklyn indie-pop outfit Boys Go To Jupiter are entering what might be their most ambitious era yet. With the release of their new EP Now You’re A Circle, out now via High Rotation Records, the band have unveiled the first chapter in an interconnected trilogy of releases exploring identity, intimacy, and perception.
Red Ladder Local’s Summer Season Brings Comedy, Pathos And A Mythical Tale
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A myth reimagined, a surrealist comedy show, and a dash of family-friendly slapstick featuring a couple of absurd gladiators – Red Ladder has something for everyone this summer. The award-winning Wright & Grainger head to Leeds next month with SELENE, a compelling story about a goddess and the dark side of the moon.
In Conversation: Regent
Southampton’s own Regent have never hidden their love of football, and with England dreaming of glory once again this summer, the four-piece are back with another terrace-ready anthem. Their new single, The Best of Things, landed on 22nd May, blending swaggering guitar riffs with nostalgic nods to England’s legendary 1966 World Cup triumph.
Singers Announced In Hunt For Uk’s Best Classical Vocal Talent
The Northern Aldborough Festival New Voices Singing Competition has unveiled its 2026 semi-finalists. Now in its fourth year, the nationwide search spanning concert halls and conservatoires has become a showcase of the hottest rising stars, with a £7,000 prize fund.
Crumbs! Carnazza Rises To The Occasion In Badapple's Bonkers One-Woman Show
In the Studio Theatre at the York Theatre Royal, Badapple’s Crumbs proves that you do not need a sprawling cast or elaborate sets to create an entertaining evening. Written by Kate Bramley, her 27th original script for Badapple, this eccentric one-woman show is packed with energy, creativity and quick-fire jokes.
Catching The Boogie Disease: Doctor Ross And The One-Man Blues Cure
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Doctor Ross was one of the most distinctive figures - and is still one of the most underrated - in post-war American blues and rock’n’ roll. There is always something compelling about the one-man-band, not least Jesse Fuller and Don Partridge, but Ross operated on another level entirely. He did not simply perform: he generated momentum like a force of nature.
In Conversation Thee Sinseers
Emerging from East Los Angeles, Thee Sinseers have become one of the defining voices in contemporary soul revival, blending classic R&B, oldies, and lowrider soul traditions into something that feels deeply lived rather than revived.