London Concertante Presents: Two Candlelit Concerts At Leeds Minster
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This spring and summer, London Concertante brings two candlelit concerts to Leeds Minster, offering audiences the chance to experience four distinct programmes across the season in one of Yorkshire’s most historic spaces.
The RPO Celebrates 80 Years Of Music-Making
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) has announced its London season for 2026–27, celebrating 80-years of music-making in the capital.
Rick Astley At Manchester's Co-Op Arena
Nearly 40 years since his debut single, Never Gonna Give You Up, catapulted him from drummer turned studio 'tea boy' into a #1 charting international pop star, Rick Astley is the first act to ever return to headline a show at the UK's largest indoor arena, Manchester's Co-Op Arena.
Albums: Jessie Ware Superbloom
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There’s also a sense of lived-in joy running through the album. Snippets of everyday life and understated details give it a human touch, grounding the polished production in something real. It makes the listening experience feel less like a performance and more like an invitation into her world.
Albums: T'Pau Be Wonderful
Rather than revisiting past glories, T’Pau has created something that feels relevant in 2026. It’s an album that respects their legacy while refusing to be confined by it.
Eurovision26: Monroe
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With five wins under their belt, France is pretty high up on the leaderboard of Eurovision winners. However, their last win was nearly 50 years ago – when, in 1977, Marie Maryam took home the trophy for the iconic L'Oiseau et l'Enfant.
Fast Money Music
Fast Money Music is the guest-packed, nostalgic hit from the alias of Nick Hinman. Written across a decade, Fast Money Music explores longing, identity, rejection, and, above all, how timing is everything. "It’s part novel, part autobiography, part love story, part tragedy, and part comedy: life on life’s terms" says Nick.
Albums: Skindred - You Got This
Whilst in the past Skindred have sometimes been seen as the perfect festival band to get the crowd energised, You Got This sees the band come firmly into the spotlight with a set of songs that takes the band up into a higher league.
Classical Music: Arvo Pärt: The Complete Symphonies
Chandos has performed a genuine service in assembling all four of Arvo Pärt's symphonies on a single disc. Complete recordings of Pärt's symphonies are rare, and the works themselves bear little relationship to one another, each representing a distinct phase of a restless and searching creative life.
Classical Music: Prokofiev Symphony 7
The Andante espressivo slow movement is especially well-handled, the LSO responding to Noseda's direction with playing of real tenderness, while the finale is simply terrific — exhilarating in its forward drive before the symphony subsides into stillness following some lovely harp glissandos.
A thrilling release, and one that brings a satisfying conclusion to what has been a distinguished Prokofiev symphony cycle.
Mamas Gun - Reliving The Golden Days In Leeds
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Masters of modern soul, Mamas Gun have surprisingly never played a concert in Leeds – that is, until the soulful outfit arrived at the Brudenell Social Club as part of their current European tour.
From Raglan To The World: Muroki Brings His Sun-Soaked Sound To The Great Escape
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Raglan’s Muroki arrives at The Great Escape with serious momentum behind him. Since his self-released debut caught the attention of Benee and earned spins from Elton John on his Rocket Hour show, the Kenyan–Kiwi artist has been quietly stacking a catalogue of sun-soaked, genre-blurring gems—including the platinum hit Wavy.
In Conversation With Blue
The last twelve months have seen the return of many boy bands who first scored success in the late nineties and early noughties. Whilst many have ridden their return on live shows performing their big hits, none have actually gone back into the recording studio to make a new album – with one exception, Blue.
Albums: Holly Humberstone Cruel World
Holly Humberstone has always excelled at turning private emotions into something quietly universal, but Cruel World feels like the moment her artistry fully crystallises. It’s a record that doesn’t just document growing up—it immerses you in the disorientation, thrill, and fragility of it, capturing the strange blur between who you were and who you’re becoming.
Albums: Jack Savoretti - We Will Always Be The Way We Were
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The collaborations are as interesting as this fine body of songs where KT Tunstall duets on the blues-infused song Tempting Fate. Elsewhere, Miles Kane turns up on Do If For Love, on a track that does just what it says on the tin – two artists doing what they love to do.
Classical Music: Steve Reich Sextets
Steve Reich turns ninety in October, and the Colin Currie Group — quite simply the finest exponent of his music on the planet — has marked the occasion with a recording that ranks among the most compelling releases in the contemporary canon. Coinciding with the ensemble's own twentieth anniversary, The Sextets brings together four works united by the elegant symmetry of sextet forces, and the result is a disc of quite exceptional distinction.
Classical Music Lavinia Meijer Unfolding Lines
Three composers born in a single year — 1685 — represent one of history's most improbable confluences of genius. Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti shared their birth year yet took keyboard music in wildly different directions. Lavinia Meijer's Unfolding Lines celebrates this extraordinary trifecta, bringing these Baroque masters together in a programme of preludes, fugues, sonatas, and variations – performed, remarkably, on solo harp.
Classical Music: Jonas Kaufmann Magische Töne
What strikes you immediately is how completely Kaufmann inhabits each number. He plays to the words throughout, switching styles with total ease; his dynamics are consistently impressive, and his vocal control—whether navigating the extremes of his register or shaping a long melodic line—is finely judged.
Eurovision26: Søren Torpegaard Lund
Denmark’s relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest has long been a story of peaks and pitfalls. Since debuting in 1957, the country has enjoyed moments of genuine triumph — most notably victories for Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann in 1963, Brødrene Olsen in 2000, and Emmelie de Forest in 2013.
No Setlist, No Filter, No Equal: Jessie J Returns In Style
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Jessie J has had a tough year. Having been diagnosed with breast cancer on April 3, 2025, just ahead of releasing new material, she fought the battle with real optimism and determination. If the cancer battle were not enough, she was also in a car crash that led to severe neck and back pain.
Gabby's Dollhouse Live
Five years and 86 episodes in, Gabby's Dollhouse is going from strength to strength.
Live@tc
When Darren Goulden talks about festivals, there’s a sense that he’s not just producing events—he’s crafting experiences. As the driving force behind The Festival Alchemist, Darren has spent years shaping live entertainment across the UK, earning particular acclaim for Irlam Live, which continues to grow in stature each year.
Here And Now - The Steps Musical, Opera House, Blackpool
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Jukebox musicals are incredibly popular – throw in some big hits from a popular artist or group, and in most cases, include a flimsy storyline, and the fans will come. Take That and ABBA have both had their songs featured in musicals, the latter being more prominent with Mama Mia.
Don't Make Them Wait: 911 Are Back For Their 30th Anniversary
There’s something uniquely powerful about the pull of ‘90s pop — the bedroom singalongs, the posters on the wall, the thrill of chart shows and Saturday morning television. For many, 911 was at the heart of that era, and now, three decades later, Lee Brennan, Jimmy Constable, and Spike Dawbarn are inviting fans to step back in time with their newly announced 30th anniversary tour.
In Conversation: Bróna Mcvittie
Ulster singer‑songwriter, harpist and biologist Bróna McVittie returns with The Stolen Child, the luminous lead single from her forthcoming album Supernatural, due for release later this year, is a companion to McVittie’s recently published book A Way with the Fairies, a richly woven folklore anthology exploring Irish fairy lore alongside mythic tales from across Eur…
Albums: Charlie Puth Whatever’s Clever!
Taken as a whole, Whatever’s Clever presents Charlie Puth at his most focused and self-defined. The influences are clear, but they’re filtered through a perspective that feels personal rather than imitative. More importantly, the album demonstrates a consistency and clarity of vision that has sometimes been missing from his earlier work.
Albums: RAYE This Music May Contain Hope
Not long ago, RAYE was boxed into a version of herself that never quite fit — a powerhouse vocalist navigating an industry that preferred her as a background presence or a hook machine. The breaking point came in full public view, when she unravelled on social media and called time on the system holding her back. What followed was a rebirth.
Classical Music: Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos 2 & 5
Storgårds gives a marvellous account of it. From the iconic opening to the well-judged restraint of the slow movement and the blazing energy of the finale, the BBC Philharmonic are on magnificent form throughout, bearing comparison with the finest recordings in the catalogue. The Chandos engineers have captured the tension and drama with their customary skill.
This is an outstanding disc in what is proving an increasingly distinguished cycle.
Stuart Hartley & Onyx Halo
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In 2026, after nearly three decades away from songwriting, Merseyside‑born creator Stuart Hartley is stepping back into the music world with a project unlike anything he could have imagined in his early twenties. His new venture, Onyx Halo, is a fully AI‑generated band, but the heart, the stories, and the songs are entirely his. Between 1990 and 1995, Hartley lived for music.
Scouting For Girls - These Are The Good Days
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That familiarity might become tiresome for anyone outside their fanbase; most of the ten tracks here sound very familiar – with one exception: Don’t Go Solo. The track was released earlier this year but gained little success or little in the way of radio play.