Council for the Arts

‘Manchester has never been a great city for opera’

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Sir Mark Elder has never forgotten his first performance with the Hallé Orchestra, more than forty years ago. “We were performing Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole,” he says with a cheerful grin, “and had just arrived at the first big explosion of energy. There was supposed to be a dramatic silence, but the side drum stand collapsed, … Read more

Philip Hedley, brilliant artistic director for 25 years at Theater Royal Stratford East – obituary

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Philip Hedley, left, in 1990 with actor, writer and director Clarke Peters, author of the hit revue Five Guys Named Moe – Shutterstock Philip Hedley, who has died aged 85, was a protege of Joan Littlewood, the radical founder of Theater Workshop, a collective that toured with shows aimed at working-class audiences and led an … Read more