PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
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Titan of the avant garde
Peter Frost pays tribute to the great composer PETER MAXWELL DAVIES, as much a radical in his life and politics as he was in his music
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES, who has died at his remote home in the Orkneys at the age of 81, became famous as an avant-garde composer. But he was also left-wing, openly gay, anti-Establishment and a staunch republican.
Since the early 1970s he lived on the remote Orkney island of Hoy without electricity or running water. Later, even Hoy proved too accessible and Davies moved to the even more remote Sanday, where he dwelt until his death.
Born in Salford, Maxwell Davies’s father was a factory manager and, as a youth, he seemed destined for work in a factory or mine.
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