Actus tragicus

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And that is exactly what this opera that Bach never wrote is really all about

The Sixteen, and Monteverdi Choir

There was not a hint of vanity or extravagance in The Sixteen’s concert performance of Purcell’s most opulent semi-opera

Michael Clark returns to the Playhouse

The Scot's latest premiere includes old classic Swamp, Velvet Underground's Heroin and David Bowie singing Heroes

Melvyn Bragg talks about his latest novel - part 5

Melvyn Bragg talks about his latest novel - part 2

Melvyn Bragg talks about his latest novel - part 1

Melvyn Bragg talks about his latest novel - part 4

Melvyn Bragg talks about his latest novel - part 3

DSO Berlin/Metzmacher at Usher Hall

Fine interpretations of three composers’ homages to Bach

Der fliegende Holländer at the Usher Hall

The conductor Simone Young wasn’t taking any risks: this concert performance was to be nothing short of the real thing

The Testament of Cresseid

In the firestorm about punishment sparked by al-Megrahi, here is Robert Henryson 500 years ago on much the same theme

Afterplay

The tiny spark of intimacy refuses to leap into flame as characters from two of Chekhov's worlds come together

The Yalta Game

In Friel’s every nuance, every cadence, you sense that refrain of longing for something that is just out of reach

Acis and Galatea

Christoph Prégardien’s dying refrain was heart-stoppingly beautiful, and the coloratura Happy We a mahogany delight

Novelist regains sight thanks to the ‘power of words’

Two years after she went blind, novelist Candia McWilliam has attended the Edinburgh International Book Festival unaided — her sight restored...

Tonhalle/Zinman

Mahler’s Fourth Symphony was played with zest and yearning, pathos and impetuousness; and was beautifully paced

Admeto

In Doris Dörrie’s Japanese-style production, fresh from the Göttingen Handel Festival, 200 minutes of Handel’s music fly by

Michael Clark

For his latest creation, come, been and gone, Clark has chosen music by 1970s rock gods Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and David Bowie

At Margaret Atwood's end of the world the Bishop wore leopard-skin

Margaret Atwood brought her new book, The Year of the Flood, to life in an Edinburgh church

Record festival crowds shrug off recession

Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival ticket sales are 20 per cent up as thousands 'staycation' in Scots capital

The Last Witch

Studded with memorable writing and given a production by Dominic Hill that is genuinely creepy, it fails to cast a spell

Edinburg Comedy Award shortlist revealed

John Bishop, Idiots of Ants, Jon Richardson, Tom Wrigglesworth and Tim Key all selected but Russell Kane shines through

Joyce DiDonato overcomes technical hitches

Performances of Handel’s Rinaldo and Verdi’s Macbeth, plus a puppet version of Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria

Ian Rankin talks to Allan Little - Part 3