THREE leading singer-songwriters and the Queen of Folk are heading for Bristol and Bath in the coming weeks, as part of their UK tours. The first is Louisiana-born and Nashville based Mary Gauthier, whose latest album, Rifles and Rosary Beads, is hailed as one of the most important of the decade. The songs were written…
DORSET composer Graham Stansfield passed away peacefully in Poole Hospital on Friday 13th April following a long and valiant struggle with cancer, an illness he steadfastly refused to make concessions to. He worked consistently throughout lengthy and often debilitating periods of treatment. Indeed, just six days before he had introduced his latest work – new…
JOAN Armatrading, who releases her new album Not Too Far Away on 18th May – her first on BMG – will be touring to introduce the new songs in the US and UK later in the year. Her UK dates include Poole Lighthouse on 14th September, and Exeter Northcott on 17th and 18th September. Contact the…
EXETER’s Exeter Northcott and the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis have joined forces to launch a new youth theatre, Marine Young Company, based in Lyme Regis, and starting on Monday 23rd April. The Marine Young Company will have weekly sessions in term time, led by Lizzie Hedden from the Northcott. The tuition will lead to…
DORSET Opera Festival is hosting a special concert by members of the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme, at Milton Abbey on Saturday 28th April at 7.30. The programme is designed to support the artistic development of talented singers at the beginning of their careers. The singers are employed as salaried members of the…
THE Dorset-based folk duo Ninebarrow – Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere – release their new album, The Waters and the Wild, at Poole’s Lighthouse on Saturday 21st April. Jon and Jay became friends at school in Poole more than 20 years ago. They moved away to study and to qualify, Jon as a primary school…
LYME Regis’s annual Guitars on the Beach festival is a keenly awaited event, but it needs money. So a Guitars on the Baords fundraising event has been organised on Saturday 14th April at the Marine Theatre and your support would be appreciated. Guitars on the Beast is the UK’s largest guitar festival, and to reflect…
THE Devon Guild of Craftsmen has issued its biennial Get Fresh! open call to South West designer-makers, inviting applications from recent graduates and emerging designer-makers. The closing date for entries is Monday 14th May, and the Get Fresh! exhibition will run at the Guild’s contemporary crafts gallery at Bovey Tracey, from Saturday 19th January to…
SALISBURY Cathedral will have more than a year without its famous, historic Father Willis organ, which needs substantial repair and restoration. The first of this year’s organ concerts, on Wednesday 18th April, will double as the launch of a fund-raising appeal for the work. The recital series begins with the annual Alcock Recital, this year…
THE staff at Poole’s Lighthouse Centre for the Arts turned back the clock over Easter weekend to celebrate the 40th birthday of the biggest arts centre outside London which has been bringing a vast range of performing and visual arts and entertainment to Poole and Dorset since 1978. The birthday is being marked with an…