National Centre for Early Music

March 18, 2026March 20, 2026

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 11, from Gazette & Herald

Leeds abstract surrealist Nicolas Dixon, front, spotted at the launch of the debut RARE v WET exhibition with WET proprietors James Wall and Ella Williams and RARE Collective organiser Sharon McDonagh

A SURREALIST wine bar exhibition, a comedy thriller in an hotel and Australian children’s games stir Charles Hutchinson’s interest.

Exhibition of the week: Nicolas Dixon, RARE v WET, at WET, Micklegate, York, until April 22

YORK artist and event organiser Sharon McDonagh and DJ/artist Sola launch their RARE v WET series of solo exhibitions in aid of York charity SASH (Safe and Sound Homes) at WET, James Wall and Ella Williams’ indie wine bar and restaurant, with Nicolas Dixon first up.

Leeds abstract surrealist Dixon’s murals and artworks have become landmarks in Leeds, including at Kirkgate Market, Trinity Shopping Centre and the University of Leeds, as well as Leeds United tributes to the 1972 FA Cup Winners at Elland Road and the iconic Bielsa the Redeemer in Wortley. On show is a mixture of new and older work, both prints and originals.

In the shadows: Michael Hugo in Claybody Theatre’s The Grand Babylon Hotel. Picture: Andrew Billington

Thriller of the week: Claybody Theatre in The Grand Babylon Hotel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees; Harrogate Theatre, April 1 to 4, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

CONRAD Nelson directs an ensemble cast of multiple flamboyant characters in a rollicking comedy thriller of rapid-fire character changes, sharp humour and theatrical fun, presented in association with the New Vic Theatre.

In Deborah McAndrew’s adaptation of Arnold Bennett’s novel, Nella Racksole discovers steak and beer are not on the menu for her birthday treat at the exclusive Grand Babylon Hotel, prompting her American millionaire father to buy the chef, the kitchen, the entire hotel. Cue kidnapping and murder. Have Theodore and Nella bitten off more than they can chew? Box office: Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.

Bluey’s Big Play: Australian bean bags, games and cleverness at Grand Opera House, York

Children’s show of the week: Windmill Theatre Co in Bluey’s Big Play, Grand Opera House, York, 10am, tomorrow and Friday; 10am, 1pm and 4pm, Saturday and Sunday

COMBINING puppets and original voices from Ludo Studios’ Emmy Award-winning Australian children’s television series, including Dave McCormack and Melanie Zanetti as Dad and Mum, this theatrical adaptation is based on an original story by Bluey creator Joe Brumm, featuring music by series composer Joff Bush. When Dad wants a bean bag time-out, Bluey and Bingo have other plans as they pull out all the games and cleverness at their disposal. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The Brand New Heavies: Acid Jazz joy, funk, love and fancy clothes at York Barbican

York gig of the week: The Brand New Heavies, York Barbican, tomorrow, doors 7pm

EALING Acid Jazz pioneers The Brand New Heavies – Simon Bartholomew, vocals and guitar, Andrew Levy, bass and keyboards, and Angela Ricci, vocals – mark their 35th anniversary with a 12-date tour that takes in York Barbican as their only Yorkshire destination. Expect joy, funk, love and fancy clothes. Galliano support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Lizzie Lawton’s Jack Worthing, front, and Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff in Rowntree Players’ The Importance Of Being Earnest

Comedy classic of the week: Rowntree Players in The Importance Of Being Earnest, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

ROWNTREE Players bring Oscar Wilde’s 1895 farcical comedy of manners to the York stage in the original four-act version reconstructed by Vyvyan Holland, under the direction of Hannah Shaw.

Lizzie Lawton’s Jack Worthing and Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff lead double lives under the false name of “Ernest” to escape social obligations, leading to romantic entanglements and comedic misunderstandings, played out by a cast featuring Jeanette Hambridge’s Lady Bracknell, Bethan Olliver’s Gwendolen Fairfax, Katie Shaw’s Cecily Cardew, Wayne Osguthorpe’s Reverend Canon Chasuble, Rebecca Thomson’s Miss Prism and Max Palmer’s Lane/Merriman. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Jessica Fostekew: “The silliest of comedy for the scariest of days”in Iconic Breath at Pocklington Arts Centre

Comedy gig of the week: Jessica Fostekew: Iconic Breath, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm

ICONIC Breath, Jessica Fostekew’s most rousing and uplifting show yet, provides the silliest of comedy for the scariest of days as The Guilty Feminist, Hoovering and Contender Ready podcaster discusses tolerance and temperance.

“I can feel myself becoming an emotional wildebeest right when my world (and the whole world, thanks) demands cool, collected, ultra detached, saint-like kindness and understanding,” says Fostekew, who has hosted two series of Sturdy Girl Club on BBC Radio 4. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

This won’t hurt: Andrew Margerison, Rebecca Vaughan and Gavin Robertson in General Medical Emergency Ward 10

Hospital drama homage of the week: Dyad Productions and Company Gavin Robertson in General Medical Emergency Ward 10, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Friday, 7.30pm

UNITING for the first time, Dyad Productions and Company Gavin Robertson’s Rebecca Vaughan, Andrew Margerison and the aforementioned Gavin Robertson knit every cliché-ridden doctors-and-nurses TV and film drama into a pacy comedy mash-up spoof that promises to leave you in stitches.

On Dr Ann Fleming’s first day at St David’s, her unfortunately-named mentor, Dr Death, is determined to show her who’s boss. As medical emergencies overload the hapless staff, Dr Fleming must juggle a complicated budding love affair with a kidney and a nosey hospital boss. Not literally, of course. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

The Budapest Café Orchestra: Fronted by Christian Garrick at Helmsley Arts Centre

Snappiest attire of the week: Christian Garrick & The Budapest Café Orchestra, National Centre for Early Music, York, Friday, 7.30pm, sold out; Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

CHRISTIAN Garrick (violin, darbuka), Murray Grainger (accordion), Kelly Cantlon (double bass) and Adrian Zolotuhin (guitar, saz, balalaika, domra) team up in this refreshingly unconventional and snappily attired boutique orchestra. Playing gypsy and folk-flavoured music in a unique and surprising way, The Budapest Café Orchestra combine Balkan and Russian traditional music with artful distillations of Romantic masterworks and soaring Gaelic folk anthems.

Established by British composer Garrick in 2009, BCO have 16 albums to their name, marked by an “astonishing soundscape and aural alchemy” characteristic of larger ensembles, evoking Tzigane fiddle maestros, Budapest café life and gypsy campfires. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Hope & Social: Unforgettable spectacle, energetic songs and chaotic moments at Milton Rooms, Malton

Ryedale gig of the week: Hope & Social, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

LEEDS band Hope & Social’s eight musicians pour their heart and soul into creating exuberant, high-energy tunes in gigs full of pure joy, infectious enthusiasm, unforgettable spectacle and chaotic moments.

Each performance by “Yorkshire’s own E-Street Band” is spiced up with Northern wit and self-deprecating humour as a powerhouse three-piece horn section and intricate five-part harmonies contribute to a massive sound that spans genres, drawing influence from soul, indie, folk, disco and art rock. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Crosscut Saw’s Alex Eden : Leading his blues band at Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Crosscut Saw, Milton Rooms, Malton, March 26, 8pm

YORKSHIRE blues trio Crosscut Saw’s Alex Eden (lead singer, guitarist and harmonica player), Richard Ferdinando (drums) and Richard Green (bass) draw inspiration from Magic Sam, RL Burnside, Taj Mahal and Dr John in performances marked by raw energy and unpredictability.

They hold a monthly residency at the Duck & Drake in Leeds, have played the Great British Blues Festival and Tenby Blues Festival, collaborated with TJ Norton, Paddy Wells and The Haggis Horns and worked as a backing band for Jake Walker and King Rollo. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

March 14, 2026March 18, 2026

More Things To Do in York and beyond a mysterious garden and abstract surrealism. Hutch’s List No. 10, from The York Press

Elizabeth Marsh in rehearsal for The Secret Garden The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Marc Brenner

A MAGICAL Yorkshire garden, an hotel comedy thriller, a surrealist wine bar exhibition and Pulp confessions exhibition stir Charles Hutchinson’s interest.

Musical of the week: The Secret Garden The Musical, York Theatre Royal, March 17 to April 4

TONY Award-winning director John Doyle, artistic director of York Theatre Royal from 1993 to 1997, returns to pastures past in more ways than one to present his actor-musician staging of Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman’s Broadway musical account of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s story of love, loss, healing and hope, set on Yorkshire moorland in 1906.

Newly orphaned, Mary Lennox is sent to live with her widowed uncle at the secluded Misselthwaite Manor, a house in habited by memories and spirits from the past. On discovering her Aunt Lily’s neglected garden, she vows to breathe new life into its mysterious stasis as she learns the restorative magic of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Leeds abstract surrealist Nicolas Dixon, front, spotted at Thursday’s launch of his RARE v WET exhibition with WET proprietors James Wall and Ella Williams and RARE Collective organiser Sharon McDonagh, right

Exhibition of the week: Nicolas Dixon, RARE v WET, at WET, Micklegate, York, until April 22

Stephen Joseph Theatre favourite Bill Champion as American billionaire Theodore Racksole in Claybody Theatre’s The Grand Babylon Hotel, on tour at the SJT next week. Picture: Andrew Billington

Thriller of the week: Claybody Theatre in The Grand Babylon Hotel, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 18 to 21, 7.30pm plus 1.30pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

Baroque Alchemy’s Lyndy Mayle and Piers Adams: Playing NCEM tonight

Classical-electronic concert of the week: Baroque Alchemy, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, 7.30pm

ANCIENT and modern meet in a spectacular musical fusion in Baroque Alchemy, the realisation of recorder virtuoso Piers Adams and keyboard player Lyndy Mayle’s long-held dream. Ever since the rise of synth-led bands and New Age music in the 1980s, Red Priest frontman Adams has nurtured a vision to combine the drama of baroque music with the expansive sound-world of the electronic era. Now Baroque Alchemy turn the traditional early music recital on its head for the 21st century. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Dominic Halpin & The Hurricanes: Evoking the Grand Ole Opry in A Country Night In Nashville at the Grand Opera House

Tribute gig of the week: A Country Night In Nashville, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

A COUNTRY Night In Nashville re-creates the scene of a buzzing Honky Tonk in downtown Nashville, capturing the energy and atmosphere of a night in the home of country music in a journey through the history of its biggest stars past and present. Hits from Johnny Cash to Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton to The Chicks, Willie Nelson to Kacey Musgraves are showcased by Dominic Halpin & The Hurricanes. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The book cover for Mark Webber’s I’m With Pulp, Are You?, under discussion by the author and guitarist at York Literature Festival

Book event of the week: York Literature Festival, I’m With Pulp, Are You?, An Evening With Mark Webber, The Crescent, York, March 17, 7pm

PULP guitarist and avant-garde film curator Mark Webber discusses I’m With Pulp, Are You?, his visually rich chronicle of the Sheffield band’s history from the perspective of a fan-turned-manager-turned-guitarist.

In his music memoir, 40 years of archived material comes to life as Chesterfield-born Webber recalls his fascination with David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol and counterculture, writing fanzines and organising concerts from the age of 15, joining Pulp in 1995 and playing on Different Class, This Is Hardcore, We Love Life and More, 2025’s recording renaissance after a 24-year hiatus. Box office: 01904 623568, yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk.

Bluey’s Big Play: Australian fun and games for children at the Grand Opera House

Children’s show of the week: Windmill Theatre Co in Bluey’s Big Play, Grand Opera House, York, March 19 to 22, 10am, Thursday and Friday; 10am, 1pm and 4pm, Saturday and Sunday

Scouting For Girls: Re-visiting Everybody Wants To Be On TV at York Barbican

York Barbican gigs of the week: Scouting For Girls, Everybody (Still) Wants To Be On TV Tour 2026, March 17, doors 7pm; The Brand New Heavies, March 19

AS Scouting For Girls’ vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Roy Stride puts it: “I can’t believe we’re already celebrating the 15th anniversary of our second album [Everybody Wants To Be On TV], and I’m beyond excited to get back on the road in 2026! The shows are going to be immense: a massive nostalgic Scouting singalong every night.” Expect further hits to feature too.

Ealing Acid Jazz pioneers The Brand New Heavies – Simon Bartholomew, vocals and guitar, Andrew Levy, bass and keyboards, and Angela Ricci, vocals – mark their 35th anniversary with a 12-date tour that takes in York Barbican as their only Yorkshire destination. Expect joy, funk, love and fancy clothes. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Brand New Heavies: Acid Jazz joy, funk, love and fancy clothes at York Barbican

Comedy classic of the week: Rowntree Players in The Importance Of Being Earnest, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, March 19 to 21, 7.30pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

ROWNTREE Players bring Oscar Wilde’s cherished 1895 farcical comedy of manners to the York stage in the original four-act version reconstructed by Vyvyan Holland, under the direction of Hannah Shaw.

Lizzie Lawton’s John Worthing and Jorja Cartwright’s Algernon Moncrieff lead double lives under the false name of “Ernest” to escape social obligations, leading to romantic entanglements and comedic misunderstandings, played out by a cast featuring Jeanette Hambridge’s Lady Bracknell, Bethan Olliver’s Gwendolen Fairfax, Katie Shaw’s Cecily Cardew, Wayne Osguthorpe’s Reverend Canon Chasuble, Rebecca Thomson’s Miss Prism and Max Palmer’s Lane/Merriman. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

A collage from the rehearsal photo-shoot for Rowntree Players’ production of The Importance Of Being Earnest

Comedy gig of the week: Rob Rouse, Funny Bones, Helmsley Arts Centre, March 20, 8pm; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 21, 7.45pm

FRESH from being picked as the Comics’ Comic Best Act of the Year 2025, Rob Rouse is touring Funny Bones: a daft whirlwind of craftily spun tall tales, a bucketful of manic energy, canny stagecraft, eerily convincing characters and a barrage of one-liners.

“Warning: this show has been meticulously assembled to make you laugh as much as possible,” says Rouse. “However, you will not learn anything from it. You may even come out stupider than when you came in.” Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Super scooper: Funny Bones comedian Rob Rouse and his skeleton dog on tour at Helmsley and Scarborough

March 13, 2026March 13, 2026

Recorder plus electronica equals Baroque Alchemy as ancient fuses with modern at National Centre for Early Music tomorrow

Baroque Alchemy: Turning the traditional Early Music recital on its head for the 21st century

ANCIENT meets modern in Baroque Alchemy’s fusion of recorder virtuoso Piers Adams and keyboardist Lyndy Mayle at the National Centre for Early Music, York, tomorrow.

Ever since the rise of synth-led bands and New Age music in the 1980s, Piers has nurtured a vision to combine the simple beauty of the recorder – and the drama of baroque music – with the expansive sound-world of the electronic era.

Now, after a 25-year international career as frontman of the acoustic baroque super-group Red Priest, his new project with Lyndy Mayle turns the traditional Early Music recital on its head for the 21st century.

“By replacing the familiar ‘continuo’ sound of the harpsichord with the universe of possibilities offered by modern-day synthesiser technology, we are able to expand upon the musical dreams of composers of the past,” says Piers, whose first Baroque Alchemy concert took place at the Lewes Baroquefest, in his home town, in July 2022.

“The scientific wizardry of the synth is balanced by the natural expressive power of the recorder, thereby creating a perfect blend of ancient and modern.”

Baroque Alchemy seek to introduce a new audience to music of the past, as well as taking traditional classical music lovers on a journey of discovery, undertaken by two musicians who travel with a keyboard, a quiver of recorders, a Macbook and a state-of-the-art Bose PA.

“I’ve played in York quite a few times, mostly with Red Priest,” says Piers. “The last time at the NCEM was a concert to nobody under Covid rules in 2021 – part of a series that Robert Hollingworth [from the University of York] put on – so that was a strange experience!

“I played with Red Priest at the university at the beginning of 2023 and once at the NCEM with The Dodo Street Band, the brainchild of violinist Adam Summerhayes, where we performed Celtic Gypsy Klezmermusic on violin, recorder, accordion, double bass and bodhran, which was fun.”

Piers and Lyndy got together in 2020/2021 after her long career as a piano teacher. “Back in the day, we were at different music colleges in London, when she was a harpsichord wizard at the Royal College of Music, and she later worked as a music therapist and taught piano. This project is her return to the concert platform,” says Piers.

“We’ve played 25-30 concerts since we started up and down the country, and in Spain and Germany, and it’s taken off well as it’s quite left field.”

Describing Baroque Alchemy’s music, Piers says: “It’s something very different from Early Music, the main difference being that we use a classic keyboard run through a Macbook.” Piano, guitar, harp, strings and voices all play their part through the wonder of electronics, in tandem with Piers’s recorders.

“For me, as a recorder player, to play with such a wide range is wonderful,” he says. “I have a small mixing desk, so I can tweak things, playing with this amazing technology to see how old music would sound with new electronic elements, so we have the contrast of the ‘artificial’ [the electronic] with the beauty of the recorder.”

Piers continues: “We’re still at the beginning of this journey into the sound-world. It’s been a fascinating journey where, the more we dig around the broad palette of sound we find what works for us. We cross lots of different styles, not just ‘old’ music, but contemporary music and world music too.

“There are a number of positives in playing this way. It gives you massive flexibility, particularly as a duo, working with this big sound palette, where we love opposites, the combination of different elements, the combination of male and female too, hence we chose the name Baroque Alchemy.

“We put together the penetrating recorder with the broader range of electronics; the ancient and the modern; the simple and the complex. Add the fact that we’re a couple as well, and the whole thing becomes a melting pot.”

Why should someone attend tomorrow’s concert, Piers? “The first thing to say is that I know people will enjoy it. The response we’ve had has been universally positive: whether they like Early Music, folk music, world music or electronic music; there’s something for everyone – but it’s also quite different!”

Baroque Alchemy, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, tomorrow (14/3/2026), 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk

Baroque Alchemy duo Lyndy Mayle and Piers Adams

Baroque Alchemy: back story

BAROQUE Alchemy gave their debut concert at the Lewes Baroquefest in July 2022 and have since played festivals, music clubs and theatres throughout the UK.

In 2023, the duo travelled to Germany to perform the closing concert at the Blockflöten Festtage, the world’s premier recorder festival.

They launched their groundbreaking album Breaking Free at their London debut at the World Heart Beat Concert Hall in March 2024.

Piers Adams has recorded numerous CDs and given thousands of concerts and broadcasts across the world with Red Priest. His lifelong interest in alternative philosophies informed his recording Bach Side Of The Moon (charting at number five in the international New Age charts) and now Baroque Alchemy.

Lyndy Mayle was a multi-prize winning harpsichord student at the Royal College of Music before becoming a music director at the National Theatre, and subsequently working as a music therapist and piano teacher. Baroque Assembly marks her return to the concert stage.

Piers and Lyndy perform music from the baroque period, although they venture into medieval, world, contemporary and jazz music too.

Their repertoire includes Bach’s Goldberg Suite; Albinoni’s The Other Adagio; Forqueray’s La Sylva and La Boisson; Telemann’s Andante and Danse Rustique; Handel’s Aria Amorosa; Vivaldi’s The Goldfinch; Pandolfi’s La Biancuccia; Montalbano’s La Jelosa; Biber’s Sonata Representiva; Piazzolla’s Cafe 1930; Albeniz’s Asturias; Debussy’s Syrinx and Ian Clark’s Hypnosis.

March 11, 2026March 13, 2026

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 10, from Gazette & Herald

Elliot Mackenzie and Henry Jenkinson in rehearsal for John Doyle’s actor-musician production of The Secret Garden The Musical at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Mark Brenner

A MAGICAL Yorkshire garden, two cases for Sherlock Holmes, daft Funny Bones and chocolate cookery tips hit the sweet pot for Charles Hutchinson.

Musical of the week: The Secret Garden The Musical , York Theatre Royal, March 17 to April 4

Newly orphaned, Mary Lennox is sent to live with her widowed uncle at the secluded Misselthwaite Manor, a house in habited by memories and spirits from the past. On discovering her Aunt Lily’s neglected garden, she vows to breathe new life into its mysterious stasis as she learns the restorative magic of nature. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Josh Jones: Striving to earn his cat’s respect at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Wrestling with humour: Josh Jones, I Haven’t Won The Lottery So Here’s Another Tour Show, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, tonight, 8pm

MANCHESTER comedian Josh Jones follows up Gobsmacked with I Haven’t Won The Lottery So Here’s Another Tour Show as he finds himself knee deep into his 30s, where nothing thrills him more than a Greggs’ Sausage Roll.

Living a more sedate life is not without its challenges, however, as he is yet to earn his cat’s respect. “I’ll be keeping it light: nothing super-political, nothing controversial, and it’s definitely not going to change your life,” he says of a set brimful of history, felines and his love of wrestling. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Cookery book talk of the week: Kemps Books presents Edd Kimber In Conversation, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 7.30pm

EDD Kimber, 2010 winner of the inaugural Great British Bake Off, discusses his new book, Chocolate Baking, The Ultimate Guide To Cakes, Cookies, Desserts & Pastries (Quadrille Publishing, March 5), a celebration of the world’s most-loved ingredient in 100 recipes that showcase chocolate in all its forms, sometimes rich and bold, sometimes subtle and surprising.

Expect delicious insights, behind-the-scenes baking stories and possibly a little tasting and demonstration too from Bradford-raised, London-based Kimber. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Jazz singer Claire Martin: Teaming up with IG4 at NCEM, York

Jazz gig of the week: IG4 with Claire Martin, National Centre for Early Music, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

VOCALIST Claire Martin joins IG4 pianist and composer Nikki Iles, saxophonist Karen Sharp and rising star bassist Ewan Hastie, 2022 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year, to perform Iles’s new arrangements of Tom Waits, Burt Bacharach, Anthony Newley and Joni Mitchell songs, complemented by her stylish reworking of the American songbook, including Cole Porter and Johnny Mandel. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Super-scooper: Rob Rouse going walkies with his skeletal dog in Funny Bones at Pocklington, Helmsley and Scarborough

Comedy gig of the week: Rob Rouse, Funny Bones, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7.30pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, March 20, 8pm; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, March 21, 7.45pm

“Warning: this show has been meticulously assembled to make you laugh as much as possible,” says Rouse. “However, you will not learn anything from it. You may even come out stupider than when you came in.” Box office: Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

The poster for Ready Steady 60’s Show at Helmsley Arts Centre

Tribute gig of the week: Ready Steady 60’s Show, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

READY Steady 60’s Show celebrates the best of the Mod 1960s and British Beat boom in the four-piece tribute band’s two-hour show, paying homage to The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Small Faces, The Move, The Hollies, and The Animals. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Baron Productions’ cast members at St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, where they will perform Friday and Saturday’s Sherlock Holmes double bill

Thriller double bill of the week: Baron Productions in Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal In Bohemia and The Speckled Band, St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York, Friday and Saturday, 7.30pm

SHERLOCK Holmes and Dr Watson embark on two of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most captivating cases, presented by York company Baron Productions. London private detective Holmes has always despised love, until the day he pits his wits against mysterious blackmailer Irene Adler, who has a powerful hold over the King of Bohemia, one that could turn Holmes into a changed man if he dares do battle with her.

Then, when a desperate young woman begs Holmes for protection against her cruel stepfather, he and Watson must face a deranged doctor – who can commit horrible murders without entering his victims’ rooms – and a sinister “speckled band”. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions.

The 309s: Bringing together Hank Williams, Bob Wills and Louis Jordan at Milton Rooms, Malton

Swing jive gig of the week: The 309s, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 8pm

WEST Yorkshire five-piece The 309s have spent 14 years purveying their swing jive repertoire all over the country. Think Hank Williams, Bob Wills and Louis Jordan joining forces to make a classic 20th century sound at the roots of rock’n’roll.

The 309s pick songs mostly from the southern States of America from 1925 and 1955, from Western Swing, created by Wills in Texas, through to rock’n’roll’s early days in Memphis, Tennessee, while taking in country boogie and jump blues too. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Scouting For Girls: Marking 15th anniversary of platinum-selling Everybody Wants To Be On TV album at York Barbican

Anniversary gig of the week: Scouting For Girls, Everybody (Still) Wants To Be On TV Tour 2026, York Barbican, March 17, doors 7pm

March 6, 2026

REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Eliza Carthy and special guests: The Songs of Martin Carthy, National Centre for Early Music, York, February 28

Eliza Carthy: “Energetic, forthright presence, taking charge and fully taking on the family matriarch role”

TURNING sadness into celebration is life affirming. It was with sadness that Eliza Carthy announced that her father, Martin Carthy, would not be able to perform. His sudden retirement, aged 84, threw this tour into doubt, but friends and admirers soon stepped in.

Carthy senior has had a wonderful 60-odd year career, including trailblazing folk partnerships with Steeleye Span, Dave Swarbrick, wife Norma Waterson and latterly with his daughter Eliza, who is a key part of the Robin Hood’s Bay family firm, fiddle player and songwriter of note.

On Friday night, Eliza took her father’s songs to the sold-out NCEM. Travelling is exhausting for Martin, who has late-onset Alzheimer’s, but he was well enough to attend, sitting with friends in the back row and talking to well-wishers.

Eliza is an energetic, forthright presence, taking charge and fully taking on the family matriarch role. Alongside her was the attentive Nick Hart, with his sympathetic guitar playing and rich traditional voice. To see how closely he watched the others was a masterclass in accompaniment.

Also on stage was Jon Wilks, who, like the others, was gracious in sharing how much of a debt he owed Martin. (He is in good company; at a celebration last year, Bob Dylan was among those saying thank you).

The two guitarists joined up masterfully for Scarborough Fair. Later they were joined by Eliza’s son, Finn Curran-Carthy, who is also a talented guitar player (“Urgh, I’m surrounded by all these guitars,” Eliza joked).

The two-hour show took a couple of songs to get going but then never let up. There were numerous highlights, made more so by the Eliza’s introductions. When First I Came To Caledonia was lovely and Bold Doherty was doughty.

Hart’s solo Famous Flower Of Serving Men was a joy: long – some 32 verses – but apparently not the longest song in Carthy’s repertoire.

The special guest for the evening was York’s own Olivia Chaney, enjoying plenty of attention for her song Dark Eyed Sailor in Emerald Fennell’s film adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Chaney was more emotional than the others appeared, but her Queen Of Hearts was imperious.

Above all, it was the songs that shone, shining a light on the care with which Carthy senior chose and arranged the material. As Hart said, “Martin’s versions are the best versions”.

Eliza was a natural bandleader and the set list ranged freely over Martin’s long career (with particular emphasis on his 1965 debut, which influenced so many). He has continued to write new verses to one tune on that self-titled record, A-Begging We Will Go. The most recent verse was completed only a month ago, taking aim at billionaires.

In Eliza’s hands (and Finn’s if he chooses), the Carthy folk dynasty will endure, hopefully staying Robin Hood’s Bay most beloved export.

Review by Paul Rhodes

January 28, 2026January 28, 2026

REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on The Gesualdo Six & Concert Theatre Works in Death Of Gesualdo, National Centre for Early Music, York, January 19

The Gesualdo Six and Tableaux Vivants in Death Of Gesualdo

WE are witnessing the birth of a new art form. Bill Barclay’s “theatrical concert”, which he both created and directed, is by no means his first in this area – The Secret Byrd was seen here two years ago – but it is becoming a solid fixture in programmes worldwide.

Carlo Gesualdo flourished at the very moment when opera was beginning to take shape in Florence, although he had no direct contact with it, and wrote no operas himself. But the Baroque era loved theatrics and it makes sense to cloak Gesualdo’s colourful life in even more drama than is available through his music alone.

Gesualdo is regularly defined by the murder of his first wife and her lover, which he probably instigated, although may not have carried out personally. In his aristocratic circles it was classed as an ‘honour killing’ and he escaped punishment.

But it stained the remainder of his life and he descended into near-permanent melancholy and introversion – states of mind that may be heard in much of his later music, amply represented here.

His second marriage, into the musically adventurous Ferrara court, did nothing to improve his disposition, indeed it reinforced his penchant for extremes of harmonic dissonance.

Barclay uses six unaccompanied male voices and six Tableaux Vivants mute actors to convey the essence of the composer’s life, not only his death. He also works with a life-size child puppet, created by Janni Younge, through which he hints that Gesualdo’s boyhood was far from ideal.

The action was a series of tableaux, elegantly held but broken intermittently by sweeping gestures and even the occasional dance to Will Tuckett’s choreography. With rich costumes by Arthur Oliver straight out of the era – again, the very start of opera – the various scenarios evoked nothing so much as oil paintings, with poses just slightly exaggerated for effect.

Barclay’s own lighting, especially eerie during Gesualdo’s descent into drugs and women, often came from torches held by the cast themselves.

Deliberately jarring with the theatrical smoothness was Gesualdo’s music, some 30 extracts from his motets and madrigals, interleaved and distinguishable only by the Latin or Italian texts, with tingling harmonies that defied all the normal conventions: impossible dissonances that kept aural nerve-endings on edge until eventual resolution brought catharsis all the sweeter for being delayed.

None of this would have worked had the singers not maintained incredibly accurate tuning. Gesualdo’s chromatic lines are notoriously difficult and littered with pitfalls, but the Six – with two countertenors often extremely high in the range and all underpinned by director Owain Park’s sterling bass – took it all in their considerable stride.

The show was jointly commissioned and produced by St Martin-in-the-Fields, the NCEM and New York’s Music Before 1800. It proved beyond doubt that Barclay’s new genre is here to stay.

Let us hope that next time there will be printed programmes – ‘carbon footprint’ is a lame excuse for posting everything on-line – and that there is at least a skeletal synopsis (the five ‘acts’ had no stated setting). None of which detracts from what was a supremely memorable 75 minutes. I would gladly see it again. Others should be given the chance.

Review by Martin Dreyer

January 28, 2026January 31, 2026

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 4, from Gazette & Herald

A scene from Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Tristram Kenton

CUBAN dance luminary Carlos Acosta’s Havana reinvention of The Nutcracker tops Charles Hutchinson’s latest selection of cultural highlights.

Dance show of the week: Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm

CAST illness has put paid to tonight and tomorrow’s performances, but dance superstar Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana will still turn up the heat in his modern Cuban twist on the snow-dusted 1892 Russian festive ballet on Friday and Saturday. Built on Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s score, Acosta moves the celebration of joy, life, love and family to modern-day Havana.

More than 20 dancers from Acosta’s Cuban company Acosta Danza perform the familiar story of a young girl transported to a magic world, but one newly incorporating the culture, history and music of his home country. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Tim Delap’s John Middleton and Kara Tointon’s Constance Middleton in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Constant Wife. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic; set and co-costume designer Anna Fleischle; co-costume designer Cat Fuller

Play of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in The Constant Wife, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday , 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

SET in 1927, The Constant Wife finds Constance as a very unhappy woman. “Nonsense,” says her mother, who insists “she eats well, sleeps well, dresses well and she’s losing weight. No woman can be unhappy in those circumstances”.

Played by Kara Tointon, she is the perfect wife and mother, but her husband is equally devoted to his mistress, who just happens to be her best friend. Tamara Harvey directs the new adaptation by Home, I’m Darling playwright and Rivals television series writer Laura Wade. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Mishmash’s Ruby’s Worry: Easing worries at NCEM, York

Family show of the week: Mishmash: Ruby’s Worry, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, Saturday, 11.30am and 2.30pm

RUBY had always been happy, perfectly happy, until one day she discovered a worry. The more she tries to rid herself of that worry, the more it grows and grows. Eventually she meets a boy who has a worry too. Together they discover that everyone has worries, and that if you talk about them, they never hang around for long! Mishmash’s Ruby’s Worry is told through live music, song, puppetry and physical theatre, taking the audience on a delightful musical adventure. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Talent showcase of the week: HAC Studio Bar Open Mic Jan 2026, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm

THIS social evening in Helmsley Arts Centre’s Studio Bar offers the opportunity to hear Ryedale musicians and artists perform. The bar will be open serving beer from Helmsley Brewery and Brass Castle Brewery, an assortment of gins, wines from Helmsley Wines and more. There is no need to book to listen or participate, just turn up.

Mountaineer Simon Yates, of Touching The Void fame, has sold out his My Mountain Life talk on Friday at 7.30pm. Box office for returns only: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Femme Fatale Faerytales: Telling Mary, Mary’s contrary tale

A homecoming, a haunting, a holy rebellion: Femme Fatale Faerytales present Mary, Mary, Fossgate Social, Fossgate, York, February 1 and 2, 8pm (doors 7pm)

MARY, Mary quite contrary, wouldn’t you like to know how her garden grows? Step into the fairytale world of Femme Fatale Faerytales as Sasha Elizabeth Parker unveils a dark, lyrical, feminist re-telling of an age-old classic. Part confession, part ritual, part bedtime story for grown-ups, Mary, Mary invites you to meet the woman behind the nursery rhyme in all her wild, untamed, contrary glory.

In her York debut, expect enchanting storytelling, poetic prophecy and a subversive twist on the tales you thought you knew on two intimate, atmospheric nights in one of York’s cult favourite haunts. Box office: wegottickets.com.

Packing in the acts for PAC Comedy Club line-up at Pocklington Arts Centre

Comedy gig of the week: PAC Comedy Club, Pocklington Arts Centre, February 5, 8pm

RICH Wilson, winner of the New Zealand Comedy Festival Best International Act award, tops the PAC Comedy Club bill next Thursday. He has performed at all the major UK comedy clubs, as well in New York and Las Vegas and at the Perth Fringe, Melbourne International Festival and Edinburgh Fringe.

Supporting Wilson will be Jonny Awsum, who shot to fame on Britain’s Got Talent with his high-energy musical comedy, and Yorkshireman Pete Selwood, who specialises in observational material with killer punchlines, introduced by surrealist compere and BBC New Comedian of the Year regional finalist Elaine Robertson. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

The Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective: In full swing at Milton Rooms, Malton

Jazz gig of the week: The Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 7, doors, 7.30pm

THIS gypsy jazz supergroup with musicians from all around Yorkshire plays music inspired by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli of the Quintette du Hot Club de France.

The collective of Lewis Kilvington and Martin Chung, guitars, James Munroe, double bass, Derek Magee, violin, and Christine Pickard, clarinet, remains true to Django and Stephane’s spirit while pushing the genre of gypsy jazz forward into a modern sphere. Expect fast licks, burning ballads and even some Latin-inspired pieces. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Liz Foster: Exhibiting at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, from February 12

Exhibition launch: Liz Foster, Deep Among The Grasses, Rise:@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, February 12 to April 10

YORK artist Liz Foster’s new series of abstract paintings, Deep Among The Grasses, invites you into rich, expansive imagined spaces where she explores memory, landscape and the childhood feeling of being immersed in wild places.

Full of colour, feeling and atmosphere, this body of work is being shown together for the first time. Everyone is welcome at the 6pm to 9pm preview on February 12 when Leeds-born painter, teacher and mentor Liz will be in attendance.

Super Furry Animals: Playing first shows in ten years in 2026, including Live At York Museum Gardens

Gig announcement of the week: Live At York Museum Gardens present Super Furry Animals, York Museum Gardens, July 11

FUTURESOUND completes the line-up for its third Live At York Museum Gardens season with Welsh art-rock icons Super Furry Animals, celebrating more than 30 years together with multicolour hits and off-piste deep cuts, lovingly handpicked from nine albums.

Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Cian Ciarán, Dafydd Ieuan and Guto Pryce are returning to the concert platform in 2026 for the first time in ten years. Joining them in York will be a quartet of special guests, unconventional kindred spirit Baxter Dury, compatriot indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, fast-rising Nottingham alt-country group Divorce and the Welsh Music Prize-nominated woozy, Sixties-inspired psychedelia Pys Melyn.

Futuresound Group project manager Rachel Hill says: “We’re thrilled to announce Super Furry Animals as the final headliner for our third Live at York Museum Gardens series. None of it would be possible without the collaboration, trust and support of the team at York Museums Trust and being able to put together such an incredible line up for the summer makes us excited for the future of our partnership.”

York exclusive postcode presale (YO1, YO10, YO19, YO23, YO24, YO26, YO30, YO31 and YO32) go on sale at 10am today at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/super-furry-animals/york-museum-gardens/3567101?pre=postcode.

General sales open at 10am on Friday at https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/super-furry-animals/york-museum-gardens/3567101.

Tickets are on sale already for Liverpool’s Orchestra Manoeuvres In The Dark on July 9 and South Yorkshire ’s Self Esteem on July 10 at futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.

The poster for Super Furry Animals’ concert in York Museum Gardens

January 24, 2026January 28, 2026

More Things To Do in York & beyond as Royal Shakespeare Company revisits 1920s. Hutch’s List No. 4, from The Press

Kara Tointon as Constance Middleton in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Constant Wife. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic; set and co-costume designer Anna Fleischle and co-costume designer Cat Fuller

LAURA Wade’s new adaptation of The Constant Wife for the RSC leads off Charles Hutchinson’s latest selection of cultural highlights.

Play of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in The Constant Wife, York Theatre Royal, January 26 to 31, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

Aesthetica Art Prize winner Tobi Onabolu’s Danse Macabre, on show at York Art Gallery

Last chance to see: Aesthetica Art Prize and Future Tense: Art in the Age of Transformation, York Art Gallery, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm

YORK arts movers and shakers Aesthetica present two landmark exhibitions, the 2025 Aesthetica Art Prize and Future Tense: Art in the Age of Transformation, featuring large-scale immersive installations by prize alumni Liz West and Squidsoup.

On show among work by 25 shortlisted entries are main prize winner, London artist-filmmaker Tobi Onabolu’s exploration of spirituality, mental health and the human psyche, Danse Macabre, and Emerging Prize winner Sam Metz’s bright yellow structures in Porosity, reflecting his sensory experience of the Humber Estuary.

Squidsoup’s Submergence immerses audiences in an ocean of 8,000 responsive LED lights, blurring the line between digital and physical space, while Liz West’s Our Spectral Vision surrounds visitors with a radiant spectrum of colour in a sensory encounter. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk/tickets.

Ceramicist Emily Stubbs, left, and seascapes artist Carolyn Coles showcase their new work in The Sky’s The Limit at Pyramid Gallery, alongside Karen Fawcett’s bird sculptures

Exhibition launch of the week: Carolyn Coles, Emily Stubbs and Karen Fawcett, The Sky’s The Limit, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today until mid-March

SOUTH Bank Studios artist Carolyn Coles and PICA Studios ceramicist Emily Stubbs will be on hand from 11.30am to 2.30pm at today’s opening of The Sky’s The Limit, their joint exhibition with wildlife sculptor Karen Fawcett.

Like Carolyn, Emily has been selected to take part in York Open Studios 2026 on April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26. Look out too for work by Pyramid Gallery’s Jeweller of the Month, Kate Rhodes, from Hebden Bridge. Gallery opening hours are: 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

Anna Hale: Killer punchlines, musical flair and spiky resilience in Control Freak at The Crescent on Sunday

Comedy gig of the week: Anna Hale: Control Freak, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 7.30pm

ANNA Hale, comedian, singer-songwriter and unapologetic control freak, likes to write the jokes and the songs, plan the lighting cues and even sell the tickets for her gigs. When life spins out of control, however, can one perfectionist keep the show together, and, crucially, not let anyone else have a go?

Find out when encountering the killer punchlines, musical flair and spiky resilience of the 2024 Musical Comedy Awards Audience Favourite winner’s debut tour show. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Glenn Moore: So many Moore jokes at The Crescent on Tuesday

Show title of the week: Glenn Moore: Please Sir, Glenn I Have Some Moore, The Crescent, York, January 27, 7.30pm (doors 7pm)

EDINBURGH Comedy Award nominee Glenn Moore has written too many jokes again, so expect a whirlwind of punchlines from the Croydon stand-up and presenter on Tuesday. Here comes more and more of Moore after appearances on Live At The Apollo, Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, The News Quiz, Just A Minute and his own BBC Radio 4 series, Glenn Moore’s Almanac. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Snow and frost in Cuba: Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana brings heat and ice to the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Johan Persson

Dance show of the week: Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, Grand Opera House, York, now January 30 and 31, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

UPDATE 27/1/2025: Cast illness has put paid to January 28 and 29’s performances.

DANCE superstar Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana turns up the heat in his modern Cuban twist on the snow-dusted 1892 Russian festive ballet. Built on Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s score, Acosta moves the celebration of joy, life, love and family to modern-day Havana.

Mike Joyce: Tales from his drumming days for The Smiths at Pocklington Arts Centre

On the beat: Mike Joyce, The Drums: My Life In The Smiths, Pocklington Arts Centre, January 28, 7.30pm

DRUMMER Mike Joyce has been asked numerous times, “What was it like being in The Smiths?”. “That’s one hell of a question to answer!” he says. Answer it, he does, however, both in his 2025 memoir and now in his touring show The Drums: My Life In The Smiths.

To reflect on being stationed behind singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr from 1982 to 1987, Joyce will be interviewed by Guardian music journalist Dave Simpson, who lives near York. Audience members can put their questions to Joyce too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

The poster for Country Roads’ celebration of Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers et al at York Barbican

Country celebration of the week: Country Roads, York Barbican, January 30, 7.30pm

COUNTRY Roads invites you to a celebration of country superstar royalty featuring such hits as 9 To 5, The Gambler, I Walk The Line, Ring Of Fire, King Of The Road, Crazy, Rhinestone Cowboy, Jolene, Dance The Night Away, Walkin’ After Midnight and many, many more as the stars of fellow tribute show Islands In The Stream return in this new production. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Mishmash’s delightful musical adventure Ruby’s Worry, easing worries at the NCEM

Family show of the week: Mishmash: Ruby’s Worry, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, January 31, 11.30am and 2.30pm

January 21, 2026January 21, 2026

Prof Phil Wood appointed chair of NCEM’s charitable arm York Early Music Foundation

Professor Phil Wood outside the National Centre for Early Music

PROFESSOR Phil Wood is the new chair of the National Centre for Early Music’s charitable arm, the York Early Music Foundation.

Phil worked for the National Health Service for more than 30 years as a doctor, consultant and medical leader in Newcastle, Birmingham and Leeds, most recently as chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals and chair of the Leeds Academic Health Partnership.

He is a member of the international advisory board of the Business School at the University of Leeds, where he holds an honorary professorship, and a longstanding York resident with a passionate belief in the contribution of the arts and culture in enhancing societal wellbeing.

The NCEM, in the renovated church of St Margaret’s, Walmgate, stages a year-round programme of concerts and educational opportunities in York, three festivals of early music annually in Yorkshire (two in York, one in Beverley) and a nationwide artists’ development programme.

Representing UK’s early music scene on the European stage, the NCEM is a core member of the European Early Music Network, REMA, with established partnerships in Flanders, Spain and France.

Highlights of the calendar include the biennial York Early Music International Young Artists Competition and the annual NCEM Composers Award, run in association with BBC Radio 3.

NCEM director Dr Delma Tomlin says: “We feel very honoured to have Phil as our new chair as we begin an important year at the National Centre for Early Music, when we’ll be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the York Early Music Festival.

“Phil brings with him a wealth of skills and experience and a great passion for our work promoting early music to the widest possible audiences and nurturing the development of emerging talent.”

Professor Wood says: “I’m thrilled to take on the role of chair at the National Centre for Early Music at this exciting time. This award-wining organisation is world renowned as a centre of excellence and innovation, celebrating not just early music but many different genres and with a broad commitment to community engagement and widening participation.

“I look forward to working with them as chair and of course enjoying some wonderful music with our audiences.”

January 17, 2026February 9, 2026

More Things To Do in York and beyond when the river flows into artworks. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 3, from The York Press

Audience members of all ages enjoying Opera North: Little Listeners. Picture: Tom Arber

IN his third highlights package of the New Year, Charles Hutchinson picks out a riparian exhibition, murderous deeds in 1590 and 1950s’ Italy, Davina’s wellbeing tips and a tribute on Shaky ground.

Family event of the week: Opera North: Little Listeners, National Centre for Early Music, York, today, 2pm and 3.15pm

OPERA North: Little Listeners is a treasure hunt with a tuneful twist, where the Orchestra of Opera North needs your help to find hidden musical gems. Discover different “Tuneful Treasures” as you go, collecting them all in time for the grand finale in this relaxed, interactive concert.

“Singing and movement is not just encouraged – it’s expected!” says the Leeds company. “Join us to experience the magic of orchestral music up close, whatever your age. We can’t wait to sing and dance with you.” Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

Death Of Gesualdo: Tableaux Vivants team up with The Gesualdo Six and a puppet at the NCEM on Sunday and Monday

World premiere of the month: Death Of Gesualdo, The Gesualdo Six with Tableaux Vivants, National Centre for Early Music, York, Sunday and Monday, 6.30pm to 7.40pm

THE Gesualdo Six reunite with director Bill Barclay for the world premiere of a daring new successor to international hit Secret Byrd. Featuring six singers, six actors and a puppet, Death Of Gesualdo creates living tableaux that illuminate the life and psyche of madrigalist Carlo Gesualdo, a tortured genius most famous for murdering his wife and her lover in an explosive fit of jealousy, but revered among composers for anticipating chromaticism by 200 years.

This is the boldest look yet at how the life and sometimes chilling music of this enigmatic prodigy must function together for the true Gesualdo to emerge from the shadows. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.

York Printmakers artist Jane Dignum at work in her studio

Exhibition of the week: York Printmakers, Rivers of York, City Screen Picturehouse, York, until February 7

CELEBRATING York Printmakers’ tenth anniversary, Rivers of York presents original hand-made prints inspired by the River Foss and River Ouse. On show are a variety of printmaking techniques, including etching, linocut, collagraph, monotype, screen print, solar plate, Japanese woodblock, lithography and stencilling, in works that explore the rivers’ place in the history, ecology and culture of York from Roman times to the present.

Taking part are printmakers Pamela Knight; John Haste; Roger Goldthorpe; Lyn Bailey; Safron Sunley; Sandra Storey; Robin Linklater; Bridget Hunt; Sally Clarke; Yvonne Hogarth; Jen Dring; Michelle Hughes; Madelaine Lockwood; Vanessa Oo; Jane Dignum; Jane Duke; Phill Jenkins; Becky Long-Smith; Rachel Holbrow and Sally Parkin.

Ed McVey as Tom Ripley and Bruce Herbelin-Earle as Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr Ripley, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Senior

Game of deception of the week: The Talented Mr Ripley, Grand Opera House, York, January 19 to 24, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

BEFORE its West End run, The Talented Mr Ripley plays the Grand Opera House with a cast led by Ed McVey as Tom Ripley, Bruce Herbelin-Earle as Dickie Greenleaf and 2020 Strictly Come Dancing finalist MaisieSmith as Marge. Tom is a nobody, scraping by in New York, forging signatures, telling little white lies, until a chance encounter changes everything. When a wealthy stranger offers him an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy to bring home his wayward son, Dickie, Tom leaps at the opportunity.

In the sun-drenched glamour of 1950s’ Italy, surrounded by shimmering waters and whispered secrets, Tom is seduced by Dickie’s freedom, wealth and effortless charm. Fascination turns to obsession in Patricia Highsmith’s story, whereupon an innocent chance turns into a chilling game of lies, identity theft and murder. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Davina McCall: Uplifting conversation and personal stories at York Barbican

Talk show of the week: An Evening With Davina, York Barbican, January 22, 7.30pm

REARRANGED from October 22 2025, television presenter and wellness advocate Davina McCall presents an evening of uplifting conversation and personal stories. From her groundbreaking career on screen to her tireless campaigning for women’s health, Davina opens up about the moments that shaped her with honesty, humour and heart, followed by an audience Q&A. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Mr Wilson’s Second Liners: On the front line for New Orleans brass and 1990s’ club culture at The Crescent

When New Orleans converges with Hacienda: Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, The Crescent, York, January 22, 7.30pm

MARDI Gras brass band meets 1990s’ club classics for a rave funeral without a body as a rabble of mischievous northerners, Mr Wilson’s Second Liners form a traditional New Orleans Second Line at The Crescent.

However, this is no sombre occasion: Mr Wilson’s expend their collective musical talent paying homage to the diehard days of the Hacienda, Nineties’ club culture and its greatest hero, Manchester mover and shaker Mr Tony Wilson. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Recommended but sold out already:York indie rock band Skylights’gig at The Crescent on January 23, 7.30pm.

Jeffrey Martin: Blending folk, Americana and literary short stories at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb

Folk gig of the week: Please Please You and Brudenell Presents present Jeffrey Martin and special guest Tenderness, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, January 24, 8.15pm (doors 7.30pm)

PORTLAND musician Jeffrey Martin’s narrative-driven songwriting is a blend of folk, Americana and literary short stories with echoes of Raymond Carver. Before turning to music full time in 2016, he spent several years as a high-school English teacher, a profession he left to “chase his dreams at all cost.”

His lyrics are marked by his insight into the human condition, often focusing on the struggles and quiet dignity of people on the margins of society. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Shakin’ all over: Rebel Dean rolls out the Eighties’ rock’n’roll hits of Shakin’ Stevens at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Tribute show of the week: Whole Lotta Shakin’ – The Shakin’ Stevens Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, January 25, 7.30pm

ENDORSED by members of Shakin’ Stevens own family, West End star Rebel Dean’s award-winning tribute to Great Britain’s biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s tell the story of the rockin’ Welsh boy and his rise to chart-topping superstardom.

Whole Lotta Shakin’ combines a live band with rare footage and images in a nostalgic night of Shaky hits, Green Door, Oh Julie, You Drive Me Crazy and This Ole House et al, complemented by Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens and Elvis Presley numbers that he covered. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

John Atkin directing the York Beethoven Project orchestra

In Focus: York Beethoven Project, Symphony No 7, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, January 31

AFTER a month in a white beard and big red coat, followed by an unexpected run of musical director duties for Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes, John Atkin turns his attention to York Beethoven Project’s next concert.

On January 31, the focus will fall on Beethoven’s Symphony No7 at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York.

“We have 74 players lined up to take part in this one, which is one of the most popular symphonies amongst musicians,” says John. “The piece will be rehearsed throughout the day, concluding with a free performance open to all at 4pm. What better way to shake off the January blues.”

Since its inception in 2023, York Beethoven Project has played the first six symphonies in order at six different venues with more than 100 people taking part.

“Last year we did Nos 4, 5 and 6, and later this year we will do No 8, back at York Music Centre,” says John. “Following that, we move into preparation for our finale, No9, the Choral Symphony, which will be performed with a joint community choir of up to 100 voices and four soloists at Selby Abbey in March 2027, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death.

“Following that, who knows! We have some ideas and suggestions but no definite plans yet, so watch this space.”

All enquiries about playing or attending can be sent to yorkbeethovenproject@gmail.com.