VISITORS are invited to experience York Museum Gardens “like never before” as the botanical gardens open after hours for exclusive Friday evening events on August 14 and 28.
Guests can enjoy Evening In The Gardens, a relaxed adults-only experience offering rare access to one of York’s most beautiful green spaces after the gardens have closed to the public at 6pm.
York Museum Gardens will reopen exclusively for ticket holders from 6.30pm to 9.30pm, giving visitors the chance to be in the gardens at this peaceful time of day.
Against the backdrop of the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey, guests can unwind with a cocktail, listen to live music, sample street food and soak up the atmosphere as the sun sets over the historic gardens, whether you are on a date night, linking up with friends for the evening or simply wanting to experience this iconic spaces in a completely different way.,
Run by York Museums Trust, the event is suitable for age 18 upwards. Tickets cost £7.50 and include a cocktail on arrival. Additional drinks and street food will be available to buy throughout each evening. To book, go to: yorkmuseumgardens.co.uk.
York Museum Gardens, leading to the rear of York Art Gallery. Picture: York Museums Trust
York Museum Gardens: back story
ESTABLISHED in the 1830s by Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS). Noted for collection of trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs.
The land was granted to YPS under the condition that botanical gardens would be established on the site. These were created Sir John Murray Naysmith and originally contained a conservatory, pond and menagerie.
In 1960, the gardens and Yorkshire Museum were given in trust to the City of York Council. Since 2002, they have been managed by York Museums Trust.
Opening hours: 9am to 6pm, daily. For more information, head to yorkmuseumgardens.org.uk.
Tom Grennan: Performing after this afternoon’s race card on Knavesmire
VETERANS James Taylor and Tom Jones on the coast, Knavesmire’s music showcase, York Proms and Johnny and June’s country musical stand out in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for the week ahead.
Race day concert of the week: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, Tom Grennan, today
BEDFORD singer-songwriter Tom Grennan is today’s post-racing performer, drawing on such hits as Little Bit Of Love, Let’s Go Home Together, Remind Me, Here and How Does It Feel, plus songs from his number one albums Evering Road, What Ifs & Maybes and Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be and top-five debut Lighting Matches. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.
Tom Jones: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre tomorrow
Coastal concerts of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre, An Evening with James Taylor and His All-Star Band, today; Tom Jones, with Stone Foundation, tomorrow; gates open at 6pm
MASSACHUSETTS singer, songwriter and guitarist, Laurel Canyon folk luminary, six-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame inductee James Taylor, 78, draws on six decades of songs, from his self-titled 1968 debut to 2021’s 19th studio album, American Standard, tonight.
Tom Jones, or Sir Tom Jones since 2006, to be more formal, returns to Scarborough this weekend aged 85 to perform such favourites as It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat?, Delilah, Green, Green Grass Of Home, A Boy From Nowhere, Kiss, Mama Told Me Not To Come and Sex Bomb. Joining Sir Tom will be the eight-piece soul collective Stone Foundation. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Hannah Maxwell: Fiercely hopeful exploration of human connection in the Information Age at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Picture: Christa Holka
Fringe shows of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, presents Hannah Maxwell: Turn Your ****ing Phones Off (Work in Progress), today,6.30pm; Kate McCabe and Adam Perrott,The Name Of The Dame, tomorrow, 7.30pm
PERFORMED in traverse with an immersive technical design by Benji Huntrods, theatre-maker Hannah Maxwell’s Edinburgh Fringe-bound new performance artwork is a dark, absurd and fiercely hopeful exploration of human connection in the Information Age, expounding playfully on the rise of Big Tech, attention-hacking innovations and surveillance capitalism, while recounting Maxwell’s personal struggles with phone addiction and her bid for a life in analogue.
Dames, detectives, stylish hats and ‘car chases’ combine in comedians Kate McCabe and Adam Perrott’s hour-long film-noir parody. “If you like Airplane and Police Squad, the oeuvre of Mel Brooks, dicey puns and sight gags, this show is probably for you,” they say. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Totally Visible Theatre Company in a scene from Invisible, to be spotted at Friargate Theatre tonight
Bonds of friendship of the week: The Totally Visible Theatre Company in Invisible, Friargate Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
FIVE women meet up on a Saturday morning, as they have done every week for years, but this time they have a plan. Fast forward one year and their lives have changed irrevocably.
Celebrating the bonds of friendship and the fascinations and pitfalls of contemporary life, Invisible is a frank, fast-paced, all-female comedy-drama that ruminates on how older women are perceived in society, the relationships they forge and, most importantly, their “invisibility” in writer-director Jane Barrie’s exploration of sisterhood, motherhood and the effects of upbringing. Box office: 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.
Ashley Stillburn: York-born tenor making his York Proms debut tomorrow
Picnic concert of the week: York Proms, York Museum Gardens, tomorrow, 5.30pm
RUN by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman and now in its ninth year, York Proms features music from the world of classical and opera, film soundtracks and show songs. Increasing the orchestra size this summer enables the inclusion of John Williams cinema compositions.
The soloists are York-born tenor and West End musical actor Ashley Stillburn in his York Proms debut and British/Irish soprano Jennifer Coleman, making her third appearance. Tickets update: Available today but NOT tomorrow at yorkproms.com/collections/tickets-2026.
Christopher Ryan Grant’s Johnny Cash and Christina Bianco’s June Carter Cash in The Ballad Of Johnny & June, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, next week. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
Musical of the week:The Ballad Of Johnny & June, The Johnny Cash Musical, Grand Opera House, York, July 28 to August 1, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday matinees
THIS thrilling musical from Jersey Boys director Des McAnuff celebrates the love, music and mayhem of country music couple Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Electrifying chemistry marks the performances of Christopher Ryan Grant’s Johnny and Christina Bianco’s June in a story observed through the eyes of Ryan O’Donnell’s John Carter Cash, their son. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
In addition, the trio gives a special pop-up performance of songs from the show at Forty Five Vinyl Cafe, the Nashville-inspired concert venue, record store and coffee house in Micklegate, on July 29 at 1pm.
“Tribute” show of the week: Songs Of presents The Songs of Joni Mitchell, with Jesca Hoop & Lail Arad, The Citadel, York, July 31, doors 7pm, show 7.45pm
JESCA Hoop & Lail Arad, acclaimed singer-songwriters in their own right, perform intimate interpretations of their favourite Joni Mitchell songs, accompanied by Richard Sears on piano and special guest Naima Bock. Hoop presented Legend: The Joni Mitchell Story, the award-winning six-part BBC radio documentary and podcast on the Canadian singer-songwriter. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Jesca Hoop: Intimate interpretations of Joni Mitchell songs at The Citadel
Political drama of the week: Handbagged, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, July 31 to August 29
MOIRA Buffini’s 2014 Olivier Award-winning play imagines what happened behind closed palace doors when two of the 20th century’s most powerful women, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, locked handbags. Meeting once a week for 11 years, one believed there was no such thing as society; the other committed her life to serving it.
Spanning 1979 to 1990, Handbagged asks if The Queen and the Iron Lady ever found common ground or did their stiff upper lips reign supreme? Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs the SJT cast of Pandora Clifford, Liz Garland, Alexandra Mathie, Deven Modha, Simon Darwen and Meriel Scholfield. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
Alexandra Mathie, left, and Pandora Clifford in rehearsal for Handbagged at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Shakespeare show of the week: Four Forty Theatre in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 31, 7.30pm
FOUR Forty Theatre (or 440 Theatre, as their website uses both names) tackle Shakespeare’s romantic romp of a chaotic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with their trademark irreverence, wit and theatrical ingenuity, directed by Dominic Gee-Burch, formerly of fellow high-speed Shakespeare humorists Oddsocks Productions.
Lovers are enchanted, fairies feud and a troupe of hapless players rehearse their way into disaster, all in a single moonlit night. Inventive staging, breakneck character changes and playful dismantling of tradition mark out Four Forty’s mischief-making take on Shakespeare’s best-loved comedy: part affectionate homage, part riotous reinvention. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Four Forty Theatre: Mischief-making in the woods in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Art event of the week: Carolyn Coles & Mike Marshall, Beyond The Nab, St Mary’s Church, Sandsend, near Whitby, today, tomorrow & Monday, 10am to 5pm
ARTISTS and fossil collectors Carolyn Coles and Mike Marshall are sharing their love of the north east coastline in Beyond The Nab at St Mary’s Church, Sandsend, near Whitby.
Held at this beautiful church located at the end of the Sandsend Valley at the bottom of Lythe Bank, the special four-day event takes place in one of Yorkshire’s prettiest valleys, noted for its picturesque, high-end stone cottages, rich local history, tied to the Mulgrave Estate, and ancient woodlands leading to the ruins of Mulgrave Castle.
On show and sale are contemporary paintings with a traditional twist, sculptured fossils, evocative photography, jet jewellery, cards and prints, with both York seascape artist Carolyn Coles and East Coast fossil legend Mike Marshall on hand to guide you through the works.
South Bank Studios artist Carolyn will be demonstrating painting techniques while Mike, who runs Yorkshire Coast Fossils, will be glad to identify any fossil you bring along. A pop-up cafe will serve light refreshment in aid of the church, championed by volunteer Helen Lloyd.
Mike Marshall looking out to sea
Carolyn explains the idea behind the event as a “brilliant medley of art and heritage, combining contemporary art and sculpture with traditional techniques”. “We talked about coming together professionally as our work is a perfect compliment and we have such a shared love of the area,” she says.
Carolyn has had a busy 2026, joining wildlife sculptor Karen Fawcett and PICA Studios ceramicist Emily Stubbs in The Sky’s The Limit exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, York, from late-January to mid-March and taking part in York Open Studios in April.
“My dream is to open a studio and gallery and live by the coast, so this event is a huge pleasure to hold,” she says.
York artist Carolyn Coles enjoying painting in plein air at Sandsend
Stephen Webb’s Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, doing the Time Warp again at the Grand Opera House, York
TOM Jones on the coast, Knavesmire’s music showcase weekend, a not-so-sweet Transylvanian transvestite and a French farce promise variety aplenty in Charles Hutchinson’s week ahead.
Musical of the week: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, tonight and tomorrow, 8pm; Friday & Saturday, 5pm and 8.30pm
STEPHEN Webb leads the cast as Dr Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show’s latest return to the Grand Opera House, joined by comedian Jackie Clune as the Narrator. Directed by Christopher Luscombe, Richard O’Brien’s outré musical tells the story of squeaky-clean American college sweethearts Brad and his fiancée Janet’s very frank encounters at the freaky doctor’s Transylvanian castle after their car breaks down.
Cue an adventure full of fun, frolics, frocks and frivolity, bursting with timeless songs and outrageous outfits as O’Brien combines science-fiction, horror, comedy and music while encouraging audience participation. Those audiences are sure to dress up in the most outrageous fancy dress. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Lou Bass’s artworks for Bring Me Sunshine at Helmsley Arts Centre
Exhibition of the week: Bring Me Sunshine, Paintings by Lou Bass and Adam King, Helmsley Arts Centre, until September 4
SCARBOROUGH artists Lou Bass and Adam King have teamed up for a joint exhibition, Bring Me Sunshine. A regular North Yorkshire Open Studios participant at Beeforth’s Hive, Lou’s vibrant paintings are brought to life with help from playful and poignant characters, such as Donkey, Crow, Angry Man, Bandit Cat, Dog and Fox, as she explores emotions and situations through simple narratives.
Painter and printmaker Adam has been painting for more than 35 years, holding exhibitions and doing residencies throughout Yorkshire. Educated at Leeds Met, York St John and Huddersfield, he led the Foundation Art and Fine Art degree courses when lecturing at Harrogate College before painting full time. His work is marked by a fresh approach to image making, combining simplicity with sophistication and a sureness of composition.
Andrew O’Neill: Looking to Escape at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, on Friday. Picture: Andrew O’Neill
Fringe shows of the week: Halfway To Edinburgh at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, presents Dylan Howells in Forget About Me (Work In Progress), tonight, 7.30pm; Joe Sellman-Leava in Copycat (Work In Progress), tomorrow, 7.30pm; Andrew O’Neill: Escape, Friday, 8pm
IN a remote, northeast village, something lurks in the bathroom: something Dylan struggles to remember, which even his dad’s deadly DIY skills can’t fix, as designer-performer Dylan Howells weaves psychological illusions and fragmented memories into a magical, chilling tale of a home that won’t stay still.
Part magic show, part ghost story, tonight’s show Forget About Me isn’t your typical conjuring act: mind-bending mentalism and spine-tingling effects blur the line between reality and fiction in a twisted tale designed to get under your skin.
DOES AI spell the end of humanity, or the dawn of a new utopia, ponders Fringe First winner Joe Sellman-Leava tomorrow. He might be a technophobe, but he is determined to find out by using innovative design and a whirlwind of uncanny impressions to tell the story of a teacher, a student and a copycat dictator to examine the links between art, fascism and rapid technological change.
HOW do we get out of this mess, asks cult comedian Andrew O’Neill on Friday in his surreal, political show, Escape, about the ways in which we disagree with each other, while suggesting some ways we can find our way out. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Jorja Cartwright’s German flight attendant Gretchen in rehearsal for Rowntree Players’ Boeing Boeing
Farce of the week: Rowntree Players in Boeing Boeing, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm
MARC Camoletti’s high-flying 1960s’ French farce Boeing Boeing is cleared for take-off in Hannah Shaw’s English-language production for Rowntree Players. Meet self-styled Parisian lothario Bernard, who has Italian, German and American fiancées, each one a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.”
He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and to Bernard’s apartment, at the same time. Shaw’s cast features Max Palmer as Bernard, Lizzie Lawton as Robert, Rebecca Thomson as Berthe, Jorja Cartwright as Gretchen, Bethan Olliver as Gloria and Val Debenedetti as Gabriella. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Welsh pop legend Tom Jones: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Sunday
Coastal concerts of the week: Scarborough Open Air Theatre, An Evening with James Taylor and His All-Star Band, Saturday; Tom Jones, with Stone Foundation, Sunday; gates open at 6pm
MASSACHUSETTS singer, songwriter and guitarist, Laurel Canyon folk luminary, six-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame inductee James Taylor, 78, draws on six decades of songs, from his self-titled 1968 debut to 2021’s 19th studio album, American Standard, on Saturday night.
Tom Jones, or Sir Tom Jones since 2006, to be more formal, returns to Scarborough this weekend at 85 to perform such favourites as It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat?, Delilah, Green, Green Grass Of Home, A Boy From Nowhere, Kiss, Mama Told Me Not To Come and Sex Bomb. Joining Sir Tom will be the eight-piece soul collective Stone Foundation. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Holly Taymar: Performing Eva Cassidy’s songbook at Helmsley Arts Centre
Tribute show of the week: Holly Taymar Sings Eva Cassidy, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
YORK singer-songwriter Holly Taymar delivers a warm, authentic performance that blends Eva Cassidy’s folk, jazz and blues material in renditions of Fields Of Gold, Songbird, Over The Rainbow and Autumn Leaves.
In a show of appreciation for Eva’s life and career, rather than imitation, Taymar combines intimate guitar accompaniment, mesmerising stage presence, melody and emotional truth. Singer-songwriter David Swann supports. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Craig David: TS5 DJ set after Friday evening’s race card at York Racecourse
Race day concerts of the week: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Craig David presents TS5, Friday, and Tom Grennan, Saturday
SOUTHAMPTON singer-songwriter and DJ Craig David presents his TS5 DJ set on Music Showcase Friday’s double bill of racing and old-skool anthems, from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, plus current House hits, when he combines his song and MC skills.
Tom Grennan: Saturday live set at York Racecourse
BEDFORD singer-songwriter Tom Grennan is Saturday’s post-racing performer, drawing on such hits as Little Bit Of Love, Let’s Go Home Together, Remind Me, Here and How Does It Feel, plus songs from his number one albums Evering Road, What Ifs & Maybes and Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be and top-five debut Lighting Matches. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk; no booking fees; free parking on race day.
York tenor Ashley Stillburn: Making his York Proms debut on Sunday
Picnic concert of the week: York Proms, York Museum Gardens, Sunday 5.30pm
RUN by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman and now in its ninth year, York Proms features music from the world of classical and opera, film soundtracks and show songs. Increasing the orchestra size this summer will enable the inclusion of iconic John Williams cinema compositions.
The soloists are York-born tenor and West End musical actor Ashley Stillburn in his York Proms debut and British/Irish soprano Jennifer Coleman, making her third appearance. Tickets update: Still available at yorkproms.com/collections/tickets-2026.
Ashley Stillburn: York-born tenor, making York Proms debut on Sunday
THE York Proms picnic concert returns to York Museum Gardens on Sunday for its ninth celebration of pomp and circumstance.
Gracing the open-air stage will be York-born tenor and West End star Ashley Stillburn in his York Proms debut, and British-Irish soprano Jennifer Coleman, completing her hat trick of appearances.
Event co-founder Rebecca Newman says: “We have tried to book Ashley for a couple of years now, and even came very close in the past but diary clashes prevented it. I worked with Ashley in 2010 on a Bev Jones show at the Grand Opera House, when he was only about 17!
“I was so pleased to see how he went on to pursue a career in the arts and I know he will absolutely knock the socks off the audience on the night. Having the connection to York just makes it even more special.”
Ashley says: “It’ll be such a special event for me to return to York to perform and especially as it’s such a well- loved event in one of the most iconic spots in York.”
After leaving his beloved home city of York in 2011, Ashley graduated from Guildford School of Acting (GSA) in 2014 with a 1st Class BA (Hons) degree in Musical Theatre and the award for Best Performance in a Musical.
Ashley left vocational training early at GSA to join the West End cast of Les Miserables, in which he played the role of Feuilly and understudied and played Enjolras. He went on to appear as Raoul in The Phantom Of The Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre, London); Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd (Opera de Toulon); Corrado Montelli in Death Takes A Holiday, Armand Dufau in The Braille Legacy and Walter Hartright in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s first revival of The Woman In White, all at the Charing Cross Theatre in the West End.
He appeared as Charles Clarke in the UK and international tour of Titanic – The Musical and returned to the West End production of The Phantom Of The Opera post-COVID, where he covered and played both The Phantom and Raoul at certain performances. He later returned to play The Phantom in April 2023 for a brief period to cover for an unforeseen absence within the cast.
Ashley Stillburn in Les Miserables. Picture provided by York Proms
Ashley has worked extensively in the development of new and developing work and has participated in workshops that include She Loves You, All About My Mother, Coastliners, Dance With A Stranger, Murder At The Gates, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, Strangers, Annie Get Your Gunand Production 54.
Ashley’s concert work includes West End Men: Unplugged Live from Park Theatre; West End Men in Concert (Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Thailand); Enjolras in Les Miserables in Concert (Beau Sejour, Guernsey); Raoul in The Phantom Of The Opera in Concert (MFCC Arena, Malta) and Carols by Candlelight at St Martin in the Fields, London. He also appeared as one of the ‘3 Phantoms’ singing Music Of The Night at West End Live in Trafalgar Square in 2022.
Throughout the course of his career, he has appeared multiple times on Elaine Paige On Sunday on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio Kent and BBC Radio York.
Ashley has had the good fortune to work with leading creatives and practitioners in the theatre, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Claude Michel- Schoenberg, Hal Prince, Dame Gillian Lynne, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Dame Maureen Lipman, Maria Friedman, Brian Conley, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Maury Yeston and David Zippel.
He has worked as a guest entertainer on some of the world’s most luxury ocean liners and is a member of a cappella group Shantify, enjoying two runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a brief stint at the Ambassador’s Theatre in the West End.
Ashley was delighted to appear in To Maury, With Love at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in celebration of Maury Yeston’s 80th birthday in February this year.
Since 2023, Ashley has lived in Buxton in the Peak District with his wife and two young children, building a career in education. He has taught at prestigious northern institutions, including serving as director of music at St Bede’s College, Manchester, and head of performing arts at Beech Hall School, Macclesfield, and he is a guest lecturer at The Hammond School in Chester and KTCo in Castle Donington.
He is also an accredited partner for Derbyshire Music Partnership and has become part of its body of staff, aiming to build opportunities and access to singing and music across Derbyshire.
Soprano Jennifer Coleman: Making her third York Proms appearance on Sunday
GUEST soprano Jennifer Coleman will be returning to Museum Gardens after earlier York Proms appearances in 2019 and 2023, when she took on the more classic soprano songs and the finale in the Night At The Musicals-themed show.
Royal College of Music graduate Jennifer’s performance career has spanned opera, concerts, television and recitals.
As of August 2025, she is a full-time chorus member of the Royal Ballet and Opera (formerly the Royal Opera House) in Covent Garden, London. In 2026, she is delighted to be covering the role of First Bridesmaid in the Royal Opera’s production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and she also covered the soprano solo in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms for the Royal Ballet.
In the 2025/26 season with RBO, Jennifer will perform in Tosca, Les Vêpres Siciliennes, Die Zauberflöte, Ariodante, Turandot, Traviata, Boris Godunov, Peter Grimes, Samson & Delilah, Le Nozze di Figaro, I Puritani and La Boheme.
From 2018 to 2025, Jennifer was a full-time soprano chorister with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV) (International Opera Awards: Best Opera Company 2019) in Antwerp and Ghent, Belgium. Productions ranged from Mozart to Philip Glass to Wagner.
For OBV, she performed as a soloist in Verdi’s Libera Me from Requiem in Choeurs in 2022, Brahms’s Deutsches Requiem, Schreker’s Der Schmied von Gent, La Cugina in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, cover Giovanna in Verdi’s Ernani and a spoken solo in Halevy’s La Juive.
Jennifer completed her undergraduate training at the Royal Northern College, Manchester, then graduated with distinction from the Masters of Music and Diploma course at the Royal College of Music, London, where she was a Theo Max van der Beugel scholar.
In 2016, she won a Musical Odessey Prize; in 2017, she won the Hatfield Festival Voice Competition and was a Britten-Pears Young Artist.
Her operatic roles have included First Bridesmaid in Le Nozze di Figaro (cover, Royal Opera); Theodora in Handel’s Theodora (RCM Oratorio Society); Pamina, Mozart’s The Magic Flute (St John’s Opera); Taumann/Dew Fairy, Hänsel und Gretel (RCMIOS); Mabel , The Pirates Of Penzance; Frasquita, Carmen; 2nd Niece, Peter Grimes (Dartington International); Priestess, Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride (Euphonia Opera); Noga, Tom Smail’s Electric Blue (Tête-à-Tête) and Vixen, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (RCM Scenes).
Concert performances include soprano solos in Bach’s St John Passion, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem, Handel’s The Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Purcell’s Come Ye Sons Of Art, Fili in Handel’s bilingual Acis And Galatea (Snape Maltings) and Elsie Suddaby in Vaughan-Williams’ Serenade To Music.
Among further highlights, she reached the semi-finals of Belgium’s Got Talent with her opera duo, toured the world for six months as the resident opera singer aboard The Silver Muse and undertook an 11-concert tour of the South of France with the Young Virtuosi Orchestra in 2016.
She performed recitals in Spain as part of the Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander in 2017, sang on ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex and gave recitals with clarinettist Peter Dec at the Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place, Victoria & Albert Museum and Royal Academy of Art, London.
Naming her dream roles, Jennifer picks: Musetta (La Boheme); Leila (Bizet’s Pearl Fishers); Cleopatra (Handel’s Giulio Cesare); Cunegonda (Bernstein’s Candide); Eliza Doolittle (Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady) and, most especially, Mary Poppins (the Sherman Brothers’ Mary Poppins).
When she is not singing, Jennifer generally can be found at Parkrun, drinking tea out of china teacups or tucking into delicious Belgian chocolates.
Rebecca Newman: York Proms co-founder and organiser
Sunday’s York Proms programme
RUN as ever by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman, Sunday’s York Proms will feature music from the world of classical and opera, film soundtracks and show songs.
“This year we have invested a bit more into the stage show, with a larger instrumental line-up in the orchestra to support these great singers, and also to allow us to take on some of the bigger film pieces, like works by Star Wars composer John Williams,” says Rebecca.
“We’ve always been restricted by the size of the venue and stage, but this year we’ve pushed the boat out a bit more and we hope our audience enjoys it.”
Tickets are on sale in advance at www.yorkproms.com or at the Visit York Information Centre. Attendees are allowed to bring food and drink, including alcohol, plus picnic chairs (which helps to keep down costs). Food and drink be will be available on site on the day, with a bar, hot and cold food and drinks, treats, and more. No tables or trolleys are permitted on the main lawn.
Please note, NO tickets will be sold on the gate. Previous years’shows have sold out, so prompt booking is advised.
Fast Track tickets have sold out; gates for these ticket holders will open at the Marygate entry at 5pm. Gates for all other ticket holders will open on Museum Street at 5.30pm, after the Fast Track queue has entered.
Wheelchair spaces can be booked after booking a disabled plus carer ticket via the website.
Entertainment will start from around 6pm and the evening show will begin at 7.30pm, climaxing with a low-noise fireworks finale from 10pm to 10.20pm.
Self Esteem, right, performing with her choir at Live At York Museum Gardens on Friday. Picture: Paul Rhodes
SELF ESTEEM is a pop queen to many and her York Museum Gardens garden party was a special evening.
Rebecca Lucy Taylor really believes in her material, which appears ripped from within her. Her candid accounts of what it feels like to be a modern woman, powerful but exhausted, desiring and often despairing, have a rare ability to turn individual experience into something universal. We saw that power in full force on Friday, which was thankfully a little cooler than the evening before.
Yet something seemed to be the matter when Taylor first walked on. Dressed in the same devotional costume she wears on her latest album, 2025’s A Complicated Woman, she had been crying and was still holding back sobs as the eight-strong choir began I Do And I Don’t Care.
We will never know, but Taylor talked a few times of this being a crazy day. She is clearly someone who feels deeply, and her audience responds to that. In a short time, there was a reassuring hand from one of her troupe, who then returned to singing beautifully and dancing with sometimes alarming intensity.
British-Nigerian poet and electronic artist Joshua Idehen opening Friday’s bill at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Paul Rhodes
Taylor’s latest songs were driven more by message than melody. The voices, choreography and stark group formations made it theatrical, but they also operated like a musical family, and we were drawn in. It really worked, despite the sometimes dim lighting. But at least we had screens this year, positioned sensitively to the sides.
Redemption had already arrived – at least for the few – thanks to opener Joshua Idehen, a British-Nigerian poet and electronic artist whose work combines poetry, house music and messages of hope, resilience and renewal. He turned out to have a masterful command of the crowd. Believing in second chances, he gave us a better chance to engage our shoulders and get off on the right foot.
Like Self Esteem, his words mattered deeply too, and he brought many of the newcomers to tears. The groove was also important as the extra element to lift half-spoken, half-rapped words. There was something of Gil Scott-Heron in the combination of social observation, humour, poetry and rhythm, but Idehen is very much a man of his own time. His signature song, Mum Does The Washing, has grabbed a wider audience online, and while that number was surprisingly absent, we were also caught up in his world.
South African singer and “future ghetto punk” Moonchild Sanelly. Picture: Paul Rhodes
Above all, this was a night about connection. Female friends, mums and daughters, young families gathering around music while spending time close to those we loved. It made for a lovely, all-age atmosphere under a cloudless sky.
It was harder to get close to Moonchild Sanelly, the South African singer and self-styled “future ghetto punk” artist known for mixing electronic pop, dance music and South African rhythms with sexually candid, fiercely independent lyrics. She brought a more confrontational energy. With vivid green hair and a bold stage presence, she was defiant, spiky, frequently taking aim at former partners foolish enough to reject her, as on Demon.
There was plenty of indie-energy in third support act The Big Moon, a Mercury-nominated London indie-rock four-piece whose melodic guitar pop has expanded to take on motherhood, relationships, body change and, on their newest material, hearing loss. This was the only traditional band performance of the night and a clever shift in tone.
Juliette Jackson leading The Big Moon at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Paul Rhodes
Their Museum Gardens set was a fascinating mixture. The songs had strong melodic foundations and choruses, underpinned by particularly impressive bass playing. There was even a singalong to Fatboy Slim’s Praise You.
Headliner Self Esteem was not polished. She said later that costume changes had been missed and her hair had not been done. The audience loved her more for this, not less.
She didn’t forget to make the evening fun and tuneful. Her numbers from Prioritise Pleasure were more danceable and got the crowd moving. Once the opening emotional storm had passed, the performance became looser and more playful. Some of the crowd looked like they were unsure how much they were allowed to enjoy the image-rich 69. She did give a parental warning, but there was no time to look away.
Self Esteem in devotional costume, as worn in the artwork for 2025 album A Complicated Woman, at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Paul Rhodes
Towards the end of her 90 minutes, Taylor spoke emotionally, not to seek praise, but to say thank you. She was met by a huge wave of applause and support. Like Adele, her troubles were our troubles.
After the nostalgic full house for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark the night before, Self Esteem was a bolder programming choice by event promoters Futuresound: a younger, messier and more varied bill. The artists selected worked well together – for my money, more fun than, say, three and a half hours of Guns N’Roses.
This was music for people still working things out, performed by artists willing to open themselves up for us, on a striking, memorable Friday night spent with people we care about. It turns out it’s OK to just be together, the deep blue OK or not.
Review by Paul Rhodes
Fans watching Self Esteem on a “striking, memorable Friday night spent with people we care about”. Picture: Paul Rhodes
Andy McCluskey leading Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark on the first night of Live At York Museum Gardens. All pictures: Devon Chambers
ORCHESTRAL Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Summer Of Hits opened this Summer of Hot’s trio of concerts in Futuresound’s third Live At York Museum Gardens season.
Oh yes, it was hot, absurdly hot, hot enough to bake a pizza on the Yorkshire Museum walls, if you could cook a pizza sideways, as if in a Salvador Dali painting.
There will be no respite for Self Esteem’s Friday bill or today for Super Furry Animals (not a state of fur coverage any would want right now), so come prepared. Spray on Factor 50 sun cream, advises Futuresound project manager Rachel Hill. Look out for the water stations too to top up bottles.
The site lay-out changed from the first festival to the second, when the stage switched architectural backdrop from the Yorkshire Museum to the St Mary’s Abbey ruins, and further changes have come into play for 2026: a sure sign that Futuresound and York Museums Trust respond positively to suggestions.
Andrew Cushin, in retro football shirt, kicking off day one of Live At York Museum Gardens
Large screens have been placed to either side to enhance the viewing experience (last year, standing at the back, your reviewer struggled to see a head let alone Elbow, before being accommodated most kindly in the Ambulant seated area for Richard Hawley).
The Premium ticket experience has improved vastly too: separate entry via Exhibition Square; commodious bar (well stocked but no gin, presumably deemed too depressive for a festival) ; Indian and bao bun food vendors; seats and bean bags dotted around the gardens, away from the stage but within hearing range.
The Premium viewing area has expanded too, still by the Yorkshire Museum, still with reserved Ambulant seating, but now with a steeped bank of terracing, like the most spacious football Kop ever. Out-standing improvement, indeed.
Futuresound make good decisions: first in setting up Live At York Museum Gardens, then adding a Sunday comedy festival, then bettering the festivalgoer’s experience. The Leeds event promoters also pick the headline acts really well, whether home-crowd favourites Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary celebrations and Jack Savoretti in 2024 or Elbow, Hawley and Nile Rodgers & Chic last summer.
China Crisis frontman Gary Daly, dressed for the beach, at Live At York Museum Gardens
In 2026, headliners OMD, Self Esteem and Super Furry Animals each will appeal to a different pop/ rock demographic – Eighties, Gen Z and Nineties respectively – and the supporting bills offer enticement aplenty to arrive well before the 8.30pm last entry.
Andrew Cushin, Newcastle’s latest singer-songwriter protégé, came and went before your reviewer settled in by the museum wall to see China Crisis lead singer Gary Daly dressed appropriately for the weather: white T-shirt and green shorts (the de rigueur dress code for the men in the crowd too).
The Kirkby synth-poppers would be playing for only 30 minutes, so he would cut “the chat”, said the normally notoriously loquacious Daly after only two songs in the opening ten. Christian, “Jeremy Vine favourite” Arizona Sky, Black Man Ray, Wishful Thinking and King In A Catholic Sky were all reminders of how the Liverpool School of Melody DNA passed through them so delightfully.
We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang T-shirts (without the brackets of the song title) heralded the presence of Heaven 17 devotees in the sold-out crowd. One, called Sumo, had been to 217 gigs (one more than lead singer Glenn Gregory, Glenn revealed, after Sumo turned up for a show in Canada but illness had put paid to the Sheffield electronic pioneers’ appearance).
Heaven 17 fans wearing We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang T-shirts at the front of Friday’s sold-out crowd
Like Daly, Gregory likes to talk, to tell stories, as sharp of tongue as his tailoring in white suit, blue shirt and shades. Keyboardist Martyn Ware favoured sparkling hat and jacket, joined on stage by a drummer and Carrie, Rachel and Florence (keyboards and backing vocals).
We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang, the first song Heaven 17 wrote after Ware and Ian Craig Marsh split from Heaven 17 in 1981, was given a 2026 re-boot, with ‘Trump’ replacing ‘Reagan’ in the lyrics. “We don’t need this Farage groove thang,” Gregory said afterwards, urging support for Count Binface in the Clacton by-election.
Introduced as “Kim Wilde walked down the aisle to this one”, Come Love With Me Come was a particular joy, while the “Giorgio Moroder tribute”, I’m Your Money, was segued with Donna Summer’s I Feel Love. Gregory and co then went the full cover-version hog on David Bowie’s Let Dance, rivalled only by the climactic Temptation for impact.
“Enjoy Orchestral Manoeuvres, I know I will,” enthused Gregory, later to be spotted in the crowd doing exactly that. It still wasn’t dark when OMD emerged on stage after a futuristic film projection, and nor would there be any “orchestral manoeuvres”, but all dressed in black (ah, there’s the dark), frontman Andy McCluskey and keyboardist Paul Humphreys (in specs) were joined by Martin Cooper on keys and saxophone and Stuart Kershaw on drums.
Martyn Ware and Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17: Still playing to win after 45 years together at Live At York Museum Gardens
In this digital age, OMD can replicate their recorded electronic sound to perfection, says McCluskey, although there was still room for him to forget the same words twice in one song, met with an invitation to the audience to jump.
Imagery ran throughout their set on a screen that spanned the whole of the stage, changing for each song, switching between colour and black and white, much in the manner of Public Service Broadcasting’s concerts.
True to their billing, the Summer Of Hits meant playing all, not some of their hits, with the oh-so-familiar standouts of the brace of Joan Of Arcs, Souvenir, Forever Live And Die and Sailing On The Seven Seas, plenty of peaks, the occasional trough, and a magnificent version of Enola Gay, to the haunting accompaniment of atomic bomb footage.
Walking On The Milky Way was ruefully reflective, if defiant, of the passage of time and what else but Electricity could crackle through the night sky to meet the 10.30pm curfew bang on.
The crowd watching the climax to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s set as darkness descends on Live At York Museum Gardens
Super Furry Animals: Flower power amid the botanical gardens of Live At York Museum Gardenson Saturday
WELSH art-rock band Super Furry Animals headline day three of Futuresound’s third season of Live at York Museum Gardens concerts on Saturday.
The botanical gardens are a suitable setting for such a psychedelic act, who have returned to the concert platform after a ten-year hiatus, and will draw on the nine albums recorded since forming in Cardiff in 1993 (originally with Notting Hill and Star City actor Rhys Ifans as their frontman, by the way).
Expect a choice selection of “ageless multicolour hits and off-piste deep cuts, all lovingly handpicked from an incredible catalogue”.
Joining Super Furry Aniamls in Museum Gardens will be four 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 band Pys Melyn (whose name translates as Yellow Peas, should you be wondering).
“I’m pretty sure we haven’t ever played York before,” says lead guitarist, pedal steel guitarist and cellist Huw Bunford, who will be joined as ever by Cian Ciarán, Daf Ieuan, Guto Pryce and Gruff Rhys.
The Futuresound press release stated that “until now SFA had no plans to reunite live”. Huw puts the flesh on those bones: “We got asked every so often over the past ten years if we’d be playing again. People approached us to do shows, and I think it was more to do with marking 30 years that brought us together again. It seemed like the usual stars aligned and that happened to be at a time when the rest of the band was available to get together.
Super Furry Animals’ poster for Live At York Museum Gardens
“Initially, we had pencilled in about six gigs, going around the UK and Ireland on the Supacabra Tour, but then I think we added a couple more, York and Bristol, so in May we did indoor gigs and the rest of the summer will be outdoor shows.”
Open-air concerts are a “completely different beast”, says Huw. “There’s something about it that’s nice to do outdoor gigs, where you get a cross section of fans and even people who have never seen us before. Whenever we do things like festivals, you know you have a certain amount of time to play, so at certain songs we’ll check the time!”
After signing to era-defining label Creation Records – the home of Oasis – in 1995, Super Furry Animals turned heads with their unorthodox approach to promotion from the famous Super Furry Animals Tank to a suite of bespoke Yeti costumes. In 1996, debut album Fuzzy Logic broke the familiar guitar music mould with a heady mix of literary, musical and narcotic influences before 1997 follow-up Radiator gave them their first UK Top Ten album.
“Welsh band with a weird edge” was one phrase coined to describe their distinctive indie psych-pop sound, not least because they recorded in the Welsh language too. “Maybe a bit of alliteration there, getting excited with that,” says Huw, on hearing that description down the phone line. “I wouldn’t say we were particularly weird. It’s just weird that a reviewer would say that. I’d throw it back at them!”
The rock history books say that label boss Alan McGee signed Super Furry Animals to Creation on the spot after watching their Camden Monarch club gig in London, maybe with expectations of matching the rise of Oasis. “The whole thing of Alan McGee seeing potential, but in the wrong way…but he still saw potential…and he then realised, and maybe over the years, it’s helped, that we’ve never been able to be pigeonholed,” says Huw.
Super Furry Animals will include Welsh-language songs in next Saturday’s set. “We’ve got three or four Welsh songs in the squad,” says Huw, recalling the days 30 years ago when they played a venue with a Welsh-language-only policy. “At that time, we whistled our English songs and gave lyric sheets to the audience!”
“I wouldn’t say we were particularly weird,” says Super Furry Animals’ guitarist, Huw Bunford
Looking ahead to next weekend’s York debut, he says: “We like to change one or two songs each show. In the festival shows, it depends on how much time we’re playing for, but we always try to play one or two Welsh songs wherever we play.”
Returning to the rehearsal studio for this spring and summer’s shows, “after the first week, there was a bit of muscle memory kicking in and actually it was the same with the energy levels as well,” says Huw. “But it’s one of those weird things in rehearsals that you don’t feel like you’ve ‘got it’, but then you get under the lights.
“The audiences have been amazing so far, like super fans, and very forgiving as well! It’s an amazing thing to see the band back.”
Reflecting on Super Furry Animals’ career path, Huw says: “We don’t do things in a formulaic way, so it’s almost like each album is a reaction to the one before. We take it as being like a craft and we’re blessed that we’re good songwriters. I think the production on the albums stands the test of time as well, which we take to be an important thing, always making sure that the content is good.”
Riding on the wave of Super Furry Animals reuniting for the 2026 series of concerts, could they return to the recording studio too? “If it happens, it happens,” says Huw. “We never say never, but at the moment it’s just a joy to be playing together again.”
Futuresound presents Super Furry Animals, Baxter Dury, Los Campesinos!, Divorce and Pys Melyn at Live At York Museum Gardens, July 11. Gates open at 4pm; last entry, 8.30pm. Tickets: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-info.
SledOne’s mural, What Walks Amongst Us, taking shape at AcombFest. Picture: Art of Protest
MURALS in Acomb, early music beyond borders, Mystery Plays on waggons, a political swansong and compact Shakespeare keep Charles Hutchinson’s thoughts off the July heatwave.
Art event of the week: AcombFest, Acomb, York, today and tomorrow
CURATED by Art of Protest, York’s first international street art festival continues today and tomorrow with its theme of A Return To Nature, featuring 20 art installations, live murals, RARE Collective’s Paint Jam, spray battles and more than 30 bands, DJs and performers, across 22 venues.
Look out too for interactive family-friendly workshops, an art market, history walks and talks, special events and tastings and a community cinema. Muralists taking part include SMUG, from Australia, Sheffield muralist Peachzz, wildlife artist Curtis Hylton and Acomb’s very own SledOne. For full details, go to: https://acombfest.co.uk/.
Baroque collective Solomon’s Knot: Performing Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns’ St Mark Passion, directed by Jonathan Sells, at The Quire, York Minster, on July 10
50th anniversary event of the summer: 2026 York Early Music Festival, Beyond Borders, until July 11
THE premier British early music festival marks its 50th anniversary with a celebration of “just how far early music has travelled – beyond the borders of the myriad historic venues of our city to a worldwide audience,” says director Delma Tomlin.
The festival welcomes The Sixteen, B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort, Imago Mundi, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, Solomon’s Knot and NCEM Platform Artists Anacronia and Contre le temps, among others. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk/yemf.
Bodhan Pitel’s Herod in DSpace Ukrainian Theatre’s The Massacre of the Innocents in the York Mystery Plays 2026. Picture: John Saunders
Theatrical outdoor event of the week: 2026 York Mystery Plays, streets of York, tomorrow, 10.30am to 4.50pm
THE four-yearly staging on the York Mystery Plays on pageant waggons takes place at four locations across the city: free viewing at the Minster Refectory Gardens, Deansgate, (from 10.30am) King’s Square (from 11.10am), St Sampson’s Square (from 11.50am) and ticketed seats at Dean’s Park (from 12.30pm). Ten core plays will be complemented by further extracts to tell the story from The War In Heaven to Doomsday. For full details, go to yorkmysteryplays.co.uk; tickets, ticketsource.com/york-festival-trust.
Clive Francis as Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson
Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees
JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Robert Kitson, replacing Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.
Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed byMichael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, July 7 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
MARKING 30 years of performances in the UK, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour company of Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and Kiran Raywilliams presents Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial and the History Plays as a manic football game, passing the crown from king to king.
Californian co-founders Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated the restless comedy for a new generation to undertake a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s First Folio of plays. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet
Busiest actor of the week: Threedumb Theatre presents Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, July 8, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm; One Man Poe, Ripon Theatre Festival, Ripon Arts Hub, July 10, 8pm; One Man Poe world premiere, York Medical Society, July 11, 7.30pm
THREEDUMB Theatre artistic director and actor Stephen Smith performs Joan Greening’s new play exploring French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s life and loves: his two marriages, his first wife’s devastating death, his lover’s erratic behaviour, his suicide attempt, his thoughts on fellow Impressionists and the torment of his failing eyesight. The 55-minute Monet montage combines projection design and Joe Furey’s music with Smith’s storytelling in two York performances.
Smith also presents four of Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic horror works (The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and The Pendulum, The Black Cat and The Raven) in Ripon, followed by the world premiere of his latest Poe double bill (The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar) in York. All six, amounting to 18,000 Poe words, will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Ripon, ripontheatrefestival.org.
Musical of the week: Top Hat and Tails Theatre in Little Shop Of Horrors!, Friargate Theatre, York, July 9 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
MEEK floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he calls Audrey II, a foul-mouthed carnivore that promises him fame and fortune if he keeps feeding it with blood. Over time, however, Seymour discovers Audrey II’s plans for global domination in Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s sci-fi B-movie monster spoof, presented here with a live band and professionally hand-crafted puppets. Box office: ridinglights.org.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits show at York Museum Gardens on Thursday
Music festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, July 9, gates 5pm; Self Esteem, July 10, gates 5pm, and Super Furry Animals, July 11, gates 4pm
WIRRAL synth-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark open Futuresound’s third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts on Thursday with a Summer of Hits bill featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and rising Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.
Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem, aka Rotherham singer, songwriter and actress Rebecca Lucy Taylor, tops Friday’s line-up, featuring London indie group The Big Moon, South African ghetto funk musician Moonchild Sanelly and Nigerian-born musician and spoken-word artist Joshia Idehen.
Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals are next Saturday’s headliners, joined by singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn. Box office for July 10 and 11: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.
If I Knew The Way, I Would Take You Home, by Matt Sewell
In Focus: Birds of the week: Matt Sewell exhibition for RARE Collective at WET, Micklegate, York,until mid-July
SHROPSHIRE artist, illustrator and author Matt Sewelll is the latest street art luminary to be showcased in RARE Collective’s collaboration with WET wine bar, in Micklegate, York, in aid of SASH (Safe and Sound Homes), the York youth homelessness charity.
“We’re really chuffed to have Matt return to York with his fabulous Riso prints,” says RARE Collective exhibition organiser Sharon McDonagh. “If you came to the Vandalfest charity street art show last year, you would have seen his cracking bird mural on Floor 3 of the big disused office block in Low Ousegate.
Artist Matt Sewell at work
Sewell is an avid ornithologist, contributing regularly to the Caught By The River website and publishing the books Our Garden Birds, Our Songbirds, Our Woodland Birds, Owls, Penguins and A Charm Of Goldfinches And Other Collective Nouns.
He has illustrated for the Guardian, Barbour, V&A Museums, BBC, National Trust, Greenpeace, Big Issue and Levi’s and painted walls for Helly Hansen, Puma and the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). He has exhibited in Great Britain, New York, old York, Tokyo and Paris.
Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuckoo, by Matt Sewell
Under RARE Collective’s partnership with WET, artists and photographers exhibit their work in a six-week solo show. As well as at WET, work can be bought online both during and after the exhibition run at rarecollective.co.uk.
In addition, a selection of Sewell’s prints is featuring in RARE Collective’s exhibition for AcombFest at The Crooked Tap, on show until August 15 in support of SASH.
Matt Sewell’s wall of bird prints for sale at WET
Exhibiting too are: spAm (Sharon McDonagh), Sola, Alison Jagger, Al Murphy, Anthony Appleyard, Boxxhead, HazardOne, Lady Mkei, Lincoln Lightfoot, Liskbot, Michael Dawson, Nicolas Dixon, Slice Of Lino, STATIC and Stephen Bottrill.
“RARE are working in collaboration with the Art of Protest Project, after being invited by AcombFest curator Jeff Clark and the AOP team to curate the live PaintJam at the Carlton Tavern, in Acomb Road, Holgate, today and tomorrow,” says RARE Collective curator Sharon McDonagh.
“This will involve nine artists painting live from 10am to 4pm each day (Boxxhead, HazardOne, Lady Mkei, Lincoln Lightfoot, Liskbot, Nicolas Dixon, Sola, spAm and VYZ); live DJ sets by Alilou, Bob Yenz, Conor Rogan, Free Da Karlos and Sola plus guests, audiovisual artists Fred DWolf, Sonas and JohnManBand on a huge screen, cocktails and mixology by Tulum Spirits Collective and street food by El Chappo, all in support of SASH.”
Did you know?
MATT Sewell is also a musician, performing as Sewell &The Gong with Chris Tate and as the deep-cut compiler of the compilation series A Crushing Glow.
Matt Sewell’s work environment
In Focus too: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance, 30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, July 6 to 8, 7.45pm
THE 30th anniversary tour of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance promises a grand celebration of the revolutionary Irish dance production’s legacy after captivating more than 60 million fans in 60 countries since its 1996 debut.
The 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour will feature “brand-new choreography, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting-edge lighting, ensuring that the production continues to push boundaries and deliver an unforgettable experience”.
Creative manager James Keegan says: “Michael Flatley has taught me that there are no boundaries in the creative space. When he burst onto the scene in the mid-90s, he took traditional Irish dancing to a place nobody had ever dreamed of, and that has been the key to the show’s success.
“Michael often says in rehearsals that we need to push the boundaries as much as we can, and if it’s too far or doesn’t work, we can always pull it back. That mindset is what keeps Lord Of The Dance evolving.”
Lord Of The Dance on its 30th anniversary tour. Picture: Brian Doherty
Keegan believes that the core elements of Flatley’s visionary production – choreography, music and storytelling – remain timeless while still evolving. “What made Lord Of The Dance famous 30 years ago is still what makes it work today: 40 of the greatest Irish tap dancers in the world performing in one line in perfect sync. It’s a spectacle that never loses its magic,” he says.
Reflecting on Flatley’s impact, Keegan says: “Professional Irish dancing didn’t really exist until Michael created his shows and added a more entertaining twist to the art form.
“He wasn’t just a dancer; he was a highly tuned athlete who could perform at astonishing levels for a full two-hour show, seven days a week. Today, we see young competitive dancers around the world striving to reach the levels he set.”
But beyond the footwork and the spectacle, Keegan reckons Flatley’s greatest legacy is his ability to inspire. “Michael’s motto has always been, ‘Nothing is impossible.’ He took an already intricate dance form and pushed it even further, breaking records like 38 taps per second and incorporating upper body movements that defied tradition,” he says.
Michael Flatley
“I’ve seen it time and time again: a dancer who never thought they could be a lead receives Michael’s encouragement, and before long, they are fulfilling their dream on stage.”
For Keegan, one moment stands out above the rest. “In 1997, I was a ten-year-old competitive Irish dancer in Manchester, struggling with the name-callers and the challenges of being a young male dancer,” he says.
“Then Lord Of The Dance came to town. Watching Michael and the cast that night at the Apollo Theatre changed everything for me. The masculinity, the precision, the energy, it was like nothing I’d ever seen before.
“I met Michael at the stage door, and suddenly, I knew that being an Irish dancer could mean being a superstar. Nineteen years later, I had the honour of sharing his final show with him at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, in 2016. It was a full-circle moment I will never forget.”
Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance dancers
As Lord Of The Dance embark on its 30th anniversary tour, Flatley reflects on the journey. “The magic of Lord Of The Dance lives on in the hearts of our audience, and I am thrilled to bring this iconic show back to the UK in 2026,” he says.
“30 Years of Standing Ovations celebrates the incredible journey we’ve shared with fans over the years. It’s a tribute to the enduring power of dreams, the joy of dance and the unwavering support of our audience. This tour is our way of saying thank you for three decades of unforgettable memories.”
Although Flatley, now 67, retired from performing during his final tour in 2016, he has remained at the helm of Lord Of The Dance, guiding its evolution while preserving its timeless magic.
Now, as the production prepares for its biggest celebration yet, fans can look forward to a breathtaking spectacle that honours the past, embraces the present, and inspires the future of Irish dance.
Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
ELECTRONIC new wave trailblazers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark will headline the first night of Futuresound’s third summer of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts.
The Wirral synth-pop duo of Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys will be joined on OMD’s Summer Of Hits bill on July 9 bill by two fellow Eighties’ synth-pop luminaries, Sheffield’s Heaven 17 and Kirkby’s China Crisis, and rising singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.
“It’s gonna be lovely playing outdoors,” says McCluskey, 67, fresh from OMD’s 22-date February and March tour showcasing their 2023 UK top two-charting album Bauhaus Staircase. “The biggest difference quite simply is playing in daylight. We have a lot of lights and LED screens behind us, so it will have a different feel just because of the daylight. It won’t be dark until quite late in the show.”
The contrast with the indoor experience will come one night earlier at Bradford Live. “A lot of people in Yorkshire were frustrated that York sold out so quickly, so the promoter asked us to play Bradford,” says Andy, who is looking forward to performing at the new £55 million Bradford venue – in the former Odeon cinema – for the first time.
Roll on to the next night in York. “There’s a party element to playing outdoors, though you’re playing with the lottery of the weather in Britain.” Good news for these upcoming Orchestral manoeuvres in the not so dark: the weather forecast predicts sunny intervals with a gentle breeze – while Futuresound concert promoter Rachel Hill advises bringing Factor 50 sun cream.
Choosing the set list will be straightforward. “We’ve advertised the shows as the Summer Of Hits tour, as you’re going to get 18 hits regardless, but obviously in York we’ll have some great acts with us,” says Andy. “Heaven 17 are stunning live, as are China Crisis, both with amazing frontmen [Glenn Gregory and Gary Daly respectively], so that means we have to keep it tighter in York, playing for 90 minutes [to meet the 10.30pm curfew].
“We specifically asked to have Heaven 17 and China Crisis on the bill. At the beginning of March, I was on an Eighties’ rock cruise, out of Port Canaveral, cruising around the Caribbean, doing two 90-minute shows and the rest of the week as holiday, taking all the WAGs with us! Heaven 17 were there for that one – and we go way back with the China Crisis boys, who’ve done a couple of tours with us over the years.”
Formed by childhood friends McCluskey (vocals and bass) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards and vocals) in 1978, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark emerged in the pioneering early days of synth pop, when the proto-machinery was more erratic in its behaviour in making their electronic craft work.
Contrast with 21st century technology. “The digital age has transformed everything,” says Andy. “For me, as the singer, one of the best things now is the in-ear monitor, where you can hear everything so clearly. You don’t need so many speakers on stage; you don’t need it to be so loud, and the sound guy doesn’t have to fight with that.
“You don’t have to keep changing your synths. Everything is loaded into the digital keyboard, so there’s a lot less work for the keyboard player and the songs sound perfect every night.”
Is perfection good for live music, Andy? “Absolutely! We love it. We’re happy with how our records sounded, so that’s how we try to re-create them live on stage, as why would you want to mess with treasured memories. Why change them? Let people treasure those memories,” he says.
“I don’t understand how bands can go on stage and say to themselves ‘I’m so bored how this song sounds after playing it 1,000 times’. Don’t mess with your songs!”
Casting an eye over five decades of OMD, Andy says: “It’s quite remarkable to look back, and what I’m always reminding myself is that we’ve had a lot of hit singles doing the music just the way we wanted to. No-one was telling us how to record them or writing songs for us. We’ve been a 48-year rolling accident!
“I should have gone to Leeds to study Fine Art; Paul should have done a British Telecom apprenticeship in London [but turned it down]. Instead we created a band with a crazy name for a dare for one gig, and here we are, still together 48 years later.
“The broader picture is that what we’re blessed with is how we’re in a post-modern era where nothing is out of fashion any more – which is nice for us older musicians, where if you’re considered an icon, people will still come and see you, and if people saw those songs as the soundtrack of their lives back then, they’re still the soundtrack to their lives.
“In many ways, songs act as little memory pegs, upon which hang several different memories. One of the great things about being a songwriter is that you may not solve poverty or end warfare, but you create these little three-minute vignettes that become reference points for the most touching moments in people’s live, like your songs being played at funerals.
“That’s the greatest compliment that someone can give you, that something you created has become a memory for an entire family.”
Futuresound presents Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Summer Of Hits featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and Andrew Cushin, Live at York Museum Gardens, July 9, gates open at 5pm. SOLD OUT.
Waves in motion: Making Waves at York Art Gallery. Picture: Lee McLean
MAKING Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print has taken a year of preparation at York Art Gallery.
On show until August 30, the display of Japanese art and culture brings together more than 100 striking and iconic works from renowned artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige and Kitagawa Utamaro, amongst many others, complemented by armoury from the Royal Armoury In Leeds and kimonos from Durham Oriental Museum at Durham University.
To provide an insight into the history and development of Japanese woodblock printing, the exhibition brings together exhibits from York Art Gallery’s extensive collection of Japanese prints, some never exhibited previously, together with prints loaned from Maidstone Museum, Ashmolean Museum and the British Museum and early printed books from the British Library.
Covering more than 300 years of printing history, from the 17th to 21st centuries, Making Waves places particular emphasis on the heyday of Japanese woodblock printing in the 18th and 19th centuries.
At its epicentre is the chance to see Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of the most recognisable and celebrated artworks in the world. This original print has been lent to York Art Gallery by Maidstone Museum, and like encountering Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th century portrait of the Mona Lisa at the Musée u de Louvre, the work is smaller than you might expect but just as impactful.
Spread across three rooms, Making Waves invites visitors on a journey that begins with a guide to the origins and techniques of early printmaking, before looking at major themes, including the “floating world” of urban entertainments, the beauty of Japanese landscapes, legendary heroes and adventurers from fantastical tales and historical epics, actors and Samurai warriors (representing martial prowess, courage, loyalty and honour). Festivals and seasonal celebrations feature too.
Finally, the exhibition explores how print artists responded to major changes in Japanese society, from Japan’s development into a modern industrial nation in the late 19th century through to the present day.
Utagawa Hiroshige’s Asakusa Rice-fields and Torinomachi Festival, from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, part 4 Winter, 1857, York Art Gallery collection. Picture courtesy of York Museums Trust
Contemporary Japanese woodblock prints feature too in the third room, including several works by Royal Academy of Arts president Rebecca Salter, created in collaboration with Sato Woodblock Workshop, Kyoto, plus Japanese woodblock prints depicting the North York Moors by Scottish artist Laura Boswell, such as Rhubarb Sky.
Look out too for works by London-based artist Nana Shiomi, whose 2001 print, Hokusai’s Wave – Happy Carp is displayed alongside the very woodblocks Shiomi used to produce it, enabling visitors to gain an understanding of the technical process of printing.
Entertainment and festivals, folklore and seasons and travel and adventure all play a major role in these vibrant images, whose dynamic designs remain popular centuries later.
Making Waves marks the debut of Eleanor Jackson as curator of fine art at York Art Gallery. “I started here in January last year and was given this exhibition to curate straight away. To hit the ground running and to turn it round in a year has been challenging but it’s worked out well,” she says.
“Arranging the loans is by far the most time-consuming part of organising the exhibition, so that was the first task I did, researching potential loans and contacting leading institutions.”
Eleanor continues: “Ever since Japan was opened to Western trade in the 1850s, Japanese art has become increasingly popular in the West and Europe, causing a sensation when first exhibited in Paris, introducing audiences to the woodblock print, and now there are so many fantastic collections in the UK.”
One key curatorial decision was to address the need to add contrast to “the prints being mostly 2D and small”. “It was important to bring in bigger items, such as the armour and kimonos, to provide dramatic sightlines, and to give a fuller flavour of Japanese culture in that period,” says Eleanor. “We also asked our exhibition designers, Journal, from Leeds, to provide a sense of scale.”
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, by Katsushika Hokusai, circa 1829-32. Image courtesy of Maidstone Museum, on loan at York Art Gallery
In addition, the exhibition focus on woodblock print techniques is intended to be of interest to artists, while visitors can “have a go” at woodblock printing”. “It’s important to understand the art of woodblock and the huge amount of work and skill that goes into each one. Even though they are prints, they are unique because they all have imperfections,” says Eleanor.
Summing up the significance of Making Waves, she enthuses: “To bring these works together in this way has been a privilege, and we are so excited to unveil the exhibition.
“The support of national and regional museums, as well as contemporary artists, has been instrumental in allowing us to tell the story of this gorgeous art form. We are grateful to them for lending their precious works to York Art Gallery for this exhibition.”
Making Waves will extend into York Museum Gardens, where a new Japanese- style garden is being installed, ready for the spring and summer months. A Japanese dry garden, or “karesansui”, created in the space behind the gallery, takes inspiration from traditional Japanese gardens with a contemporary interpretation linked to the history of the site.
Often called a “zen”’ garden, the Japanese dry garden is constructed simply using wood, stone and bamboo to create a space for calm contemplation and meditation, inviting people to take time out from their day.
Steve Williams, garden manager at York Museums Trust, says: “Four blossom trees will be a key feature in the garden as we head into spring 2026: three cherry trees and an apricot tree. Blossom trees hold a cultural significance in Japan, symbolising beauty, impermanence and renewal, which reflect the transient nature of life.
“All the materials included in the Japanese-style garden have been sourced with the intention of longer-term use, and they will be repurposed elsewhere in Museum Gardens following the exhibition.”
Japanese woodblock prints depicting the North York Moors by Scottish-based artist Laura Boswell from Making waves at York Art Gallery. Picture: Lee McLean
Making Waves is accompanied by interactive programme of activities and events, including specialist talks from artists, makers and curators throughout the exhibition run. Interactive guided workshops for over-16s will enable participants to “get to grips” with printing techniques, bookbinding and Ikebana flower arranging throughout the summer months and to create bespoke art to take home.
Siona Mackelworth, head of audience and programme at York Museums Trust, says: “The associated programme and events are designed for all ages to make connections to Japanese art and get involved with the gallery.
“We’re delighted to play host to more internationally important art, building on the success of our Claude Monet and William Morris exhibitions last year, and to share the stories and processes behind Japanese printing by showcasing technically complex and visually impactful artworks.”
Making Waves: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print, York Arts Gallery, on show until August 30. Entry is included in general admission to York Art Gallery. Tickets: yorkartgallery.co.uk.
Did you know?
THE Japanese art aesthetic of Making Waves extends into York Art Gallery’s two shops, where prints, souvenirs and kimono jackets are on sale. For the creative, Kintsugi kits and sketchbooks are stocked, as well as themed gifts such as fun socks, chopsticks and lucky welcome soaps.
Many products display art from the gallery collection or are sourced directly from Japan. In addition, a new print inspired by Japan and York Art Gallery has been created by York artist Lincoln Lightfoot.
The balcony ceramics shop offers tea bowls and other handcrafted ceramics inspired by Japanese Pottery.
Exhibition designers Journal bringing “a sense of scale” to Making Waves at York Art Gallery. Picture: Lee McLean
Did you know too?
PRUSSIAN Blue, the world’s first synthetic pigment, was available widely in Japan from 1
Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864): back story
THE most prolific, popular and commercially successful print artist of his time, Kunisada designed at least 20,00 prints during his 50-year career, where he was assisted by dozens of students employed in his studio.
While Kunisada tried his hand at a wide range of genres, theatre prints made up around 60 per cent of his output. Usually published to coincide with particular performances, theatre prints became outdated quickly. Kunisada’s rapid production and commercial acumen, however, enabled him to keep up with public demand for up-to-the-minute prints.
Kunisada excelled at conveying drama, expressions and gorgeous costumes of the theatre. His prints are typically beautifully detailed, busy in composition and intense in emotion.
