Lemony Snicket: the trouble with being interested in classical music is that people look at you funny

Uncool, stuffy, inaccessible: classical music has been called all that and worse. Daniel Handler, who writes his Lemony Snicket novels to the sound of string quartets, wants to set the record straight…

Peter Williams obituary

Perpetually inquiring scholar of the organ and of JS Bach

‘I’ve seen Les Misérables 1,027 times’ … superfans of Star Wars, Madonna, Harry Potter and more

The Chewbacca obsessive who built a giant Millennium Falcon, the Harry Potter devotee who tattooed herself with a letter from JK Rowling, the Madonna fan who cherishes one of her Kabbalah water bottles … superfans share their passions

Nothing review – gospel of teen nihilism is finely executed

This adaptation of Janne Teller’s dark novel by David Bruce and Glyn Maxwell shows that Glyndebourne’s education wing leads the field

Everything happens in Adelaide in March – our picks of the festival

From Adelaide fringe to a week of literary events and an art biennial, South Australia claims its title as the festival state this autumn

On my radar: Gordon Gano’s cultural highlights

The Violent Femmes frontman on a classic silent film, Lou Reed & John Cale’s Songs for Drella – and the best cheese enchilada in Denver

The most unmissable culture of 2016

Tarantino goes bounty-hunting, Botticelli takes you to hell, Bowie goes dark, and Jericho fills that Downton-shaped hole … in our bumper guide to the best 150 arts events to look forward to this year

Martin Scorsese’s Vinyl, Zoolander 2 and Drake – our critics’ tips for 2016

2016 brings a show by Citizenfour director Laura Poitras, a film by sketch show master Jordan Peele, two new museums in San Francisco and much more

A Christmas Carol review – solo opera wrings heroic acrobatics from Mark le Brocq

Iain Bell’s operatic treatment of the Dickens fable at WNO brings a frenetic series of mini-cameos, with a festive dressing of contemporary politics

How Heinrich Schütz captured the true spirit of Christmas

Schütz’s nativity music, written in the wake of the thirty years’ war, resonates with a sense of hope for today

British Library hits the right note with purchase of Gilbert and Sullivan archive

Collection of more than a century of material owned by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company will give public insight into comic opera

Forget the mad genius composer myth: music is good for the mind

The cliche of the reclusive composer who loses their mind over manuscript is unhelpful. But, says pianist James Rhodes, there is a link between music, creativity and mental health that is both real and beneficial to people’s well-being

The invisible instrument: the theremin

The ethereal, pure sounds created by the electronic musical instrument echo the voice, but are controlled by the movements of the thereminist’s hands

Melbourne festival 2015: bumper lineup celebrates Orwell and Patti Smith

Outgoing artistic director Josephine Ridge hasn’t shied away from politics and debate in the festival’s 30th anniversary program, which is strong on independent artists, stage collaborations and music

Why is Sophie Hunter taking Britten’s Phaedra to a Beckett festival?

How the experimental stage director joined the dots between Benjamin Britten, Jean Racine and Samuel Beckett