Dead Famous by Greg Jenner review – a joyous history of celebrity
From a beautiful ballerina to a 5,000lb rhino, from Byron to Mick Jagger, a romp through the story of fame and fanhood
Never read Middlemarch or listened to Wagner’s Ring cycle? Now’s your chance
Observer critics suggest ways to while away the long days of self-isolation during the coronavirus crisis• Coronavirus – latest updates• See all our coronavirus coverage
20 springtime cultural highlights in the UK
From Normal People on TV to Beethoven at the Royal Festival Hall, Observer critics pick the best from the new season
Dan Brown announces debut picture book – soundtracked by the author
The Da Vinci Code writer to publish his first volume for children, Wild Symphony, accompanied by his own orchestral work
The Guardian view on unearthing a wartime concerto: let the music play
Editorial: The reconstruction of a lost work by a once-revered Polish composer offers us all a history lesson
Hope in the dark: culture to make you feel less terrible about the UK election
You may be distraught at the result, or just want a break from politics – so find solace in our critics’ pick of 30 films, songs, books and more to hide under a duvet with
Britten Sinfonia / Gourlay review – Turnage and Clayton sing out for refugees
Poems on displacement by Benjamin Zephaniah, Brian Bilston, Dickinson and Auden drive a weighty new song cycle by Mark-Anthony Turnage, delivered masterfully by Allan Clayton
How our poet laureate has embraced his new role
Simon Armitage’s output since being made poet laureate is to be lauded, while his musical counterpart prefers to keep a low profile
The Observer guide to the best autumn culture
Long-awaited albums, audacious political theatre and TV fit to follow Game of Thrones, plus film, dance, classical and more…
Prom 49: The Lost Words review – Beethoven to beatboxing as climate crisis set to music
Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s bestselling book inspired this ambitious family Prom that celebrated the natural world
Rough Ideas by Stephen Hough review – polymath at the piano
The acclaimed musician muses on life, art and faith
Crisis crescendos: how the Proms is sounding the alarm for a planet in peril
Pounding oceans, enchanted woods, threatened birds and the powerful words of Greta Thunberg … we meet the composers spearheading this year’s nature theme at the Proms
The Lark Ascending by Richard King review – a ramble through British musical rituals
From fascist folk dancers to new age ravers – a heartfelt survey of the musical lives and ceremonies inspired by landscape
‘Fiasco’: does Brexit make more sense in Italian?
A misshapen ‘flask’ or a singer’s bum notes – British politicians are failing in Italian style
Michael Tippett: The Biography by Oliver Soden review – exhaustively researched, lovingly detailed
The composer’s colourful life is the focus of an epic tribute