Piano Man - Sir Elton John will perform live at this year's Emmy Awards. The musician, will play a tribute to Liberace, the American pianist and vocalist whose life was told in the recent biopic, Behind the Candelabra. The HBO film, which premiered in Cannes this year, is up for 15 Emmys. The awards, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will take place on 22 September. Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, who play Liberace and his lover Scott Thorson in Behind The Candelabra, have both been nominated in the lead actor in a mini-series or movie category. Sir Elton's first solo studio album in seven years, The Diving Board, produced by T Bone Burnett, is set for release on 24 September.
Breaking News - Doncaster's new £22m theatre, Cast, opened this weekend with shows including an opening ceremony from Slung Low theatre company and the launch of this year's Breakin' Convention. The venue staged a free outdoor show called A Cast of Thousands by Slung Low, which included music, dance and live performance. It also hosted the launch of Sadler's Wells' annual hip hop festival Breakin' Convention for 2014 with breakdance battles led by artistic director Jonzi D. In addition, a series of free pop-up events occurred around the building, including spoken word, a shadow puppet workshop and performances from local dance and music companies.
The new performance centre sits at the heart of the town's new £300m Civic and Cultural Quarter, an area being re-developed to include new housing, retail and office space. It replaces the town's Civic Theatre, which closed earlier this year in the spring.
Farewell - Robert Robson, artistic director of The Lowry arts centre in Salford, has died at the age of 58. Robson had been artistic director at the venue, which houses theatres and galleries, since 2003. The Lowry chief executive Julia Fawcett said he died suddenly last Friday. "He was respected across the industry, and will be greatly missed by his colleagues here at The Lowry and the people he worked with and supported across the country," she said.
Robson started his career at Cumbernauld Theatre in North Lanarkshire before running Glasgow's Mayfest arts festival and His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen. The Lowry, which comprises three theatres, plus galleries for its collection of LS Lowry artworks and other exhibitions, was Greater Manchester's most popular visitor attraction in 2012, attracting 820,000 people.
(Jim Evans)
