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Vijay Gupta’s Path To Music

Being “in dialogue with an audience that otherwise would never have access to that music” opens up what Gupta calls “a mutual space of listening.” - Strings

Thomas Cleary, Who Translated Classic Works Of Eastern Philosophy, 72

Cleary "translated scores of Buddhist, Taoist, ancient Chinese and other texts into English, greatly broadening access to these works in the West." - The New York Times

One Of The Last Members Of Auschwitz’s Women’s Orchestra Has Died

Esther Bejarano played the accordion in the orchestra and then "dedicated her life to music and to the fight against racism and anti-Semitism." - France24

New Yorker Cartoonist Danny Shanahan Dead At 64

Over three decades he published more than 1,000 witty single-panel cartoons in The New Yorker and other magazines, with characters ranging from cats and monkeys to Lassie and Batman. But he spent his final year under a serious cloud. - The New York Times

Rebel Filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. Dead At 85

He built a cult following in the 1960s underground with inventively odd satires, then hit the mainstream in 1969 with Putney Swope, in which a Black Power activist takes over a New York ad agency, followed by Greaser's Palace, the life of Christ as a spaghetti Western. - Variety

Jivan Gasparyan, Who Entranced The World With An Armenian Shepherd’s Pipe, Dead At 92

"What he accomplished was remarkable — not just in terms of his personal achievement, but also what he accomplished for his instrument's profile. … He transformed the duduk from a purely folk instrument … into a force on the concert stage," recordings and film scores. - NPR

Dilip Kumar, Bollywood’s First Great Realistic Actor, Dead At 98

"In a career that spanned five decades, Kumar is widely regarded as the finest actor India has ever produced. Starring in some of the all-time classic films of Indian cinema, Kumar's versatility and command of his craft allowed him to excel across genres." - The Hollywood Reporter

Discovered: Evidence Van Gogh Was A Founder Of A Brass Band (Still Playing Today)

In 1884 Vincent van Gogh helped set up a band in the village of Nuenen, where he was living with his family and developing his skills as an artist. - The Art Newspaper

Composer Louis Andriessen Dead At 82

He combined Philip Glass-style minimalism with influences ranging from jazz to Baroque music to Stravinsky to hard rock, not to mention leftist politics. He also taught two generations of notable composers, including Missy Mazzoli, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, and David Lang. - NPR

‘La Madre De La Telenovela’, Delia Fiallo, Dead At 96

She started out writing radio serials in 1940s Cuba, switched to TV, fled the Castro regime in 1966 and started over in Miami — going on to write scripts for 40 of the popular Spanish-language prime-time soap operas and becoming the genre's first superstar author. - MSN (Washington Post)

This Is The Reason Bill Cosby Got To Walk Out Of Prison

Why did the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturn the 83-year-old star's 2018 sexual assault conviction? Because of the Fifth Amendment and a bait-and-switch. Here's a legal explainer. - The New York Times

James Cuno Steps Down As Head Of Getty

In 2011, Cuno was appointed to lead the Getty Trust, which manages four Los Angeles–based organizations: the Getty Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Research Institute, and the Getty Foundation, the organization’s main philanthropic arm. - ARTnews

Children’s Author Patricia Reilly Giff, Who Wrote The Kids Of The Polk Street School Series, Dead At 86

"Over nearly half a century, more than 100 books for young readers. She delighted younger ones with the adventures, misadventures and high jinks of the Kids of the Polk Street School, one of several popular series she penned. Writing for older readers, Mrs. Giff animated historical events in volumes such as Lily's Crossing." - MSN (Washington Post)

Louise Bourgeois And Her Exploration Of Pain

“The subject of pain is the business I am in,” Louise Bourgeois once remarked. Like Emily Dickinson whose business was “circumference,” Bourgeois circled her subject all her life. - The Yale Review

Pulitzer-Winning Poet Stephen Dunn Dead At 82

"He departed from the 'confessional' style of self-lacerating poetry and considered himself instead a 'meditative' or observational poet. Writing in a plain, unfussy style that often sounded like prose with the reins loosened, he addressed the ways ordinary experience can be fraught with emotional complexity, sadness and humor." - MSN (Washington Post)

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