"The world's wealthiest arts institution, the J. Paul Getty Trust, has selected a new president and CEO: New York University Provost Katherine E. Fleming. Fleming will replace longtime chief James Cuno, who has led the institution for more than a decade and will retire this summer." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
Determined to avoid another labor dispute and eager to make the orchestra a pillar of Detroit’s civic revival, she spent the next decade rebuilding the ensemble. The Detroit Symphony, digitally connected and agile, became a model modern ensemble. - The New York Times
“Stalin was no psychopath but an emotionally intelligent and feeling intellectual. Indeed, it was the power of his emotional attachment to deeply held beliefs that enabled him to sustain decades of brutal rule." - The New Statesman
"By the time he was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 34, Kafka had already spent two decades worrying about disease. He took his holidays at convalescent spas, while letters to friends and lovers often amounted to little more than catalogues of symptoms." - Aeon
Over a career that spanned half a century, Mr. Kalichstein presented thoughtful, impassioned and deeply musical performances of the piano repertoire from Bach, Mozart and Brahms through the masters of the early 20th century, including Bartok, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. - Washington Post
Materre, who has died at 67, distributed Daughters of the Dust in the 1990s, as part of her work as "a distributor and educator who promoted Black women’s voices in film and released influential independent movies by Black creators." - The New York Times
McGowan, who has died at 90, "created a new international area of academic study, now known as early dance, and received national honors in both Britain and France." It's hard to imagine modern thinking (or movies) about the French court untouched by her scholarly influence. - The New York Times
She studied with Andrés Segovia and is a virtuoso in classical and flamenco styles. "At her shows, after she sings and gyrates to a set of disco numbers,” writes Amanda Hess, "she slips backstage, emerges in the tuxedo, picks up the guitar and blows everybody's mind." - The New York Times
Almost nobody knows him back home in England, but in China — thanks to a chance meeting while waiting to renew his visa — Kevin Lee (or Kaiwen Li in Chinese) has become a familiar face in several popular action franchises. - BBC
If his name was less well known to the museumgoing public than those of Met directors like Thomas Hoving or Philippe de Montebello, two towering figures under whom Mr. Hawkins served, he was their near-equal when it came to the ultra-rarified networks that undergird the museum. - The New York Times
“From the start of the invasion of Ukraine by the armies of Vladimir Putin, I’ve felt deep dread and a certainty that this will be a bloody and horrific conflict,” writes Baryshnikov, in the submission titled, “The Ukrainians are fighting for all of us.” - San Francisco Examiner
It is fascinating to realize that McLuhan only becomes more of a prophet the further our world turns to the digital. As Paul Levinson notes, McLuhan’s metaphors were extravagant and malleable because they had to be. - LitHub
“We’re not prepared to change our position,” Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, said in a statement. “If Anna demonstrates that she has truly and completely disassociated herself from Putin over the long term, I would be willing to have a conversation.” - The New York Times
After a long period of house arrest and a travel ban based on embezzlement charges widely understood to be trumped-up, the dissident director has settled in Germany. - Variety
