As the loose, famously immersive adaptation of Macbeth restarts after two years of COVID, Alexis Soloski considers the influence the show has had on Punchdrunk (the British troupe that produced it) and other companies — and the script alterations that audience behavior has forced on it. - The New York Times
The bad news is that digital isn’t covering the costs associated with it — not yet, at any rate. The larger problem is that audiences aren’t returning to live concerts in pre-pandemic numbers either, leaving orchestras in a tenuous position. - Ludwig Van
Both works were written in 1970, and both gained acclaim well beyond the tiny circles of new classical music at the time. One of them led to the birth of the Kronos Quartet, perhaps the first group to start making contemporary art music cool again. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
At its best, Spotify is an elegant tool—a conduit between artist and art and listener. But at its worst, it’s a bad actor in a worse industry that historically treats artists miserably. - The Atlantic
In a 1983 interview that has resurfaced, the then-92-year-old Effie Wisdom remembers how the dirt-poor, parentless London child (his father ran away with a chorus girl, his mother had a breakdown) used to steal eggs and wear rags until her aunt took him in. - The Guardian
Gina Duncan, who previously served as BAM’s first vice president of film and strategic programming, has been selected as the organization’s new president, the institution announced. She will take over a multifaceted performing arts behemoth with a $50 million operating budget. - The New York Times
Karen Brooks Hopkins came to BAM in 1979, became its president 20 years later, and retired in 2015, having more than doubled the artistic budget, added a venue, built a $100 million endowment, and presented some of the most important work of the late 20th century. - The New York Times
It was as if the infotainment center had decided to team up with the ghost of HAL. You remember that malfunctioning, soft-spoken and ultimately sinister artificial intelligence computer from “2001: A Space Odyssey”? - Seattle Times
It was not an object of veneration, it was not meant for public display, and it wasn't considered valuable in its day except to craftsmen. (If it were, it would probably have been destroyed in the wave of iconoclasm after the death of Nefertiti's husband, Akhenaten.) - Aeon
For much of the past century in Ukraine, Russian has taken precedence over Ukrainian, even in the post-Soviet period. These days one hears more and more Ukrainian in the streets, especially among young adults. even in Kyiv and the Russophone stronghold of Kharkiv. - MSN (The Washington Post)
The originals were mostly published as serials in Yiddish newspapers and never made it into bound volumes in any language until now. Says one scholar, "This literature has been hiding in plain sight, but we all assumed it wasn't there." - The New York Times
"Four hundred volunteers working for up to 72 hours as 'field cast participants' during this weekend's Super Bowl LVI halftime show will be paid $15 per hour" — minimum wage, for one of the most lucrative annual sports events in the world. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
"The definition of success (is) more slippery than ever. Gone are the days when box office is the only metric; streamers calculate their investments not based on conventional monetary returns, but in gaining and retaining subscribers." And some nominees simply don't fit within the art-pop binary. - MSN (The Washington Post)
The Chinese streaming giant Tencent had — to much criticism and mockery — removed the final scene, in which buildings explode as an anarchist revolution starts, and replaced it with a title card saying that the authorities had foiled the plot and sent Tyler Durden to an insane asylum. - The Hollywood Reporter
Don't panic: this school isn't connected with the St. Petersburg company now known as the Mariinsky, although its first directors came from there and aimed to reproduce its teaching methods. This Kirov Academy, in DC, was founded by none other than Rev. Sun Myung Moon. - The New York Times
