His easy stage presence, comic timing and small but perfectly formed voice (combining lightly-sprung agility with a distinctive sweetness of tone), were ideal for what became his signature role, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. He was widely admired as well for his Mozart and bel canto roles. - Presto Music
CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism. - The New Yorker
With open letters and festival speeches referencing Gaza, the Trump administration, the Ukraine war, and #MeToo in France’s film industry, an event which used to make a point of avoiding politics in favor of cinema for its own sake “appears to be storming the barricades.” - The Hollywood Reporter
In other words, positive music increased the likelihood of recalling stories with added positive elements, and negative music increased the likelihood of negative elaborations. - PsyPost
Australia’s largest performing arts company confirmed its Sydney winter season and its much-hyped run of Sunset Boulevard failed to meet box office forecasts but it had sold out its summer season off the back of La Traviata and The Magic Flute. - Sydney Morning Herald
British historians were able to verify the document’s true authenticity after an academic stumbled across the item while looking through Harvard Law School’s online archives. - CNN
Unsurprisingly, considering his decades with New York experimental-theater legends the Wooster Group (which will perform at the Biennale), Dafoe is focusing on the avant-garde, with work by directors Thomas Ostermeier and Milo Rau. Says Dafoe, “Some of these pieces will sail, some won’t. What’s important is people talking about stuff.” - The Guardian
In L.A. he has a venue like no other in Disney Hall. The L.A. Phil is an orchestra more flexible than any other, and in L.A. Salonen has benefited from daring administrations able to afford Salonen’s effort to create an orchestra for a new era — a promise the San Francisco Symphony couldn’t, or wouldn’t, deliver. - Los Angeles...
Specifically, the bill, HB 1375, authored by state Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, would hold bookstores legally liable for the "distribution, transmission, or display of harmful material to a minor." - WFAA
Used-book stores or vintage-record shops, where hidden gems lurk like geodes waiting to be split open, play a role, too. Such venues don’t just preserve art; they bring enthusiasts together, spark conversations and cultivate new audiences. - The New York Times
“A jury found Hadi Matar, 27, guilty of attempted murder and assault in February. … Matar received the maximum 25-year sentence for the (stabbing) of Rushdie and seven years for wounding a man who was on stage with him. The sentences must run concurrently because both victims were injured in the same event.” - AP
When students, and school boards, ask, Why history? What are we supposed to be getting out of this? the best answer is still that one word: judgment. We demand it of all professionals: doctors, lawyers, chefs, and quarterbacks. And we need it most in the profession of citizen.
That might seem like an obvious rule for voters of any award: View the works you’re judging. But when I recently spoke with several Academy members about the new condition, the lack of consensus about how to judge a movie was striking. - The Atlantic
Among those amendments, buried on page 380 of the draft, is a section that would enable Trump’s secretary of the Treasury to denounce any nonprofit as a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip it of its tax-exempt status. - The Intercept
“It was 5:45 pm on Friday, May 2, when Megan Kiskaddon, executive director of Seattle’s On the Boards, learned that the grant for that night’s performance had been rescinded. … The National Endowment for the Arts was now taking back the $20,000 they’d pledged for the co-commission.” - Dance Magazine
