“L.A. became the place that let him try just about anything. … Here is where he's been able to experiment ..., not just with the support of the orchestra but also the community. He became a symbol for an L.A. in which, as with YOLA, anything is possible.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
“Chuck Redd hosted and performed at the Kennedy Center’s annual Christmas Eve concerts for years, but bowed out of last December’s planned gig, citing ‘the defiant and illegal name change happening to the Kennedy Center.’ (Management) subsequently sued Redd for breach of contract, only to have the suit thrown out in June.” - Variety
The drama which nearly derailed the company began in April 2024, when the company members voted to unionize and the then-executive director fired them en masse. That boss has now retired, the dismissed dancers moved on, and their successors — with no resistance from management — have joined AGMA. - The Dallas Morning News (MSN)
Cell phones are the least of it. Yes, of course they occasionally find people having sex in the auditorium or restrooms, but they've encountered things even worse. - The Guardian
Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) stands a good chance of winning a majority in the state legislature of Saxony-Anhalt, home to the birthplaces of Martin Luther and George Frideric Handel as well as the Bauhaus. The latter is a particular target of AfD, which says it will refuse to fund “anti-German art.” - Deutsche Welle
The American public responded with an outpouring of support—contributing a jaw-dropping $290 million in new revenue. Now, we have the research to understand why that happened and, more importantly, how we turn this historic moment into a permanent foundation for public media’s future. - Greater Public
Generalising comes so naturally that few of us are at any risk of undergeneralising, so we give it little thought. The focus on overgeneralising is understandable given its potential costs, such as the child assuming that a dangerous dog is just like the friendly dogs they’ve encountered to date. - Aeon
Though elite colleges profess a faith in meritocracy and insist that they are engines of class mobility, in practice they reward the already rewarded. - The Nation
After having memory issues while rehearsing a production at Chichester Festival Theatre earlier this year, the revered star is stepping away from full-scale work. She will continue giving performances of a two-person show which she’s been doing for many years and will do a short Beckett play next year. - The Times (UK)
It is not a good look to say the least, for a billionaire museum founder to be hustling for visitors’ money. Why would Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, a successful executive in her own right who runs a large investment company, ask for any support beyond admission? - The Art Newspaper
The orchestra’s audiences have diminished sharply since Trump took over the Kennedy Center. Those righteous liberals who think they are somehow striking back at Bad Orange Man by staying away are actually only hurting the musicians and other artists for whom the Center is a lifeline. - DC Citycast
The very act of conducting—waving a wand to summon ravishing or ethereal or earsplitting sounds—can look like either inexplicable magic or embarrassing nonsense, a kind of tuxedoed air guitar. - The Atlantic
The composer’s handwritten score of his Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”) was donated to the Cleveland Orchestra a few years ago, a gift which brought Welser-Möst, the organization’s longtime music director, to tears. He leads a reporter (and readers) through three pages of the manuscript which he finds especially fascinating. - The New York Times
Spotify will begin labeling AI-generated artists with “AI Persona” profile tags and ban their music from its editorial and algorithmic recommendations, the company announced on Tuesday. - TechCrunch
