Mat George’s "humorous takes often drew widespread attention on Twitter. Last week, he shared a photo of his mother and Snoop Dogg." - The New York Times
"Will Shortz's stature in the crossword world is difficult to overstate. Observers, like the Kremlinologists of yore, speak of the 'Shortzian' and 'pre-Shortzian' eras." (He is also an absolute demon at table tennis.) - The Guardian
After an impressive but short dancing career (he never fully recovered from an early knee injury), he and his wife founded the Briansky Saratoga Ballet Center in upstate New York and developed it into one of the leading summer dance academies in the U.S. - The New York Times
"Boltanski's installations often make grand statements about death, particularly as it relates to the Holocaust, World War II, and the lingering effects of these events on Europe. … At times, these cold works bore out some relationship to Boltanski's own complicated biography." - ARTnews
For 40 years, he and his resourceful company, Pocket Opera, used young singers, small instrumental groups, and librettos in English to bring unfamiliar works to thousands of new audience members. His dozens of libretto translations are still in use all over the globe. - San Francisco Classical Voice
"Weaving elements of pop, jazz, blues and rock into an old-timey approach to his instrument, Mr. Berline contributed instrumentals" to recordings by Bob Dylan, The Band, and The Rolling Stones. Yet "he was considered a musical visionary in his own right" as well. - The New York Times
Lloyd Webber — who redefined musical theater with shows like “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats,” and served for years in the House of Lords — has been harassing Britain’s conservative government. - The New York Times
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
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
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
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
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
"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
