It turns out that Cecily Chaumpaigne, believed to have been the victim of Chaucer's alleged attack, was on the same side as Chaucer in the legal case at hand: they were both defendants in a lawsuit by Chaumpaigne's former employer, whom she left to work for Chaucer. - The New York Times
Few American magazine editors of the 20th century can match. Like Harold Ross of the New Yorker, Henry Luce of Time, Life, and Fortune, Clay Felker of New York, he conceived a hugely successful magazine ex nihilo, to satisfy a public appetite whose potential he alone saw and monetized. - Free Beacon
The arts figures included in this year's class of winners are visual artists Paul Chan and Tavares Strachan; musician/scholar Martha Gonzalez; film/video artist Sly Hopinka; novelist/journalist Kiese Laymon; percussionist and electronic music composer Ikue Mori; jazz cellist Tomeka Reed; and architect Amanda Williams. - NPR
Lansbury’s ability to be both broad and subtle, larger than life yet unmistakably human, was indispensable in introducing the world to “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” - Los Angeles Times
"(He was) a pioneer, using free-spirited compositional techniques that left much to chance, incorporating ... traditional Japanese elements and instruments but also electronic music. He was known for collaborations that defied the boundaries of genres, working with Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham, as well as innovative Japanese artists ... (including) Ono." - AP
"It's the eternal problem where you make a deep, instinctual connection with something ... but then you move through it, you put it out there, ... and then we go through this process where somehow the person that it's moved through has to make sense of it." - The New York Times Magazine
Lansbury was the winner of five Tony Awards for her starring performances on the New York stage, from “Mame” in 1966 to “Blithe Spirit” in 2009, when she was 83, a testament to her extraordinary stamina. Yet she appeared on Broadway only from time to time over a seven-decade career. - The New York Times
"Pop art was just emerging and Bengston spoke its language well with his simple, aesthetically direct and repetitive motifs. His shiny, heavily lacquered surfaces also earned him associations with 'finish fetish.' But it was his flamboyant personality ... that came to define him." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
Starting at a time when American journalism about the visual arts was strictly by critics, she treated it as a news beat, writing more than 3,000 articles for The New York Times — where she also helped lead a landmark gender discrimination lawsuit against the paper. - ARTnews
Locke, who died after performing at the Crazy Horse Memorial, once said, "I have been able to teach countless Indian and non-Indian children to sing, to dance, to stand inside the hoop of Indian culture, and I know that this experience will have lasting influence." - The New York Times
"During the dozen years he led the orchestra, Hatton created its annual Young Artist Concerto Competition, and showcased at least one work by a living Northwest composer each season — a commitment ... every orchestra and classical ensemble in Oregon adopt." - Oregon ArtsWatch
Finke, the founder of the site Deadline, was "a tenacious journalist who revolutionized entertainment reporting." She "placed a singularly unforgiving spotlight on the studio executives and high-powered agents who make the industry run" instead of fawning over celebrities. - Variety
Ilya Silchukou was the "lead soloist at the State Opera Bolshoi who represented his nation at official government functions at home and abroad and performed at opera houses across Europe." Now, after speaking out against Belorus' leader, he teaches middle-school music in Boston. - Seattle Times (AP)
Dabney was 16 when she joined Dance Theater of Harlem. She gained fame in the title role of the company’s 1982 production of Stravinsky’s Firebird. In that role, she contributed thawing cultural relations between the USSR and US, and later inspired Misty Copeland. - The New York Times
Of course, I understand that it is important. But I never said, “I’m a woman, but I will try to do this.” I just said I’m going to be a conductor, because it is burning within me. If a person has a talent for conducting, if a person has something to say, that’s what matters. - ArtsATL
