It is no secret that in contemporary America there are many people who hardly read at all, and then another sizable group who, though they keep up with news, sports and the latest fads in self-care or technology, have little interest in serious fiction, poetry or literary commentary. It would be wrong to say such people hate literature, for one has to care about something to truly hate it. – The Point
Michou, ‘Blue Prince Of Montmartre’ And Paris Nightlife Legend, Dead At 88
Never seen wearing any color but blue and never drinking water when champagne was available, the impresario born Michel Catty introduced the modern drag show to France in the 1950s with the tiny cabaret Chez Michou, where he and his “Michettes” became a Parisian institution. – Yahoo! (AFP)
10,000 Photos Of Alvin Ailey Company Are Now Online
The digitized collection includes 8,288 black-and-white negatives, 2,106 color slides and transparencies, and 339 black-and-white prints depicting the repertory of Alvin Ailey, choreographers, and iconic solo performers the company is known for. Acquired in 2013, the collection is jointly owned by the National Museum of African American History and Culture and Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation. – Hyperallergic
America’s New Space Force Logo Seems To Have Been Modeled On Star Trek
The striking resemblance left many critics as stunned as though they had been zapped by Captain Kirk’s phaser. But others online insisted the logo was really based on the US Air Force One. – BBC
So What Is Grime Ballet?
Artistic director Whitley, who has worked with the Royal Ballet and performing arts company Saddler’s Wells, suggests there are “a lot of assumptions” that go with words like grime and ballet and the types of people involved in each. – BBC
The Dark Cloud Hanging Over The Grammys
For music fans, tracking such a harrowing volley of allegations and denials feels equal parts absurd and sad (especially arriving, as it has, in the midst of a Presidential impeachment trial that mirrors its rhythms). The debacle at the Academy distracts, in a dispiriting way, from the artists being honored. – The New Yorker
Paris Opera Dancers End Strike
Dancers and musicians have been striking alongside public sector workers to oppose the government’s plan to scrap more than 40 separate pension schemes and replace them with a single points-based system. More than 70 shows have been cancelled since December at a loss of nearly 15 million euros ($16.5 million) — greater than the state’s annual contribution to the Opera pension fund. – France24
How Artificial Intelligence Is Taking Over Music
At CES 2020, Samsung introduced Neon, an AI-based companion that is being developed to be indistinguishable from a human companion. AI models are composing at a pretty high level right now. It won’t be long before most production music (background music, music for breaks in and out of segments, and other utility music) will be fully produced by AI. We’re only moments away from synthetic artists and superstars. We’re only a few months (maybe a year or two) away from completely artificial artists (not virtual, artificial — see Neon above). – Shelly Palmer
Fort Worth Opera’s General Director Walks Out
Tuomas Hiltunen, the former top administrator at the Barenboim-Said Foundation who came to Fort Worth Opera after Darren Woods was fired in 2017, resigned last week, saying only that he and the company’s Board of Trustees had “different visions of the direction and goals of the company.” The Board’s announcement cited Hiltunen’s reduction in expenditures and said, “As we move forward, our top priority is, and always has been, ensuring that the financial health of the company is secure for decades to come.” – KERA (Dallas)
Alicia Keys Didn’t Just Host The Grammys, She Made A Clear Reference To Issues In The Industry
Keys was not playing the “sweep this mess under carpet for the awards show” game: “I’t’s a new decade,’ she said. ‘It’s time for newness. And we refuse the negative energy. We refuse the old systems. You feel me on that?’ … ‘We want to be respected and safe in our diversity,’ Keys continued. ‘We want to be shifting to realness and inclusivity.'” – The New York Times
The Best Opera For Newbies, And Other Opera Questions
Tom Huizenga explains opera to NPR listeners: “It’s one of the most complicated art forms because, if you think about it: you’ve got drama, you’ve got music, you’ve got singing, you’ve got costumes, you’ve got lighting, you’ve got ballet sometimes. You’ve got all kinds of stagecraft. When all the cylinders are firing, it can be mind-blowing. But for me, it ends up being all about the voice. They’ve got to do it without a microphone, over the top of an orchestra, and they’ve got to project that voice, even if it’s soft, way up to the nose-bleed seats.” – NPR
Is There Anything Steve McQueen – Turner Winner, Oscar Winner, Recent Knighthood Recipient – Can’t Do?
He’s not a big fan of artistic cowardice. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s all about the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. End of. To get to that, you have to go in close, uncover what’s been hidden or covered over. Obviously, the easy thing is not to go there, but I have a need to go there.” – The Guardian (UK)
Sam Mendes Wins The Directors’ Guild Award For ‘1917’
Can any other film win the Oscar? Doubtful. “The strongest best-picture spoiler is likely Parasite, the South Korean thriller that prevailed at the Screen Actors Guild Awards this month and could become the first film not in the English language to win the top Oscar. Still, with the momentum of the PGA and DGA prizes, 1917 will be tough to beat.” – The New York Times
How Britain Could Rescue Its Arts, And Arts Funding, From ‘Perennial Elitism’
A couple of ideas: Give more to regions, and have the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera tour the entire nation. – The Guardian (UK)
Dear Met: Please Create A Series Of Concert Performances
This series of unstaged performances of Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust was an accident – they were meant to be seven fully-staged performances. But what a happy accident, and what the Met could learn from the experience: “Rameau, Lully, Vivaldi: The glory of early music could finally ring at the Met without the pressure and expense of full stagings. Ditto Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise, a late-20th-century classic still unheard in this city.” – The New York Times
A Grammy Sweep For 18-Year-Old Billie Eilish (And Here Are The Rest Of The Winners Too)
Eilish, whose 22-year-old brother produced her album (and who won Producer of the Year), won Best Song, Best Record, Best Album, and Best Artist. Dudamel and the LA Phil won a Grammy; Jennifer Higdon won a Grammy; Joyce DiDonato won a Grammy … the entire list is at the link. – Los Angeles Times
The Paris Opera Opens Again (Perhaps Briefly) After Weeks Of Strikes
Public sector workers, dancers, and musicians have been on strike since December, with cancellations costing the Paris Opera nearly 15 million euros. But Saturday night, the production of Tales of Hoffman went up. “‘To preserve the economic integrity of the Opera, we have made the decision to go ahead with the performance this evening, but we remain mobilised for the withdrawal of this bill,’ said a union representative at the start of the performance, in a statement recorded by a spectator and posted on Twitter.” – France24
One Massive Problem With Blockbuster Art Shows
They create, sustain, and promote inequality – and a lack of public funding is increasing the issue. “The trend of putting on safer exhibitions by established artists to guarantee high visitor numbers and offset a decline in state funding could make it even harder for experimental and minority artists to break through.” – The Observer (UK)