In assembling this list, critic Alexandra Coghlan made it a point to avoid the names that always come up (Hildegard of Bingen, Clara Schumann, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre), but ranged from 9th-century Byzantium to 17th-century Milan (a nun, no less) to the Depression-era U.S. (includes sound clips)
The United States Government Wants Its Art Back – And Here’s How It’s Getting It
Of the hundreds of thousands of artworks created under the WPA’s programs during the Depression, a surprising number have gone missing (or at least have been lost track of). Matthew Blitz meets the Special Agent charged with tracking that art down.
Ancient Black Granite Statues Of Amenhotep III And Lion Goddess Unearthed At Luxor
The sculpture of the pharaoh is just over eight feet tall, two feet wide, almost 3½ feet deep, and very well preserved, and there are dozens of fragments of statues of the goddess Sekhmet. (in English)
Misha Mengelberg, 81, Pioneering Pianist Of Europe’s Jazz Boom
“[He] was one of the most creative jazz pianists to emerge in the first phase of Europe’s breakaway from American jazz styles in the 1960s … However, he was soon exposing those materials to creative pressures from non-jazz radicals including John Cage and the interdisciplinary experiments being pursued in the US and Europe by futurists, dadaists, and the 1950s Fluxus artists.”
Dave Valentin, 64, Leading Flutist Of Latin Jazz And World Music
“[He] was celebrated in Latin-jazz circles for more than 40 years, initially as a byproduct of his cultural foundation as a Bronx-born Puerto Rican. But he was wary of being typecast, preferring to describe himself as a ‘world artist,’ and playing … a Peruvian bamboo bass flute, a Romanian pan flute, Bolivian pan pipes, and various other kinds of flute from around the world, typically traveling with more than a dozen varieties.”
Indie Bookstore In Detroit Sees Its Facebook Page Suddenly Deleted, Evidently At Swedish Conglomerate’s Request
Simon Reichley tells the odd story of The Book Beat in Oak Park, how its Facebook page and all the content on it disappeared without warning, and how the page was restored.
American TV Shows Are Losing Their Allure In Europe
“We are seeing that American series have become more niche and thus less attractive for our big free-to-air networks. Viewers, particularly younger viewers, are more likely to watch U.S. series on a digital platform or online.”
Website Aiming To Be The Rotten Tomatoes Of Theatre Raises $2 Million
The new funds, ponied up by a group that includes Hollywood veteran Gail Berman and Gilt Groupe and Business Insider founder Kevin Ryan, will go in part toward expanding Show-Score’s activities beyond New York to markets that have expressed interest in the site, both in the U.S. and in London. The money also will help sustain exploratory efforts at what Show-Score founder Tom Melcher calls “harnessing the story of the audience’s reaction to theater,” including fan art, Instagram posts, videos and photography.
Why A Bronze Statue Of A Girl Is Standing In Front Of Wall Street’s Rampaging Bull
“The temporary statue — named “Fearless Girl” and placed overnight Monday by McCann New York advertising agency and its client, Boston-based State Street Global Advisors — may be a stunt to draw attention to the index fund giant’s campaign to get more women into board roles against the backdrop of International Women’s Day and the anniversary of the launch of an exchange-traded fund that tracks companies that have higher levels of gender diversity in its leadership.”
Art Is Getting Very Political. So Where’s The Beauty?
“At a time when humanity faces real existential threats, a lack of purely beautiful contemporary artworks may not be a foremost concern. But I wonder what future generations will think when they look back at what was made in 2016, 2017 and in the remainder of this administration. Will they be inspired and taken? Or will they simply laugh at all the gold?”
Berlin’s New Gehry-Designed Boulez Hall: Music Of Intimacy And For Thinking
Frank Gehry’s oval design, with no stage, merely a center, genuinely seems to open up, in the spirit of Boulez’s long-held desire for a flexible salle modulable, the possibility of the “thinking ear”: to engage, to reflect, to make itself part of the performance. The greatest possible distance between the conductor and the most distant member of the audience (682 seats in total) is just 14 meters. There is intimacy—the intimacy, its initiators hope, of collaborative endeavor.
SXSW Says It Will Amend Its Artist “Deportation” Contract Clause
Following an avalanche of criticism over what some bands said was a “deportation clause” in its performance contract, the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Tex., which starts Friday, released a statement on Tuesday saying that it would amend its agreements starting in 2018. The organizers of the festival, however, furiously denied that the language in its contracts over the past five years had been designed to encourage the deportation of foreign artists visiting the United States to perform at its event.
The Live-Action ‘Beauty And The Beast’ – Inside Disney’s $300 Million Gamble
“Why did Disney decide that modernizing [the beloved animated film] was a risk worth taking? … Some people see a cynical money grab, a way to keep those theme park turnstiles clicking and little girls begging their parents for princess gowns. But the answer is actually a lot more complex.” Brooks Barnes investigates.
The Louvre’s Vermeer Show Is A Chaotic Mess
Demand so high it crashed the ticketing website. Frustrated crowds queued up for hours past their scheduled viewing time – which they can arrange only after tickets have been purchased. Angry patrons treating innocent security staff so badly that the latter are threatening to strike. But a Louvre spokesperson says, “We should be happy to see that crowds can also show up for an Old Masters exhibition, and not just for contemporary shows.” (Yes, what a surprise that must have been for the museum that houses the Mona Lisa.)
Did Peter Gelb Fire Jonas Kaufmann From The Met’s New ‘Tosca’ Next Season?
Two weeks after the Metropolitan Opera announced its 2017-18 season, including a big new production of Tosca headlined by Kaufmann, the tenor revealed that he had withdrawn from the project. However, tucked deep in this article by Michael Cooper about Kaufmann’s frequent cancellations is a quote from Met general manager Peter Gelb which implies that he made Kaufmann’s withdrawal more complete than Kaufmann himself had wished.
Architect Of Dubai’s Next Big Landmark Says His Work Has Been Stolen
Fernando Donis, a former associate of Rem Koolhaas at OMA (the CCTV headquarters in Beijing is his design), had hoped that the new Dubai Frame, which he won an international competition to design, would be his grand debut under his own name. Instead, he maintains, the emirate has stolen his copyright and frozen him out of the project.
Are Things Finally Getting Better For Women In The Art World?
“A number of high-profile institutions are actively attempting to redress gender disparity in their collections, exhibitions, and leadership. On International Women’s Day, we celebrate a few of the most noteworthy recent initiatives around the world.”
A Photo Journal From Inside Africa’s Leading Ballet Company
Principal dancer Shannon Glover takes a photographer backstage at Johannesburg Ballet.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.08.17
Imagining a bright future
Suppose in 10 years all problems that orchestras have will be solved! Suppose that orchestras have a vibrant young audience, that people all over the country are talking about what orchestras do. Suppose … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2017-03-08
Report: In London, Gentrification Threatens Cultural Vitality
The report “notes that although the vast majority of visitors to the capital reportedly come because of ‘culture and heritage’, 35% of London’s grassroots music venues closed from 2007-2015 and 3,500 artists are likely to lose their places of work by 2019. It argues that rising rents ultimately price people out of areas and cause tension between old and new resident communities, and that the resulting marginalisation of certain groups adds to a homogenisation of residents and culture in the area.”
Rebuild Palmyra? Well, First We Have To Have A Conversation About What The Point Of It Is
“Historic restoration should not simply recreate what has been lost. Instead, it could deepen engagement with history and increase concern for the preservation of artefacts. A broader understanding of cultural heritage presses beyond the mere celebration of ancient objects to a more critical awareness of our connection with history. The aim of historic restoration is not to recover material authenticity, but to restore our relationship with the past.”
Kurt Moll, 78, One Of 20th Century’s Great Bass Voices
“[He] was an imposing presence in any opera house; his height appeared greater than the 6ft 2in he claimed, his voice sounded deeper than the booming basso profundo he was billed as, and his personality exuded warmth and charm both on stage and off.”