“The apparent result of such fluidity is that these young professionals work in technology, do research, and make art, seemingly moving from one to the other without any angst or difficulty. Contrast this with my generation of practitioners, who merely struggled with how to make a living as an artist.”
Whatever Happened To Philip Glass’s Plans For A Big Cultural Center In Big Sur?
Glass’s concept of a Center is to “gather the world’s leaders in the fields of art, science, and the environment for a broad array of interdisciplinary activities including performances, seminars, and education programs that inspire and motivate the public to become engaged with matters vital to the future of the natural environment and the quality of human existence.”
Andris Nelsons Talks Shostakovich, The Boston Symphony, And New American Music
“Some composers are more interested in composition itself, just to find a different technique, which is also interesting, but [I want to know] how does it express what’s happening in life? Contemporary music, in that sense, to me is very important.”
Rapper Phife Dawg, 45
“Malik Taylor, the rapper known as Phife Dawg whose nimble, clever rhymes helped launch A Tribe Called Quest to both commercial and critical success, died Tuesday at the age of 45 from complications resulting from diabetes. Rolling Stone has confirmed the rapper’s death.”
Charity Bookstores Beg: Please Stop Bringing Us ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’!
“With almost enough copies of Fifty Shades of Grey to build its own sex dungeon, a branch of Oxfam in Swansea has asked people to stop donating the erotic novel or any of its sequels.”
Theatre Today Is Too Safe And Too Middle-Aged, Says David Hare
“The idea of a pioneering, cutting-edge avant-garde, I am afraid, has more or less completely disappeared from the British theatre, and now you just have every artistic director with his or her eye on the box office, because that is the mood of the times.”
NPR Sends Reporters To ‘Trump Training,’ Because Trump Rallies Can Be Dangerous
“[The radio network] has sent its political reporters to 90-minute hostile-environment awareness training, which in its typical form lasts a few days and prepares journalists for covering war zones or regions where terrorists are active.”
Multimedia, $5 Seats, Free-Form Season – PONY Is Upending The Way Orchestras Operate
New York’s newest orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra of New York (PONY), is commissioning new films to accompany its music, using drone cameras to show the audience the musicians in action, keeping ticket prices low ($5 to $40), and working from project to project without a season announced in advance. Can they make it work? (first four paragraphs, then scroll to 23rd paragraph)
Canadian Culture Shift: National Theatre To Add Indigenous Theatre Company
“In 2019, the National Arts Center will launch a new Indigenous Theatre – a department devoted to indigenous performing arts that is intended to be an equal to the arts centre’s long-established English and French Theatre companies.”
Why Our Minds Wander (Does It Matter?)
“Many philosophical and religious traditions teach that happiness is to be found by living in the moment, and practitioners are trained to resist mind wandering and ‘to be here now.’ These traditions suggest that a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Are they right?”
Appeals Court Upholds Alberto Vilar’s Prison Term But Cancels Fines
“A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday ruled that a federal judge was justified in increasing the prison sentence of money manager and arts patron Alberto Vilar to 10 years in prison from nine for securities fraud. But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York vacated the $10 million in fines imposed on Vilar and Gary Tanaka, his business partner at the now-defunct Amerindo Investment Advisers Inc.”
Nora Ephron, Who Took The T Out Of ‘TMI’, And The One Secret She Kept
Why did the “consummate over-sharer” tell almost no one about the illness that ultimately killed her? The key, suggests her son, may lie in one of her favorite quips: “When you slip on a banana peel, people laugh at you. But when you tell people you slipped on a banana peel, it’s your laugh.”
Malaysia Bans LGBT Rights Comedy For ‘Mocking National Security’
“Namewee’s film Banglasia, which centers on a group of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds who find themselves forced to accept each other’s differences, was banned from cinemas last year after 31 scenes were deemed inappropriate by local censors.”
Singing Bel Canto Requires ‘Living Like A Nun,’ Says Sondra Radvanovsky
“I don’t want to cancel a show, because people have paid to come hear me sing the three queens. So … I wash my hands constantly; they’re raw from washing. I’m going to the gym and really taking care of myself and trying to stay fit, eating properly. Anything I can do.”
‘The Situation Looks Bleak, But It Need Not Be Terminal’ At English National Opera
Charlotte Higgins: “For many years now, ENO has been a paradoxical place. It has had a superb orchestra and chorus, the best technical team in Britain, and has produced artistically brilliant work. This is true even now, as everything seems in a state of disintegration, with its productions of The Magic Flute and Akhnaten.”
Theatre As Activism – Can It Really Have An Effect?
“There is a long history of performance as activism, from the street interventions of Bread and Puppet Theater to the secret shows of Belarus Free Theatre … But can we really expect even the most urgent and rage-fuelled piece of theatre to have audiences rushing to man the barricades and topple governments? … Do such shows do anything but preach to the converted?” (Maybe.)
UK Government Publishes First Culture White Paper In 51 Years
“Ed Vaizey, the UK culture minister, has published his White Paper. This is the first such governmental policy statement on culture since that of Jennie Lee, the Labour arts minister, in 1965. The Culture White Paper announces the establishment of detailed reviews of museums, arts and heritage.”
Cliburn Winner’s Wife Pleads Not Guilty To Murder Of Their Children
Based on further details of the crime released by the police, Sofya Tsygankova – the estranged wife of pianist Vadym Kholodenko – will presumably use an insanity defense.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.23.16
A Closer Look At Max Hollein, New Director in San Francisco
Yesterday the trustees of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco announced that they had selected Max Hollein, currently director of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, as their new chief. I’d say that was a good … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-03-23
Fine with Hollein: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Snare an International Standout as Director
The last time I interviewed Max Hollein, 46, who has just been named to become the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s new director (effective June 1), he was in New York for the November … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-03-23
Snapshot: Pilobolus’ Walklyndon
Pilobolus Dance Theater performs an excerpt from Walklyndon, choreographed in 1971 by Robby Barnett, Lee Harris, Moses Pendleton, and Jonathan Wolken. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-03-23
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How Science Profoundly Influenced Modern Art
“Scientists further confirmed that the laws of nature, such as the force of gravity and the speed of light, are symmetrical in the sense that they apply equally throughout the Universe. These discoveries found widespread application, even inspiring some artists to create iconic expressions of nature’s symmetry in their art.”
Shakespeare’s Globe Winds Up Its ‘Hamlet’ World Tour
“Along the way, the mostly young, multicultural cast has endured the usual inconveniences of life on the road, including visa problems, lost luggage and endless takeout food. But they have also performed during a riot, encountered racially charged comments from audiences and narrowly missed the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.”