Rebecca Lentjes: “You might think I would be getting disgruntled input from women composers who felt they deserved to be placed on the list, but every single negative message I have gotten has been from a man.”
The 25 Best Films Of The 21st Century – So Far (Per The New York Times)
Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott: “We are now approximately one-sixth of the way through the 21st century, and thousands of movies have already been released. Which means that it’s high time for the sorting – and the fighting – to start. … While we’re sure almost everyone will agree with our choices, we’re equally sure that those of you who don’t will let us know.”
Lost Caravaggio Portrait Of Leonardo Da Vinci Turns Up In Vegas, Says Report (Or Is It Fake News?)
“News of the painting arrives exclusively from a press release issued by an organization called News Press International (NPI), which also shared a video recap of the gallery event. … The only expert involved in this case who is identified is Curtis Dowling, an art forgery investigator. Perhaps you know him as host of CNBC’s reality TV series Treasure Detectives.”
National Museum Of American Jewish History Lays Off Nearly One-Quarter Of Its Staff
“The institution, which opened a $150 million building on Independence Mall in 2010, laid off 12 staff members outright on Friday. Other positions, now empty, will not be filled; others will be made part-time or consolidated. All told, 18 of the museum’s 50 full-time staff positions will be eliminated.”
Actress Glenne Headly Dead At 62
“[Her] acting career took shape at the renowned Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago and found its biggest audience in Hollywood with films like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Dick Tracy … [She] moved easily from comedy to drama and from stage to screen. Not often cast in lead roles, she played her parts with a subtle, scene-stealing panache.”
Alain Trudel Named Music Director Of Toledo Symphony
“The Toledo Symphony Orchestra named noted Canadian conductor-composer Alain Trudel as its new Music Director this morning, less than a month after its last maestro, Stefan Sanderling, officially vacated the position.”
L.A. Wants More Shows To Return To Shooting In Town
And the move is designed for short video productions: “In a move designed to encourage more local production of short-form online videos created by sites such as Buzzfeed and Funny or Die, the city of Los Angeles is lowering the cost of film permits for these kinds of productions as part of a new pilot program scheduled to roll out later this year.”
One Way To Address The Gender Discrepancy Behind The Cameras In Hollywood
“When Zoe Lister-Jones decided to direct her first movie, ‘Band Aid,’ she embraced her power as the director-producer and focused on results instead of promises. She hired an all-female crew, from the cinematographer to the boom operator to the grip.”
Can A Tweet Record A Sound?
Audio or it didn’t happen? “A loud bell rings. Its waveforms are so thick it’s as if you can see them floating in the misty San Francisco air. The bell is all stately gravitas. Even if you didn’t know that the nearby school is parochial, you’d sense the bell’s churchly vibe. And then, suddenly, there is silence: Recess has concluded. The bell has marked a juncture.”
Taking Seriously The Art And Culture Of Berlin’s Roma Population
The Roma in Europe number about 12 million, the largest ethnic minority in Europe – and after generations of working on it, they’re getting their own institute for arts and culture.
This Is The Poet Who Won One Of The World’s Richest Poetry Prizes
Alice Oswald, a British poet who won the International Griffin poetry prize for her collection Falling Awake, said, “Most of my favourite poets (both dead and alive) have never won prizes. However, in the spirit of carnival, it’s important for all people to wear a crown and ride on a float for a day – as long as they don’t turn up for work in it.”
Will 19th Century European Art Ever Regain Its Popularity?
Maybe not. Sorry, Jean-Léon Gérôme. “‘The issue is that this period is just not sexy any more,’ said Wendy Goldsmith, an art adviser based in London, who was formerly the international head of 19th-century European art at Christie’s. ‘So many collectors have moved through Impressionism and now over to contemporary.'”
The Dungeonmaster In The Running At The Tonys
When the playwright J.T. Rogers (of Oslo fame) hangs out with his son, this is exclusive narrative he spins: “His characters, a dwarven king, a 12-foot-tall mountain giant and a half-elven chef, were not interested in brokering peace; they and their army were a bloodthirsty lot, with dwindling food stores, hellbent on conquering a nearby population of gnomes.”
Yes, Occupy Wall Street Has A Literary Legacy
Sure, some nonfiction addresses the impact of Occupy (remember “the 99%”?), but there is also fiction, poetry, and more that describes, pictures, and sums up the legacy (at least so far) of the very large social movement.
Nero Rock Opera Is Not So Welcome In Rome
So state officials allowed a 3,000-person theatre to be constructed smack dab in the middle of one of Rome’s main archaeological sites so the opera could run this summer. “This may not be the first grave abuse perpetuated against Rome’s monuments, but it is certainly the most serious.”
Will ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Clean Up At Tonys?
Peter Marks of Washington, DC: “It comes down to the two shows with Washington pedigrees, both of which I feel great affection for. They’re both exciting, superbly staged and have powerful emotional cores. ‘Come From Away’ is a heartbreaking production about an extraordinary incident; ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ is an extraordinary production about a heartbreaking incident. In the end, the more award-worthy achievement is the show that wrecked me more.”
This Year’s Cannes Was Deeply Conflicted About Art And Technology
“Every year it’s getting more and more intense, and that’s in part because companies such as Netflix and Amazon are part of the Cannes machine, so to speak. They’re financing, producing, distributing films, often with an eye to getting them to Cannes. So now we are in the business of negotiating prebuys, too.”
Italian Court Throws Out Plan For Coliseum Archeological Park
“The judges ruled that creating an independent archaeological park would disturb the unity of Rome’s Unesco-protected historic centre and deprive the city of the proceeds from ticket sales to the monuments.”
How An Obscure Eastern European Symphony Sold A Million Copies And Changed The Classical Record Industry
William Robin traces the history of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, from its unhappy premiere at a French avant-garde festival 40 years ago (allegedly, Pierre Boulez shouted “Merde!), through the release, 25 years ago, of the surprise hit recording by conductor David Zinman and soprano Dawn Upshaw, to the major labels’ attempts to repeat the work’s success.