A visit to Freed of London, where 24 skilled craftspeople make ballet shoes, many custom-fitted for dancers at the likes of Britain’s Royal Ballet and ABT, where they go through about 3,600 pairs a year. – Business Insider
Watching Pinchas Zukerman’s Offensive Juilliard Masterclass In Real Time
“I did watch the virtual class unfold live, and I can attest that this was the appropriate course.” – Violinist.com
Pulitzer-Winning Poet Stephen Dunn Dead At 82
“He departed from the ‘confessional’ style of self-lacerating poetry and considered himself instead a ‘meditative’ or observational poet. Writing in a plain, unfussy style that often sounded like prose with the reins loosened, he addressed the ways ordinary experience can be fraught with emotional complexity, sadness and humor.” – MSN (Washington Post)
Philadelphia Museum Of Art’s Sleek New Gehry Makeover
Philip Kennicott: “The changes at the Philadelphia Museum are stunning”. – Washington Post
Jon Hassell, Trumpeter And Composer, 84
Hassell blended modern technology with ancient instruments and traditions to create what he called “Fourth World” music. “Hassell’s music floated outside the genre boundaries of classical music, electronica, ambient music or jazz. He described Fourth World as ‘a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques’ and, elsewhere, as ‘coffee-colored classical music of the future.'” – The New York Times
A Deal With The Artist Near San Francisco Allows The Flintstone Home To Remain
Not sure there’s any way to explain this except to just … well: “In a dispute that pitted property rights against government rules and played out in international media, Florence Fang, a retired publisher, defended her colorful and bulbous house and its elaborate homage to The Flintstones family, featuring sculptures inspired by the 1960s cartoon along with aliens and other oddities.” Fang (mostly) won. – The Guardian (UK)
Diverse Dance Companies Suddenly Have A Wealthy New Benefactor
MacKenzie Scott, ex-spouse of Jeff Bezos who was heavily involved in launching Amazon in the 1990s, gave generously to many pandemic (and perenially) cash-strapped dance companies in her latest philanthropic efforts. “This round of gifts promises to have an especially large impact on New York dance, with generous aid to some of the city’s most diverse companies. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater got $20 million, which it plans to use to commission new work, perform Ailey’s dances in new productions, train teachers and offer scholarships to its school. Ballet Hispánico received $10 million, the largest gift in its history. And Urban Bush Women received $3 million.” – The New York Times
You Might Not Have Heard Of A Big Hit Jesus Show
The show has just arrived on Peacock, but it was a hit before that, garnering about 750,000 viewers for its season 2 opener as the super prestigey Mare of Easttown got 1 million viewers. “Take it from a critic and a Christian with an aversion to Christian entertainment: The show is good. I’d stop short of calling The Chosen a prestige drama, but it looks and feels downright secular.” Production values? Acting? Writing? Good throughlines? Check, check, check, check. – The Atlantic
Frederic Rzewski, Pianist And Composer Known For His Political Views, 83
“Rzewski’s anti-establishment thinking stood at the center of his music-making throughout his life.” – The New York Times
Bruce Springsteen Reopens Broadway
It’s a bit safer than most productions; there are “no mesmerizing choreographed musical numbers, no enchanted sets, no multi-page bios of cast members in the Playbill. The show consists of a man alone onstage; his ensemble a microphone, a harmonica, a piano and six steel strings stretched across a select slab of spruce wood.” Still, Broadway. – The New York Times