Homans, author of the survey of ballet through the ages Apollo’s Angels and director of NYU’s new Center for Ballet and the Arts, and McKenzie, former star and current artistic director of American Ballet Theatre, discuss the long Paris-to-Vienna-to-St. Petersburg-to-America trajectory of the art form with host Leonard Lopate. (audio)
Orchestra CEO In Calif. Convicted Of Embezzlement, Faces 16 Years
Stephen Jay Carlson, former executive director of the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra in Silicon Valley, faces such a long sentence for a nonviolent offense because of a prior conviction – on a rather lurid charge.
Is It Important To Save Dying Languages? (Of Course, But Not For The Reasons You Think)
“Certainly, a culture can thrive without its own language: No one would tell today’s American Indians that if they no longer spoke their ancestral language it would render them non-Indian. Likewise, being Jewish does not require speaking Hebrew or Yiddish. Yet because language is so central to being human, to have a language used only with certain other people is a powerful tool for connection and a sense of community.”
Binge-Watching: How TV Networks Are Programming For Your DVR
“Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon comes from FXX’s recent Simpsons marathon, which produced astounding results. The network screened more than 500 episodes back-to-back with 25 million unique viewers tuning in at some point and the average viewer watching 23 episodes. The ratings boost launched FXX from the 49th-ranked basic cable network for the 18- to 49-year-old demographic to the No. 1-ranked network for that period.”
Classical Grammy Nominations 2015: Both John Adamses, Seattle Symphony, Partch
John Luther Adam’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean and John (Coolidge) Adams’s City Noir are both up for awards, as are the beleaguered Atlanta Symphony, the up-and-coming Seattle Symphony, 86-year-old pianist Leon Fleisher, and Partch (the percussion ensemble, not the late American composer/hobo).
Another Group Of Investors Has A Proposal To Revive New York City Opera
“The low price reflects how little is left of the opera company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2013 after years of growing deficits and costly missteps with its endowment.”
The Disconnect Between Life And The Arts, Played Out In Black Bodies In The Art World
“I’ve now learned what it really means to be a black woman working in the arts. It means I carry the burden with none of the gains. It means that black lives in this country will never be more newsworthy to my peers than art world scandal.”
Archiving Anything Weird On Film, And Turning It Digital
“I realized if I started my own archive I could have all the source material I wanted to create my own work. I chose film because I thought it would end up being the medium with the most longevity.”
Can The Green Bay Symphony Save Itself By Joining Forces With The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra?
“‘This would not be a takeover, and it’s not throwing a life raft to a sinking ship,’ Cantrell said. ‘I want to look at it as a partnership into the future.'”
Renee Fleming (Unlike Your Typical New Yorker) Falls For Chicago
“Chicago is a great cultural capital. I don’t think that’s widely known. I don’t even think Chicagoans as a whole understand how rich this city is. Besides the major institutions, which are already world-class, the amount of theater alone is just mind-boggling.”
Who Owns Public Art, And How Do We Feel About That (A Sea Change)
“These are different times. We don’t see artists as sole, heroic, mysterious creators any more. We are used to appropriation of all kinds, from sampling to mashups to critical homages. We are used to referencing and remixing. We are in constant debate over the possibility of originality. And we are used to the idea of art as vandalism, too.”
Yeah, No, Greece Is Certainly Not Cool With This Loaning Of The Elgin Marbles Thing
“The British argument held until recently – that the Parthenon Marbles cannot be moved – is no longer valid, just as the existence of the new Acropolis Museum invalidated the other British argument that there was no appropriate space for exhibiting the sculptures.”
No, England And Wales, You Damn Well Cannot Deny Books To Prisoners
“It is very hard to be both a reader and a villain. Reading helps you understand the world around you and relate to how your behaviour effects others. It should be encouraged as much as possible.”
David Shrigley: Comedy In Misunderstanding The Context
“Comedy is not the opposite of seriousness. The opposite of seriousness is incompetence. And the opposite of comedy is not seriousness – it’s misery. The ability to laugh is a luxury that everybody should be able to afford.”
Serial Opera (In Series, Not Notes)
“Although it will be filmed before live audiences, it is meant to be seen on television or online, in short installments that will be released over two years. The production will also include online extras, including video clips that look at the process of composing and staging the piece.”
Super-Gallerist Larry Gagosian Wins Billionaire’s Lawsuit
Billionaire collector Ron Perelman “sued Gagosian and his gallery in September 2012, accusing them of concealing material information and manipulating art prices. Gagosian sued Perelman the same day, accusing him of reneging on an agreement to buy two pieces of art for more than $23 million and offering less money and other works in exchange.”
Donor Pledges $100 Million For Opera House, Dies; Theatre Sues, Court Rules
“The planned theater has been the subject of one of the most closely watched legal battles in the worlds of classical music and philanthropy, after a major benefactor of the Lucerne Festival, Christof Engelhorn, offered to donate more than $100 million to build it, but died before the money was paid. That led officials from the festival to sue for the money.”
The Winner Of This Year’s Bad-Sex-In-Writing Award
Ben Okri won the Booker in 1991 for The Famished Road and has received, among other prizes, the Commonwealth Writers’ prize, the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction and the Guardian Fiction prize. Unable to attend, he issued a terse and less than ecstatic statement: “A writer writes what they write and that’s all there is to it.”
Struggle For The Soul Of Nashville Culture
“These two tendencies — save our soul, but grow grow grow — are now colliding in a bizarre form of hyper-gentrification. Neighborhoods close to downtown once drew teachers, writers and musicians with well-built, well-priced Craftsman homes. But with the influx of wealth has come a new kind of buyer, often an investor offering cash well above asking price. A house that went for $40,000 a decade ago might now go for 15 times that amount.”
Earthquake At The New Republic: New CEO Pushes Out Editor-In-Chief And Leon Wieseltier (!)
When Guy Vidra came to the magazine in October, he told the staff that “there were peacetime chief executives and wartime chief executives, and he was the latter. He added, using a profanity, that he planned to break stuff.”