“The objections to the column seemed to fall in two camps. People in the business, who feel they are wasting their money, and impassioned theatergoers who say they would never ever leave a show, no matter what. I understand both points of view, though I’m not wedded to either side.”
New Sacred Music Is Now Cool (And “Squeaky-Gate Music” Is Over)
Peter Phillips, director of the Tallis Scholars: “The standard of singing in our liturgical and concert choirs has steadily gone up, to the point where many non-Christian composers now feel able to express themselves fully writing for them. … Sacred choral music has aligned itself with orchestral and operatic composition as an accepted medium for contemporary thought.”
Musical Tourism – It Can Deeply Warp Your Sense Of Reality
“Traditions, styles, vernaculars—so many new pieces I hear these days pledge allegiance to some form of authenticity, some repertoire, some community. A lot of times, such pieces are the result of a deep engagement with the cited style on the part of composer and performer; a lot of times, it’s simply an expression of momentary curiosity. But much of the listener’s intended satisfaction is to come from the feeling that the experience has been both unfamiliar and authentic. In other words: the ideal tourist experience.”
Venerable Canadian Theatre Launches Painfully Modest Fundraising Campaign (Really? That’s All?)
“In good Passe Muraille tradition, McKim argues that an achievable campaign that asks a lot of people to give small sums lets all donors feel they are making a difference. But can the citizens of Toronto really value this past and this present so lightly that a contribution of $1 a week is all they can be expected to offer?”
As Our Relationships With Artists Change, So Do The Ways We Treat Public Art
“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.”
As China’s Art Market Explodes, An Old Mandarin Tradition Is Revived
“The literati tradition holds the appreciation of art, calligraphy, music, chess and other ‘gentlemanly’ pursuits in high esteem. … Cultural power-brokers have been keen to promote old-style art collecting values, based on connoisseurship, history and tradition. In this vein, museums have been focusing on important collectors and their collections.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet Whose Rural Life Inspired Her Poetry Dies At 57
“Already a songwriter, [Claudia Emerson] was inspired to write poetry by the scenery on her rural 86-mile mail route and by reading Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Letters to a Young Poet.'”
Satellite Fairs Like Art Basel Miami Beach Can Show Power Curators ‘The Next Big Thing’
“Fairs are tough on art—and dealers. Curators on tight schedules are not going to ring twice, if a gallerist is missing in action when they visit the fair.”
Can You Get Too Old To Write Poetry?
Donald Hall, former U.S. poet laureate: “It was gradual, and I had the sense of poetry fading on me, or me fading on poetry, for several years. And then I would think ‘No, this is good.’ And then six months later it wasn’t so good.”
Reshaping Los Angeles With Latino Urbanism
“What the shift means for immigrants themselves — particularly in quickly gentrifying neighborhoods like downtown or Boyle Heights — is a separate and deeply fraught question.”
When Ballet Dancers Move Into A New Home
In Ballet West’s new home in Salt Lake City, dancers say dancing there is “like breathing again. It is a massive sigh of relief to have space to move in.” And no kicks in the head!
The End Of The Avant Garde (Thanks A Lot, Damien Hirst)
“Originality requires learning, hard work, the mastery of a medium and – most of all – the refined sensibility and openness to experience that have suffering and solitude as their normal cost.”
Is ‘El Sistema’ Actually Just One More Way To Provide Sexually Abusive ‘Mentors’ With Child Victims?
“Geoff Baker’s book specifically compares El Sistema to Chetham’s. He argues that both institutions have hidden classical music’s ‘dirty little secret’ — that the intimate, overwrought relationships between mentor and pupil encourage sexual abuse.”
The Bombshell Book About ‘El Sistema’ Is A Vicious Overreach
“Baker, who produces little actual hard evidence, is not up to penetrating Sistema’s secrecy. His feet-on-the-ground reporting comes from his own visits to nucleos and talking with disgruntled musicians who have various axes to grind.”
Britain Did WHAT With One Of The Elgin Marbles?!
Why, transported it in complete secrecy to loan to Russia, of course. What, you thought the British Museum might give the Parthenon sculptures back to Greece?