The composer’s speech at the Dance Magazine Awards moved editor Wendy Perron (and much of the audience) so much “that I wanted to transcribe it and share it with you.”
Could This Syrian Exile Be The Arab World’s Next Breakout Writer?
Lydia Davis introduces us to Osama Alomar, a 45-year-old Damascan now living in Chicago, and his very short stories, several of which (at about of paragraph each) are included.
How Cats Domesticated Humans: Archaeologists Find Physical Evidence
You’ve probably heard the hypothesis before (or even thought of it yourself), but this find is one of the first to take the idea beyond speculation.
High Notes and Low Tones for Classical Music in 2013
WQXR’s Brian Wise offers citations for Worst Financial Woes (a competitive category), Most Complicated Anniversary, Best and Worst Marketing Ploys, and Podium Pharmacist of 2013 (that would be Michael Tilson Thomas).
Britten in Venice in Moscow
Countertenor Iestyn Davies writes of his trip to the Russian capital to give special Britten centenary performances of the Canticles and Death in Venice with Ian Bostridge and Gennady Rozhdestvensky (who knew and worked with Britten) to people who had never heard this music before.
China’s New Mega-Collectors
“They joust with one another at auction houses, where the fevered bidding has driven up prices to the point that some jades, ceramics, calligraphy and paintings now fetch huge sums. In 2011, for instance, a Ming dynasty vase sold for $140 million at an auction in Macau.”
Was Helen Mirren’s Evening Standard Award Rigged?
Three of the five outside jurors for the prestigious London theatre honours have quit – the first mass resignation in the event’s half-century history. Matt Trueman explains what the ballyhoo is all about.
Juror: “‘My Jaw Dropped When Helen Mirren Won The Award”
“There is scandal in theatreland following the resignation of three judges from the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Charles Spencer, one of the resigning judges, reveals what really happened and why he quit.”
Is This The Choreographers’ App We Never Dared Hope For?
Meet Jeff Whiting, choreographer/director and creator of Stage Write, “an app which makes documenting stage blocking and choreography a fast, fluid, clinical and permanent affair.”
Toe Care Secrets Of The Royal Ballet
You might be appalled – or impressed – at the materials these dancers repurpose for use in their ballet slippers.
Ireland Creates A Fiction Laureate Position
“Now that it’s exiting from the foreign bailout program, Ireland is making a new investment: in fiction. The country’s Arts Council has announced that it is creating a Laureate for Irish Fiction, ‘to promote Irish literature nationally and internationally and to encourage the public to engage with high-quality Irish fiction’.”
Connecticut School Production Of Rent Is Back On
Every so often, a student campaign works.
Meet The World’s Oldest Working Actor
“Romanian actor Radu Beligan has been declared the world’s oldest active actor at age 95.”
Why Oregon Needs A Secretary Of The Arts
In some ways, the Secretary would be the leading arts politician in the state, first, and needs the skills appropriate to that task.
That Record $147 Million Bacon? Here’s Where It Just Landed
“Remember all our gnashing of teeth about the Francis Bacon triptych of fellow artist and pal Lucien Freud? The one that fetched the staggering $147 million at auction last month?”
US Copyright Office Suggests Artists Ought To Get Royalties
“Acknowledging that the current system leaves visual artists at a practical disadvantage relative to other creators such as writers or composers, the office urged Congress to “consider ways to rectify the problem” and give artists a financial interest in the future sale of their work.”
Taylor Swift, Nashville Symphony Benefactor
“Ms. Swift and the orchestra are not strangers: though she has not performed with the ensemble, she was the recipient of its annual Harmony Award in 2011, and has performed at the Schermerhorn. A resident of Nashville since she was 14, Ms. Swift also pledged $4 million to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2012, and 14,000 children’s books to the Nashville Public Library the same year.”
Looking For Justice In The Book Of Job
Joan Acocella: “God boasts to Satan, Have you seen my servant Job, so pious, so devoted to me? Satan answers, Why shouldn’t he be devoted? You have given him everything he could ever want: ‘But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.’ Well, God says, let’s see, and he gives Satan permission to ruin Job’s life.”
Nadine Gordimer Remembers Nelson Mandela
The Nobel laureate reveals the terrible secret he told her after he was released from prison, recalls the joy of seeing crowds cheering him in Oslo after he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and recounts one telling instance she witnessed of his extraordinary capacity for forgiveness.