Today’s Stories
Don’t Mess With Opera Fans, Episode 396
Matthew Feargrieve was found guilty in London of punching Ulrich Engler at least once while attending a performance of Wagner at the Royal Opera House on 7 October last year. Feargrieve, 43, attacked Ulrich Engler, who had climbed into an empty seat next to him and moved Feargrieve’s partner’s coat at the Royal Opera House in central London. – The Guardian
BP To Arts World: Stop Judging Us By Our Past
“Speaking at a public forum in Westminster this week, [BP’s UK chief] Peter Mather said ‘the most important debate of our generation’ – climate change – was best served by BP continuing to sponsor major institutions like the British Museum, National Portrait Gallery and Royal Opera House, rather than ‘demonising’ the company for its contribution to carbon emissions. … ‘If I come back in five years and we’re just doing the same thing in oil and gas, then I think might have lost our licence to operate in this [arts sponsorship] space.'” – Arts Professional
Dance Magazine’s 25 To Watch For 2020
“Breakout stars, paradigm shifters, game changers. Our annual list of the dancers, choreographers and companies that are on the verge of skyrocketing has a knack for illuminating where the dance world is headed. Here they are: the 25 up-and-coming artists we believe are ready to take our field by storm.” – Dance Magazine
A Better Solution Than ‘Latinx’: Teens In Argentina Lead Way Toward Gender-Neutral Spanish
“In classrooms and daily conversations, young people are changing the way they speak and write — replacing the masculine ‘o’ or the feminine ‘a’ with the gender-neutral ‘e’ in certain words — in order to change what they see as a deeply gendered culture.” – The Washington Post
Unique Red Granite Bust Of Ramses II Discovered In Egypt
“An Egyptian archaeological mission from the Ministry of Antiquities has unearthed a red granite royal bust of King Ramses II emblazoned with the Ka, a symbol of power, life force and spirit. The discovery was made during excavations on privately owned land in Mit Rahina village in Giza, after the landowner was caught carrying out illegal excavation work at the site.” – Archaeology News Network
The Time For Competitive Arts Prizes May Be Over
“All these prizes are, effectively, marketing exercises. That does not make them bad things … Today, though, artists and judges alike are more attuned to the difficulty in choosing ‘the best’ when all artists palpably do not have equal access to the starting lines; when ‘the best’ is a subjective and contingent category; when the authority of all kinds of institutions, and not just cultural prizes, is on the wane; and when artists competing like racehorses feels out of tune with the times in a way that it did not during the more individualistic Thatcher and Blair eras.” – The Guardian
Homecoming: Simone Young Is Next Chief Conductor Of Sydney Symphony
“She will take up the position at the start of 2022 when the orchestra returns to its home at the Sydney Opera House following the two-year closure of the Concert Hall for a major upgrade, including an acoustic refurbishment. In 2021, she will be the orchestra’s Chief Conductor Designate as she puts the 2022 program in place.” – Limelight (Australia)
Dalton Baldwin, One Of The World’s Great Art-Song Pianists, Dead At 87
“For most of his career, he was known as an accompanist, outdated nomenclature that cannot begin to describe his musical sensitivity to the needs of a singer. … His association with singers Elly Ameling, Jessye Norman, José van Dam, Teresa Berganza, Mady Mesplé, and above all, baritone Gérard Souzay, with whom he concertized for over three decades, literally defines the history of European art song performance in the second half of the twentieth century.” – WFMT (Chicago)
How Banksy And I Got Away With Amazing Pranks
Steve Lazarides has now self-published a book of his photographs from the time he travelled the world tasked with making sure Banksy didn’t get arrested or duffed up and didn’t run out of spray paint. “I had the time of my life,” he says as he sits on the roof of his London office, talking about the man he calls Matey Boy. “We were lawless and did just what we wanted. Matey Boy had a political agenda that you can see very clearly in everything he does, but I just had a fucking blast.” – The Guardian
New Giant Movie Theatre Chain: UK’s Cineworld Buys Canada’s Cineplex, Will Merge It With Regal
Cineworld previously paid $3.6 billion for Regal Entertainment Group, its entry into the U.S. market last year. The company plans to combine the operations of Cineplex and Regal to create the largest exhibitor in North America. Following completion, the enlarged group would have 11,204 screens globally and a combined 8,906 screens across the U.S. and Canada. – Variety
How Technology Is Changing Modern Romance Fiction
The best contemporary romance authors know that technology can inject a straight shot of chemistry into a relationship — even when partners are balancing life, work and saving the world. – Washington Post
Scary Times For Producing TV
“When I got into producing television, the business model had been the same for about 70 years and, suddenly, in the last five years it’s completely different. And it looks like over the next five years it’s going to be completely different again. And nobody really knows.” – Toronto Star (CP)
Just What Are “Sensory-Friendly” Performances?
Producers turn down house lights about halfway, rather than putting the audience in complete darkness; vocalization from the audience is accepted; seating is limited up to 80% to allow audience members to get up and move around; people are allowed to exit and enter as they desire; and pricing is usually set at a general admission fee. – LEOWeekly
The Culture Story In Los Angeles This Year? The LA Philharmonic
Mark Swed: “The biggest story of all has been the stellar rise of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, becoming surely the most successful arts organization of the century so far through an insurmountable belief in the value of music to the betterment of humanity. The vision has been if you build a better concert hall, make new music widely available, and view the world through the lens of music and give it to kids who wouldn’t otherwise have it, good things happen.” – Los Angeles Times
Peter Schjeldahl On The Art Of Being Peter Schjeldahl
When I started writing criticism, in 1965, in almost pristine ignorance, I discovered that I was the world’s leading expert in one thing: my experience. Most of what I know in a scholarly way about art I learned on deadlines, to sound as if I knew what I was talking about—as, little by little, I did. Educating yourself in public is painful, but the lessons stick. – The New Yorker
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Seeking Principal Ballet Instructor
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Call for Applications: Master of Arts in Arts Administration at Florida State University (FSU)
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Boston Landmarks Orchestra Seeks Executive Director
Boston Landmarks Orchestra seeks an inspiring leader to advance the Orchestra’s mission of building community through innovative, free classical musical programming, accessibility and inclusiveness. … [Read More...]
In Retrospect “Cats” Was A Brilliant Idea. At The Time? Not So Much
The idea proved anything but irresistible. No one wanted to finance the project: the show’s producer, Cameron Mackintosh, had to solicit small-fry investors through newspaper ads; Lloyd Webber took out a second mortgage to make up the ultimate shortfall. He had composed an epic, genre-spanning score, using a Moog synthesizer to imitate meowing, but, when he played it for Twyla Tharp, hoping that she would choreograph what would have to be a very dance-heavy musical—Valerie would permit the production only if they relied entirely on Eliot’s material, which left little room for plot or spoken dialogue—Tharp said no. – The New Yorker
A Critique Of The Meritocracy: A System That Makes Things Worse?
“By presenting itself as a means of providing equal opportunity, it has preemptively shut down opposition; it pushes inequality to ever-higher levels; it serves as an efficient mechanism for the inheritance, rather than the upending, of privilege; and it turns even its relatively small number of beneficiaries into miserable, relentlessly pressured workaholics who have to expend most of their large incomes on their children’s private schools and tutors.” – Foreign Affairs
Why Authors Like Austen Became Canonical: Cheap Books
“Cheap books make authors canonical.” Thousands of mid-century readers consumed “yellowback” versions of Austen’s novels, so-called because of the yellow paper stuck to the back of them on which advertisements were printed. The sheer proliferation of cheaply produced editions of Austen’s fiction has been invisible because very few of these books have survived. – The Guardian
Illusions,Realities, And Metaphors For What’s Real
“When I interact with the computer, I have limited access to the events occurring within it. Thanks to the schemes of presentation devised by the programmers, I am treated to an elaborate audiovisual metaphor, an interactive drama acted out on the stage of keyboard, mouse, and screen. I, the User, am subjected to a series of benign illusions: I seem to be able to move the cursor (a powerful and visible servant) to the very place in the computer where I keep my file, and once that I see that the cursor has arrived ‘there’, by pressing a key I get it to retrieve the file, spreading it out on a long scroll that unrolls in front of a window (the screen) at my command.” – Aeon
Oldest Human Cave Art Found In Indonesia – It’s 44,000 Years Old
The painting, discovered in 2017, is one of hundreds in South Sulawesi, including a red hand stencil, which was dated to at least 40,000 years ago. But the latest finding is exceptional as it is more than twice as old as any previously known narrative scenes and hints at ancient myths and an early capacity for imagination. – The Guardian
The Art World’s Impact On Climate Change
Given the art world’s cherished progressive reputation, how long can it justify the extraordinarily outsize habits of its fairs, institutions, and jet-setting elites? – Artnet
The Best Dance Books Of The Year
Wendy Perron does a survey of this year’s books about dance. Ted Shawn, Tim Miller, Jerome Robbins, Ray Bolger, Merce Cunningham and more. – Wendy Perron
If The Art World Wants To Reach Underserved Populations, It Should Partner With Experts
Not experts in art – experts in serving those populations. – Hyperallergic
How Did The Superrich Take Over The Museum World?
Sure, some art has been dependent on wealthy patrons for centuries. But in the age of expansion and renovation, and deep income inequality, that reliance has returned with a vengeance. Take MoMA as a prime example: “Since the late 1990s, when MoMA’s current push to expand began, its trustees appear to have been chosen overwhelmingly for their wealth, and the board now reads like a roll call of the 0.01 percent.” – The New York Times
Watchmen Has Ended, But What Comes Next?
Hello, capitalism? An audience is calling. Watchmen on HBO was, for black superhero fans, even stronger than the next-best thing, Black Panther. So what will comics properties do with this audience that’s demanding more? “Let me tell you, waiting every three years for a Black Panther movie is not going to be enough after being treated to nine consecutive weeks of this HBO series.” – Washington Post