Conductor Daniele Gatti And Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Settle Lawsuit Over His Firing
“After the dismissal of Daniele Gatti as Music Director of the Amsterdam based Concertgebouw Orchestra, following allegations of sexual harassment, both parties had ‘constructive consultations’ and have agreed to issue the statement below.” (The statement says nothing about Gatti’s departure as such, let alone the reason for it.) – Pizzicato
New Tolkien Biopic Disowned By Tolkien Estate
“On Tuesday morning, the estate and family of Tolkien issued a terse statement in which they announced their ‘wish to make clear that they did not approve of, authorise or participate in the making of this film'” — titled Tolkien and starring Nicholas Hoult and Lily collins as Prof. and Mrs. T. — “and that ‘they do not endorse it or its content in any way’.” – The Guardian
UK Museums To Compare Detailed Visitor Figures With Those From Other Leisure Outlets
“A consortium of 18 organisations, including the Tate group of galleries, the British Museum and Imperial War Museums, has contracted market researchers DJS Research for a major project that will assess visitor experience, satisfaction and attendance over the next four years” — and will compare the findings with similar data from such attractions as theme parks. – Arts Professional
Soprano Heather Harper, 88
“She graced the concert and opera stages of the world in roles that ranged from Ellen Orford in Britten’s Peter Grimes – where her sympathy for the character drew a near-definitive portrayal – to the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier.” – The Guardian
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Extraordinary Female Iranian Artist, Dead At 96
The first woman artist in Iran to get her own museum (and, at one time, part of Andy Warhol’s cohort), she’s known for using the traditional Iranian technique of mirror mosaic work to create geometry-based abstract art of great beauty. (More photos of her work can be found here.) – ARTnews
Are These Two Guys In India Building The World’s Largest Public Library?
That’s how they’re describing it, but not really — it’s more like the world’s largest poetry-in-the-subways-and-streets project, and it’s called StickLit. – The Guardian
John Coltrane’s Appeal: He Was An Obsessive Creative.
Coltrane is the archetypal creative obsessive intent on finding unheard approaches to the building blocks of music, from the arc of his melodies to the rhythmic drive of his solos to the harmonic framework for his songs. – Times Literary Supplement
Why (And How) Conductors Matter
There are many ways to lead an orchestra, but whatever method you assume — that of a mystical shaman, a sports coach, a traffic cop or some combination of them all — Mark Wigglesworth insists that all conductors need one essential ingredient: confidence. Without that, he writes, “you are like a bird without feathers. As Adlai Stevenson said, ‘It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.’ ” – Washington Post
PBS CEO: Ending Federal Funding Would Kill Rural Public Television Stations
Paula Kerger: Some in urban centers like New York and Washington, DC, might be able to get by with the money they get from other sources, including corporate underwriters and individual donations. But the threat is a more “existential” threat for stations in rural areas that “are not going to make it … unless there is some federal support.” – recode
Arkansas Replaces Confederate Statue In US Capitol Building With… Johnny Cash
Actually, two statues are being replaced. Governor Asa Hutchinson says
they are not being removed because of their controversial past, but rather because of a decision by the state “to update the statues with representatives of our more recent history.” – Washington Post
Fifty Years Of History: The Kennedy Center Ponders How To Connect Its Past
“It takes a substantial walking tour to get a sense of the holdings, which amount to 9,000 cubic feet of files, images and who knows what else, according to Eileen Andrews, vice president for public relations, who has been tasked with shepherding the archives out of darkness.” – Washington Post
Artificial Intelligence And The Music Industrial Complex
AI could easily compose a Vivaldi-like (Italian Baroque) piece that, if used as transitional music in a documentary or under dialogue and sound effects, would more than do the job. Could a lifelong, professional musician tell that piece was written by AI? Maybe. It depends on too many factors to go into here. Could a discerning audience? Highly doubtful. – Shelley Palmer
Hudson Yards’ Shed: A Big Experiment In Mixing Audiences
It cost $500 million. It’s in the most expensive real estate development in America. But what it really is, says director Alex Poots, is a big experiment in trying to mix audiences that don’t typically interact. How? Presenting new work not seen anywhere else, and getting tickets into the hands of people who might not typically think about coming. – Washington Post
How Instagram Is Ruining Our Iconic Wild Spaces
“It is now axiomatic that a locale of stunning natural beauty will quickly degrade into a morass of crowding once it is posted on the platform as a pristine image. The herd instinct kicks in, and other users who also want to be photographed in those same lovely landscapes converge with their own cameras and Instagram accounts and followers—ad infinitum, ad nauseam.” – The New Republic
LACMA Counterpoint: An Art Historian Argues In Favor Of The Museum’s Radical Makeover
Brian T. Allen argues that LACMA’s new Zumthor makeover of its campus is just what the museum needs. “Donna Reed and Celeste Holm were attractive and workable. Lana Turner was fabulous. L.A. will always crave fabulous… I think a big, Met-style museum in Los Angeles is culturally counterintuitive, and I mean the civic culture. In L.A. style, it’s time to do something fresh.” National Review
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Conductor Daniele Gatti And Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Settle Lawsuit Over His Firing
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New Tolkien Biopic Disowned By Tolkien Estate
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UK Museums To Compare Detailed Visitor Figures With Those From Other Leisure Outlets
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Soprano Heather Harper, 88
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Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Extraordinary Female Iranian Artist, Dead At 96
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An Argument Against A Darker Reinterpretation Of “Oklahoma!”
Judith Miller: “It is one thing to emphasize the darkness that lies beneath this iconic musical’s cheery surface. It is another to turn what Rodgers and Hammerstein intended as a celebration of the American spirit into a sanguinary condemnation of it.” – City Journal
A Polemic Against Podcasts
Chris Richards: “I think they’re tedious and samey and sedative, and when I’m feeling especially cranky, I consider them an enemy of music. Most podcasts are conversations for people to eavesdrop on — recorded talk that precludes real-life talk about real life with zombie talk about podcasts. Also, I like music. With all of the world’s unheard songs beckoning us with their endless mystery, why would anyone choose to waste their precious listening hours on a podcast?” – Washington Post
Eleven Countries Vote Against EU’s New Copyright Overhaul
This surprising turn of events does not mean the end of Link Tax or censorship machines, but it does make an adoption of the copyright directive before the European elections in May less likely. – Julia Reda
Given The Hype: Mueller Report Soars To Top Of Amazon Bestseller List
There’s a solid history of such books — the Starr Report and the 9/11 Commission Report were bestsellers; the latter was a National Book Award Finalist.” – CNN
New China International Piano Competition: $150,000 Prize And The Philadelphia Orchestra
Two of the most admired figures in classical music competitions are in charge: Yoheved Kaplinsky, chair of the piano department at the Juilliard School in New York, is the competition’s artistic director and jury chair; Richard Rodzinski, who has run the Van Cliburn and Tchaikovsky competitions, is general director.Not that either one was particularly excited about the prospect – at first… Chicago Tribune
A Home Improvement TV Show Helped ‘Restore’ Waco, But Does Waco Want To Be Instagram Central?
For those over a certain age – people who can remember the first years of the Clinton administration – “Waco” used to mean one thing: Branch Davidians. Now it’s all about the empire of the couple behind the Home Improvement show Fixer Upper. “It’s difficult to shake the feeling, walking from shop to shop, of being haunted by the physical manifestation of a targeted Instagram ad. But there’s something about Chip and Joanna Gaines — and, by extension, the changes they’ve helped catalyze in Waco — that tends to disarm cynicism.” – BuzzFeed
The Flea That Kickstarted British Art
Without Robert Hooke’s keen drawing eye, and the microscope, who knows what might have happened? You can read “the story of British art through a scientific looking glass. The Royal Society plays a bigger role than the Royal Academy.” – The Guardian (UK)
Yale Students Ask, ‘You Want To Do What With Our Library Books?!’
This happened: “At a forum in January, Yale’s top librarian outlined a seemingly uncontroversial proposal: to relocate tens of thousands of books from the heart of the undergraduate library to make space for additional seating.” And then this happened: “Nearly 1,000 students signed up on social media to participate in a ‘browse-in,’ vowing to check out everything from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches to show university administrators that young people still value the printed word.” – The Washington Post
Jayne Wrightsman, Grande Dame Benefactor Of The Arts Of New York, Has Died At 99
Wrightsman, like her husband before her, was a big donor and a trustee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “While giving millions to buy art and refurbish galleries, her involvement was often more personal. She spent many days walking through the galleries, examining paintings and artifacts, talking to curators, and analyzing the museum’s artistic needs.” – The New York Times
We Can Expect A Lot More Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Style Options Like This Game
Sure, Netflix is developing more interactive content, but Netflix is far from alone. A new game, or perhaps it’s an “interactive media experience,” aspires to do something slightly different. “The nine or so hours of intimately shot footage — all the filmed scenes are framed to look as if people are talking via a smartphone or a webcam — span two years in the characters’ lives, and viewers jump in and out by acting as something akin to a researcher.” – Los Angeles Times