The artistic directors of half a dozen major ballet companies weigh in on which classic works could use a bit of a rest – and which newer works are beginning to earn classic status of their own.
Archives for February 5, 2014
Ice Dancing Is What Makes the Winter Olympics Wondrous
“Humans on frozen ground are, generally, comical and sad. It is only a matter of time before the human is going to fall down, ingloriously, limbs akimbo, and hit the ground with a crunch.”
218 Authors Sign Open Letter Protesting Russian ‘Chokehold’ on Free Expression
The letter, organized by PEN International and signed by four Nobel laureates (Grass, Soyinka, Jelinek and Pamuk) as well as Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, and many others, says that recent laws against “gay propaganda”, blasphemy and defamation “specifically put writers at risk.”
Valery Gergiev Talks to CNN on Gay Rights in Russia
“I myself question very much why the country needed something like this law. … I think it was seen internationally as a bad thing happening in Russia. I think in Russia, the view was different. The way people read this law is slightly different or sometimes very different.” (includes video and transcript)
Why I Nailed My Scrotum to Red Square
“He has wrapped himself in barbed wire, sewn his lips shut and caused the world to wince with his now-infamous stunt in Moscow. As the Russian authorities circle around Petr Pavlensky, the protest artist explains why he’s not afraid.”
Dead Sea Scrolls 2.0: A Hugely Expanded Digital Archive
“The upgraded website includes 10,000 new multispectral images, extra manuscript descriptions, content translated into Russian and German in addition to the current languages, a faster search engine, and easy access from the site to the Facebook page and to Twitter.”
The Ontological Proof for the Impossibility of Satan
“The Ontological Argument is an infamously devilish a priori argument for God’s existence.” In a bit of theological jiujitsu, a pair of philosophers has used those exact premises to argue that the Devil must, of necessity, not exist – and “the Christian’s world just got a whole lot smaller.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.05.14
Museum Secrets: Instructive Audit In St. Louis
Source: Real Clear Arts | Published on 2014-02-06
That’s going to dampen fundraising
Source: The Artful Manager | Published on 2014-02-05
UX Design
Source: Engaging Matters | Published on 2014-02-05
See It Now: Video of Architect’s Presentation and Panel Discussion on MoMA’s Expansion
Source: CultureGrrl | Published on 2014-02-05
Nastiness Starts: DIA Plan Opponents Attack Director
Source: Real Clear Arts | Published on 2014-02-05
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Famous Japanese Composer Admits He Hired Another Composer To Write His Music
“A deaf composer known as Japan’s Beethoven has confessed to hiring someone to write his most famous works, to the embarrassment of broadcasters and the chagrin of a figure skater due to dance to his music at the Winter Olympics.”
A Novel Music Commissioning Scheme: Buy It By The Bar
It makes a peculiar kind of sense – you can buy a bar of soap or a bar of chocolate, so why not a bar of music?
London’s SouthBank Center Postpones Planned £120 Million Makeover
“We have been handed a massive challenge and we don’t yet see how we will make it work – it is not as if we haven’t already explored numerous funding options.”
Three Arrested In Last Week’s Theft Of Stradivarius Violin
“Police records show three armed robbery suspects were taken into custody on Monday. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the violin had been recovered, and Milwaukee police have not released any new details in the case.”
New York Philharmonic Puts Its Archives Online
Among the future highlights, the Philharmonic said, would be first editions of Berlioz’s “Benvenuto Cellini” and Wagner’s “Rienzi” overture, and a score of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with evidence of a spat between two of the orchestra’s most illustrious music directors.
Desperately Needed: Better Ways To Measure Arts Impact
“I’d love to see an increase in the arts’ commitment to research. But we should stop using it to prove that our work is valuable and start using it to improve the work that we do.”
Why Isn’t Hollywood Engaging The Big Issues Of Our Time?
So why, besides the usual Hollywood shallowness, are we not getting films that match the frustration many Americans still feel, or that capture the lives they’re living? And will we ever get them?
Bolshoi Director Vows To Clean Up The Place
“The director of Russia’s Bolshoi theatre vowed Wednesday to bring an end to the bitter infighting that culminated in an acid attack on its artistic director and create a ‘normal artistic atmosphere’ at the legendary institution.”
Berlin’s Influential Culture Secretary Resigns In Tax Scandal
“As Berlin’s cultural affairs secretary, a post he has held since 2006, Andre Schmitz was responsible for one of the largest culture budgets in Europe.”
The Technology That Really Fixes Concert Hall Acoustics
“Does it represent the new paradigm of concert hall sonics, or does it spell the death of “live” acoustic sound as we have grown to know it?”
The Structures Of Stuff? Turns Out It’s Similar To The Structures Of Music
“Essentially, music is just one example of a hierarchical system, where patterns are nested within larger patterns – similar to the way characters form words, which form sentences, then chapters and eventually a novel.”
What Great Artists Need: Solitude
“The artistic process unfolds in the lonely hours. That’s when the work happens. You have to control the creative energy that you’ve got. You have to discipline yourself to fulfill it. And that work only happens alone.”
After Uproar, Portugal’s Auction of Miró Works Cancelled
Just hours before Christie’s was set to begin its auction in London, the house withdrew 85 works by the Catalan Surrealist. The Portuguese government inherited the art from a failed bank and had hoped to use the sale proceeds to pay down debt – until an outcry arose.
What Do Theatre Audiences Want? Are Theatres Afraid to Ask?
A former chief of the Royal Shakespeare Company says “she and others had [at one point] been keen to organise large meetings of RSC audiences in Stratford and London and simply ask them what they wanted. The meetings never took place, because fear intervened. What if the audience wanted something that the RSC’s artistic team did not want to give them?”
Will Live Theatre Cinemacasts Help Local Playhouses or Displace Them?
One producer wonders if there’s a risk that cash-strapped regional arts centres might simply decide that the National Theatre’s broadcasts would constitute its (much cheaper) theatre programme.
Minnesota Orchestra Returns to Rehearsals After Long Lockout
“They will no doubt make beautiful music together at homecoming concerts this weekend. But offstage, tensions linger.”
How Lighting Design and Technology Transform Dance
“Lighting designers used to be faceless backstage figures. Now the hottest choreographers can’t work without them. Judith Mackrell meets the new wave of trailblazers.”