The Metropolitan Opera announced its 2026–27 season — 17 productions, the fewest since the company moved to Lincoln Center in 1966, with more than a third of all performances drawn from just three warhorses (AP). Coincidentally(?), general manager Peter Gelb — widely praised early, increasingly criticized as the Met’s finances deteriorated — announced he’ll retire in 2030 (OperaWire). Smaller season, lame-duck leader: the timing was not subtle.
Also under scrutiny: Trump’s planned White House East Wing ballroom, which sailed through a federal review commission without a single architect voting on it — the one architect on the panel had recused himself. (and Trump packed the panel with his acolytes) (CNN).
A Philadelphia slavery exhibition removed last month by executive order has been restored after a federal judge set a Friday deadline — the city sued, and won (AP). Melbourne’s arts community is sounding alarms as Creative Victoria’s grant pool has dropped more than 25% since 2022, with one leader warning the city risks becoming “the least funded” in Australia (The Guardian). And in Afghanistan, a clandestine women’s book club reads Orwell and Hemingway in defiance of Taliban education bans — which, given that the Taliban also burned hundreds of musical instruments this week, tracks (The Guardian).
Isaiah Zagar, the self-taught mosaicist who covered South Philadelphia walls with broken glass, tile, and mirror for decades, has died at 86. His Magic Gardens on South Street drew 150,000 visitors a year (The Philadelphia Inquirer). A loss for a city that just had to go to court to keep its history on the wall.
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