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Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto Reveals Second Cancer Diagnosis
The Oscar-winning electronic music legend was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, though he was back to making records by 2017 and the disease had gone into remission. This week, however, Sakamoto announced that he is being treated for rectal cancer. – Pitchfork
Boris Johnson’s Gov’t Passes On Pursuing Visa Waiver For British Musicians Touring EU
“The Musicians’ Union (MU) has been lobbying for the creation of a ‘musicians’ passport’ that would last at least two years, cost nothing or very little, encompass all EU member states, prevent any requirement for carnets or other permits, and cover road crew, technicians and other necessary staff to facilitate touring.” Britain’s culture minister rejected […]
Hungary Orders Warning Labels Put On Books With LGBTQ Content
After the small queer women’s publisher Labrisz released a book of fairytales, titled Wonderland Is For Everyone, that includes LGBTQ characters, the right-wing government of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party ordered Labrisz to affix a sticker saying that the book depicts “behavior inconsistent with traditional gender roles” to every title it publishes to which that statement […]
DANCECleveland seeks an Executive Director
One of the oldest dance-only presenting organizations in the U.S.seeks an Executive Director possessing leadership, experience, and a passion for dance. Following the organization’s long-time leader as she retires, the successful candidate will step into a fiscally strong and well respected, and admired organization in the heart of Cleveland, Ohio. DANCEClevelandPosition Description: Executive DirectorJanuary 1, […]
Beethoven Through The Oppression Of An Anniversary Year
Alex Ross: “The most valuable recordings of the Beethoven Year—Igor Levit’s survey of the sonatas and the Quatuor Ébène’s cycle of the quartets—bring out those contrarian tones of wit, weirdness, irony, understatement, frenzy, stasis, and bittersweet release. Having created the single most potent persona in the history of music, Beethoven proceeded to engender another, more […]
We Need To Rethink The Music Ecosystem
“With the collapse of live revenues, the issues in how streaming pays (or doesn’t) is being discussed. Ingham calculates that 1% of all artists receive 90% of the revenue from streaming. That’s about 43,000 artists. Of that 1%, many have been significantly impacted by COVID, as their streaming income has not replaced their live income. […]
On His Way Out, Trump Designates Heroes For His Garden Of American Greatness
The earlier order laid out a vision for a garden to “depict historically significant Americans” at a to-be-determined place with a target date for public access of July 4, 2026. The list of those Trump wants to honor is wide-ranging; it includes past politicians, musicians, artists, astronauts, movie stars, philosophers, athletes and other historical figures. […]
What Critics Are About
Reviewing is not just about giving a thumbs-up or down and handing out generalised star ratings. It’s using experience of the art form to encourage readers to a more engaged understanding. For me, it’s about connecting the best work with the widest possible audience. – The Stage
The Culture Of Nothing?
For years, an aesthetic mode of nothingness has been ascendant — a literally nihilistic attitude visible in all realms of culture, one intent on the destruction of extraneity in all its forms, up to and including noise, decoration, possessions, identities and face-to-face interaction. Over the past decade, American consumers have glamorized the pursuit of expensive […]
Tokenism Versus Representation
“The complexity of the question “What qualifies as tokenism and what as representation?” rivals that of Blackness itself. There is often a conflation perhaps because representation is part and parcel of tokenism, making it difficult to discern one from the other, or at what point it shifts. What it looks like for the bystander may […]
A Concert Series Programmed For You To Stream While Going To Sleep
The Philadelphia new-music producer Bowerbird has planned a set of seven concerts, each timed for 10:00 or 11:00 pm, that aim to put listeners in that odd space between sleep and wakefulness — thus the series title, Liminal States. Says pianist Marilyn Nonken, who opens the set next Wednesday with Morton Feldman’s Triadic Memories, “Everybody […]
The Limitations Of Adding Video To Classical Music
“With more conventional classical music video where we watch musicians playing, I would argue that the visual experience actually constrains our mind’s eye and stultifies our creative imaginations. When we listen to a recording, our eyes can look anywhere and our imaginations are free to roam. True we are not watching the musicians, but we […]
Here’s One Country Where Print Magazines Have Come Roaring Back From The Dead
Just a year ago, one of New Zealand’s largest magazine publishers decided to shut itself off and sell off its titles (if it could), portending doom for the industry. Not only were all the titles sold (and they’re still publishing), but a new wave of publications dedicated to New Zealand’s tradition of long-form feature journalism. […]
Border Wall SeeSaws Win Design Award
They were installed by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello at the Anapra zone in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. Even though they were only in place for 20 minutes, video footage of people using them went viral. – BBC
Remembering The Other Nijinsky — And How She Changed Dance
“The Nijinsky name, however, does not belong to [Vaslav] alone. In an era where static positions were the marrow of classical dance, [Bronislava] Nijinska envisioned a modernist ballet, one which saw focus shift towards the movement which connected these positions. Ultimately, she believed it was not the final posture that encapsulated the beauty of ballet, […]
A Critic Ponders A Critical Interruption
Nate Chinen: “A disaster of this magnitude turns every critic into an advocate. For many of us, of course, that function was already part of the equation. But as I look back on our distorted timeline, I’m struck by how great a percentage of my energy was devoted to crisis response: detailing the collapse of […]
Boris Johnson’s Government Prepares Law To Protect Public Monuments From ‘Baying Mobs’
“The legislation would require planning permission for any changes and a minister would be given the final veto. … The plans follow the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston last year and a wider discussion on the removal of controversial monuments.” – BBC
Reasoning Behind Tories’ Protect-Monuments-From-Mobs Law Is Rubbish
Charlotte Higgins: “What is happening in reality – and to a greater or lesser extent has been happening for years – is a reappraisal of what and who is celebrated in Britain’s public realm, as Britain gradually, painfully, and often inadequately, examines its colonial and imperial past. … What the Conservatives doggedly refuse to acknowledge […]
Trump Pardons Disgraced Art Dealer
“Helly Nahmad, a member of the Nahmad family dynasty and the son of art collector David Nahmad, was caught running an illegal gambling ring worth $100 million out of his apartment in Trump Tower in New York. He owns the entirety of the building’s 51st floor, which reportedly cost a collective $21 million.” – Artnet
Late-Night TV Writers Dish On The Hard Work Of Writing Jokes About Trump
“Ahead of Biden’s inauguration, Vulture spoke with multiple late-night writers who either still work or previously worked for Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel, Samantha Bee, Jim Jefferies, and John Oliver about what it was like inside the Trump-joke trenches — and how they see the next administration affecting their jobs. … In […]
Take It From A Times Theater Critic: The Trump-To-Shakespeare Analogies Really Don’t Work
Jesse Green: “I admit that I do it too. … But even these comparisons are reductive — in both directions. Shakespeare’s characters are much richer and more readable than someone as unforthcoming as Trump. At the same time, we’d be lucky if he were merely Shakespearean; no made-up villain, even Iago, is as alarming as […]
Egyptian Queen’s 4,200-Year-Old Tomb, 13-Foot Papyrus, And Even More Painted Coffins: The Latest Treasures Unearthed At Saqqara
“Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities has revealed details of the latest landmark discoveries to emerge from the Saqqara necropolis, south of Cairo. The vast burial grounds sit in what was once Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt. … Among the biggest rewards for Egyptologists in this latest round of discoveries was the identity of a queen […]
With New Contract, SoCal’s Pacific Symphony Can Start Playing Again
Last week the Orange County orchestra’s musicians and management agreed on a four-year contract, running through the 2023-24 season. “Crucially, the agreement lays out a way for the musicians to be performing together again, recording new programs from their home venue. … Some of the contract’s considerations: musicians’ pay, allowances for streaming programs, COVID safety […]
Trump’s NEA Chair Departs As Biden Administration Arrives
“National Endowment for the Arts chairwoman Mary Anne Carter has resigned as head of the federal agency, telling her staff in a letter sent Friday that ‘a new team should have a new leader.’” – MSN (Washington Post)
BBC Faces ‘Financial Risk’ As Viewers’ Habits Change
The UK’s national broadcaster is funded by mandatory license fees, charged annually to every household that owns a television set. But as more and more Britons, especially younger ones, consume all their video via streaming on their computers and phones, fewer and fewer of them have televisions to pay license fees on. And so, says […]