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- Good Morning
The Met Opera is the largest performing arts company in the country, and it is quietly desperate — box-office receipts down $20 million from a decade ago, deficits mounting, and no obvious fix in sight (The New York Times). The Boston Symphony, meanwhile, just fired its music director, and the postmortem is not gentle: Andris Nelsons is being held up as the cautionary symbol of the “overstretched, overtired, overindulged modern music director” (The New York Times). Big institutions, big problems.
The Toronto Film Critics Association is effectively in freefall after an Indigenous filmmaker’s pro-Palestine acceptance speech was cut from a broadcast. She returned her trophy, the president resigned, and 16 members have quit — with more weighing it (The Hollywood Reporter). The Voice of America got better news: a federal judge ruled Kari Lake’s appointment invalid, potentially reinstating more than 1,000 journalists and restoring broadcasts to China, Russia, and Iran (The New York Times).
And then there’s Timothée Chalamet, who declared that nobody cares about opera and ballet. Opera and ballet companies responded by posting sold-out notices and offering discount ticket codes in his name (NBC). Somebody cares.
All of our stories below.
- The Best Actor Race Is Weirdly Up For Grabs
“‘When there’s not unanimity in the lead acting races, it can get really weird.’ In that situation, voters stop gaming out front-runners and simply vote for their guy. Which means that truly anything can happen.” – Vulture
- Romance And Romantasy Fans Are Driving A Potential Literary Shift
- Amazon Tried To Sponsor A Book Festival In France, And That Went About As Well As You Might Expect
Many – most, even – of France’s booksellers pulled out of . Then the organizers got Amazon to “mutually agree” to end its sponsorship. Who thought this was a good idea in the first place? – The Guardian (UK)
- It’s Such A Brutal Time For Both Theatre And Arts Journalism
So what’s an NYT theatre critic to do? “There are so many things beyond our control … but somewhere amid all the hubbub, someone is making something, and you need to pay attention.” – The New York Times
- The Man In Charge Of Pixar Cuts Any Content He Sees As Therapy
Especially if that content is, you know, gay. Surely that will fix the fabled studio! – Wall Street Journal (MSN)
- Federal Judge Rules Appointment Of Kari Lake Invalid, Voiding Mass Layoffs At The Voice Of America
“If upheld by higher courts, Judge Lamberth’s ruling would allow more than 1,000 journalists and support staff members at the news group to return to their jobs” – and to keep broadcasting to places like China, Russia, and Iran. – The New York Times
- For Dublin’s Arts Council, Meetings With Property Developers Are Always On The Schedule
“Our job is to ‘opportunity-make’ a space.’ … A lot of people think cultural development shouldn’t exist. There should be housing development, factory development and office development. But culture? What is that?” – Irish Times
- The Met Is The Largest Performing Arts Company In The US, And It’s Desperate For Money
“The core problem has been ticket revenues, which were weakening even before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered its theater with a devastating financial impact. Box-office receipts last year were down $20 million from a decade earlier.” – The New York Times
- How The Musical Suffs Emerged From The 2016 Election
“To me, a great protagonist for a musical is somebody who wants something so desperately, who is going to be relentless to the point of recklessness. … Alice [Paul] lived until 1977. She was the author of the Equal Rights Amendment. She never stopped.” – Boston Globe
- Tatjana Wood, A Skilled Comic Colorist Who Worked On Famous Teams For DC, Has Died At 99
“Anyone who laid eyes on a DC Comics cover from 1973 to 1983 was likely seeing an example of Ms. Wood’s work. She colored nearly every cover for the company, whether the image was for a horror title, a war comic or a superhero adventure.” – The New York Times
- The Cosplayers Taking Emerald City Comic Con To Task For Its Deep Connections To ICE
“The problem lies in a rotten, corporate family tree,” and the self-described nerds aren’t going to let anyone forget it. For instance, in one panel, “it’ll be much, much more about fascism than a steamy book panel usually would be.” – The Stranger (Seattle)
- After An Indigenous Filmmaker’s Speech Is Cut Fore Broadcast, The Toronto Film Critics Association Is Falling Apart
“Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers returned her trophy, the president resigned and 16 members have quit — with more considering their position.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Does This Musician’s Nostalgic Performance Prove The Brits Are Becoming More Conservative Again?
“For all that the audience are loving it, the enthusiastic self-infantilisation feels depressing to me. Is Middle England so deprived of communal singing – the pub, the church, the local choir – it makes this appealing?” – The Guardian (UK)
- Remaking The Art Of The Fugue As A Ballet, In Denmark, After Fleeing The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine
“When the tanks entered Ukraine, Ratmansky gathered his artistic team and left for New York, severing ties with the Bolshoi and with Russia.” – New York Review of Books
- The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Firing Of Nelsons Provides Conductors With A Cautionary Tale
“Nelsons, 47, has become one of the most unfortunate symbols of all that is irresponsible about the overstretched, overtired, overindulged modern music director. It has been not only deeply frustrating, but genuinely sad, to witness his trajectory.” – The New York Times
- Grammarly Openly Steals The Work Of Writers Living And Dead
Gross: “Using Grammarly’s ‘Expert Review’ allows an approximation of Stephen King and Neil deGrasse Tyson to nitpick your work. While Tyson has the opportunity to say whether he’d like to be turned into a chatbot, other authors, like Carl Sagan, cannot because they are dead.” – AV Club
- Whether He Had A Point Or Not, Opera (And Ballet) Are Clapping Back At Chalamet
The Seattle Opera offered a deal on tickets to Carmen using the code Timothee, and LA Opera “posted a photo from the opera Akhnaten … with the caption ‘Sorry, @tchalamet. We’d offer you complimentary tickets to Akhnaten, but it’s selling out.’” – NBC
- OK, What He Said Was Foolish, But Did Chalamet Have A Point About Ballet?
“This is the frustration of working in the fine arts. The people who care about ballet, for example, care deeply. And most of those who don’t care think of ballet through stereotypes or quick hits of dancers on TikTok.” – The New York Times
- Why Are Twins Or Doppelgangers Everywhere Right Now?
“From spyware as standard to the conspiracy theorists who insist that Melania Trump has been replaced by an impersonator, we are in a deeply paranoid moment. Fittingly, the figure of the doppelganger stalks right across contemporary culture, through books, fashion and film.” – The Guardian (UK)
- AJ Chronicles: “Future Vision” and what the Boston Symphony signaled this week
The Boston Symphony’s board didn’t fire Andris Nelsons as its music director. Not exactly. They declined to renew his contract because he and the BSO weren’t “aligned on future vision” — the board’s own words, offered without apology. Not artistic differences. Not budget. Not performance. Future vision. That phrase is doing a lot of work here, and it’s worth thinking about, because it signals a structural institutional shift, one that appears, in different vocabulary, in many of the stories in arts and culture this week. - Andris Nelsons Out As Music Director Of The Boston Symphony
“The decision to not renew his contract was made by the BSO’s board of trustees because, beyond our shared desire to ensure our orchestra continues to perform at the highest levels, the BSO and Andris Nelsons were not aligned on future vision,” the BSO said in a statement from its trustees and CEO Chad Smith. – AP
- Ukrainian musical mosaics in New York City
The seventh annual Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival returns to The DiMenna Center for Classical Music on March 19–21, 2026 with a three-day celebration of new music from Ukraine.
This year’s festival explores “Mosaics” — the rich diversity of peoples, places, and musical practices that make up Ukraine’s cultural identity today.
Opening night on March 19th, focuses on Ukrainian places, will be presented by the esteemed International Contemporary Ensemble and will feature a world premiere co-commissioned arrangement from composer Anna Korsun. Exploring the relationship between geography and imagination, portraying how Ukraine’s vast and varied landscapes shape the sonic imagination of its composers.
Our second concert on March 20th, will highlight Ukraine’s diverse peoples. Celebrating the many ethnic and cultural voices that make up Ukraine’s history. Highlighting works that reflect Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar, Hutsul, and jewish influences. Of note, this year’s composer-in-residence, Alla Zahaykevych’s Rituel for voice and electronics.
Closing the festival on March 21st, our long-time friends The Rhythm Method celebrate the diversity of Ukrainian composing practices with an all-string quartet program. This program will showcase how experimentation, reflection, and spirituality coexist in Ukrainian musical practices. Works include Turkevych’s String Quartet No. 1, Zahaykevych’s String Quartet No. 2, Loginov’s sleep during insomnia, Zavhorodnii’s Music That Leaves Itself, Valentyn Sylvestrov’s Icon, and Hanna Havrylets’s For Maria.
Join us at The DiMenna Center on March 19-21, 2026. Tickets can be purchased through our website at ucmfnyc.com/mosaics
- Congresswoman Files Suit To Stop Trump From Closing The Kennedy Center
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) on Friday filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to block President Trump from closing the Kennedy Center after he announced last month that it would shut down to allow for renovations. – The Hill
- Washington’s National Symphony Top Official Resigns
“It’s no secret that this has been a really hard year,” she said. “So I started looking for a new opportunity several months ago.” – The New York Times
- The Giant Nude Woman In SF’s Embarcadero Plaza Will Be Staying All This Summer
“On Tuesday, March 4, commissioners voted to keep the temporary installation of ‘R-Evolution’ on display through October. The 48-foot-tall, steel-and-mesh figure of a naked woman by Petaluma artist Marco Cochrane was previously approved to be on view from mid-March 2025 to early March.” – San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
- Fandom Communities Seem Very Broken Right Now
“I see that a lot in different fandoms, where people won’t click the link, they’ll just see what they see on social, they’ll see the headline, and not necessarily digest the entire story. It’s a common thread in a lot of media consumption right now.” – Wired
- Crystal Pite On Choreographing Work About Big Real-World Problems
“I feel as if I’m stretched a bit too far, but somehow in that stretch there’s a spark of creativity. There’s a place for outrage — sometimes outrage may be the most appropriate response to something happening in our world. But it’s more generative to approach these questions with curiosity and love.” – The Guardian
- Appraising Zubin Mehta At The End Of His Career
The most efficient maestro of his generation — blessed with a brain surgeon’s hands and a barn owl’s ears — he never commanded a premier ensemble. – The Critic
- Netflix and Paramount’s Interest In Warner? The Back Catalog. It’s An Old Strategy
Back in the 18th century for example, Longman, the UK’s oldest commercial publishing house, built up its business by acquiring the catalogues of other firms. – The Conversation
- Classic Reconsidered: Hudson’s Bay Coat Gets Historical Reality Check
That vintage striped coat commanding boutique prices? Turns out its colonial baggage is heavier than its wool. Fashion meets reckoning as shoppers discover their thrift store treasure carries more than just warmth. — The Walrus
- An Ethics Problem: AI Agents Go Rogue, Write Hit Pieces
When a coder rejected an autonomous AI’s contribution, the digital diva researched and published a personalized attack piece. Welcome to the age when artificial intelligence doesn’t just create—it retaliates with very human pettiness. – Undark
- One In Five Broadway Theatergoers Is Going Alone
“Nearly 20% of Broadway theater tickets are now being purchased by solo attendees — double the rate from just a couple of years ago, according to audience data for the 2024-25 season from the Broadway League.” And one theater owner, ATG Entertainment, is tapping into that crowd with a “Solo Seats” initiative. – NPR
- What Will Happen To DC Theatre Without A WaPo Theatre Critic?
The Washington Post’s theatre critic chair sits empty after layoffs, leaving D.C.’s robust theatre scene wondering who’s watching—and whether anyone still cares. Local companies now face the existential question: make art for critics, or just make art? — American Theatre
- When Your Reading List Becomes A High Score (Is That Good?)
LitHub explores how platforms like Letterboxd and Goodreads transform intimate cultural experiences into competitive metrics. Because apparently we can’t enjoy a book anymore without turning it into content for our personal brand. — Literary Hub
