A soloist was forced to carry her 1782 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin in her arms through the Helsinki airport security and onto a flight to Germany after Lufthansa refused to let her bring the case as hand luggage. - The Daily Beast
The property was born in the French capital, first as a play, then as a hit film (followed later by the big US remake). But the American musical version had flopped in France — until the director of the Théâtre du Châtelet, Olivier Py, took it on. - The New York Times
The conductor joined the company back in 1982 and helped build it into an impressive operation for a city of Sarasota’s size and a company known for having produced every opera Verdi wrote. When DeRenzi departs next May, general director Richard Russell will take on artistic leadership as well. - Observer (Sarasota)
“The (Times) has been publishing reviews by a number of writers since predecessor Jesse Green was reassigned earlier this year. That list notably did not include Shaw, who joins the Times after a stint as theatre critic for The New Yorker, and a tenure as chief theatre critic at New York magazine prior.” - Playbill
The now-former vice president of education and programs at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center is suing the institution and its CEO, Perri Irmer, alleging misuse of public funds, harassment and retaliation. - WBEZ (Chicago)
Hedge fund manager Arki Busson is hoping to ride a wave in production studio construction generated by state-government subsidies. His goal: 1888 Studios, the largest such facility in greater New York, on 60 abandoned acres across an inlet from outer Staten Island. - Curbed (MSN)
The State Library of Victoria in Melbourne is Australia’s busiest, yet a restructuring is eliminating 39 jobs — including reducing the number of public-facing reference librarians by 60%. Meanwhile the SLV has worked on “digital experiences” like a rotating 3D model of legendary outlaw Ned Kelly’s helmet. - The Guardian
The Zayed National Museum, designed by Norman Foster’s architecture firm, is one of the five museums planned for Saadiyat Island, the emirate’s purpose-built cultural district. The Natural History Museum, designed by the Dutch firm Mecanoo, features everything from meteorites to dinosaur skeletons to “Lucy.” - The Art Newspaper
Cellist András Fejér has been with the famed string quartet since its founding exactly 50 years ago. As of next September, Fejér will retire; replacing him will be Romanian-born cellist Mihai Marica. - Gramophone
Toni Pierce-Sands, a featured soloist in some of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s most iconic suites and a co-founder of celebrated Twin Cities company TU Dance, died Tuesday in Minneapolis. She was 63 and had been battling cancer. - The Star-Tribune
Oddly enough, the collection —well, the cuneiform clay tablets, not the papyrus — has come down to us today precisely because the Babylonians and Medes conquered and down Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, in 612 BC. - Artnet
The Dallas city government has voted to explore relocating and selling the brutalist city hall designed by architect IM Pei, placing the building under increased threat of demolition. - Dezeen
All in all, an exhausting year. But—if you’ll permit me—a bit of hope? For every gallery that shut down or closed a location, another seemed to open. And, as art dealers reminded me all year, when the world gets dark, artists rise to the challenge, leading the way forward. - ARTnews
I first visited the Northern Arapaho people on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming in 1999. At that time, there were hundreds of speakers of the Arapaho language. Today, there are less than 100, and all are over the age of 70. - The Conversation
