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Here’s One Country Where Putin-Supporting Russian Performers Are Still Invited

"While artists identifying with the Russian president are boycotted all over the world, the gates remain open for them in Israel – and these Ukrainian activists are not going to let it slide." - Haaretz (Israel)

The 84-Year-Old Dissident Muralist Waging War In Russia

Mr. Ovchinnikov is a rare dissident in Russia, where public criticism of the war can land people in jail or exile. He said his age and his family history offered a modicum of protection, even though he has been fined, questioned by the authorities and pelted with snowballs. - The New York Times

An Ancient Grammar Mystery Is Solved, Clarifying A 2,500-Year-Old “Language Machine”

In ancient India, the grammarian Pāṇini developed a set of rules that basically constitute an algorithm, allowing any word or phrase to be coined in perfect Sanskrit.  But modern scholars could never figure out Pāṇini's instruction on what to do if rules conflict — until a Ph.D, student's eureka moment. - Vice

AI-Generator Allows You To Compose Music Using Images

AI-generated music is already an innovative enough concept, but Riffusion takes it to another level with a clever, weird approach that produces weird and compelling music using not audio but images of audio. - TechCrunch

How Allen Ginsberg Caused Gail Collins To Organize A Pro-Gay Rights, Anti-Censorship Rally In 1967 Milwaukee

The future New York Times columnist met the Beat poet and invited him to come to her college to speak.  Then the dean of students cancelled the talk. So she organized protests. "And I've got to tell you," she writes, "it was a turning point in my life." - The New York Times

Herbert Deutsch, Co-Inventor Of The Moog Synthesizer, Is Dead At 90

"(He) collaborated with engineer Robert Moog in the 1960s to invent a portable synthesizer that revolutionized the sound of rock, classical and other forms of music. ... Although the device became known as the Moog synthesizer, Deutsch was by all accounts an instrumental figure in its invention." - MSN (The Washington Post)

How On Earth Do These People Improvise A Shakespeare-Style Play On The Spot?

That's exactly what the five-member Improvised Shakespeare Company does: take a suggestion from an audience member and invent an entire play, complete with tragedy, comedy, thwarted love, a prologue, and rhymed couplets.  Here's a look at how they do it and the way they train. - The Washington Post

Fake Twitter Accounts Tease Dream Sondheim Broadway Opening (Not Happening)

The problem is, Square One is not coming to Broadway (for now, anyway) and the announcement was a hoax. A representative who worked with Sondheim at the time of his passing confirmed to BroadwayWorld that there are no plans for a production of the show at this time. - Broadway World

Well That Didn’t Last Long. Boston Symphony CEO Steps Down After 18 Months

Gail Samuel, who came to the BSO from the Los Angeles Philharmonic in June 2021, will formally leave the orchestra on Jan. 3 — an abrupt end to a brief tenure. No reason was given for Samuel’s departure. - Boston Globe

Rare Early Self-Portrait Of Cézanne Discovered Underneath Still Life

Cincinnati Museum of Art chief conservator Serena Urry was inspecting the artist's Still Life with Bread and Eggs this past spring when she saw a couple of white patches between tiny paint cracks, developed a hunch, and had the piece X-rayed. She discovered a rare self-portrait from Cézanne's mid-20s. - CNN

The Museum Of Sex Will Open Its First Satellite Branch In Miami

"Bringing to mind the oft-debated adage 'bigger is better,' the Miami institution, which will occupy a repurposed warehouse in the city's Allapattah district, will comprise 32,000 square feet; by comparison, the New York (mothership) boasts just 20,000 square feet," soon to be expanded to 25,000. - Artforum

The Top 40 Most Arts-Vibrant Communities of 2022

The list is broken out into the top 20 large communities and the top 10 each of medium-sized and small communities.  Because of the unpredictable and uneven nature of recovery from COVID-related shutdowns, this year the list is not ranked. - SMU Data Arts

NPR Cancels Next Year’s Summer Internship Program

"(The decision comes) amid $10 million in budget cuts, close to 3% of NPR's annual budget, linked to an anticipated $20 million decline in corporate sponsorship revenue. The latest financial challenge for NPR follows last month's announced hiring freeze, along with cuts to discretionary spending." - Inside Radio

Wales’s Leading Concert Hall To Be Leased To Private Operator

A committee of Cardiff's city council has approved in principle an operating lease of St. David's Hall — which hosts the BBC National Symphony of Wales and the Cardiff Singer of the World competition — to Academy Music Group, which manages rock concert venues. - BBC

The Metropolitan Opera Is Back Online

"The website was restored at around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, and ticket sales have resumed after more than a week of chaos. Met Opera on Demand, the company's popular subscription streaming platform, has also been restored. ... The Met Opera normally processes more than $200,000 worth of tickets each day." - Gothamist/WNYC

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