"Known today primarily for his literary works, it is often forgotten that ETA Hoffmann, a multi-faceted artist and universal genius, also practised as a lawyer, composer, Kapellmeister, music critic and illustrator." - Bachtrack
The Nutcracker and Coppélia were not originally the gentle, nervous-parent-friendly tales you might expect from the ballets. Indeed, Hoffman's original Coppélia story gets downright grisly. - Bachtrack
"New research from the University of Pennsylvania found reductions in anxiety and depression and increases in cognitive function and empathy, among a number of other promising outcomes." - Hyperallergic
There was a boycott of the Globes last year when it became public that the HFPA had zero black members. "But now that the organization ... has been knocked down, not everyone in Hollywood wants to help them get back on their feet." - Variety
Most of those workers haven't gotten a raise since before the arrival of the pandemic, which gave them lots of extra work and potential exposure to the virus. The new contract gives raises, a lump-sum payment, increased pension contributions, and 100% paid healthcare. - Gothamist
Amigos Para Siempre ("friends forever"), as the firm is called, will produce musicals, plays, and other live events for Spanish-speaking markets throughout the world, including the US. Plans are already in place to present translations of most of Lloyd Webber's musicals. - Variety
The long-established event, regarded as the world’s pre-eminent fair for art, objects and furniture ranging back through the centuries, was canceled in 2021 and postponed this year by three months to an unfamiliar summer slot. - The New York Times
If arriving onsite is a slightly discombobulating experience at first – even for a seasoned Glastonbury-goer, the sheer volume of people feels weirdly overwhelming after spending a significant proportion of the past two years locked in your home. - The Guardian
More than half a dozen libraries and drag performers, from Saint John to Victoria, reported being inundated online and over the phone by homophobic slurs and, in some cases, threats of violence. - CBC
Called Maldives Floating City, the development will contain 5,000 low-rise floating homes floating within a 200-hectare lagoon in the Indian Ocean. As sea levels rise, so too will the city, which will be built upon a series of hexagonal-shaped floating structures. - Dezeen
Conductor John Mauceri has released a study of the forgetting of so much classical music, especially music composed in America by refugees from Nazi-dominated Europe. - The Critic
You don’t know it’s art by looking at it. You know it’s art because galleries want to show it, dealers want to sell it, collectors want to buy it, museums want to exhibit it, and critics can explain it. When the parts are in synch, you have a market. - The New Yorker
The English language evolves at such a pace that, for the OED lexicographers, the goalposts aren’t so much shifting as sprinting away from them. - New Statesman
The most dynamic music in the US in the first decade of the 20th century was ragtime, which Stanley claims “set the template for every successive pop boom”. - New Statesman
