Stories

Han Kang And Arundhati Roy Among Winners At National Book Critics Circle Awards

Nobel laureate Han Kang won the fiction category for We Do Not Part, while Karen Hao took nonfiction honors for Empire of A.I. and Arundhati Roy received the autobiography prize for Mother Mary Comes to Me. Among other honorees were Quinn Slobodian for Hayek's Bastards (criticism) and Kevin Young for Night Watch (poetry). - AP

New American Operas Do Not Have To “Challenge” Audiences: John McWhorter

“One thing that could help turn things around is if opera companies offered audiences works in the language they speak (and) a musical language they can readily recognize and enjoy. … Too often composers and producers reject music that audiences can easily appreciate as insufficiently sophisticated or original.” - The New York Times

Boston Lyric Opera Has A Permanent HQ At Long Last

“The BLO has been something of a nomad after ending its relationship with the Shubert Theatre a decade ago. ... While the company steadily performs at historic Boston venues like the Emerson Colonial, preparing for their big productions has scattered the company around the city, and beyond, for years” — until now. - WBUR (Boston)

Salzburg Festival Fires Artistic Director Markus Hinterhäuser

“An Austrian pianist who turns 68 on Monday, Hinterhäuser became artistic director on Oct. 1, 2016. The festival announced in April 2024 that he had been given a third five-year term from 2026-31, but his relationship with management became strained.” - AP

Despite Initial Denial From White House, Bill Maher Will Receive Mark Twain Prize For American Humor

“After The Atlantic cited anonymous sources saying he was, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it ‘fake news.’ But today the Kennedy Center made it official.” - NPR

Trinity Rep Names A New Artistic Director

Meredith McDonough, formerly associate artistic director at Actors Theatre of Louisville and, before that, director of new works at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, takes the helm at the Providence company as of August 3. - The Providence Journal

The Oscars Are Moving To Downtown LA

Beginning in 2029 — the same year the Oscar telecast moves to YouTube — the Academy Awards will move to downtown Los Angeles, to L.A. Live, a sports-and-entertainment complex adjacent to the Crypto.com Arena, home of the Lakers basketball team and the Kings hockey team. - The New York Times

This World-Famous Concert Hall Lets Students In To Study While Musicians Play For Them

“The study sessions were first organized during the COVID-19 pandemic by Entree, the youth association of (Amsterdam’s) Concertgebouw, to help students improve their concentration and introduce them to the charms of classical music. They have been a hit ever since.” - AP

Kennedy Center Started Laying Off Staff Today

Multiple departments were affected — including programming, development, advertising, marketing and the office of the president — according to multiple people at the center. - Washington Post

I Wanted To Be A Critic. It Doesn’t Exist Anymore

This is how I came to understand that the relationship between what we see and what we know—the art of noticing— is a sophisticated act of interpretation, not just passive observation... “By the time you get to New York, this won’t be a thing,” he hissed, and I withered. He wasn't wrong.  - Talk Scratch

Arts Funding By Local Governments In Britain Has Fallen By Half Since 2010

“Analysis by the Autonomy Institute shows spending has dropped from £1.19 billion in 2010 to £539 million in 2024 to 25. The data covers local authority budgets for arts and entertainment, including theatres, live performance, museums and galleries.” - WhatsOnStage (UK)

Hauser & Wirth Partner Leaves To Start An Artist Management Agency

After 16 years helping build one of the most powerful galleries in the world, Cristopher Canizares is stepping away from Hauser & Wirth to try something the art market still hasn’t quite figured out how to define: an artist management agency. - ARTnews

Can Bluey Bring On A New Generation Of Classical Music Fans?

All we have to do is keep kids and families watching Bluey, and they will playfully and profoundly enjoy more classical tunes than the children of almost any previous generation. - The Guardian

AI Is Making A Bollox Of The Publishing Industry

As more A.I.-generated writing is put out in the world, more readers will question whether the text they are poring over was penned by a human. We’re barreling toward a rapid erosion of trust between authors and readers, and the publishing industry is unprepared to deal with the consequences. - The New York Times

The People Getting Falsely Accused Of Using AI Because They Write Too Well

Everyone is trying to ­figure out who is LLM and who is human, and sometimes we’re getting it wrong. In particular, people who learned English as a second or third language, working hard to master the strange, unpredictable rules, are accused of using AI precisely because they follow those rules. - New York Magazine

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