“On Feb. 25, 1925, Art Gillham, a musician known as 'the Whispering Pianist' for his gentle croon, entered Columbia Phonograph Company’s studio to test out a newly installed electrical system. Its totem was positioned in front of him, level with his mouth: a microphone.” - The New York Times
“In Toronto, they tend to go unnoticed, but talk to audiences in Glace Bay, Rimouski, Regina or Kitimat and, from their perspectives, Ballet Jörgen is effectively Canada’s national dance troupe. (Without it), audiences in smaller centres and remote communities would never have the chance to see fully realized, professional productions.” - Toronto Star
Aaron De Groft was axed by the museum’s board after the major Basquiat show he championed was found to be full of forgeries. The museum sued De Groft for malfeasance; he countersued for wrongful dismissal and defamation. De Groft died last month, and the parties have now ended their litigation. - Orlando Sentinel
Lisa Jeanine Findley pled guilty to mail fraud, in exchange for having an identity theft charge dropped, for a scam which cooked up a fake debt supposedly incurred by Lisa Marie Presley and attempted to foreclose on and seize Graceland to satisfy that debt. - NBC News
Pappano, 65, is a rarity in classical music: a maestro who never went to a music school. Born in England to Italian immigrant parents, then transplanted to Connecticut at 13, he learned through experience (and came away with an accent that remains charmingly jumbled to this day). - The New York Times
Hidden from the Assad regime’s secret police, Mohamad and Ahmad Malas performed over 200 plays in their apartment — until they were arrested during the Arab Spring demonstrations and fled Syria. The brothers never imagined they could return home because they never imagined that Assad would fall. And then he did. - The Guardian
"They want to do things in a time frame that suits them, rather than hope that they will find an agent, and that the agent finds a publisher, and at some point, in the future, that book is published. New writers are saying: ‘I can do something relatively quickly and learn how to be an entrepreneurial, self-starting author.’” -...
If the old Academy had a terror of making odd choices, the new Academy seems to be looking for ways to be odd. Its membership seems to have become in love with the unexpected gesture of heralding the unheralded because they value the symbolism, not because the work is worthy. - San Francisco Chronicle
Are we past the point where social media almost entirely drives arts marketing? While it’s unlikely social media platforms will all collapse in 2025, their ubiquity will almost certainly dissolve significantly in the years to come. - ArtsHub
There’s an entire new immersive exhibition dedicated to the composer, another show at the Theatermuseum, the city’s 30+ dance schools, and the venue that the composer’s great-grand-nephew considers most authentic: the House of Strauss, a museum situated inside a restored casino (which in Vienna means a small dance hall). - The Observer (UK)
The problem is that the definition of “free speech” has strayed far from its origins in the rights of ordinary folk to speak without interference from higher powers like governments. It has become a vacuous term, a plea to be able to act without any constraints, a dumb binary that either you’ve got or you haven’t. - The Guardian
"It’s a misconception that Spotify ‘doesn’t pay well’ – as we’ve proved time and time again. The $10B we paid out in 2024 and $60B all time is industry-leading and record-breaking - the largest contribution to the music industry. “The music industry is healthier than ever.” - Music Radar
A.R. Rahman (Oscar winner for Slumdog Millionaire, which he’s adapting for the stage) is starting with a 3,000-seat theater in his hometown, Chennai, and wants to set up additional venues elsewhere in Tamil Nadu state and, eventually, beyond. - Variety
What some in the east suspected, but very few knew for sure, was that the uncensored literature flooding the country wasn’t reaching Poles by chance. It was sent as part of a decades-long US intelligence operation, known in Washington as the “CIA book program.” - The Guardian
Chaim Grade was considered one of the greatest novelists in the language, and his last work. Sons and Daughters, was serialized in Yiddish newspapers without ever getting published. After Grade died, his widow obstructed access to his papers. So the discovery of missing material was a big event. - The New York Times
