As the West’s oldest still-operational opera company faces a steep financial cliff, there’s another aria being sung across the Pacific Ocean—one SF Opera stands to benefit from. “If there was a big growth market for opera at the moment,” SFO Director Matthew Shilvock said, “it is in China.” - San Francisco Standard
“Carlos was now in the mode of trying to manage the crisis,” co-founder Samir Rao (who has confessed and is cooperating with prosecutors) testified. “He said he needed to call members of the board and say that I had a mental break or mental health episode.” - Nieman Lab
The stunning blue-ground walls are decorated with female figures representing the four seasons and allegorical representations of agriculture and pastoralism, according to experts. - Euronews
The Kingdom "is now marketing itself to two sets of travelers with increasingly divergent — and sometimes contradictory — expectations: luxury tourists at ease with bikinis and cocktails, and pilgrims prepared for modesty and strict religious adherence. It’s hard to know whether the kingdom can satisfy both without antagonizing either." - The New York Times
Unseen and unacknowledged labor is as central to book publishing as Republican politicians being overpaid to write books that no one except their own political action committee actually buys. - LitHub
Striving for a high-level experience also means embedding accuracy into the menu itself. For The Great Murder Mystery, the team at the Lost Estate spent hours researching the cuisine and cooking styles of the 1800s, with the big inspiration coming in the form of the “Gordon Ramsay of the day”, the French chef Alexis Soyer. - The Stage
It took about two days for this lavishly-praised maestro to lose or cancel all his future engagements, and he'll likely be fired from his positions. Yet why was Roth's behavior (sexting musicians) treated so much more harshly than, say, Gardiner's or Barenboim's (screaming and hitting them)? - Van
Artists have finally had enough with Meta’s predatory AI policies, but Meta’s loss is Cara’s gain. An artist-run, anti-AI social platform, Cara has grown from 40,000 to 650,000 users within the last week, catapulting it to the top of the App Store charts. - TechCrunch
"The Paris Dance Project, which Millepied formed last year with Solenne du Haÿs Mascré, is not a dance company, but an organization that creates educational programs and accessible performances. La Ville Dansée ('the dancing city'), part of the Cultural Olympiad ..., is its biggest splash yet." - The New York Times
The museum's director, backed by the city council, thinks it'll take the amenities in a new $100 million building to attract visitors back to pre-COVID levels. Others think such a building doesn't belong in Portland's historic district and worry the museum can't afford to operate and maintain it. - The Boston Globe (MSN)
The $53 million in proceeds from the 2018 sale is funding a major renovation and redesign of the building as the museum, located in Pittsfield, Mass., narrows its focus away from art to science and local history. - The Boston Globe (MSN)
"The charges at the National Labor Relations Board allege the nonprofit parent company of WBEZ and the Chicago-Sun-Times 'failed and refused to provide information demanded by the union' regarding an employee headcount and financial data." - Chicago Tribune (MSN)
Q: "Tell me what excites you about the Ojai Festival." A: "You think I go to Ojai because I get excited? No. I go because there is music that I might want to do ..., and I might do it for the people who are involved." - The New York Times
The technician died in September of last year after falling more than 40 feet from a balcony while carrying out work. Authorities investigated the incident as a "work environment violation"; the lead prosecutor said that the company "had failed to investigate and assess the risk of the work in question." - AP
The Hay and Edinburgh festivals ended their relationships with Baillie Gifford because participating writers threatened to withdraw unless the firm divested from fossil fuels and any company doing business in Israel. Other book festivals followed suit, and Baillie Gifford "read the room" and withdrew entirely. - The Guardian
