“With astonishing green eyes and a mop of frizzy auburn hair, … a voice that could soar easily from a throaty C below middle C to high-pitched trills on top A, … (she was) the only performer to receive Grammy nominations in the female jazz, popular and classical categories.” - The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)
His biggest hit, “Feels So Good,” has become so familiar that many people know it without realizing it has a title. He developed a distinctive persona — flugelhorn, long hair, beard, banded fedora — which he cheerfully parodied while playing himself in the animated sitcom King of the Hill. - The Washington Post (MSN)
Rachida Dati, 59, who has publicly outlined her ambition to become mayor of Paris in 2026, was charged in 2019 on suspicions she lobbied for the car-making group, Renault-Nissan, while an MEP, which is the only directly elected body of the European Union. Dati has denied the allegations. - ARTnews
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Pärt has found a way to speak across boundaries of culture, creed and generation. In the world of contemporary classical music, where complexity and empty virtuosity often dominate, Pärt stands apart. - The Guardian
Her tribe, birthplace, date of death — all those and much else from the journals and later testimony of Lewis and Clark had been considered definitive. But Native American oral history about Sacagawea is quite different, and there are good reasons to believe that Lewis and Clark were misinformed. - The New York Times Magazine
Prosecutors allege that Rachida Dati, who was a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019, accepted €900,000 in lawyer’s fees between 2010 and 2012 from a Netherlands-based subsidiary of Renault-Nissan — and that she either didn’t really work for the auto manufacturer or illegally lobbied for it while an MEP. - France 24
“Blending Tin Pan Alley sentiment and contemporary pop, the Bergmans” — Alan and his wife, Marilyn (who passed in 2022) — “crafted lyrics known by millions, many of whom would not have recognized the writers had they walked right past them.” - AP
The cancellation came after more than 16,000 people, including Nobel laureates, Italian and international politicians and activists, signed a letter addressed to De Luca and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, calling for Gergiev’s appearance not to go ahead. - The Guardian
The Clock, a 24-hour, MoMA-headlining video-clock, has enjoyed a rare Barbenheimer blockbuster status in the art world. It’s a real-time video, edited from thousands of films pulled from what appear to be shitty DVD rips, wherein the viewer’s time of day is synchronized to match up with the clocks and watches that appear onscreen. - ARTnews
His mission wasn’t only to make us hear the repertoire we thought it knew through the prism of the techniques and playing styles of its time, rather than the ossifications of later traditions. He was also an irresistible firebrand in performance. - The Guardian
The term “prodigy” rarely applies to set designers, but Mr. Conklin’s instincts were on full display in his youth. Growing up in Hartford, Conn., he attended symphonies and operas with his family, and by the age of 10 he was building his own models, based on photographs he found perusing the magazine Opera News. - The New York Times
“(He) evolved from a conservative, high-profile member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints into an outspoken atheist and liberal, all while using his pen to skewer presidents and the powerful.” (He liked to describe himself as an “editorial harpoonist.”) - The Washington Post (MSN)
“(She was) the most popular female singer of the late 1950s and early ’60s, with such hits as ‘Who’s Sorry Now,’ ‘Stupid Cupid’ and ‘Where the Boys Are,’ and who became an unlikely TikTok sensation at 87 for a song she recorded six decades earlier.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
Gibson, spouse Megan Falley, and their four-year struggle with Gibson’s ovarian cancer are the main subjects of the documentary Come See Me in the Good Light, winner of the Festival Favorite Award this year at the Sundance Film Festival and scheduled to air this fall on Apple TV+. - AP
It seems the categories for the $100,000 arts prizes this year were made a bit flexible: performance artist Abramović won the prize for sculpture and choreographer de Keersmaeker won the theatre/film award. Meanwhile, pianist Schiff won for music, artist Doig for painting, and Souto de Moura for architecture. - FAD Magazine
