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Soprano Roberta Alexander Dead At 76

Active as a concert singer as well as in opera, she was for some years a mainstay at the Met, Covent Garden, Salzburg, Glyndebourne, and especially the Netherlands Opera. She was known for Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini as well as a landmark portrayal of the title role in Janáček’s Jenůfa. - Moto Perpetuo

Tim Curry At 79, Looking Forward Even After His Stroke

The actor who brought so much manic energy to Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror), Wadsworth the butler (Clue), and Pennywise the clown (Stephen King’s It) talks about his career, his recovery, and his mother (on whom Curry based Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s exit from the refrigerator with the bloody axe). - The Guardian

At 93, Is Gerhard Richter Our Greatest Living Artist?

That much will certainly be made clear in a massive Richter retrospective opening this month at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. Comprising some 250 objects, it is the largest survey of his work to date, exceeding MoMA’s landmark Richter show in 2002. - ARTnews

Toby Talbot, Who Helped Create America’s Art-House Cinema Circuit, Is Dead At 96

“(She and her husband, Dan,) through their distribution company, New Yorker Films, and such prominent Manhattan theaters as … Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, were a prolific force behind the transformation of movies in the 1960s and ‘70s from popular entertainment to an art form regarded with the seriousness of literature or painting.” - AP

What Happened to Kevin Costner?

The Oscar-winning director and actor with the most iconic American screen presence since Gary Cooper is now brawling with his castmates, getting sued by his crewmembers and, in recent months, giving paid keynote speeches at bakery and veterinarian conventions. - The Hollywood Reporter

Susan Griffin, One Of The Inventors Of Ecofeminism, Has Died At 82

Griffin was “an influential poet, playwright and prolific feminist author who pioneered a unique form of creative nonfiction, blending propulsive, poetic prose with history, memoir and myth.” - The New York Times

Diane Keaton Has Died At 79

Keaton was the star of Annie Hall, for which she won an Oscar, and many other Woody Allen movies; she was also an Oscar nominee for Reds, Marvin’s Room, and Something’s Gotta Give. And then there were her iconic roles in the Godfather movies. - The Hollywood Reporter

Theatre And Opera Director Ian Judge Dead At 79

“(He) enjoyed a wide-ranging career as a theatre and opera director without any of the obvious attributes for being so – no university or musical education, no artistic background, no connections – yet he succeeded over many decades in opera houses around the world, and for 10 years at the Royal Shakespeare Company.” - The Guardian

A Playwright, Two Filmmakers, A Cartographer, A Basket Weaver: Meet The 2025 MacArthur Fellows

Among the arts folks who won this year’s $800,000 no-strings grants are playwright Heather Christian, photographers Tonika Lewis Johnson and Matt Black, artist/filmmakers Garrett Bradley and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, artist/curator Gala Porras-Kim, composer Craig Taborn, author Tommy Orange, cartographer Margaret Wickens Pearce, and traditional Wabanaki basket weaver Jeremy Frey. - NPR

Longtime ARTnews Owner Milton Esterow, 97

Esterow purchased ARTnews in 1972 from Newsweek, which at the time was a division of the Washington Post Company, and owned it until 2014, when ARTnews was sold in 2014 to Sergey Skaterschikov. - ARTnews

Ivan Klíma, Most Prolific Of Czech Dissident Authors, Has Died At 94

“Over a career that spanned more than six decades, Mr. Klíma emerged as one of Central Europe’s most distinctive literary voices, chronicling what it means to live with both fear and conscience in societies ruled by ideology … (and) how ordinary people navigate systems designed to crush individuality.” - The Washington Post (MSN)

Megahit Novelist Jilly Cooper, 88

“The novels were robust, and full of comic observation – she had a caricaturist’s eye for telling contrasts of detail, a handsome sleek horse next to a shaggy-shanked pony. … Upper and middling natives pursued land, sports, profitable businesses, and each other, with lust and gusto, as in the works of Henry Fielding.” - The Guardian

Culture Critic Lawrence Burney Says Baltimore, With Great History And Art, Needs Much Better PR

Burney, who created a new zine to showcase the artists of his city: "Baltimore is a good microcosm, not even just for the social aspects of America, but the social aspects of the western world in general.” - The Guardian (UK)

Why Annie Lennox Likes To Read Books Back To Front

“I think it might possibly have something to do with being left-handed,” the musician says. - The New York Times

Jenny Stein, The First Woman To Helm Britain’s Whitechapel Art Gallery, Has Died At 99

“Despite financial pressures, Jenny continued the gallery’s tradition of innovation, exhibiting trade union banners and showcasing new and radical artists such as Joseph Beuys.” - The Guardian (UK)

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