Baltimore Symphony’s New CEO: Mark Hanson, Formerly Of San Francisco Symphony
"Hanson, 48, who already has led two orchestras larger than the BSO" — the San Francisco and Houston Symphonies — "will begin his new...
Palace Of Versailles Reopens The Tennis Court Where French Democracy Was Born (Wait, What?)
The Jeu de Paume room was built in 1686 for Louis XIV to play the game of the same name, an ancestor of modern...
Getty Trust Names NYU’s Provost Its New CEO
"The world's wealthiest arts institution, the J. Paul Getty Trust, has selected a new president and CEO: New York University Provost Katherine E. Fleming....
Attempts To Ban Books From US Libraries More Than Quadrupled In 2021
The annual report from the American Library Association said that there were 729 challenges to books in school, university, and public libraries in 2021,...
Classical Grammy Winners: LA Phil’s Mahler 8th, Met’s “Akhnaten”, Philly’s Florence Price, Caroline Shaw
The Philadelphia Orchestra's release of Price's First and Third Symphonies took Best Orchestral Performance, while Dudamel's Mahler Eighth from Los Angeles won Best Choral...
New York Times Officially Names Zachary Woolfe Classical Music Critic
In a long-expected move, Woolfe, who became the Times's classical music editor in 2015, succeeds Anthony Tommasini, who retired as chief classical critic last...
Visionary Detroit Symphony Chief Anne Parsons, 64
Determined to avoid another labor dispute and eager to make the orchestra a pillar of Detroit’s civic revival, she spent the next decade rebuilding...
Old Wax Cylinder Recordings To Be Heard For The First Time In 100 Years
The earliest, putty-colored cylinders deteriorate after only a few dozen listens if played on the Edison machines; they crack if you hold them too...
Joseph Stalin, Intellectual?
“Stalin was no psychopath but an emotionally intelligent and feeling intellectual. Indeed, it was the power of his emotional attachment to deeply held beliefs...
The Hermitage Has Become Isolated
Once a leader in Russian cultural diplomacy overseas, the Hermitage is now isolated by the cultural boycotts of Russia that have multiplied through the...
The Good And Bad Of Virtue Signaling
Virtue signalling is more nuanced and more interesting than the picture painted by conventional wisdom and political rhetoric. As it turns out, there are bad and good things...
Uffizi Became Italy’s Most-Visited Attraction Last Year
Once a slow-changing bastion of tradition, it was announced on Monday that the institution famous for its Renaissance masterpieces had last year leapt past...
Where Aaron Sorkin Found What Atticus Finch Has In Common With Donald Trump
Adapting Mockingbird for the stage, Sorkin knew Atticus shouldn't be an icon of rectitude. "I realized I didn't have to create a flaw for...
How Languages Figure Out In What Order Words Occur
So, what is grammaticalization? Roughly speaking, it is the series of steps by which collections of individual words that refer to objects and actions...
Franz Kafka, Inveterate Hypochondriac
"By the time he was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 34, Kafka had already spent two decades worrying about disease. He took...
America’s Cities Are Losing Their Hangout Places
These days, the art of hanging out seems to be waning in cities. The American Community Life Survey reported last year that only 25...
XR (That’s Extended Reality) Arrives On The Dance Scene
"I'm in an abandoned-looking house, where a woman appears like a dancing apparition. Then I'm going down a rabbit hole into a tea party...
Why Jon Batiste Was The Grammys’ Unexpected Big Winner
So he is a traditionalist choice to win—but a traditionalist choice for an institution that has been changing. Following years of accusations about gender...
The Legendary Music Tree, From Which Are Made Guitars Like No Others
Here is the story of one particular trunk of mahogany in a remote Belizean forest. - Smithsonian Magazine
How NFTs Are Upending The Art Market
What’s happening now is larger than the traditional tension between art and commerce, and it’s occurring at internet speed. - Alta Journal
Charles Darwin’s Notebooks Mysteriously Returned After Years Missing
The 1830s notepads, last seen 22 years ago and formally declared missing in 2020, were left in a pink gift bag on a floor...
Jeremy O. Harris Wants Audience Members To Come Into His Plays Blind
"I think a lot of people's response to my plays are based on projection. ... I love that. It's my ideal. Because then you're...
The Razzies Withdraw One Of Their First-Ever Nominations, To Shelley Duvall
The Golden Raspberry Awards, while rescinding Bruce Willis's nominations after his aphasia was made public, also took back Shelley Duvall's award for The Shining...
Boris Johnson’s Government Will Privatize Britain’s Channel Four
"'I have come to the conclusion that government ownership is holding Channel 4 back from competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon,' tweeted...
UNESCO Tallies Damage To 53 Cultural Sites (So Far) In Ukraine Since Russia’s Invasion
"As of March 30, UNESCO said, the confirmed damaged sites, located in several regions across Ukraine, include 29 religious sites, 16 historic buildings, four...
