ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

Today's Stories

US Museums Cut Staff, Blaming Falling Visitor Numbers

As visitor numbers begin to stabilise, it remains unclear whether museums will reinstate those eliminated positions, an issue that has become more urgent as funds are increasingly allocated to other projects. - The Art Newspaper

Is It True That Quality TV Is Done For?

"There's definitely been a contraction after years of it feeling like TV was undergoing this crazy expansion." - BBC

How The Head Of Juilliard’s Dance Program Is Shaking Things Up

In 2018, she became the prestigious New York conservatory's first woman of color to head the dance program — and the youngest person to do so. Graf Mack, 45, is shaking up what is taught and how to make art dance more relevant. - NPR

How Two Amsterdam Museums Managed Hyper-Demand For Blockbuster Shows

“I thought we would sell out and would probably have about half a million visitors. In the end we had 650,000, but we could have easily sold two million tickets. That’s something I didn’t expect.” - The Art Newspaper

Inside San Francisco Symphony’s Budget Issues And What They Say About Priorities

Given these “significant financial pressures,” where does the multimillion-dollar Davies renovation project stand, certain to pose challenges even if the cost of application and licensing is covered by donation? - San Francisco Classical Voice

How Steppenwolf Theatre Reimagined Its Educational Mission

It seemed that the education department functioned as a sort of nonprofit running within another nonprofit, having separate conversations about programming. - American Theatre

Meet The Organist For The Boston Red Sox At Fenway Park

"It’s (Josh) Kantor’s job to punch up the action when it’s going well on the field and soothe fans’ frayed nerves when it’s not. Through ... social media, he interacts with fans in real time, taking requests. … He’s made himself an integral part of the Fenway experience." - The Boston Globe (MSN)

For The Second Time Since 1987, Vinyl Records Outsold CDs Last Year

People bought 43 million vinyl records last year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). That’s 6 million more than the number of CDs sold in 2023, marking the second time since 1987 that’s happened and reflecting the steady 17-year-running growth of vinyl sales. - The Verge

Michael Ondaatje On His First Poetry Collection In 25 Years

"The real question I had “was could I write poems anymore? … I didn’t want to miss out on a certain pensiveness, and a certain relationship with language, that only poetry can demand." - Literary Hub

There Are Lots Of Music Subscription Experiments Going On. How About This One?

The term “blockchain” has dropped out of the public consciousness since the calming of the NFT frenzy of the early 2020s. But the technology – essentially data hosting by verified authors – offers a simple solution for fans wanting to demonstrate their investment in a musician’s work. - The Guardian

Making Dementia-Friendly Theatre

"Designed in collaboration with people living with dementia and their carers, these performances are specifically adapted for their audience, allowing them to have a rollicking night out in a safe, tailored environment, free of the fear of disturbing a standard show." - The Guardian

Can This Record Producer’s Book Really Turn You Into An Artist?

The Creative Act is three books in one, really: a how-to for aspiring or faltering artists, an opening-up of Rubin’s own bag of tricks as a producer/cosmic facilitator, and an account of the spirituality that defines his method. - The Atlantic

Algerian Officials Rebuke TV Stations For Too Many Ads And “Immoral” Programming During Ramadan

The communications minister's complaints were about some of the prime-time soap operas that draw massive viewership as people break their Ramadan fasts in the evenings. (One serial, for instance, showed characters using alcohol and cocaine,) He also griped that ads take up more time than programming does. - AP

AI Translators And The End Of Language Instruction

Total enrollment in language courses other than English at American colleges decreased 29.3 percent from 2009 to 2021, according to the latest data from the Modern Language Association, better known as the MLA. In Australia, only 8.6 percent of high-school seniors were studying a foreign language in 2021—a historic low. - The Atlantic (MSN)

“Information Is Power” — Dance Data Project’s Founder Talks About Five Years Of Collecting Information About Gender Inequity

"We are here to provide data and analysis which journalists, funders and advocates can deploy to create a more interesting dance world. Artistic-director candidates have used our reports to demand pay equal to their male peers. Dancer representatives say they negotiated a 40% salary increase based on our work." - Classic Chicago Magazine

Richard Serra Made Modern Sculpture Exciting — By Creating The Feeling That It Might Fall On You

Sebastian Smee: "As an artist, he was no bully. Rather, he was a physicist. He wanted you to know, and to feel in your bones, that weight isn’t just a thing — it’s a force. It’s mass times acceleration. As such, it carries an inherent threat." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Smithsonian Misused Federal COVID Relief Funding, Finds Internal Audit

"The Smithsonian’s internal Office of the Inspector General last month released a report saying that the institution misused a portion of the $7.5 million it received in COVID relief funds from the 2020 CARES Act." - ARTnews

Ohad Naharin On Ballet Ireland’s Cancellation Of His “Minus 16” Because He’s Israeli

"From the abyss of my sadness witnessing the ongoing catastrophe ... I am writing to you. If the act of cancellation would have helped the Palestinians' cause I would boycott my own show. It is obvious that this cancellation does nothing to reduce the suffering of people in our region." - The Irish Times

Boston Public Radio Station WBUR Is Offering Staff Buyouts

As management looks to cut 10% of the budget, it "hopes the plan will help reduce some expenses, but … the station expects to still cut more jobs or freeze hiring. Anyone hired at least three months ago can take the buyout." - The Boston Globe (MSN)

Arts Funding In Hawaii Is Saved By State Senate Committee

The state's percent-for-art law, the oldest in the US (1967), requires 1% of the construction or renovation costs of state buildings to go to Hawaii's arts agency. A bill from the state House would have removed renovations from that requirement, reducing the agency's income by two-thirds. - Hawai'i Public Radio

By Topic

How Your “Digital Twin” Will Change The World

In the last decade, thanks to advances in AI, the internet of things, machine learning and sensor technologies, the fantasy of digital twins has taken off. BMW has created a digital twin of a production plant in Bavaria. Boeing is using digital twins to design airplanes. - Noema

Physical Activity Is Good For Fitness. It’s Even Better For Creativity

Often, when we hear about the benefits of physical activity, researchers are really referring to the benefits of fitness – the product of regular and repeated physical activity. But what’s interesting about creativity is that it appears to be enhanced through the very act of moving the body. - The Guardian

Spotify, Perhaps Inevitably, Has Added Video Classes

The video part seems inevitable, anyway. The classes part? It’s for UK users only, and are “video-based lessons from BBC Maestro, Skillshare, Thinkific, and PlayVirtuoso.” That’s because Spotify’s data say that people enjoy education and self-help-based podcasts. - The Verge

Large Language Models Actually Haven’t Improved That Much

It’s all in the measurement, and the tricks therein. - Wired

We’re Culturally So Into An Apocalypse, But Why?

"This is not the religious end of time, or eschaton, that has fascinated humanity for thousands of years, but the end of the world as a pervasive mood – a vibe." - The Guardian (UK)

What We’re Starting To Understand About Aging

While we think of our genes as being set from birth, DNA does accumulate changes over the years. Sometimes errors are introduced when a cell divides, a spontaneous typo emerging when the DNA is copied and pasted from one cell into another. Mutations can also occur as a result of environmental exposures. - The New York Times

Can This Record Producer’s Book Really Turn You Into An Artist?

The Creative Act is three books in one, really: a how-to for aspiring or faltering artists, an opening-up of Rubin’s own bag of tricks as a producer/cosmic facilitator, and an account of the spirituality that defines his method. - The Atlantic

Arts Funding In Hawaii Is Saved By State Senate Committee

The state's percent-for-art law, the oldest in the US (1967), requires 1% of the construction or renovation costs of state buildings to go to Hawaii's arts agency. A bill from the state House would have removed renovations from that requirement, reducing the agency's income by two-thirds. - Hawai'i Public Radio

The UK Arts Sector Has Been Damaged By Tory Budget Cuts. Time To Rebuild

The Tories have been weaponising the arts for their own purposes in the culture wars – an incredibly cynical and damaging thing to do, needlessly pulling arts organisations into enervating, debilitating rows as they fend off accusations of “wokery”. - The Guardian

Germany’s Much-Vaunted Culture Has Turned Rotten

Many Berliners are growing estranged from the cultural institutions our taxes fund. Hard as it is for someone like me to admit, economic hardships and the dwindling number of unclaimed spaces have forced many of us to be far more conservative than preceding generations. - Hyperallergic

What Australian Arts Managers Are Noticing In Their Best Workers

They "are noticing in their best workers right now is the ability to recognise where opportunities and/ or learnings can be found in otherwise challenging situations, and use those perspectives to fuel new ideas for the whole team to consider." - ArtsHub

Nashville Will Restore The Arts Grants It Announced And Then Withdrew

"Surplus funding of $3 million from Metro’s FY23 budget, on top of $2 million that was already promised, will be directed to Metro Arts to pay off a 'mounting deficit' and fully fund grant commitments made to independent artists and arts organizations this year." - Nashville Banner

Inside San Francisco Symphony’s Budget Issues And What They Say About Priorities

Given these “significant financial pressures,” where does the multimillion-dollar Davies renovation project stand, certain to pose challenges even if the cost of application and licensing is covered by donation? - San Francisco Classical Voice

Meet The Organist For The Boston Red Sox At Fenway Park

"It’s (Josh) Kantor’s job to punch up the action when it’s going well on the field and soothe fans’ frayed nerves when it’s not. Through ... social media, he interacts with fans in real time, taking requests. … He’s made himself an integral part of the Fenway experience." - The Boston Globe (MSN)

For The Second Time Since 1987, Vinyl Records Outsold CDs Last Year

People bought 43 million vinyl records last year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). That’s 6 million more than the number of CDs sold in 2023, marking the second time since 1987 that’s happened and reflecting the steady 17-year-running growth of vinyl sales. - The Verge

There Are Lots Of Music Subscription Experiments Going On. How About This One?

The term “blockchain” has dropped out of the public consciousness since the calming of the NFT frenzy of the early 2020s. But the technology – essentially data hosting by verified authors – offers a simple solution for fans wanting to demonstrate their investment in a musician’s work. - The Guardian

How Censorship Changed Opera

How did the opera get past censorship, when it utilized the same script of Hugo’s banned play? Well, this was thanks to the genius of Giuseppe Verdi. - El Pais

Study: Link Between Formal Music Training And Working Memory

Study author Maria Chiara Pino and her colleagues noted that people with formal musical background i.e., individuals who had formal musical training tend to show better working memory functioning. - PsyPost

US Museums Cut Staff, Blaming Falling Visitor Numbers

As visitor numbers begin to stabilise, it remains unclear whether museums will reinstate those eliminated positions, an issue that has become more urgent as funds are increasingly allocated to other projects. - The Art Newspaper

How Two Amsterdam Museums Managed Hyper-Demand For Blockbuster Shows

“I thought we would sell out and would probably have about half a million visitors. In the end we had 650,000, but we could have easily sold two million tickets. That’s something I didn’t expect.” - The Art Newspaper

Smithsonian Misused Federal COVID Relief Funding, Finds Internal Audit

"The Smithsonian’s internal Office of the Inspector General last month released a report saying that the institution misused a portion of the $7.5 million it received in COVID relief funds from the 2020 CARES Act." - ARTnews

Sagrada Familia In Barcelona Will Be Finished (Sort Of) In 2026

With the completion of the Chapel of the Assumption in 2025 and the last and highest of its six towers the following year, construction of architect Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece will conclude after 140 years, just in time for the centennial of his death. Well, complete except for the enormous, controversial staircase. - CNN

Large Warhol Silk Screen Painting Missing From College

The print was inspired by U.S. President Nixon’s trip to China to meet Chairman Mao Zedong, ending years of diplomatic isolation between the U.S. and China, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Warhol created 199 silkscreen paintings of Mao in five scales between 1972 and 1973. - Los Angeles Times

Items From Brooklyn Museum’s Period Rooms Sell For An Excellent Price

"Four period rooms that the Brooklyn Museum put up for auction (went) for as much as 30 times their low estimates." The items were sold to free up exhibition space for parts of the museum's collection, such as African art and Native art, that have never had permanent galleries. - Artnet

Michael Ondaatje On His First Poetry Collection In 25 Years

"The real question I had “was could I write poems anymore? … I didn’t want to miss out on a certain pensiveness, and a certain relationship with language, that only poetry can demand." - Literary Hub

AI Translators And The End Of Language Instruction

Total enrollment in language courses other than English at American colleges decreased 29.3 percent from 2009 to 2021, according to the latest data from the Modern Language Association, better known as the MLA. In Australia, only 8.6 percent of high-school seniors were studying a foreign language in 2021—a historic low. - The Atlantic (MSN)

Examining Shakespeare’s Words

To praise Shakespeare is also to praise his audience. Not just the one that filled the Globe during his lifetime, but the subsequent generations, too, that have cherished and preserved him, that have commented on him and imitated him. - New Criterion

The Trolls Unleashed By Gutenberg’s Printing Press

Nowadays when we speak of Gutenberg’s invention of movable type, we mostly refer to its more reputable side. But similar to the proliferation of rumors and falsehoods on social media platforms, the printing press also facilitated the circulation of rumors and fake news in sensationalist pamphlets and broadsides. - Public Books

“As Frighteningly Relevant As Ever”: Margaret Atwood On Stephen King’s “Carrie”

"It’s one of those books that manage to dip into the collective unconscious of their own age and society. … Underneath the 'horror' … is always the real horror: the all-too-actual poverty and neglect and hunger and abuse that exist in America today." - The New York Times Book Review

Remember All Of Those Books Tossed In The Trash At A Staten Island Elementary School?

You know, the ones about or by Black people, LGBTQIA people, and so on? Where a note on a book about Native Americans read, “negative slant on white people”? The New York City Department of Education is investigating the school. - MSN (ABC News)

Is It True That Quality TV Is Done For?

"There's definitely been a contraction after years of it feeling like TV was undergoing this crazy expansion." - BBC

Algerian Officials Rebuke TV Stations For Too Many Ads And “Immoral” Programming During Ramadan

The communications minister's complaints were about some of the prime-time soap operas that draw massive viewership as people break their Ramadan fasts in the evenings. (One serial, for instance, showed characters using alcohol and cocaine,) He also griped that ads take up more time than programming does. - AP

Boston Public Radio Station WBUR Is Offering Staff Buyouts

As management looks to cut 10% of the budget, it "hopes the plan will help reduce some expenses, but … the station expects to still cut more jobs or freeze hiring. Anyone hired at least three months ago can take the buyout." - The Boston Globe (MSN)

U.S. House And Senate Approve Over Half A Billion Dollars For Public Radio And TV

"(Congress has) approved $535 million in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in fiscal year 2026. The funding, included in the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024, upholds the two-year advance appropriation for public radio and television." - Inside Radio

Streamers’ Cancellation Policies And Apparent Greed Are Leading People To Threaten Revolt

Old-school revolt, though: “When you consider the original stories we’ll never see because studio execs don’t believe they’re profitable, that’s frustrating as a viewer flipping through the TV and seeing more of the same. It makes you feel like you might as well just get cable again." - HuffPost

Martin Scorsese, Perhaps Unsurprisingly, Has Lived A Semi-Secret Life As A VHS Archivist

Truly, this is monumental. “Spanning the 1980s through the 2000s, the Martin Scorsese VHS Tape Collection contains more than 4,400 distinct titles, including features, documentaries, shorts, history programs and award shows." - The Guardian (UK)

How The Head Of Juilliard’s Dance Program Is Shaking Things Up

In 2018, she became the prestigious New York conservatory's first woman of color to head the dance program — and the youngest person to do so. Graf Mack, 45, is shaking up what is taught and how to make art dance more relevant. - NPR

“Information Is Power” — Dance Data Project’s Founder Talks About Five Years Of Collecting Information About Gender Inequity

"We are here to provide data and analysis which journalists, funders and advocates can deploy to create a more interesting dance world. Artistic-director candidates have used our reports to demand pay equal to their male peers. Dancer representatives say they negotiated a 40% salary increase based on our work." - Classic Chicago Magazine

Ohad Naharin On Ballet Ireland’s Cancellation Of His “Minus 16” Because He’s Israeli

"From the abyss of my sadness witnessing the ongoing catastrophe ... I am writing to you. If the act of cancellation would have helped the Palestinians' cause I would boycott my own show. It is obvious that this cancellation does nothing to reduce the suffering of people in our region." - The Irish Times

Could Classical European Ballet Actually Return To Iran?

The Iranian National Ballet, founded under the Shah in 1958, was disbanded by the new Islamist regime in 1979. The story of one of the company's last dancers has been adapted into a new work by choreographer Tara Ghassemieh, who hopes, yes, to bring it to Iran someday. - The New York Times

Misty Copeland On Connecting Dance With The World

You know, housing crisis, gentrification, homelessness, houselessness. And so, to me, it's, it's, it's a ballet. But, you know, we have different, we have contemporary dance and, and hip hop and, Turf dancing, which is the local street dance there in Oakland, California. you know, it's art activism. - Axios

The University Ballet Program Taking An Orientalist Ballet And Plopping It In The American West

Why not? “By setting in a movie-land far west, and swapping Orientalist clichés for American ones, Chan said, the team was creating 'a form of exoticism that is about us, not about ‘them.’’” - The New York Times

How Steppenwolf Theatre Reimagined Its Educational Mission

It seemed that the education department functioned as a sort of nonprofit running within another nonprofit, having separate conversations about programming. - American Theatre

Making Dementia-Friendly Theatre

"Designed in collaboration with people living with dementia and their carers, these performances are specifically adapted for their audience, allowing them to have a rollicking night out in a safe, tailored environment, free of the fear of disturbing a standard show." - The Guardian

The Long-Lost Broadway Script That Turned Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby” From A Flop To A Classic

"The 1926 dramatisation by Owen Davis, a Pulitzer prizewinner, opened to rave reviews and became a hit that contributed to the novel’s success, bringing Fitzgerald substantial royalties and fame. But the original script had long since been lost. Now a copy has been rediscovered and will be published." - The Observer (UK)

What Happened When Hampshire High School’s Production Of The Prom Imitated The Musical’s Plot

“The student cast and crew were informed by the school district in the small town of Hampshire, an hour outside of Chicago, that they were not allowed to advertise the musical outside the school building. ... They were told they could refer to it only as 'the musical.’” - American Theatre

Indigenous Theatre Blooming Across Canada

The Indigenous theatre community has grown to sold out shows being produced across the country. This spring alone, stages in Montreal, Whitehorse, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Toronto are all hosting plays written by Indigenous artists. - CBC

Off-Broadway Is Prospering — And There’s A Lesson In That

"A group of commercial off-Broadway shows have bucked the trend and are packing in ticket-buyers. … Taken together, though, these off-Broadway gems offer an optimistic lesson to theaters everywhere: Clever, appealing, fresh ideas brilliantly executed are what put butts in seats." - New York Post

Richard Serra Made Modern Sculpture Exciting — By Creating The Feeling That It Might Fall On You

Sebastian Smee: "As an artist, he was no bully. Rather, he was a physicist. He wanted you to know, and to feel in your bones, that weight isn’t just a thing — it’s a force. It’s mass times acceleration. As such, it carries an inherent threat." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Richard Serra, 85

Serra’s most celebrated works had some of the scale of ancient temples or sacred sites and the inscrutability of landmarks like Stonehenge. - The New York Times

Sundance Loses Its Leader After Only Two Years

Joana Vicente came to Sundance from the Toronto International Film Festival and arrived as COVID had pushed the festival online for 2021 and again in 2022. - The Hollywood Reporter

Composer Peter Eötvös Has Died At 80

A tireless advocate for contemporary music over a six-decade career, Eötvös came to international attention as a member of the Stockhausen Ensemble (1968-1976). He later served as music director of the Ensemble intercontemporain and principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony (1995-98). Between 1997 and 2023, he published 14 operas. - Limelight (Australia)

L.A. Times Arts Columnist Carolina A. Miranda Steps Down

"Earlier this month, I accepted a buyout from the company; Friday was my last day. It’s been a great ride. … I’ve been craving some focused time for a book I intend to write about the time I spent in Chile following the fall of the Pinochet dictatorship." - Los Angeles Times

Isabelle Huppert Is Ready For Her Marvel Villain Stage

But now, the French actor is playing Mary, Queen of Scots. "Alone on stage for 90 minutes, she performs something between a rite and an elaborate courtly dance, her stylised, repetitive movements and moments of stillness accompanied by Pinckney’s poetic script casting a spell over her audience." - The Observer (UK)

AJ Premium Classifieds

Segerstrom Center for the Arts seeks VP of Programming & Production

Reporting to the President and CEO, the VP of Programming and Production oversees and coordinates the design and implementation of all programming across all the Center’s stages

Artistic Director – Alabama Shakespeare Festival

As a beloved Alabama arts institution, ASF broadens the cultural identity of the South by producing classics, Shakespeare, contemporary plays, musicals, theatre for young audiences, and exciting new works.

Austin Symphony Orchestra (TX) seeks CEO/Executive Director

The multi-faceted responsibilities of this position call for an individual with demonstrated leadership skills and extensive management experience.

AJClassifieds

ABA Seeks Member Advisor

Member Advisors play a critical role in managing and deepening relationships with ABA member organizations.

Seeking Artistic Director

The AD oversees and maintains the artistic excellence of the organization, ensuring that the Fountain continues to be seen as one of the premier theaters in Los Angeles while advancing the national reputation of the organization.

Vice President of Communications, Marketing, & Sales

MIDLAND CENTER FOR THE ARTS (MIDLAND, MI) is in search of a Vice President of Communications, Marketing, & Sales

Saint Louis Art Museum seeks Chief of Philanthropy & External Affairs

The Chief of Philanthropy and External Relations (CPER) will...

Director of Artistic Operations

The Knights are a collective of adventurous musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audiences and music.

Richard Serra Made Modern Sculpture Exciting — By Creating The Feeling That It Might Fall On You

Sebastian Smee: "As an artist, he was no bully. Rather, he was a physicist. He wanted you to know, and to feel in your bones, that weight isn’t just a thing — it’s a force. It’s mass times acceleration. As such, it carries an inherent threat." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Sagrada Familia In Barcelona Will Be Finished (Sort Of) In 2026

With the completion of the Chapel of the Assumption in 2025 and the last and highest of its six towers the following year, construction of architect Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece will conclude after 140 years, just in time for the centennial of his death. Well, complete except for the enormous, controversial staircase. - CNN

France’s Most Popular Living Singer Will Perform At The Paris Olympics — And This Is A Major Controversy

"The possible choice for the opening ceremony of Aya Nakamura, a superstar French-Malian singer whose slang-spiced lyrics stand at some distance from academic French, has ignited a furor tinged with issues of race and linguistic propriety and the politics of immigration." - The New York Times

AI Is Upending The Foundations Of Copyright Law

Copyright is even embedded in the US Constitution as a tool “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.” Now generative AI is destabilizing the foundational concepts of copyright law as it was originally conceived.

Activists Unfurl A Massive Quilt For Gaza On The Steps Of The Met

"As the quilt was spread out across the museum’s main entrance, activists encircled the display, carrying signs that read ‘We See Genocide,’ ‘Let Gaza Live,' and 'None Of Us Are Free Until Palestine Is Free.' The protesters also broke into Palestinian dabkeh folk dance." - Hyperallergic

Germany’s Culture Wars Are ‘Infiltrating’ Berlin’s 18th-Century Palace Replica

Inside, the Stadtschloss is publicly funded. Donors control the exterior. "A Christianised dome was hoisted atop the palace in 2020, complete with a band of text, compiled by 19th-century King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, calling on all peoples to submit to Christianity.” Now? Old Testament prophets. - The Observer (UK)

The UK’s Cultural Jewels Are In A Lot Of Financial Trouble

The budgetary alarm bells are ringing for fabled institutions, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, says a new arts lobbying group. "The new campaign frames culture as part of the crucial infrastructure of any successful country, let alone one that enjoys Britain’s arts and entertainment track record." - The Observer (UK)

People Hate The Idea Of Car-Free Cities Until They Live In One

Going car-free is a lot harder than it seems. Not only has it led to politicians and urban planners facing death threats and being doxxed, it has forced them to rethink the entire basis of city life. - Wired

M. Emmet Walsh, One Of Hollywood’s Busiest And Most Distinctive Character Actors, Is Dead At 88

"With his distinctive lumbering form and droll delivery, Walsh was an ideal supporting player. A master of off-kilter comic delivery and dogged edginess, he excelled at roles that dwelled in the darker corners of humanity. No matter whom he played, he made a colorful impact." - The Hollywood Reporter

Artist Sets Up Ladies-Only Lounge In Museum. Man Sues For Gender Discrimination. Artist Is “Absolutely Delighted.”

The installation at Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is by Kirsha Kaechele, wife of museum founder David Walsh, a math prodigy who made his $200 million fortune by gambling. Kaechele said in court that "(men's) experience of rejection IS the artwork." - The Guardian

San Francisco Symphony Musicians Publicly Urge Board To Keep Salonen As Music Director

Not only have they released an open letter calling on the orchestra's Board of Governors to reverse the cuts that motivated Salonen not to renew his contract, the musicians leafleted Saturday's audience, urging listeners to contact Board chair Priscilla Geeslin and CEO Matthew Spivey. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

For The First Time, A Full Wagner “Ring” Cycle With Historical Instruments And Singing Practices

"In 2026, it will be 150 years since Wagner premiered the full Ring at his festival in Bayreuth, Germany. Each year until then, (Kent) Nagano and Concerto Köln … are touring installments of their historically informed Ring operas," based in large part on Wagner's own writings about performance. - The New York Times
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