“With respect to composers, said expectation goes something like this: child prodigy enters school already a mature genius; impresses all of his/her professors; then sets the world on fire with his/her youthful vigor, technical wizardry, and creative talent while winning all sorts of competitions; and proceeds to redefine an art form for the betterment of humankind. There may be examples throughout history where this fairy tale plays out in the likes of wunderkind composers such as Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven; but is this the most accurate representation of a composer’s path?”
Dances With Robots
Seven such humanoid robots, of the model NAO, are the stars of “ROBOT,” a dance-theater work by the Spanish-born choreographer Blanca Li that had its American debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House on Tuesday. There are also eight human dancers, but the 90-minute production perks up when the robots arrive, and it sags whenever they’re absent.
Remember Christopher Lee, Horror Icon
“Lee had a reputation for being proud and humorless, and he certainly wasn’t easy. But everyone I’ve met who knew him well adored him, insisting that once you got past the prickliness, he was kind, loyal, and immensely endearing —one of the true good guys.”
What It’s Like To Perform Clandestine Theatre Under A Harsh Dictatorship
“The cloak and dagger nature of trying to see a play in one of Europe’s most authoritarian nations is to be mirrored in the UK as part of Belarus Free Theatre’s 10th anniversary celebrations. Audiences will have no idea where they are going to see performances and post-show discussions being staged in a festival scheduled over two weeks in November.”
This New York Post Headline Writer Was Surely The Patron Saint Of Clickbait
“HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR” was only the most famous of the front page come-ons that Vinnie Musetto produced for the love-to-hate-it tabloid. He also wrote, among many others, the deathless gems “500LB SEX MANIAC GOES FREE” and “GRANNY EXECUTED IN HER PINK PAJAMAS.”
TV’s “Smash” Musical Opens On Broadway (Biggest Theatre Kickstarter Ever)
“Bombshell” did arrive on Broadway this week to a rapturous reception at the 1,700-seat Minskoff Theatre — but only as a one-night charity event in which members of the original cast reunited to sing and dance their way through the songbook created by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. Tickets to the Monday night show had sold out in about an hour in April after a Kickstarter campaign raised $300,000-plus to defer development expenses.
How Artists Are Trying To Fix Baltimore
The spirit of rebirth reveals itself in many ways. But nobody is talking about returning the area to the tailored elegance of a century ago. Baltimore is to Washington what Bologna once was to Rome. Affordable. And uninhibited by pretensions that stifle innovation.
Ford Foundation Re-prioritizes – Will Make All Its Grants To Fight Inequality
“Ford joins a growing number of foundations pouring more money into programs that fight inequality. But its plans to look at every grant to ask how it reduces inequality is a more stringent approach than other foundations have taken. That said, the foundation is taking a broad interpretation of inequality — looking not just at wealth, race, ethnicity, and gender but also access to technology and the arts.”
Gender Breakdown Of Designers In American Regional Theatres (In One Chart)
As a person of color, I strongly believe in self-identification. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to gather enough self-identified demographic information to be statistically representative. So this report looks only at gender, which I generally figured out from artist bios.
How The Detroit Symphony Is Building On A Stream-Everything Strategy
“I think the digital world makes us hungrier for the real world. The digital strategy has been very important in communicating the health of our organization, which is important to people making decisions to attend and to invest.”
How Do You Build A Workable Streaming Business For Classical Music? (A Primer)
“Medici.tv is in a comfortable place in the online universe: on the one hand, classical music is a niche interest unlikely to attract crushing competition from the giants such as Google and Apple, on the other, its audience is passionate, loyal, and affluent.”
Dancing ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ (Choreographer Wayne McGregor Is Not Afraid Of Virginia Woolf)
“His new ballet, Woolf Works, which is derived from, or based on – the verbs being precisely the problem – three novels by Virginia Woolf, recently premiered at Covent Garden in London. It is a brilliant, uneven, tender piece – and it offers one way of thinking about [a] constant conundrum for the art of ballet:” that, as George Balanchine put it, “We can’t dance synonyms.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.10.15
Cooking, peaches and tasting the arts
AJBlog: Field NotesPublished 2015-06-10
“Community”
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-06-09
The Prison Memoir That Caught Algren’s Attention
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2015-06-10
A Tech Hiatus
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-06-10
[ssba_hide]
Study: Admittance To UK Performing Arts Conservatories Favors The Rich
Young people aged 18 from the most advantaged fifth of the UK were 6.2 times more likely to be accepted through UCAS Conservatoires by the time they reach 19 than those from the most disadvantaged areas.
A Poet Laureate Whose Work Is Meant To Be Said Out Loud
Dwight Garner: “[Juan Felipe Herrera’s appointment] makes you wish the job still entailed writing ceremonial verse, commissioned in bygone days for events like the openings of bridges or the deaths of fine old soldiers. Mr. Herrera is a poet you’d like to hear declaim from the National Mall.”
Hermann Zapf, 96, Designer Whose Fonts You See Everywhere
“In the world of type design – an exacting, arcane craft that is underappreciated for its impact on how people communicate and receive communication – Mr. Zapf was a giant.” Among the more than 200 typefaces he created (in several alphabets) are Palatino, Optima, Melior, and the befuddling, beloved Dingbats.