He began his career on conventional instruments and spent six years as the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s principal cellist before becoming one of the key artists of the European period-instrument movement in the 1970s and onward. Among his dozens of recordings as soloist and chamber musician, he’s most admired for two recordings of Bach’s Cello Suites, each considered revelatory in its time. – The Strad
Medieval Vagina Monologues: A 700-Year-Old Poem About A Talking Vulva
Der Rosendorn (The Rose Thorn), about a young woman’s argument with her own vagina about which of them men care more about, had been thought to date from the early 16th century. But a strip of parchment found in the library of an Austrian monastery indicates that the bawdy verse story was written ca. 1300 (if not earlier). – The Guardian
How Should Notre Dame Be Rebuilt? Why, As Though The Fire Had Never Happened
“The idea that an old building becomes inauthentic if it is seamlessly restored is a credo that has been repeated so often it’s easy to forget that this was not the way that buildings were repaired in the past. It was the custom among the ancient Chinese, when an important building was damaged or destroyed by earthquake or fire, to simply rebuild as if nothing had happened.” – The American Interest
Meet the ‘Orchestra of the Street’ Bringing Classical Music to Rio’s Favelas
“[Glaucía] da Silva plays in a quartet called Orquestra de Rua (Orchestra of the Street), alongside other classical musicians from Rio’s favelas. They met through a local youth music initiative, som + eu, and have bonded over playing in Rio’s streets and subways, starting two years ago outside a pizzeria near one of their universities.” – The New York Times
New Professional Company Will Tour Shakespeare Around Asia
Says producer Jamie Hendry, founder of the New English Shakespeare Company, “There’s an appetite for this. Audiences are being developed in a lot of cities around the world. We are focusing on the Middle East, Asia and South East Asia, and they are all beginning to become accustomed to NT Live and the big musicals. So to be able to provide some drama and something they would not receive otherwise is a fantastic challenge.” – The Stage
The Online Book Marketplace Is Now Riddled With Counterfeiting And Scams
Authors Guild president Douglas Preston: “Counterfeiting, author ‘doppelganging,’ title cloning, ebook piracy, cut-and-paste plagiarism and other rip-offs … the variety and cleverness of these cons is breathtaking.” And they’re difficult to police. – Los Angeles Times
One-Third Of All England’s National Arts Funding Goes To London
“The £215m given to London organisations in 2018/19 is a much smaller proportion of total Arts Council England (ACE) funding than they received in 2012/13, when 82% went to the capital. But it is still almost 10 times more per capita than some other areas get.” – Arts Professional
Next Gen Reality TV: Kinder, Gentler?
Fire up Netflix and you’ll see sweet-natured shows such as Queer Eye, which kicked off its fourth season with a public school teacher getting an enthusiastic makeover, and a slew of food programs where people are lovely to each other. – NPR
Countertenor David Daniels Indicted On Sexual Assault
A grand jury indicted Daniels in Harris County District Court on July 25. Also indicted on the same charge is Daniels’ husband, William Walters, who goes by the name Scott. In Texas, sexual assault of an adult is a Class 2 felony; if convicted, Daniels and Walter could face between two and 20 years in prison. – NPR
It’s That Weird Moment, Butter Sculpture Season, In The United States
And this time, one butter sculptor decided to honor the 50th anniversary of the first moonwalk. But how to explain those cows looking on? – Space
The Writers Guild Is Deadlocked In An Argument With Agencies – And Now Some Want New Leadership
The upheaval hasn’t ended – it’s barely begun: “Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy and Ava DuVernay are among more than 300 writers who have declared their support for dissidents in upcoming board elections, injecting a new level of drama into a conflict that has created widespread unease across the film and TV business.” – Los Angeles Times
Ain’t No Party Like An Existentialist Party
When you’re partying during what feels like some pretty dark times, take inspiration from the French existentialists of the 1940s. “Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre spent a lot of time partying: talking, drinking, dancing, laughing, loving and listening to music with friends, and this was an aspect of their philosophical stance on life. They weren’t just philosophers who happened to enjoy parties, either – the parties were an expression of their philosophy of seizing life.” – Aeon Magazine
MoviePass Changed What Customers Expect – And Now Regal Is Stepping Into The Ring
MoviePass is limping along with 225,000 customers compared to its high of 3 million in 2018 (whoa), but the big chains felt the pressure, and now there’s a new Regal Cinemas app. Caveat: “We’ll be suffering the from the same overload of theater subscription programs as we are with streaming services, but it feels more like a win for everyone. Many people live in an area where a Regal is their only moviegoing choice.” – Gizmodo
Rock And Roll Ended The Classic Hollywood Musical – But Gave Movies Something Entirely New
Hollywood changed rock, and rock changed Hollywood – and television, and records, and … well, see for yourself: “Rather than disguising rock ‘n’ roll’s commercial production by proposing it as folk music, these narratives emphasized all its various industrial components, and usually they culminated in a televised grand finale in which stars lip-synced to their hit records and where rock ‘n’ roll was positioned as a subsector of broadcast TV. This created a media hierarchy dominated by Hollywood: rock ‘n’ roll is contained in television, and television is itself contained in cinema.” – Berkeley News
Neil DeGrasse Tyson Will Stay On At American Museum Of Natural History After Investigation
Tyson was accused of sexual misconduct by two women, and the museum launched an investigation. It now says the investigation is closed, that Tyson will stay on as director of the Hayden Planetarium, and that it will have no further comment. One of the women, Katelyn Allers, a professor of physics and astronomy, “said she did not find the results of the museum’s investigation surprising — ‘This is kind of the way the world works,’ she said — but added that there was no good possible outcome either way.” – The New York Times
Artist Defaces Poster For Tarantino Movie With Cut-Outs Of Jeffrey Epstein And Roman Polanski
The artist Sabo retitled the new Tarantino movie Once Upon a Time … in Pedowood and imposed the faces of Epstein and Polanski over Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. Why? The street artist wrote: “I’ve never prayed before a project, but I prayed before this one, in the names of all those children harmed by these monsters. I hope they all get caught and put behind bars.” – Los Angeles Times
The Beast Is Back
That is, Boris Johnson – now the Prime Minister of the UK. – Jan Herman
No One Remembers The Actual Point Of ‘Fight Club’
And that’s too bad, because the movie meant a lot more than jokes and memes. It’s really too bad when a certain group of believers gets ahold of it. “The ‘manosphere’ thinks Fight Club is telling us we need to reprogram ourselves. The weird thing is they’re half right, but it’s like they’ve all watched the movie on mute.” Why does everyone get the movie (and the book) so wrong? – LitHub
Two Big London Drama Schools Are Leaving The Arts Consortium One Of Them Founded
Both the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art are ducking out of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. Why? They both say that becoming independent institutions will help them because “higher education policy has changed significantly” since RADA helped found the Conservatoire. – The Stage (UK)
A New York Times Art Critic Weighs In On Those San Francisco Murals: Keep ‘Em
Roberta Smith says it’s not a good idea to just paint over art that makes us uncomfortable. “These are among the scars on this country that every American — schoolchild or adult, of any race — should learn about in detail, keep learning about and never forget.” That said, she’s fine with adding more info, commissioning more response murals, covering them up with removable textiles – just not whitewashing them out of existence. – The New York Times
A San Francisco Ballet Principal Makes Connections By Cutting The Hair Of Unhoused People In His City
Benjamin Freemantle started cutting his own, and his friends’, hair out of necessity when they were all lowly, and low-paid, dance students. Then he grew into both dance and haircutting, and eventually, after extending that skill to a guy who slept in his alley, “‘I had the idea—it was a little scary—to go into the Tenderloin, which is our homeless district,”‘he says. He brought a stool, his haircutting set—basic shears from Amazon, combs, a brush and a spray bottle—and a sign that read ‘Need a Haircut?'” – Dance Magazine
Is Audience Weariness With CGI Leading To More Danger – And Death – For Stunt Performers?
It’s not just a desire for more “realistic” performances; it’s a massive increase in the demand for stunt performers – and little regulation, at least in the US. But “there are signs the US industry is adopting a more British approach. In 2018, SAG-AFTRA introduced new standards and practices for stunt coordinators, including mandatory basic training requirements, and a register of professionals who have carried out a minimum number of days of work. However, risk is still very much part of the territory.” – The Guardian (UK)
Seven Dancers, A Beatboxer, And One Minute Of Tap Dance
One dancer says it’s a lot more work than it might seem: “The footwork is all flatfooting, which looks kind of easy, but when it’s at a higher tempo you can feel crazy. You have to have your weight in the back of your heels, and you have to be relaxed. It’s very simple, but the combination of things can trip you up. Like you can trip.” – The New York Times
The New ‘Lion King’ Used A Kind Of Virtual Reality That May Dramatically Change Movie-Making
Interest in virtual reality has waned after its original investment and excitement; people just aren’t that into it. “But for Hollywood directors and digital effects experts, VR holds more promise as an advanced production tool. The ability to film scenes and scout locations in virtual reality could have benefits for multiple productions.” – Los Angeles Times
Times Are Changing In Music’s Race And Gender Diversity, But Classical Music Fests Haven’t Caught Up
Consider the BBC Proms: “The Proms run for eight weeks, with two or three concerts a day, but you’ll have to listen carefully for music composed by anyone other than a white male – in total there will be less than four hours of it, and less than 20 minutes from black and minority ethnic composers, throughout the whole season.” That can be fixed next year and in the future – but where’s the will to do it? – The Guardian (UK)