The horror of the Great War consumed the lives of soldiers and civilians alike; it sought them out in their sleep, their imagination, and, bizarrely, in their entertainments. The “horror film” had existed almost from the time of the invention of the motion picture itself in the late 19th century. But a new kind of terror film manifested in the years following the Great War.
Kids In The UK Are More Interested In Ukuleles (And Guitars) Than Orchestral Instruments
Is orchestral music doomed? Will school recorders never blossom again? Yikes: “The evidence we have here is that instruments such as the French horn and double bass are becoming endangered.”
A Professional Fact-Checker Checks Broadway’s ‘Lifespan Of A Fact’
Christopher Swetala, the fact-checker for This American Life:”I just never have dealt with a writer so outlandish as the one played by Bobby Cannavale. … I don’t know any serious long-form literary editor who would tolerate a writer like this, even with the fancy professor of creative writing pedigree. … It drove me nuts that the audience was going to leave the theater believing [that character’s] existential grandstanding about numbers was worth sincere thought.”
Two Joan Miró Works Damaged In Venice’s Record-Breaking Flood
Ironically, the tapestries — together worth about €1 million — weren’t even damaged by the floodwaters. They had been stored for safekeeping on the second floor of the Palazzo Zaguri (where they were to be shown in the new exhibition “From Kandinsky to Botero”), only to be half submerged because of a plumbing leak in a nearby bathroom.
Toronto’s Tafelmusik Posts 18th Balanced Budget
Announced at Tafelmusik’s Annual General Meeting yesterday, Canada’s largest period orchestra and choir have reported a consecutive operating surplus of $51,000. Tafelmusik also achieved their highest subscription revenue in five years, and the second-highest number of single tickets sold in the orchestra’s history. The results represent overall concert revenues of almost $1.9 million and an increase of 12% over the 2017 fiscal year.
How Calder Became Calder
“Most architects and city planners,” Calder told a friend, “want to put my objects in front of trees or greenery. They make a huge error. My mobiles and stabiles ought to be placed in free spaces, like public squares, or in front of modern buildings, and that is true of all contemporary sculpture.”
Kimerly Rorschach To Step Down As Head Of Seattle Art Museum
SAM is the final stop in her 25-year museum career, which also included directorships at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago.
In Which Elena Ferrante Once Again Foils A Journalist’s Attempt To Profile Her
Merve Emre: “Over the course of a two-month correspondence, … the distance between us seemed only to expand. She answered questions I had not asked and ignored the ones I had. She got irritated, apologized, misinterpreted my phrasing — willfully, I suspected.”
Los Angeles Film Festival To Shut Down After 18 Years
The surprise announcement landed via a press release on Wednesday, a little over a month after the completion of this year’s festival. That event, which concluded Sept. 28, was the first to occupy a fall calendar slot after a longtime home in the summer. The shift put the event into more direct competition with other festivals in an already crowded fall space, including the established AFI Fest in Los Angeles.
NYT Dance Critic Alastair Macaulay Gives His First Exit Interview
“Q: Did you ever write something that you later regretted or reconsidered?
A: I’m not complacent. I regret commas, adjectives, clumsy turns of phrase, even if nobody else is bothered by them. Worse, I’m dismayed by the factual inaccuracies I’ve committed. Opinions I regret less. So what if you hated the world premiere of The Rite of Spring or Waiting for Godot? Those are tough pieces that are easy to misunderstand even now.”
Yeah, The Art World Is A Cesspool. I Still Love It
“I hate this toxic rot and junkie-like behavior. Yet I love art and the art world. I hate the portrait of that world contained in this movie, but I also recognize in it what I love.”
The Pianist Who Plays Beethoven For Sick Elephants In Thailand
In videos posted to his Facebook and YouTube pages, Barton plays classical tunes to the elephants, who appear to be captivated by the sounds — and by Barton himself. Barton, according to CBS News, said in a video that he and his wife “liked the sound of the place being a retirement center for old, injured and handicapped former logging and trekking elephants.”
There Are Better Ways To Measure A Publisher’s Success Than Money
“How do we measure commercial success? There seem to me to be five measures, all important but all with shortcomings.” Richard Charkin, former head of Bloomsbury Publishing and former president of the International Publishers Association, argues that “building up cash reserves is not in itself an indication of success. What really matters, in my opinion, is the building up of publishing assets.”
How Steve Reich Came To Be Writing For Orchestra Again After Three Decades
“I was in L.A. because we go to L.A. every January or February … And I was looking at the orchestral setup here [at the L.A. Phil] and I thought, ‘Hmm, those first desk strings are really in a tight semicircle.’ They could hear each other very well. And the first two flutes and first two oboes and first two clarinets are ditto, also close in. If I were to add two vibraphones and two pianos, I’d have exactly the piece I was working on at the time, Runner … This is the ensemble that is [already] sitting there in most orchestras.”
Knight Foundation Gives $20 Million For Arts In Detroit
“Calling Detroit the new Berlin for its thriving arts scene, Alberto Ibargüen, president, CEO and trustee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced Wednesday that the nonprofit will invest $20 million in arts organizations in the city through 2023.”
Shakespeare In The Park’s Delacorte Theater To Get Its First-Ever Renovation
“The Public Theater has decided to address the decaying areas behind and below this iconic amphitheater in Central Park, which hasn’t had a major overhaul since it was built in 1962. On Wednesday, the Public announced a $110 million upgrade, designed by the architect Bjarke Ingels, to begin in 2020 and to be completed by 2022.”
María Irene Fornés, Pathbreaking Playwright , Dead At 88
“Arguably the most influential American dramatist whose work hasn’t become a staple of the mainstream repertoire, Fornés, a nine-time Obie winner, carved a special niche in the American theater. Although she was not as well-known as fellow theater maverick Sam Shepard, her playwriting exerted a similar magnetic pull on generations of theater artists inspired by her liberating example.”
How Theatremakers Get Their Work Done Under Egypt’s Dictatorship
“Playwright Rasha Abdel Monem describes the climate that has developed in recent years as ‘cold and fearful,’ given the censorship barriers and lack of funding. You’re either with the regime, she says, or you’re against it. As an artist, you’re afraid to be labeled as a ‘threat to the state,’ the same umbrella term applied to terrorists. Yet the repression has led to a competitive spirit among those artists still trying to produce work … [and] crafty theatre people are finding ways to work around the limitations of censorship.”
The Banksy Shredder Comes To Greeting Cards
“Hello from Banksy!” is a postcard that you need to shred to read. Created for the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands, and designed by the Belarusian graphic designer Lesha Limonov, it looks like a miniature, framed piece of art. But pull at a tab on the bottom, and the precut postcard comes out in shreds.
The Serious Consequences Of A No-Deal Brexit On UK Arts
There are approximately 131,000 EU nationals working in the arts in the UK, making up 7% of the total workforce. These individuals range from stage technicians to gaming software developers. Freelance and self-employed workers make up 35% of the sector and 33% of EU workers.
Watch For It: The Dead Musician Hologram Tours Are Coming
How “full-on” is a “live experience” that requires the deployment of what has been described as “a military-grade laser” to create the illusion that a performer who died in 1988 is walking the stage again? And doesn’t a “hologram tour” by a dead rock ’n’ roller run completely counter to the point of live music in the first place?
Syson Siphoned: Met’s Departing Department Chair to Direct Fitzwilliam; 2 Future Stars Emerge
Luke Syson, who in 2012 came to the Metropolitan Museum from the National Gallery, London, becoming the Met’s chairman of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts in 2014, is now poised to join the wave of high-level departures from our country’s preeminent museum.
Catching Up, As Always: Recent Listening In Brief
Randy Waldman, Superheroes (BFM Jazz)
Kate McGarry, The Subject Tonight Is Love (Binxtown Records)
India Inaugurates World’s Tallest Statue (And Of Course There’s Controversy)
The Statue of Unity, located in prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, depicts Indian independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; it’s twice the height of the State of Liberty and cost about $400 million. There are critics objecting to the cost, to the appropriation of farmland for the site, and to Chinese bronze and workers being used for the structure — not to mention the accusations that Modi is trying to appropriate Patel’s stature for himself and his party.
Last Hong Kong Bookshop Selling Books Banned In China Closes
“Human rights activists and publishers have raised grave concerns over the closure of the People’s Bookstore, a tiny shop in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district, known to be the last source of literary contraband in the city … The closure follows the disappearance and detention of five city booksellers in 2015, who were linked to the Mighty Current publishing house that produced critical books about China’s leadership.”