“There were no opposition leaders at the head of the vast column of people that peacefully wound its way through central Moscow on Sunday. There was, instead, a corpulent poet … A bespectacled detective novelist was autographing everything at hand … People mobbed a diminutive grandmother who has won many of Russia’s literary prizes.”
Month: May 2012
When Characters Are Already Onstage As The Audience Comes In
“The main reason for these pre-textual prologues, which blur the start time advertised in the papers, is presumably the pursuit of greater realism: a sense that the performance is joining a story that has begun some time before, rather than requiring a sudden suspension of disbelief. However, the strategy is risky because it creates unease in an auditorium.”
Thom Mayne To Design Anchor Of Cornell University’s NYC Tech Center
The Pritzker Prize winner and his firm, Morphosis, have been named architects of the flagship structure of a major research center and high-tech business incubator planned for Roosevelt Island, the quiet strip of land in the East River between Manhattan and Queens.
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet: From Vanity Project To Powerhouse In A Decade
“The troupe’s first two years didn’t do much to dispel the idea that it was a rich woman’s whim: there was no headquarters and few performances … Nearly 10 years later, the 16-member Cedar Lake … [is] possibly the country’s most innovative contemporary ballet troupe with an A-list repertoire, and an accent on creation that few companies worldwide can match.”
Another Sistema Graduate On A Conducting Fast-Track
Rafael Payare, a 32-year-old Venezuelan who has been assistant to Claudio Abbado and Gustav Dudamel, won the Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen last weekend. His prize includes €20,000 as well as guaranteed engagements with 24 European symphony orchestras over the next three years.
UK Authors Demand Royalties From Libraries For E-Book Loans
“Authors are paid 6.05p every time their physical books are borrowed from the UK’s public libraries, up to a maximum of £6,600, under the government-funded Public Lending Right scheme. But ebooks and audiobooks, a growing sector for library users, are not currently included in the scheme.”
A New Fund To Finance Musicals Based On Movies
“Funding for screen-to-stage projects is getting a lift from a newly announced fund called Broadway & Vine. The fund is designed to help with the optioning of movie titles for adaptation as musicals, commissioning creative teams for script development and staging the first readings and presentations.”
New York’s Museum Of African Art Delays Opening Yet Again
“For the fifth time in three years, the Museum for African Art has been forced to delay opening its new home at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue, in East Harlem, as it continues to work to raise the money to finish the project.”
Rust Belt Chic: America’s Post-Industrial Cities Begin Attracting Young Adults
St. Louis, Pittsburgh and especially Cleveland are all reversing a longstanding outflow of under-35-year-olds. “And as a mountain of ‘Viva Detroit!’ news stories have made clear, Motor City is now the official cool-kids destination, adding thousands of young artists, entrepreneurs and urban farmers even as its general population evaporates.” The real estate, after all, is far cheaper than in Brooklyn and Seattle.
Lady Gaga Denied Permission To Perform In Jakarta
The national police say that they cannot guarantee public safety at the singer’s sold-out arena concert because of objections by hardline Islamic militants. Says the leader of one such group, “She’s a vulgar singer who wears only panties and a bra when she sings and she stated she is the envoy of the devil’s child and that she will spread satanic teaching. This is dangerous.”