Editor Lillian Swanson: “But what I regret most is that Philly will be left without a real alternative voice, one that speaks truth to power and tells stories others have overlooked. Who will focus on writing the first serious ink about artists and singers who are on the way up? How will those who open independent theaters get the press they need to become viable? Who but CP will review more than 40 Fringe shows? Where else will you find a full-page comic?”
Month: October 2015
Using Greek Tragedy To Help War Vets Deal With Trauma
“Bryan Doerries is using Euripides and Sophocles to help soldiers, generals and drone pilots deal with the horrors of war – and actors from Martin Sheen to Jake Gyllenhaal are queueing up to take part.”
Why Composers Are Drawn To Write Symphonies, Even In 2015
James MacMillan: “The symphonic tradition, and Beethoven’s monumental impact on it, is an imposing legacy which looms like a giant ghost over the shoulder of any living composer foolhardy enough to consider adding to it. Some turn away in terror and even disdain … Others can’t help themselves. Perhaps not fully knowing what writing a symphony ‘means’ any more, some of us are drawn towards it like moths flapping around a candle flame. We might get burned.”
How Can We Give Female Choreographers A Lift? A Live Online Discussion
London’s Rambert dance company brings together a panel, chaired by The Guardian‘s Judith Mackrell, “that will focus less on the reasons why women are falling behind than on what can be done to support them.” The discussion will be live-streamed online on Wed., Oct. 14 (4:30 to 6:00 pm UK time), and questions may be submitted beforehand.
Composer Peter Maxwell Davies Says His Cancer Has Returned – And He Completed An Opera Despite The Chemo
In 2013, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia and given roughly six weeks to live, but successfully completed his treatment and continued to work. Late this summer, he learned that the cancer had returned. Despite the difficulties of chemotherapy, Davies finished work on the score of a new children’s opera to be conducted by Simon Rattle.
Arthur Miller: ‘My Legacy? Some Good Parts For Actors’
“This is not said speciously. I look at the plays that I’ve done, that is those plays that continue to have their life, and if you look hard enough you’re going to find that they’ve got pretty good parts for actors. … Actors and directors have got to decide to do these plays. They’re not deciding because the play has quote great moral importance. Even literary importance. They’re deciding because they’ve got a hell of an idea of how to do this part.”
The Robot Gamelan – Traditional Indonesian Orchestra Gets Automated
“The Gamelatron is the world’s first completely robotic gamelan orchestra – a kinetic, site-specific structure created by Aaron Taylor Kuffner, who has rigged 27 Javanese gongs and mallets on five separate steel towers, programming them to play music that he digitally arranged.”
This Man Has Been In The West End ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ For 25 Years
“[Philip] Griffiths joined Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical on October 9, 1990, originally as a swing, before moving into a character role as Monsieur Reyer and understudy Piangi. He became a resident director from 1998 to 2000, remaining as an understudy for two roles during this time, before moving back into the show as a performer.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.12.15
Becoming An Art Convert In Spain – And Why
Earlier this year, I made an art pilgrimage to Valladolid, the home of Spain’s National Museum of Sculpture. So much Spanish Renaissance and Baroque sculpture resides and stays in Spain, sometimes because it can’t leave and sometimes because there is no demand to borrow it, … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-10-12
Dreaming a Never-Stopping Dance
The Seán Curran Company brings East and West together at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-10-12
Monday Recommedation: Karrin Allyson
Songs Richard Rodgers wrote with lyricist Lorenz Hart from 1925 to the early 1940s have been among the standards most often played and sung by jazz artists. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides
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Marilynne Robinson And President Barack Obama, Just Having A (Long, Recorded) Conversation About Everything
Robinson: “I think that we have created this incredibly inappropriate sort of in-group mentality when we really are from every end of the earth, just dealing with each other in good faith. And that’s just a terrible darkening of the national outlook.”
Obama: “We’ve talked about this, though. I’m always trying to push a little more optimism.”