Month: September 2019

Zanzibar’s Only Music School On The Verge Of Closing

Nearly 70% of its 80 full-time students can’t afford to pay their tuition, which comes to about $13 USD per month, according to an official DCMA press release. While the school has received support over the years from international donors and diplomatic missions, they face a gap in funding that may force them to shut their doors at the historic Old Customs House. – Global Voices

How Gianandrea Noseda Is Remaking Washington’s National Symphony

For players, the NSO has become more appealing than ever. It has long been one of the best-paid orchestras in the country. Now, it’s also seen as among the more dynamic ones. The orchestra is touring Asia this year, and a European tour is said to be in the works. It appeared at Carnegie Hall in the spring and will go to Lincoln Center in November. Selected performances are being streamed and distributed online on Medici.tv; others will be recorded, including the Beethoven cycle at the end of this season. – Washington Post

Doyenne Of Black Dance Writers (And Maybe All Dance Writers) Takes On New Role: Curation

Eva Yaa Asantewaa “wasn’t looking for a curatorial position when she got a call from Gina Gibney, the artistic director and founder of Gibney, a performing arts and social justice organization that includes Ms. Gibney’s dance company and features classes and studio rentals. … ‘She had a whole plan mapped out,’ Ms. Yaa Asantewaa said. ‘It took me about two minutes to just say yes.'” – The New York Times

A Seattle Jazz Institution Closes

A modest room with fewer than 100 seats, Tula’s is a movie-set-ready jazz joint: cocktail tables bathed in golden light, wood-and-mirror-paneled bar, intimate stage, flat black ceiling, slowly turning fan. On the back wall hangs the huge wooden sign that once advertised Bud’s Jazz Records, in Pioneer Square. (The ashes of the owner of that shop, Bud Young, are also stashed in the club. Talk about keeping the spirit of jazz alive.) – Seattle Times

How ‘Mao’s Last Dancer’ Transformed A Struggling Provincial Company Into A Powerhouse

Li Cunxin, who defected from China in 1981, danced with the Houston and Australian Ballets, retired from the stage in 1999, and became a Melbourne stockbroker. Then, in 2012, came a call from Brisbane. “Seven years [after he became artistic director], Li’s contribution has been dramatic. Queensland Ballet, once a struggling choreographer-led company, has become one of Australia’s most exciting repertoire ensembles … The budget has more than quadrupled, to over $20 million USD, and Li has launched not one but three major construction projects, with world-class headquarters, a theater and a new academy all in progress.” – Pointe Magazine

Berkeley Art Museum Director Lawrence Rinder To Step Down

In 2016, Rinder led the move of the museum from its original home, an architecturally significant but seismically challenged structure, to an acclaimed new building. The $112 million project, designed by New York architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, relocated BAMPFA from the southeast periphery of the Berkeley campus to a lively corner of Center Street. In the process, art and film became a much-needed linchpin between the university and the downtown of its host city. – San Francisco Chronicle

The Night Broadway’s ‘Slave Play’ Was Performed For An All-Black Audience

The producers of Jeremy O. Harris’s daring drama set aside all 804 seats on Sept. 18 for Black theatregoers, and they marketed the event almost entirely through direct outreach. Harris was thrilled by that night’s atmosphere: “People got out of their seats to go to the bathroom when they needed, people spoke, people laughed loudly, talked back, people (mon dieu!) texted with their ringers off and screens turned low. And the whole room felt free.” – American Theatre