“Archaeologists were astonished by the find as it came almost a century after the remains of a villa, believed to date to the 3rd century AD, were unearthed in a hilly area above the town of Negrar di Valpolicella.” – The Guardian
Month: May 2020
BBC Proms Plans For This Summer Finally Settled
Well, mostly settled. “A virtual first night in July will see more than 350 musicians play together in a Beethoven ‘mash-up’ [of the nine symphonies] having each recorded their part from home. … The Royal Albert Hall will be home to live performances in the final fortnight of the season, starting from August 28,” with audience numbers to be determined by the social-distancing guidelines in place at the time. Meanwhile, the BBC will air specially selected archive recordings of previous Proms each night for the first six weeks of the festival. – London Evening Standard
The Power Of Science And The Challenge Of Trust
Today, scientists are grappling with the problem of model uncertainty, as seen in areas like climate and medicine. These questions are increasingly challenging the basis of modern scientific knowledge itself, which is defined by a combination of mathematics and observation. – American Affairs Journal
Playwright And AIDS Activist Larry Kramer, 84
An author, essayist and playwright — notably hailed for his autobiographical 1985 play, “The Normal Heart” — Mr. Kramer had feet in both the world of letters and the public sphere. In 1981 he was a founder of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the first service organization for H.I.V.-positive people, though his fellow directors effectively kicked him out a year later for his aggressive approach. (He returned the compliment by calling them “a sad organization of sissies.”) – The New York Times
Do We Need A Different Way Of Categorizing Books?
A category only exists in relation to other categories, similarly constituted. You would need to establish a number of other clearly defined hierarchies of value, or centers of interest, generating distinct, or at least recognizable, types of plot and character interaction. For example, stories in which good and evil are absolute, not subordinated to the community, which in this case would matter only in so far as it fosters goodness, not vice versa. – New York Review of Books
COVID Upside: HUGE Increase In Consumption Of Online Arts
The huge numbers reported in watching and listening to streaming performances are in stark contrast with “decades of dire warnings and disheartening statistics about shrinking classical audiences — because of aging patrons, changing tastes, and more competition for the entertainment dollar.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
A Golden Age For Male Dancers
Why this wealth of talent has arrived right now isn’t easy to pinpoint, but they definitely spur each other on. There’s healthy competition – ballet boys can’t resist a pirouette-off; Corrales’ record is “at least 15” – but they all talk about how secure they feel because each dancer is very different. – The Guardian
Alan Jacobi, 67, Self-Taught Engineer Who Revolutionized Stagecraft
A self-taught engineer, AJ virtually created the rigging industry out of a background in theatre lighting. When he began, in the early 1980s, technicians still hung their own lights, but in the era of extravagant musicals, rock concerts and spectaculars AJ saw an opportunity within the gravity-defying ambitions of designers and directors. – The Guardian
The Pandemic Has Shown Us The True Realist Among Playwrights: Samuel Beckett
Charles McNulty: “Stuck indoors with little to distract us from the bewilderment of our metaphysical predicament, we are like one of his immobilized characters, not scrunched into trash cans like Hamm’s elderly parents in Endgame but confined all the same to a narrow loop of existence.” – Los Angeles Times
Prince Charles Warns About Endangered Arts
“It is a very expensive art form, but it is crucial because it has such a worldwide impact… and so we have to find a way to make sure these marvellous people and organisations are going to survive through all this.” – BBC