Olga “appears to have inherited her father’s dynamism, her mother’s striking looks, and their shared persistence, and for the time being, both institutions continue apace. Like her father, the Rostropovich Festival is likely to be better known outside of Russia. Like her mother, the Vishnevskaya Center occupies a significant role at Russian opera’s heart.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
The Problem With Trying To Tell The History Of Canada (You Inevitably Leave Things Out)
CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster says it never meant to offend “anyone or any group” and did not intend to “diminish the importance” of stories that were left out of Canada: The Story of Us, which was meant as a marquee program to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the country.
Why Email Will Never Replace The Handwritten Letter
“It can be hard to pin down what makes a personal letter, along with what makes for its individuality and authenticity. Connection is the most basic ‘reassurance that I am not floating out there alone in the universe’, as Nina Sankovitch writes in Signed, Sealed, Delivered. A letter links two particular persons, even when its words are handed round and read to others. And while we’re more connected than ever now, our connections can be less specific – we post a lot of ‘personal’ updates to a varied or unknown audience who has no responsibility to respond.”
Music Prof: All Music Today Is “Classical” – Music Styles Interact/Blend/Recombine
From my own teaching of introductory music classes, I can report that today’s students still listen to classical music—but they don’t single it out as anything special or elite. Armed with laptops, tablets, smartphones, and iPods, and assisted by iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, and other online resources, they consume vast amounts of music on a daily basis. And they have astonishingly cosmopolitan palates, happily taking in reggae, heavy metal, gamelan, hip hop, grunge, salsa, jazz, classical, klezmer—and much more, in equal measure. It’s all one playlist, it’s all music, and it’s all “classic.”
How John Coltrane’s Music Is An Expression Of Mathematical Principles
“Thelonious Monk once said ‘All musicians are subconsciously mathematicians.’ Musicians like John Coltrane though have been very much aware of the mathematics of music and consciously applied it to his works.”
Artificial Intelligence Will Likely Change How We Think The World Should Work
In a world of digital assistants and computer-generated imagery, the expectation is that computers do all kinds of work for humans. The result of which, some have argued, is a dulling of the senses. “The miraculous has become the norm. Such a surfeit of wonders may be de-sensitizing, but it’s also eroding our ability to dream at the movies.”
Jeffrey Deitch Returns To LA With A Gallery
Two years ago he reopened his gallery in SoHo. And now, he’s taken his first step toward a Los Angeles comeback: He has just signed a lease for a 15,000-square-foot warehouse in Hollywood with plans to open a gallery there in the fall. The art dealer’s new space, at 925 North Orange Drive, is a few blocks from the strip of galleries lining Highland Avenue, anchored by Regen Projects and Kohn Gallery.
Why America’s Retail Stores Are Closing Down
“There’s little doubt that e-commerce companies have dramatically changed the retail industry, and delivered enormous gains in efficiency and productivity. Yes, there would be more traditional retail jobs in this country if Amazon didn’t exist. Companies like Amazon are able to produce the same amount of economic activity as traditional retailers, with many fewer man hours of work. But, in general, those kinds of productivity increases are considered a good thing; it’s virtually impossible for the economy to grow in a meaningful way without such leaps in productivity.”
Study: Romantic Relationships With Someone Outside Your Culture Stimulates Creativity
It reports “close intercultural romantic relationships” stimulate creativity — even after the affair is over. This finding offers “a compelling reason for people to go out of their comfort zone to develop meaningful and long-lasting relationships with individuals from other cultures,” a research team led by Jackson Lu of Columbia University writes in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
Here’s Who Uses UK Libraries
“Around half of the population of the UK and Ireland continue to use libraries. Nearly half (46%) of people aged 25 to 34 still visit them according to the study – a rise of 2%.”