Author: Douglas McLennan

Boston Children’s Theatre Abruptly Closes After Accusations About Artistic Director

The collapse of the organization came quickly, just a few weeks after a group of former students accused longtime artistic director Burgess Clark of inappropriate behavior. The explosive allegations, including accusations by some students of touching and kissing during private lessons or while they were at his second home in Vermont, rocked the theater group and has triggered an investigation by police. No charges have been filed. – Boston Globe

Classical Music’s Streaming Problem

According to a new survey commissioned by Primephonic, 34% of the 1,000 Americans surveyed are interested in listening to classical music, but only 16% actually do so. Put another way, only half of the people interested in streaming classical music are actually listening. Primephonic and Idagio ($10 monthly) — another classical music-only streaming service that launched in the U.S. in 2018 — intend to take advantage of the gap in those numbers, to improve access to classical music by offering new-user-friendly software and guided listening. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Social Media Has Made Our Democracy More Toxic. But We Can Fix It

“The problem may not be connectivity itself but rather the way social media turns so much communication into a public performance. We often think of communication as a two-way street. Intimacy builds as partners take turns, laugh at each other’s jokes, and make reciprocal disclosures. What happens, though, when grandstands are erected along both sides of that street and then filled with friends, acquaintances, rivals, and strangers, all passing judgment and offering commentary?” – The Atlantic

Study Refutes Longstanding Claim That Molière Didn’t Write The Plays Attributed To Him

“The late blooming of Molière’s talent, his purported lack of education and culture, his busy agenda, and the lack of manuscripts are among the arguments that triggered a century-long debate. Systematic objections to these assertions have been provided. Yet, the sparsity of available archives has so far prevented the debate from ending,” the pair write in their paper Why Molière Most Likely Did Write His Plays, published on Wednesday in the open-access journal Science Advances. – The Guardian

Clive James, 80 – Invented a Genre Of Modern TV Criticism

From the 1980s, beginning with the classic Unreliable Memoirs, he published a series of uproarious biographies that charted his journey from dusty Australia to windy Cambridge to grubby Fleet Street and on to eventual success with TV shows such as Clive James on Television. James may, however, be best remembered for inventing modern television criticism. – Irish Times

Can Music Be A-Cultural?

“A lucid example of the Western music aesthetic versus an indigenous one would be to consider the concert hall experience and that of a powwow. In the concert hall, the quality of the sound becomes the preeminent value, conceptually superseding the players and the audience. In a concert hall, the audience and orchestra are kept in separate spaces, and the flow of activity is directed from the orchestra to the audience, which remains seated, silent, and motionless. The performers all wear black to hide any individuality, and concerts are typically appraised on the “ugliness” or “beauty” of their collective sound.” – NewMusicBox