The Brooklyn Museum of Art “unveiled a $55 million plan yesterday to transform the institution’s front entrance into a major civic plaza, with tiered seating, reflecting pools and programmable fountains flanking a modernistic new lobby of glass and steel.” – New York Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
OPPOSITES ATTRACT
“The lefty firebrand comic and the Tory peer” – an apt description for the unique collaboration of Andrew Lloyd Webber and comic Ben Elton on their new musical “The Beautiful Game,” about a young soccer team in 1969 Belfast. – The Times (UK)
HITTING THE RIGHT NOTES
A rare interview with Simon Keenlyside, one of the world’s leading baritones, and the most internationally successful British classical singer of his generation. – The Telegraph (UK
AN ANONYMOUS ART
Accompanists are the music world’s unsung artists. “Twice the work, half the pay, and people invariably forget your name. What self-respecting pianist would choose such a career?” – The Times (UK)
FIVE PIANOS, 50 FINGERS
Five members of one family are piano students at the Juilliard School. – New York Times
GETTING A PIECE OF THE PIE (BUT A VERY SMALL SLICE)
News of an extra $70 million in funding wasn’t enough to excite Australia’s state theater companies. While the overall government spending represents a 23% increase for the arts sector, the four largest theater companies will only see a 4 1/2% raise – barely more than inflation. – The Age (Melbourne)
WHO ARE YOU CALLING A “PHILISTINE”?
UK Culture Secretary Chris Smith responded to recent attacks by artists (David Hockney, Doris Lessing, V. S. Naipaul, among them) criticizing the “dumbing down” of British culture: Arts funding has actually increased 60% during the Labour Party’s first five years. “I don’t call that the action of a philistine government.” – Sydney Morning Herald 09/19/00
CURIOUS PENGUIN?
- A manuscript by the creators of the “Curious George” series was found long after the authors’ deaths in a university library. Houghton Mifflin will release the new tales this fall, about an adventurous penguin who was actually invented before Curious George but never published. – NPR [Real audio file]
DARIO RETURNS
Harvard finds two long lost poems by Rubén Darío considered by some to be “the greatest Latin American poet of all time.” The find is causing a big stir in Spanish literary circles. “At a time when Latin America is plagued by violence and economic problems, Rubén Darío, who dreamed we would be improved, returns.” – New York Times
FAIR GAME
“From Amarillo, Tex., to Wooster, Ohio, from Seattle to St. Petersburg, Fla., the season’s regional book festivals are increasingly showing prime-time potential – and racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sales every year.” – Inside.com