Author: Matthew Westphal

“Mr. Hall was long acknowledged as the leader and prime defender of a profession whose artistic health was often imperiled by financial cutbacks and political hostility in the second half of the 20th century. That the period was regarded as one of the theater’s greatest made his achievement all the more considerable. As a director, Mr. Hall introduced Samuel Beckett to English-speaking audiences, staged the premieres of eight of Harold Pinter’s plays, helped revolutionize the acting of Shakespeare and, as artistic director of the Glyndebourne Festival in England from 1984 to 1990, brought a new realism to the performing of classic opera.”

Dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour, sculptor El Anatsui, artist Shirin Neshat, and architect Raphael Moneo are this year’s recipients of this year’s ¥15 million ($137,000) award, given by the Japan Art Association to honor achievement in fields not covered by the Nobel Prizes.

“While she was still in her teens Tchinarova danced with companies that formed in Europe after the death of Diaghilev. She travelled with Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, Les Ballets 1933, Colonel. W. de Basil’s Ballets Russes and finally to Australia in de Basil’s Monte Carlo Russian Ballet in 1936.” She settled there – and was married to actor Peter Finch when he was discovered by Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh (whose affair with Finch broke up his marriage to Tchinarova).