Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt have actually hated the news channel for its entire two-decade history – and now they think it’s finally in a vulnerable position. (includes audio report)
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘Blurred Boundaries’ – ‘Gramophone’ Looks At Contemporary Classical Music’s Genre Fluidity
“‘Classical’ and ‘contemporary’ are old-school binary. They are market-driven categorisations that have become less and less applicable since musique concrète, since the AACM, since the cassette tape, since the internet, since globalisation. Now is the age of cross-pollination. Maybe now is the age of no terms at all.”
Why Is A=440Hz The Tuning Standard For Modern Orchestras?
“How did they choose that particular pitch? Was there some kind of mega-music conference where the powers that be decided that A440 was to be the tuning standard? Yes. Yes there was. Several, in fact.”
Thomas Campbell Gives An Interview About His Departure From The Met Museum (And What He Says Is – Well …)
“Q: Why did you decide to step down?
A: I think I’ve moved the museum forward in many respects. We’ve really modernised and come into the 21st century. …
Q: Was the speculation about your relationships with staff … the worse [sic] thing you’ve had to deal with as a director?
A: It goes with the territory. … There are charges of favouritism but quite frankly that is what leadership is all about. It’s about making decisions.”
Cirque Du Soleil Buys Blue Man Group, Plans To Take It Global
“After the acquisition, Blue Man will be able to tap into Cirque’s worldwide access to theaters and marketers. In particular, both organizations have their eye on China, home to one of the most powerful and quickly growing entertainment industries in the world.”
How To Keep Your Body Going Through A 20-Year-Ballet Career: Half A Dozen Tips From Someone Who’s Done It
“The luminous principal dancer Xiao Nan Yu, who just marked two decades with National Ballet of Canada, shares how she’s kept her body strong for long-term success.” (For one thing, never blow off morning class.)
José Luis Cuevas, 83, Bad Boy Of Mexican Modern Art
“[His] brooding figures graced exhibits from Paris to New York during a career as a painter, sculptor, writer, draftsman and engraver that spanned more than seven decades. Cultivating the image of a philandering ‘tomcat'” – he claimed to have had hundreds of partners, once included his semen in an exhibition, and offered to impregnate any woman who wanted to have his baby – “Cuevas drew on the work of Francisco de Goya and Pablo Picasso, and his depictions of dark, deformed, animal-like figures were a sharp break with the socialist-tinged muralism long popular in Mexico.”
Pierre Henry, Pioneer Of Musique Concrète And ‘Grandfather Of Techno,’ Dead At 89
“Henry, a trained composer who studied with … Olivier Messiaen, is known for establishing the GRMC (Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète) … along with his early colleague and radio professional Pierre Schaeffe. … Henry composed the first work of musique concrète to be used in a commercial film, his 1952 work Astrologie ou le miroir de la vie. Later, Henry would establish the first private electronic music studio in France, the Apsone-Cabasse Studio.”
The First-Ever Edinburgh Festival Was Saved By Ration Cards
“A new archive created to mark the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh International Festival has revealed how the city’s residents were initially divided about the first event – but ended up ensuring it went ahead by donating rations.”
Denys Johnson-Davies, 94, Pioneer In Translating Modern Arabic Literature
“In 1967, the term ‘Arabic literature,’ for most Western readers, meant two books, the Quran and The Arabian Nights. But that year, readers were handed a full menu of contemporary fiction in Arabic with the publication of Modern Arabic Short Stories, an anthology that showcased the work of 20 writers, including Yusuf Idris, Tayeb Salih, Zakaria Tamer and Naguib Mahfouz, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988.”