Nietzsche argued that with the death of God (i.e., the power of religion in society), notions of sin and guilt and expiation would fade away. In the industrialized West, that just hasn’t happened: the ideas of guilt (“liberal guilt,” if one likes) and expiation have driven the movements for human rights, environmentalism, animal welfare, international war crimes tribunals, and (more obviously and controversially) for reparations for colonialism and slavery. Wilfred McClay looks at these movements – and what he sees as their extensions, the exaltation of victim status and the speech wars on college campuses – and find their roots deep in the beliefs and assumptions of Western Christianity and, before it, Judaism.
Author: Matthew Westphal
A Sundance For Choreography?
It’s even in Utah. “A breath of fresh choreographic air is coming to Salt Lake City. Ballet West artistic director Adam Sklute has invited companies from across the country to join Ballet West for the first annual National Choreographic Festival, May 19–20 and 26–27. Over the course of two weekends and two different programs, premieres and recently acquired repertory will be performed in the new, state-of-the-art Eccles Theater.”
The Great Brawl Of American Classical Music
“It was composer pitted against composer: uptown vs. downtown, tonal vs. atonal, left brain vs right brain, and these musicians were NOT pulling any punches. Composers were antagonizing each other, questioning each other’s validity, and bad-mouthing one another; it was like the second half of the 20th century was when Western Music went through middle school, and it was brutal! … On this episode of Meet the Composer, we unravel one of the most contentious periods in classical music’s history.” (podcast)
Australia’s ‘King Kong’ Musical Is Finally Coming To Broadway
“The show is the brainchild of an Australian animatronics company, and its only previous production was in Melbourne. Its arrival on Broadway has been long delayed: In 2010, the producers said they were aiming for a 2013 Broadway bow; in 2013, they talked of a possible 2014 Broadway opening, as well as international productions of the show; and by 2014, they had stopped attaching a timeline to their project. But now, for the first time, they are announcing a theater as well as a time frame.”
This Year’s Big TV Series For Ramadan Is About Life Under ISIS
Ramadan is the big season for television in the Muslim world, as families gather at the set each night after breaking the daytime fast. Black Crows, a 30-part drama airing on the Arab world’s most popular satellite channel, “paints a picture of the Islamic State … as a brutal criminal organization run by corrupt and hypocritical leaders. But recruits are depicted as victims, and women who challenge the militants’ control are heroes.” (includes scenes from three episodes)
Booing, The Cannes Film Festival’s Favorite Sport
“Cannes selections of all stripes have met with boos for decades, from Michelangelo Antonioni’s groundbreaking L’Avventura in 1960 to Sean Penn’s not-groundbreaking The Last Face last year.” (Even Taxi Driver got booed.) There’s even been a “Booed at Cannes” film series and a streaming service category. Nicolas Rapold offers “a mini-anthropology” of the phenomenon.
Laura Kipnis Sued By Student Over Portrayal In Book ‘Unwanted Advances’
“A Northwestern University graduate student is suing a professor at the campus for defamation, the latest twist in a long-running controversy that already has involved discrimination and sexual harassment investigations, multiple lawsuits and the exit of a prominent philosophy professor.”
Cincinnati Art Museum Gets Largest Gift In Its History
“Longtime supporters Carl and Alice Bimel left a bequest of $11.75 million to the museum to establish the Alice Bimel Endowment for Asian Art. The endowment will enhance collections in the arts of South Asia, Greater Iran and Afghanistan.”
Britain’s NHS Prescribes Music And Dance For The Elderly
A National Health Service regional planning group has issued a manifesto that “says it aims to reinvent health services by encouraging people to engage with cultural activities instead of focusing solely on medicine. … ‘Too many of life’s problems are seen as only amenable to medical treatment. We all too readily turn people into patients. … There are no pills for loneliness and poverty but a rich cultural context can help ensure residents are better connected to each other and feel more able to cope.”
Curtis Institute’s Brilliant Student Orchestra Is About To Discover The Rigors Of International Touring
Just now they’re in Helsinki, the start of a nine-city European tour under the baton of Osmo Vänskä. As Curtis president and former Philadelphia Orchestra principal violist Roberto Díaz tells David Patrick Stearns, “It looks great on paper, but actually doing it is really, really hard work. Preparing for events like this is a huge part of their educations.”