“Led by the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera, the Cartography Project will create an unspecified number of new works from artists of color that promote healing and understanding, Kennedy Center [CEO] Deborah Rutter said Thursday. The project is named for its intention to become a kind of musical map, tracing events that have sparked marches and activism across the nation. Shorter orchestral pieces may be presented digitally as soon as this fall, while opera commissions will take much longer, Rutter said.” – The Washington Post
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘Carpenters Without Borders’ Aims To Show That Notre-Dame Can Be Rebuilt With Real Medieval Techniques
“Armed with axes and hand saws, the team of 25 craftsmen and women, who belong to a collective called Carpenters Without Borders, managed to build one of the 25 trusses that made up the wooden roof of Notre-Dame that they say is identical to the original.” – France 24
How Will Notre-Dame Look When It’s Rebuilt? Exactly Like It Did Before, Rules Macron
Following recommendations from the architect and the retired general running the reconstruction as well as the new culture minister (and based on a rapidly solidifying consensus to stop arguing about design possibilities and get to work), President Macron has officially backed away from the idea he floated months ago of a contemporary replacement for the original roof and 19th-century neo-Gothic spire that were destroyed in last year’s fire. – Yahoo! (AP)
As Of This Weekend, Outdoor Performances May Resume In England
The announcement by UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden (which does not apply for Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, whose regional governments will make that decision) means that — with sanitary and social distancing procedures in place — the summer season may start at such venues as Shakespeare’s Globe in London, the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, and the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, where a special outdoor program has been developed. – The Guardian
New Yorker Cartoonist Henry Martin Dead At 94
“[He] brought a wry, genial sense of humor to nearly 700 cartoons published in The New Yorker over 35 years. They were set in conference rooms and homes, on desert islands and roadsides, at Heaven’s gate and in maternity wards.” – The New York Times
Trump’s New Sculpture Park for “American Heroes”? Fuhgedaboudit! The Bronx Already Has that Covered
As a culturally curious teenager, I had made the 20-minute hike from my Bronx apartment to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, a once popular, now little-known pantheon for bronze busts of great men and women, some by well-known sculptors (including four busts by Daniel Chester French, two by Augustus Saint-Gaudens). – Lee Rosenbaum
This Could Be The Apotheosis Of Quarantine Dance
It’s Swan Lake Bath Ballet, “a contemporary take on the classic featuring 27 A-list ballet dancers performing from their own bathtubs. The BBC commissioned the project from choreographer Corey Baker. And while you might be imagining a lighthearted, soapy romp …, the result has striking beauty and complexity, as well as some gentle splashstick humor.” – Dance Spirit
Theater, Zoom, And Coronavirus: Four Times Critics Discuss The State Of The Art In 2020
“Though we are still miles and months away from a resuscitation, who would have guessed that, in the meantime, the savior of the stage might turn out to be its perpetual enemy, the screen? … To sort out this new world, Scott Heller, the New York Times theater editor, convened a virtual conversation with Ben Brantley and Jesse Green, the chief theater critics, and Maya Phillips, the Times‘s arts critic fellow.” – The New York Times
‘Digital Theater Isn’t Theater. It’s a Way to Mourn Its Absence.’
Laura Collins-Hughes: “All that frenzy of streamable online activity — the virtual readings and talk shows, the archival videos and topical new plays — is part of keeping the candle lit. … But theater’s primary public face wears a show-must-go-on smile, so there’s a weird and self-defeating disconnect, as if being supportive means pretending that these works are just as exciting as live stuff would be.” – The New York Times
‘He Was More Than One Of The World’s Great Soundtrack Composers — He Was One Of The World’s Great Composers, Period’: John Zorn On Ennio Morricone
“For me, his work stands with Bach, Mozart, Debussy, Ellington and Stravinsky in achieving that rare fusion of heart and mind. … His meticulous craftsmanship and ear for orchestration, harmony, melody and rhythm resulted in music that was perfectly balanced; as with all master composers, every note was there for a reason. Change one note, one rhythm, one rest, and there is diminishment.” – The New York Times