Known for “distinctive tone, breathtaking phrasing and delicate shaping of the music,” he spent 17 years as principal clarinetist of the London Symphony and two decades as one of the earliest members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Cultural Center At The Site Of The Bamiyan Buddhas Finally Underway
“Formed by a ‘system of negative spaces’ carved into the ground, the complex will house two galleries dedicated to Afghan archaeology, a performance hall and a tea-house. … UNESCO experts are still debating the controversial plan to rebuild the pair of rock-cut Buddha statues demolished by the Taliban in 2001.”
Developer Plans An Arts Center In An Old Renault Factory In The Middle Of The Seine
“The property developer Emerige group plans to build an extensive art centre and 13,000 sq. m art hotel on Île Seguin, an island in the western suburbs of Paris that once housed the Renault car factory. The new development, called S17 & S18, will transform the former industrial site into ‘one of the biggest cultural hubs in Europe’, says a spokeswoman for the Emerige.”
An Oratorio For Matthew Shepard
Like many of us, conductor/composer Craig Hella Johnson was shaken by the story of Shepard, the young man who was gay-bashed to death in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. For years, Johnson had an inchoate desire to create a response – an urge that ultimately led to a full-length work for Johnson’s professional choir, Conspirare.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.06.17
American Art Benefits: A Little Noticed $100 Million Gift
Everyone I know is reading more news these days – until they give up and decide to avoid news altogether. Either way, some good news in the art world is not getting enough attention. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-02-06
Music and the National Mood
PostClassical Ensemble – the DC chamber orchestra I co-founded a dozen years ago – produced a concert at the Washington National Cathedral last Saturday night that seemed to address the national mood. … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-02-06
The Met Mess in the NY Times: Are Tom Campbell’s Director Days Numbered?
Catching up on museum news after five days in California, I did a double-take at the online headline for Robin Pogrebin‘s Page One piece in Sunday’s NY Times: … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-02-06
Monday Recommendation: Miguel Zenon
Miguel Zenon Quartet, Típico (Miel Music) … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-02-06
How Psychologists Can Tell If A Defendant Is Faking Insanity
“Welcome to the strange science of malingering, a fancy word for faking illness in order to gain an advantage of some kind. It’s an area of psychological study that highlights the counterintuitive orderliness of insanity and also reveals that many people have no idea what it’s like to have a genuine mental disorder.”
Alexander Chancellor, 77, Editor Who Transformed The Spectator (And Had A Disastrous Year At The New Yorker)
While he had successful stints at most of London’s broadsheet newspapers, Chancellor was best known for turning The Spectator from a tired old Tory weekly into a lively magazine he once described as “more of a cocktail party than a political party.”
Six Critics Name Six Ways ‘Girls’ Changed Television (Or Didn’t)
For instance, sex: “According to Hollywood, women can have completely satisfying sexual experiences without ever taking off their bras, and manage to reach euphoric orgasms within minutes. Girls never bothered with any of these tropes. From the show’s first episode, the sex was sweaty, it was weird, it was jiggly, it was unflattering. Which is to say: It was realistic.”
‘The Father Of Science Fiction’? Who *Was* Hugo Of The Hugo Awards?
“The annual awards for best science fiction are called ‘Hugos.’ A futuristic story by William Gibson in 1981 was called ‘The Gernsback Continuum.’ But except for a few markers like these, Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967) has mostly vanished from our cultural memory, which is a pity, because he was an extraordinary man, and his influence on our modern age – electrical, science-permeated, and full of wonders – was outsized.”
You Think ‘Alternative Facts’ Are Like Science Fiction? Ursula Le Guin Would Like A Word With You
In a letter to her local paper, she writes, “We call it fiction because it isn’t fact. … The test of a fact is that it simply is so – it has no ‘alternative.’ The sun rises in the east. To pretend the sun can rise in the west is a fiction, to claim that it does so as fact (or ‘alternative fact’) is a lie.”