Brisbane Baroque was a huge hit with audiences, critics, and awards bodies (it won five Helpmann Awards including one for the best opera production in all of Australia), but musicians and creditors went months without getting paid and the festival’s executive director checked himself into a psych ward.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Hoard Of Gold Coins Found Inside Antique Broadwood Piano
“The gold was recently discovered by a tuner inside a Broadwood upright piano which had originally been sold in 1906 by a musical instruments shop in Saffron Walden, Essex.”
Artist Who Nailed His Scrotum To Red Square Flees Russia After Rape Charge, Seeks Asylum
Pyotr Pavlensky – the protest artist who not only fastened his junk to the pavement in front of the Kremlin but also physically sewed his lips together while Pussy Riot was in prison and set fire to the front door of Russia’s secret service headquarters – has fled to France with his wife and children after an accusation of sexual assault (which he says was trumped up) and a seven-hour interrogation at Moscow’s airport.
Dispatches From The Art World In A Turkey Gone Mad: ‘It’s Not Chaos, But The Atomization Of Life’
“What is a stake in Turkey today is not politics in any general manner; it’s a delusion that, under the banner of religion, is swallowing up the whole of reality. … Conversations with artists reveal a dark mood, and everyone across the class spectrum is focused on one topic: When to leave? Where to go? How to get a visa? What to do in the meantime?”
One Of Europe’s Last Professional Yiddish Theaters Hangs On In Bucharest
These days many of the actors have to learn the language after they get cast, and they spent two years out of their building after the roof fell in, but the plays (now with titles in Romanian) keep coming, as they have since 1940 – and the company is now run by one of the country’s great actresses, Maia Morgenstern.
Dance Classes For The Blind At The Royal Ballet
“The participants range from young adults to senior citizens and have varying degrees of sight, but they all agree on the positive effects” – better balance, improved range of motion – “of the class. Sessions include a mix of barre and center work, as well as some weight-sharing and partnering exercises.” (video)
Indonesia’s First Contemporary Art Museum To Open This Fall
“The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN), the first institution of its kind in Indonesia, has announced that it will officially open to the public in Jakarta in November 2017 after delays in the construction of [its] landmark multi-purpose building.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.16.17
Art Is As Art Does
A recent dinner conversation with friends rolled around to the question: “What is art?” A long conversation ensued. Someone offered up Wikipedia’s definition … This group of arts administrators was unsatisfied. … read more
AJBlog: Audience Wanted Published 2017-01-16
Monday Recommendation: John Coltrane
John Coltrane, Live At Birdland (Impulse)
On this observance of Martin Luther King’s birthday, we recommend an album that John Coltrane made at the height of the 1960s civil rights movement … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-01-16
‘Red Bull Flying Bach’ – Break-Dancing To ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’
“When German break-dancer Vartan Bassil came up with the idea for Red Bull Flying Bach, he hoped to bring together those who sneer at pop culture and those who snore at high culture. And he hoped to impress the other parents in the room.”
The Strangest Things Librarians Have Found In Returned Books
“Inspired by [Claire Fuller’s] Swimming Lessons, we went to the experts in unexpected ephemera and well-loved books – librarians – and asked them to tell us the most interesting thing they’d found in a library book. Their answers delighted, disgusted, and exceeded our wildest expectations. It was hard to pick our favorites, but here they are.”