Author: Matthew Westphal

Could Companies Just Stop Dumping Gifted Dancers Because Of Some Arbitrary Ideal Of Height Or Body Type?

Jenice Armstrong, on Sara Michelle Murawski’s dismissal from Pennsylvania Ballet because, at 5’11”, she’s too tall: “Murawski’s dancing abilities don’t appear to be in question. So if ballet officials had an issue with a tall dancer, why woo her here? Now that she’s finally here and performing beautifully, she gets a hard toe shoe up her backside, because they apparently don’t like the idea of a tall female looming over shorter male dancers.”

Conductor Georges Prêtre Dead At 92

“[He] led many of the world’s leading orchestras during a remarkable 70-year career that lasted through October when, visibly frail, he gave an emotional farewell concert with the Vienna Symphony, of which he was honorary conductor. At the end of the concert, he blew kisses to the musicians.”

The Theatre That Made English-Language Musicals The Toast Of Paris Gets Its First Female Artistic Director

Ruth Mackenzie, a Briton who headed the 2012 London Cultural Olympics and currently runs the Holland Festival, will take over the Théâtre du Châtelet from Jean-Luc Choplin, who transformed the venue from a somewhat offbeat opera and dance producer into a Broadway-by-the-Seine (Broadway’s recent An American in Paris originated there).

Inside The Sistine Chapel Choir: A Singer Tells All (Well, Most)

The Vatican’s flagship chorus got a bad reputation during the late 20th century (you may have heard its wobbly yelling on TV when a pope died), but Pope Benedict hired a new director to raise standards, and there’s been real progress. The choir’s only English member tells what it’s like to have a job today in what’s probably the world’s oldest vocal ensemble.