“An experienced conductor with over 120 recordings to his name, [Martyn] Brabbins will join ENO in a troubled time for the company. Attempts to recoup the company’s losses have led to clashes between management and musical staff. [In March,] Brabbins’s predecessor Mark Wigglesworth resigned the post after disagreements with the executive panel over the future of the company.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘After Orlando’: Dozens Of Micro-Plays Respond To The Pulse Shooting
“The only criterion was that the plays should be around 3 to 5 minutes. By mid-August, 70 short plays had come in from the likes of Lindsey Ferrentino, Neil LaBute, Mia Chung, and Nathan Alan Davis. The plays will be presented in readings around the country … So far more than 40 theatrical institutions and universities nationwide and abroad have signed on.”
‘The Every 28 Hours Plays’ – A Theatrical Response To Ferguson, In Missouri And Nationwide
“[The projects’ founders] began reaching out to playwrights around the U.S. to see if they would write new short plays to add into the mix, and received dozens, including works from Neil LaBute, Dominique Morisseau, and Lynn Nottage. When [they] decided to put the idea on its feet in Missouri, they found that theatremakers from across the nation were interested in joining in.”
So How Hard Is It To Work As A Black Ballerina?
“Many company directors – consciously or not – think, ‘I don’t know if it looks like ballet if it doesn’t look like 12 identical swans.’ … While dancers and company directors … say it’s extremely difficult for black dancers to get a job in a ballet company – especially if that company already has a ‘token’ black ballerina – they acknowledge that the task of diversifying dance troupes is made more difficult by social attitudes besides racial division.”
Phil Chess, Co-Founder Of Chess Records And Pioneer Of Blues And Rock Industry, Dead At 95
“Mr. Chess and his brother Leonard Chess arrived in America as little boys, two Jewish immigrant kids from Poland. They started Chess in 1950, recording Muddy Waters, Etta James, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy and other top musicians who spread the gospel of the blues. Teens in England and around the world heard the so-called ‘race music’ Chess helped popularize, and the cross-pollination helped birth rock.”
At 90, Chuck Berry Is Releasing His First Album In 38 Years
“Beyoncé and Radiohead may have surprised the world with unexpected records, but Berry likely just left a few jaws on the floor. Because on Tuesday, he announced Chuck, his first record since 1979’s Rock It.”
We May Have New Sculptures By Donatello And Verrocchio (And Maybe Even Da Vinci)
“The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo [in Florence] presented two little-known 15th-century terra-cotta sculptures on Thursday as the possible work of Donatello and Verrocchio (with, perhaps, the help of Verrocchio’s erstwhile assistant Leonardo da Vinci), proposed attributions that are expected to stir debate in Renaissance art scholarship.”
Books Stranded At Sea: Publishers’ Latest Headache Is A Bankrupt Shipping Company
“The Hanjin Shipping Company, which filed for bankruptcy in August, has seen dozens of its ships – some carrying significant orders from trade houses – stranded at sea or seized by creditors. Affected publishers range from St. Martin’s Press to W.W. Norton to Lee & Low.”
New York Philharmonic Awards New $30K Piano Prize
“[Benjamin] Grosvenor, 24, won the first Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize – which, in addition to the prize money, comes with opportunities to perform with the orchestra. He will play with the Philharmonic in April 2018, the orchestra said.”
Pittsburgh Symphony Management And Musicians Agree On About As Much As Trump And Clinton
“Most of those disagreements have to do with the future: how much money the musicians, who have been on strike since Sept. 30, will make; how their retirements will be funded; and what the organization’s five-year financial forecast should look like. But … the two sides also differ over basic matters that have already taken place, such as whether the musicians were notified about the latest concert cancellations before management announced them to the public, and whether the musicians permitted management to give them a presentation about the organization’s finances.”