“The museum was closed [for one month] while staff prepares for a $100 million renovation which will enlarge the building and transform its facade along South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. Admission will continue to be free until what’s being called The New Norton is completed in late 2018.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Boston Ballet Just Smashed Its Previous Box Office Record – Thanks To Some Smart Data-Crunching
“Crediting a host of new techniques that include variable pricing, alternating repertoire, and an enhanced social media presence, Boston Ballet is reporting that last season marked the company’s highest attendance levels in more than a decade and its best ticket revenues in the company’s 53-year history.”
Dispute Over Minimum Wage For L.A.’S 99-Seat Theaters Goes To Court As Talks Collapse
“Negotiations to resolve a minimum wage dispute between Actors’ Equity Assn. and members of the theater community have failed and the parties are headed to court … At the center of the lawsuit is Equity’s 99-seat theater plan, which calls for owners of theaters with fewer than 100 seats to pay Equity actors minimum wage for rehearsal and performance time.”
Baltimore Symphony Receives $1.2M Gift To Bring Poorest Students To Concerts
“[The donation from Mark and Patricia Joseph] will more than triple the number of financially disadvantaged students who attend the orchestra’s popular midweek concert series for local schools … Officials explained that many children couldn’t afford the $10 ticket price, let alone the often-prohibitive cost of renting a bus.”
John Luther Adams Writes A Soundtrack For A Stroll Between Met Museums
Michael Cooper: “It was with some trepidation that I set out last week to try Soundwalk 9:09, a piece the Metropolitan Museum of Art commissioned from … the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer. Composed of sounds recorded in the area, the work is intended for people to listen to on their smartphones as they make the eight-block walk between the museum’s mother ship, on Fifth Avenue, and its new outpost, the Met Breuer, in the old Whitney building on Madison Avenue. What if I did it wrong?”
Filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, 76, Leader Of Iranian New Wave
“Kiarostami, whose subtly enigmatic films” – among them A Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us, Certified Copy – “play brilliantly with audiences’ preconceptions, was considered one of the greatest directors in contemporary world cinema.”
The Best Film Festival You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of
“At the 30th edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna’s annual celebration of restored and rediscovered cinema, the bonus addition to the bill was not a film-maker, or a movie, but a projector. The machine in question was a British model, made in 1899, but now once again in perfect working order.”
We Three Khans: This Trio Of Superstars Has Bollywood’s Release Schedule In A Headlock
“Each dominates a different annual holiday. Shah Rukh Khan, a favourite of the middle classes, is the hero of the Diwali weekend. Aamir Khan, more highbrow, dominates Christmas.” And Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, is the territory of Salman Khan.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.04.16
The Future of Orchestras (Cont’d): Would the Philharmonic Sing Palestrina?
Frankly, the consolidated thread of considered comments elicited by my mega-blog on the future of orchestras has taken me by surprise. These are informed comments from inside the orchestra world. I have also been deluged with emails whose content must remain private. They, too, register the thoughts, frustrations, and anxieties of musicians, educators, and administrators. … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question >Published 2016-07-04
Resonance
I’m off to Seattle this week for a couple performances of Resonance by the Seattle Chamber Music Society (SCMS). Resonance is scored for violin and three cellos, and I’m really fortunate to have an outstanding group playing it: … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2016-07-04
“I dreamed of blue fireballs”
I have nothing but pleasant memories of my mother’s family’s Fourth of July cookouts, which rank among the highlights of my small-town youth. … In 1991, a quarter of a century ago, I published a memoir in which, among many other things, I described those Fourth of July cookouts. This is part of what I wrote. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-07-04
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A History Of Miss Havisham
One early critic of Dickens’s Great Expectations called the character “a foolish, senseless, fantastical, impossible humbug”; later, another critic wrote that “living types have already been pointed out that claim resemblance [to her].” Carrie Frye suggests that this “seems like a fitting jumping-off point for exploring how Miss Havisham came to be in the world: as a fantastical, impossible creature … clearly based on real-life people.”