“Art fraud officers detained the two dealers for questioning were both Paris-based experts in 18th century furniture. They are suspected of selling two fake chairs out of a batch of four to the Chateau at Versailles, home of Louis XIV, for €1.7m … sending France’s high-end antiques world into ‘panic’.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Baltimore Symphony Musicians Get Raise And One-Year Contract Extension
“The quietly negotiated deal gives the musicians a raise, while also providing continuity and calm while the orchestra continues to search for a new president and CEO. Paul Meecham, who has been in the post for a decade, leaves shortly to become president and CEO of the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera.”
Creator Of ‘The Big Gay Musical,’ 41, Commits Suicide, Leaves Note On Facebook
“[Fred] Caruso, who was openly gay, wrote or produced – and often directed — several LGBT-themed films, including Go Go Crazy and A Four Letter Word, and he produced the off-Broadway news spoof hit Newsical. But [he] was best known for The Big Gay Musical, a film which follows two gay actors starring in a (fictional) off-Broadway musical titled Adam and Steve Just the Way God Made ‘Em.”
EU Court Set To Rule That Libraries Can Lend Ebooks Like Print Books
“Maciej Szpunar, advocate general to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), said in an opinion published (PDF) Thursday morning that public libraries should be allowed to lend e-books so long as the author is fairly compensated.”
Floating School, Winner Of Architecture Awards, Collapses
“Designed by the Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi, the [Makoko] Floating School [in Lagos] was the winner of multiple awards for architecture and urbanism, attracting great international attention and acclaim. … At 10.30am on [last] Tuesday, the Floating School collapsed during a heavy seasonal thunderstorm.”
Is Australia’s Largest Baroque Festival Near Collapse?
Brisbane Baroque only launched last year, and the first-ever festival won five Helpmann Awards, Australia’s national honors for the performing arts. But this week, just two months after the second festival ended and a few days before it’s expected to get another batch of Helpmann nominations, news emerged that many of this year’s performers still haven’t been paid and Brisbane Baroque’s CEO is incommunicado in a Melbourne hospital.
Outdoor Arts Attract The Diverse Audience We (Say We) Want
“The findings [of a recent large-scale study] are both fascinating and exciting. One of the most important findings is that outdoor arts consistently attract an audience that is representative of the population as a whole. This is a simple statement with profound significance. In the cultural sector there’s often the ambition to be accessible for all, and there are examples of that being achieved. The outdoor arts though consistently achieve it over both time and place.”
Still Teaching At Age 102: Curtis Institute’s Eleanor Sokoloff
While she’s currently at her summer home in New England, in the fall Sokoloff will return to her students in Philadelphia, where she has taught at Curtis since 1938.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.16.16
ARTnews Lives! (former parent company files for bankruptcy)
A lot of confusion ensued from this artnet post today, in which Brian Boucher reported: Artnews S.A., the Polish company that briefly published the New York-based ARTnews magazine and, even briefer still, Art in America, has filed for bankruptcy and liquidation of its assets, according to the Polish website Investments. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-06-16
Singers — Revisited
Spotify, iTunes and other companies streaming music did not exist when the following Rifftides piece [first] appeared. If anything, there has been an escalation of the ability of singers, and of musicians in general, to make themselves ubiquitous. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-06-17
Musical Films
With our newly released Redes DVD, PostClassical Ensemble completes its Naxos quartet of classic 1930s films with freshly recorded soundtracks. The scores for these four films – the others are The Plow that Broke the Plains, The River, and The City – are among the most distinguished ever composed for film … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2016-06-16
Recent Listening: Iris Bergcrantz
Iris Bergcrantz, Different Universe (Vanguard Music Boulevard). In an impressive display of her talent as a singer and songwriter, the daughter of prominent Swedish musicians Anders Bergcrantz and Anna-Lena Laurin debuts as a leader with her parents as members of the band. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-06-16
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Secrets And Lies: Reporter Tracks Down Mysterious Owner Of ‘Jesus’s Wife’ Papyrus Fragment – Which May Be A Forgery After All
Lab tests did show that the papyrus fiber is ancient, and that the ink could be as well. But journalist Ariel Sabar wanted to investigate the fragment’s chain of ownership – and he “uncovered more than I’d ever expected – a warren of secrets and lies that spanned from the industrial districts of Berlin to the swingers scene of southwest Florida, and from the halls of Harvard and the Vatican to the headquarters of the East German Stasi.”