“The Smithsonian has abandoned its plan to open its first stand-alone exhibition space in London, deciding instead to partner with the Victoria and Albert Museum in its new space at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, officials said Monday. The decision represents a significant retreat from the Smithsonian’s original plan to occupy a 40,000-square foot venue in the cultural complex.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
What Happens In Opera Singers’ Heads (Literally) When They Sing? Look At This MRI
“Researchers at the Freiburg Institute for Musicians’ Medicine wanted to find out how much loudness effects enunciation when it comes to opera singers.”
Watch Video Of The Pigeons-With-Lights-In-The-Brooklyn-Sky-At-Dusk Piece
“In the artist Duke Riley’s project Fly by Night, he sets two thousand homing pigeons, outfitted with L.E.D. lights, into motion. Riley’s objective? For people simply to notice the birds, the people, and the city that surrounds them.”
Classical CD Distributor Lays Off Staff, Stiffs Client Labels
“Portland-based Allegro Media Group, a distributor for small, independent music and video labels, appears to be leaving a swath of unhappy business partners in the wake of its financial problems.” (The comments include testimony from an exec (under his own name) at one of the client labels, as well as from an ex-employee and a former competitor.)
J. Reilly Lewis, Founder And Director Of Washington Bach Consort, Dead At 71
“Ebullient, multitalented, warm and open to a fault, Reilly, 71, was a key figure on the Washington music scene for decades: the leader of the Cathedral Choral Society as well as the founder and leader of the Washington Bach Consort, and a crack organist to boot.”
The 50 Best Foreign Language Movies Of The 21st Century So Far
“To spread the love, we’ve stuck to one movie per director, and don’t take the absence of documentaries as anything but a promise that they’ll have their own Best of the Century list soon. Those are about the only rules we had, and other than that anything predominately in a language other than English qualified.”
The New Yorker’s Film Blogger Has A Completely Different List Of The 21st Century’s Best Foreign-Language Films
Richard Brody: “As it says in the Good e-Book, ‘There is no end to the making of lists, and too much Googling will wear you out.’ Yet one list, published on Wednesday, got me going at once, and the results are below.”
The Tonys Of Diversity And Earnestness
Jesse Green: “All four of the musical performance Tonys went to black actors … Ten other actors of color were nominated, as were, even more unusually, a number of black and Hispanic and Filipino artists in the creative and technical categories. … As a result, all the attention to diversity on the show seemed natural and coherent, not inanely appliquéd as at February’s Academy Awards. … This was not just the least white Tonys I can recall but the most earnest. As one commenter on last night’s Vulture liveblog put it, ‘I am so moved by the lack of cynicism in this broadcast, this theatre season.'”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.13.16
South Africa’s Citizen Artists: Malcolm Purkey and Johannesburg, from Soweto to Hillbrow
This is the fourth and final essay in a series of “We the Audience” posts designed to introduce my readers to the citizen artists working in some of South Africa’s most challenged areas. … read more
AJBlog: We The Audience Published 2016-06-13
A lesson from Hamilton
So on Friday I zipped down from DC to Baltimore to attend the League of American Orchestras conference. Whose theme this year was diversity, aka “The Richness of Difference.” … But one thing I’m sure of. Symphony orchestras — or just about any major classical music institution — can’t match the diversity impact of Hamilton ..., [impact] which, with all respect, the League can only dream about. …read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-06-13
Correspondence: When Miles Sat In With Mel
Saxophonist Bill Kirchner writes: For several years In the 1980s I used to sub on occasion in the saxophone section of drummer Mel Lewis’s Jazz Orchestra – originally the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-06-13
Propwatch: the sock in Phaedra(s)
British audiences are no longer scared of European theatre. It has taken us years – decades – to feel relaxed about non-representational stagings, actors stripped of plummy tones, the fourth wall not only breached but blown to smithereens. … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2016-06-13
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That Viral Video Of Dancers Mixing Ballet And Hip-Hop? It’s Driving Some People Nuts
“For all the positive attention the dancers have gotten – most have applauded their style and confidence, and they’ve performed on multiple major TV networks since the video went viral – some viewers have attacked the Hiplet style and the legitimacy of the teacher who created it: Homer Bryant of the Chicago Multicultural Dance Center. … Chicago magazine spoke with Bryant about racism in classical ballet, the Hiplet safety debate, and the role his school plays in the city.”