“The coming directors include Vijay Iyer, the jazz pianist and composer, in 2017, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, the composer and conductor, in 2018 … [as well as] Barbara Hannigan, the soprano and conductor whose star has been rising because of her performances of new works, in 2019; Patricia Kopatchinskaja, the searching violinist, in 2020; and, in 2021, Mitsuko Uchida, the pianist and conductor who was last a co-music director of the festival in 1998.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Paris’s Grand Palais To Close For Renovations – What Will The Art World Do?
“The Grand Palais in Paris will have to close for at least two years to undergo major renovations, … raising fears about the fate of key culture events held at the site such as major exhibitions, the Monumenta contemporary art commission and Fiac Modern and contemporary art fair.”
Mario Vargas Llosa Wins Dominican Literary Prize, And Dominicans Are Angry
Why? “In a 2013 article published in the Spanish newspaper El País, Vargas Llosa called the ruling by the Dominican constitutional court that stripped many ethnic Haitians of their Dominican nationality a ‘legal aberration’ inspired by Hitler-era legal sentences that denied Jews German citizenship.”
The Bitter Fight Over The Benefits Of Bilingualism
It’s been the general scientific consensus for several decades that bilingual people have stronger cognitive abilities, especially in executive function. But lately there have been attempts to replicate some of the classic studies in the field – with entirely different results. And the argument (like so many in academia) is getting ugly.
‘I Am A Radicalised Goat Hell-Bent On Jihad’ – The FBI’s New Anti-ISIS Video Game
“The game, entitled Slippery Slope, is supposed to educate impressionable kids on ‘the distorted logic of blame that can lead a person into violent extremism’, but it’ also indicative of how clueless governments can be when it comes to reaching out to the kids.” (Another failure of the nanny state.)
The Syrian Archaeologist Who Struggles On Through The Chaos
“As the fifth anniversary of the Syrian civil war approaches, Cheikhmous Ali continues to document the destruction and looting of the country’s heritage from France and Turkey, with the help of a network of volunteers on the ground.”
Authors Guild Appeals Google Books Ruling To US Supreme Court
“In 2013, US circuit judge Denny Chin dismissed an authors’ lawsuit against Google, saying its scanning of the books, and the ‘snippets’ of text it makes available to users, constituted fair use,” and in 2015, an appeals court agreed. “The American writers’ body is now asking the supreme court to hear its case, with a group of writers, publishers and copyright organisations backing its petition.”
Benjamin Millepied Opens Up About Leaving Paris Opera Ballet
“To face the cultural and economic issues of our time, we need new kinds of organizations, and I’ve realized that it’s too hard to turn this one into what I think is most relevant for ballet today. It’s two and a half years that I’ve worked on this, and I know it’s a short time, but it is long enough to realize this is not something I want to do. They need someone better suited to run this company.”
Paris Opera Ballet Won’t Open Up About Benjamin Millepied
At the end of a two-hour event unveiling the coming season, “[general director Stéphane] Lissner declared the floor open for questions. But, he added: ‘I ask that your questions be about the 2016-17 season, and only about the season. We won’t answer anything else.’ There was a brief silence, then Mr. Lissner rose to his feet. ‘No questions? Well, thank you.'”
An Arts Revolution Is Transforming Small Cities
As part of an Atlantic cover story on how down-and-out-of-the-way cities and towns in the U.S. are reviving themselves, James Fallows writes, “Perhaps the topic on which I’ve most changed my mind through our travels concerns the civic importance of local arts, and the energy being devoted to them across the country. Almost every place we visited offers an example.” (scroll down to fourth boldface sub-headline)