“Martin … first rose to prominence in the mid-nineties writing a string of hits for [Britney] Spears, Backstreet Boys and [Justin] Timberlake. … Bartoli, from Rome, Italy, is best known for her interpretations of the music of Mozart and Rossini, and has seen her solo releases achieve enormous success.” Each receives a cash award of 1 million Swedish kronor (currently $118.000).
Author: Matthew Westphal
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.09.16
Engagement Is a Means, Not an End
So much interesting stuff has been written recently about engagement and related topics, I barely know where to begin. The Irvine Foundation has published a series of mini-essays responding questions about engagement. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-02-09
Black History Month (1) — Roland Hayes
I thought I’d do a few blog posts to honor Black History Month. Which I don’t think is honored enough in the classical music world. And where better to start than with Roland Hayes, … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-02-09
A Milwaukee Walk: Photo Companion for My WSJ Review of the Milwaukee Art Museum
As promised in my last post, below is my illustrated companion for In Wisconsin, a Museum Reborn – my review in today’s Wall Street Journal of the reinvented Milwaukee Art Museum, which gave me a very warm welcome … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-02-09
Short and to the point
I love aphorisms and epigrams, perhaps because I have no gift for coining them. The brilliantly precise concision that allows writers like La Rochefoucauld, Chamfort, and Karl Kraus to say big things on the smallest possible scale, … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-02-09
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Christopher Wheeldon: How I Fell For Madame X
The choreographer explains his inspiration for his new ballet Strapless, about a young New Orleans woman who became a sort of Belle Epoque Paris supermodel – until she was ruined by a scandalous portrait painted by John Singer Sargent.
What Is The Self? It Depends
“We have different conceptions of the self the world over not because selves differ, but because at different times and places people have more or less concern with different aspects of selfhood. They provide different answers to the question ‘What is the self?’ because that apparently singular question in fact contains any number of different ones.”
Neurothrillers! Horror Movies Really Are Scarier Than They Used To Be
“Consciously or unconsciously, contemporary filmmakers not only tap into increased knowledge about the brain offered by neuroscientific experiments, but their films also stimulate the neural senses of emotions without the detour of narrative.”
Bollywood’s Very First Stars Were Jewish Women
When silent movies came to India, there were almost no experienced actresses there: respectable Indian women did not appear on the public stage. So most of the stars – some of whom also produced and wrote – came from the Baghdadi Jewish community in Bombay and the Bene Israel in Maharashtra. (One of them was the first Miss India.)
What T.S. Eliot Knew About Himself
“The degree to which a writer shares the prejudices of his family, his class, and his culture is less telling than the degree to which he is ashamed of them. Ezra Pound was defiantly unashamed of his prejudices. Eliot was more than ashamed: he was penitential.”
Fifth-Century Church Frescoes Uncovered In Central Turkey
“The rock-carved underground church is located within a castle in the center of Nevşehir … It is reported that some of the frescoes here are unique. There are exciting depictions like fish falling from the hand of Jesus Christ, him rising up into the sky, and the bad souls being killed.”
The Wondrous Robot Clocks Of 12th-Century Turkey
“Al-Jazari … worked as the chief engineer at Artuklu Palace, headquarters of the Artuqid dynasty that ruled over parts of Turkey, Syria and Iraq in the 11th and 12th centuries. During his time there, he invented a large number of devices that revolutionized mechanical engineering … Perhaps Al-Jazari’s most wondrous inventions were his clocks, because they were about so much more than just telling the time.”
Forest Whitaker Makes His Broadway Debut
“The role will be the first time in decades that Mr. Whitaker, an in-demand film and television actor who won an Oscar for his work in The Last King of Scotland, has acted in a play. It will also be the first time that a black actor has played Erie Smith on Broadway.”