“After a decade of spectacular growth, the entertainment conglomerate has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Its 14 theme parks (annual attendance: 157 million) delivered record profits in 2019. They’re now padlocked. Its movie studios (there are eight) controlled a staggering 40 percent of the domestic box office last year. Now, they’re sitting at a near standstill.” – The New York Times
Author: Matthew Westphal
How The COVID Crisis Is Changing Classical Music Performance (No, It’s Not About Zoom)
Musicians and their audiences may be physically separated these days, but they’re closer emotionally, writes David Patrick Stearns. “The old sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ — each side with its respective definition of excellence — is now more of a collective ‘us.’ We’re part of the same extended family, because artists are delivering something less filtered, and audiences are listening past questionable sound quality, faulty computer connections, and superficial biases. Listeners are likely to embrace, with fewer or no conditions, whatever the artists have to give us each day. The rewards can be huge.” – WQXR (New York City)
Lessons On Solitude From An Author Who’s Not Thoreau
“In Rousseau’s scheme of things, solitude was the natural human state. By stepping outside of society, by distancing oneself from other voices, one was facilitating a return to oneself. But being with oneself is one thing; writing about the state of being with oneself, another.” – The Paris Review
Advice For Dancers Who Fear Their Companies Will Shut Down, From Colleagues Who’ve Been Through It
“Of course, people are doing everything possible to avoid that fate. But fears of folding are, understandably, creating major anxiety right now. To gain some perspective, [we] spoke to a few people who’ve been through company closures in the past, and proven just how resilient dance artists can be.” – Dance Magazine
How’s Canada’s Arts Sector Holding Up Through The COVID Crisis? Better Than In The States
Things are far from perfect north of the border, but overall Canadian artists and organizations say they feel relatively well taken care of, especially when they look south. Kate Brown reports. – Artnet
One Of Sydney’s Major Arts Centers Declares Bankruptcy Due To COVID And The Lockdown
Carriageworks, Australia’s largest arts center devoted to contemporary work, has entered voluntary administration (as it’s called there). A statement from a spokesperson said, “The sudden cancellation or postponement of six months of activities due to restrictions on public gatherings has resulted in an irreparable loss of income.” – The Guardian
Mezzo Rosalind Elias Dead At 90
She made her Metropolitan Opera debut at age 23 and sang 54 roles there over 42 years, becoming one of the most beloved singers within the company. Perhaps most notable among the many operas she sang at other houses was Samuel Barber’s Vanessa: she created the role of Erika in the opera’s premiere, and almost 50 year’s later she sang that character’s grandmother. What’s more, at age 81 she made her Broadway debut. – The Washington Post
Glyndebourne Opera Festival Bows To The Inevitable, Cancels Remainder Of Summer Season
“[Festival management] had previously cancelled all performances up to and including July 14, but the festival was due to continue until August 30. A virtual festival, Glyndebourne Open House, has been announced in its place, which will begin on May 24. Opera fans will be able to stream a free, full-length past production at 5pm every Sunday.” – The Telegraph (UK)
Large Hoard Of Fake Antiquities Found And Impounded At Heathrow
“A Border Force officer at Heathrow Airport discovered the hundreds of clay figurines, pots, and tablets covered in cuneiform script in a pair of metal trunks last July. Intercepted en route from Bahrain to a private address in the UK, the objects were sent to the British Museum for inspection. There, they were discovered to be fakes. The striking thing about the discovery, says St John Simpson, a curator at the British Museum, is not the number of counterfeit relics. It’s the type.” – Artnet
‘This American Life’ Wins First-Ever Pulitzer For Audio Journalism
“In partnership with the Los Angeles Times and Vice News, This American Life won for an episode called ‘The Out Crowd’ — which illuminated the personal impact of the Trump Administration’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. In the episode, listeners hear from asylum seekers in a refugee camp in Mexico just across the border, as well as the officers who sent them there. In fact, many of the U.S. asylum officers felt awful about sending the migrants back to Mexico, as Los Angeles Times reporter Molly O’Toole learned.” – Poynter