Changing the curriculum
Time now to talk about the curriculum at conservatories, about what classical musicians should learn in their professional education. As I said in an earlier post, this was something I was eagerly asked to speak about at … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2015-09-22
Rorschach Test
We’re all artists now Quick. What’s your reaction to that sentence? This was the title of a September 2015 New York Times article that considered expanded definitions of and options for creativity and the increasingly … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-09-22
So Long, Summertime
This is the last day of summer. It would be wrong to let the season get away without a proper sendoff. There are, of course, countless recorded versions of the George Gershwin song from Porgy and Bess … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-09-22
Snapshot: Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas sing a duet at the 1958 Oscars
Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas sing “It’s Great Not to Be Nominated” at the 1958 Academy Awards ceremony. (The song was written for them by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen.) Neither man had been … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-09-23
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Author: Matthew Westphal
Now *That’s* Surreal: How A Huge Man Ray Collection Ended Up In A Long Island Auto Body Shop
“A cardboard box labeled, ‘Slinky, Wrench, Razorblade, Bullet, Comb, Can Opener, Many Metal Pieces’ rests open on a workbench. Meanwhile, Roger Browner, Man Ray’s nephew, sits in front of a decade-old iMac looking for an object, per my request.”
Versailles Ordered To Cover Over Vandalism On Anish Kapoor’s Sculpture
“A French court ordered the Palace of Versailles to cover anti-Semitic graffiti from the artist Anish Kapoor’s installation there this weekend, after a local politician, Fabien Bouglé, filed a complaint that Mr. Kapoor and the palace were inciting racial hatred by leaving the vandalism intact.” Kapoor is not happy: “I feel like a girl who was raped and who is told to go get dressed in a corner.”
Ten Years After Katrina, Louisiana Philharmonic Finally Gets Its Hall Back
“After ten years of post-Katrina concerts in other venues, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra returns to the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans’ Central Business District to open its 2015-16 concert season. Farrar Hudkins talks with Mary von Kurnatowski, one of the Orpheum’s new owners, and longtime LPO musicians Patti Adams and Jim Atwood, to give us the story of this historic homecoming.” (audio)
The Man Whose Typefaces Keep You Going (In More Ways Than One) Is Dead At 87
“[Adrian] Frutiger created some of the most widely used fonts of the 20th century, seen daily in airports, on street signs and in subway stations around the world. … Perhaps [his] most ubiquitous typeface is also the least obtrusive: OCR-B, the optical-character font he designed in 1968, adopted five years later as the world standard” – and now seen at the bottom of everyone’s bank checks.
Former Granta Editor Launches Starry New Literary Journal
“Two and a half years ago, the critic and editor John Freeman abruptly resigned his post as editor in chief of Granta, the tweedy British literary magazine that he’d spent several years remaking for a 21st-century readership. … Finally, last summer, Freeman announced the more long-term venture everyone was waiting for: Freeman’s, a Granta-like literary magazine-meets-anthology that he would publish regularly in partnership with Grove Atlantic.” The first issue arrives next week.
McDonald’s UK To Give Away Free Roald Dahl Book With Every Happy Meal
“Eight titles have been put together for the [six-week] promotion, each showcasing extracts from two Dahl books, including Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Families, with tasters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr Fox, and Roald Dahl’s Magical Mischief, extracting George’s Marvellous Medicine and Matilda.”
BBC Fends Off Attacks On Digital Arts Project ‘The Space’ And Its ‘Syrian Muppet Videos’
Facing attacks in the tabloid press under headlines such as “BBC blows £8 million on weird art website” and “BBC bosses waste MILLIONS on bizarre art projects – including puppet videos”, “the Corporation defended its use of licence fee money to fund The Space website as it faces multi-million pound cuts to its finances.”
Musée d’Orsay’s New Show On Prostitution Shut Down Due To Strike
“[The Paris museum] was unable to open on Tuesday for the first day of its much-discussed exhibition, Splendour and Misery: Images of Prostitution 1850-1910 … The institution’s labour union voted to strike this morning at a general meeting, in protest against a plan to keep the Orsay open to the public seven days a week, starting in November.”
Babies Need The Arts (Yes, Really) – So We Make Art For Babies
“The evidence about the importance of children’s early experiences is pouring out of scientific labs. … If those three years are so fundamental to shaping who we are, then shouldn’t they be filled with experiences which are beautiful, challenging, imaginative, soothing, musical, creative, exciting and calming? We reckon so. And that’s why we’ve been making shows for babies for the last four years.”