The paper’s longtime classical critic (on staff for 23 years, a freelancer for 14 years before that), who was reassigned to the general cultural news beat in 2012, departs on Friday.
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Highs And Lows Of Classical Music In 2014 – A Roundtable
“Joining host Naomi Lewin for this discussion … are Anne Midgette, the classical music critic of The Washington Post; David Patrick Stearns, classical music critic of The Philadelphia Inquirer and for WQXR’s Operavore blog; and Zachary Woolfe, freelance classical music critic for The New York Times.” (audio)
MoMA Will Bring Its Matisse Show To Cinemas
“Borrowing a page from the opera and European museums, the Museum of Modern Art will soon begin to experiment with taking its exhibitions into movie theaters. On Jan. 13, Matisse – a documentary based on the highly popular exhibition Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs … – will open in movie theaters across the United States.”
San Francisco Gets To Keep The Bay Bridge Light Sculpture
“After a two-month campaign, the nonprofit Illuminate the Arts announced Wednesday that it had raised the needed $4 million to reinstall the Lights permanent fixture on the western end of the bridge.”
The Near-Impossible Challenge Of Fitting The Harvard Art Museum Expansion Into That Location
“The long list of difficulties Renzo Piano faced with this renovation and expansion point to why many architects prefer greenfield builds to infill.”
Portland (Maine) Ballet’s Founder Steps Aside After 35 Years
“[Genie] O’Brien began Portland Ballet in 1980 and guided its development from a niche school focused on classical and contemporary ballet to one of the top dance schools and presenters of modern dance in northern New England.”
“One Of The Most Bizarre Cultural-Political Episodes Of Recent History”
Andrew O’Hehir: “Let me see if I have this right, because the whole thing stretches credulity: North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has apparently managed to kill a major Hollywood movie. … We had a choice – ‘we’ being a term of art that does not actually include you and me – of whether to stand tall for the supposed principles of free expression and free enterprise or ‘let the terrorists win.’ We let them win, with barely a moment’s hesitation. … It’s a breathtaking and total victory by a despised, isolated and impoverished nation (or by those acting on its behalf), over one of the biggest media corporations in the world.”
North Korea Is Not Funny, And “The Interview” Is Not Brave
Adrian Hong, co-founder of the refugee rescue organization Liberty in North Korea: “It takes no valor and costs precious little to joke about these things safely oceans away from North Korea’s reach. … To pretend that punchlines from afar, even in the face of hollow North Korean threats, are righteous acts is nonsense.”
U.S. Gov’t Should Pay Costs Of Releasing “The Interview” (Argues Pundit)
Jonathan Chait: “We don’t entrust for-profit entities with the common defense. And recognizing that the threat to a Sony picture is actually a threat to the freedom of American culture ought to lead us to a public rather than a private solution. … Either Washington should guarantee Sony’s financial liability in the event of an attack, or it should directly reimburse the studio’s projected losses so it can release the movie online for free.”
Watching What Might Have Been One Of The Last-Ever Screenings Of “The Interview” – With Seth Rogen
Your correspondent talks with the co-star/co-producer/co-writer of the comedy-turned-cause célèbre about why he decided to make a movie about Kim Jong-Un in the first place, negotiating with Sony about the details of the Dear Leader’s exploding head, and what he listens for at the many, many test screenings he attends.