“Hours after municipal authorities in Shanghai gave more than 200 cinemas the greenlight to re-open Saturday, national-level Chinese authorities on Friday ordered all theaters throughout the country shut again …, without saying exactly why or when they might hope to re-open.” (The general presumption is that the government fears another coronavirus outbreak.) – Variety
Author: Matthew Westphal
Center Theatre Group In L.A. Furloughs Half Its Workers And Suspends All Shows
The city’s largest theatre nonprofit, which operates the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Kirk Douglas Theatre, will maintain health insurance for its workers but send half of them home until at least August 9; the rest will face pay cuts. – Los Angeles Times
Judy Drucker, For Decades South Florida’s Leading Classical Music Impresario, Dead At 91
She brought to Miami (and, later, Fort Lauderdale) such artists as Vladimir Horowitz, Mstislav Rostropovich, Itzhak Perlman, Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Beverly Sills, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Kiri Te Kanawa, and almost every major symphony orchestra in the U.S. and Europe. (Not to mention dance companies like ABT and Alvin Ailey.) And, for her, they kept coming back. – South Florida Classical Review
Met Museum Will Provide Another Month’s Pay To Laid-Off Staff
With its building closed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, the museum’s administration let go most of its employees with a promise to pay them only through April 4; that promise has now been extended to May 4. – The New York Times
Aldeburgh Festival Is Called Off For First Time In Its History
“The Aldeburgh Festival is the latest cultural casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. The classical music event founded in 1948 by Benjamin Britten will not go ahead, it has been announced.” – The Guardian
Dick Titterington’s New Trio Album
Asked about his intriguing new album, west coast trumpeter Dick Titterington talked about the project’s genesis during a Christmas party. – Doug Ramsey
Reason to believe
I can’t believe I’m posting this message, but…after looking at this morning’s stats, Mrs. T’s doctors now believe … – Terry Teachout
A Ballet School In A Rio Favela
Tuany Nascimento grew up in Complexo do Alemão, a poor and often dangerous group of hillside slums in Rio de Janeiro. She studied dance with hopes of becoming a professional ballerina, a dream she gave up in order to help support her family with a day job. But she kept dancing when she could, and enough neighborhood girls became curious that she started her own school, called Na Ponta dos Pes (meaning on pointe). (video) – Al Jazeera
Next Step In Social Distancing And The Arts: Live Performance For One Audience Member At A Time
In a project called “One on One”, the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, known as one of the most innovative in Russia, will let 850 people (as many as the auditorium could hold) register for a lottery for each ballet, concert, or opera; one winner will get to buy a ticket at the regular price and attend. Says director Marat Gatsalov, “We’d been told that we can’t let viewers into the theatre hall. But that doesn’t mean we can’t let just one viewer in.” – The Guardian
Jeremy Marre, Whose Documentaries Introduced Britons and Americans To World Music, Dead At 76
“With a minimal camera and sound crew, Mr. Marre visited Jamaican dance halls, Brazilian favelas, Appalachian churches, Egyptian temples, South African workers’ hostels and Bollywood soundstages to film music and musicians on home turf that was often gritty and unglamorous.” – The New York Times