“Now 24, Matthew Aucoin has become one of the most sought-after young voices in classical music. He also is one of the most ambitious, setting himself the goal of transforming opera into something other than musical spinach for a new generation. He is as close as the art form comes to a triple threat, racking up accomplishments as a composer, conductor and pianist.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Aspen Art Museum Set To Move Into A New Home And (Perhaps) A New League
“After three decades of shoehorning contemporary-art exhibits into a former power plant on the outskirts of this wealthy Rocky Mountain enclave, the museum plans to triple its footprint. It will relocate in August to a new home designed by Pritzker prize winner Shigeru Ban in the center of town – a move that illustrates the growing clout and ambition of Aspen’s stewards.”
Former Theatre Mogul Garth Drabinsky Disbarred
After presiding over the rise and collapse of theatrical giant Livent (Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime), falling deep into debt and serving a prison sentence for fraud, Drabinsky has had his license to practice law revoked by the Law Society of Upper Canada [Ontario].
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.17.14
News Flash: D.C. Attorney General Supports Corcoran Merger
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-07-17
Will Amazon Crush Publishing?
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-07-17
Ives the Primitive as Straw Man
AJBlog: PostClassic | Published 2014-07-17
Let’s All Help Save Syria’s Treasures: A Plan
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-07-18
Summer books: Brad Stone’s ‘The Everything Store’
AJBlog: For What it’s Worth | Published 2014-07-18
[ssba_hide]
What We Really Taste When We Drink Wine
Researchers are finding that we – all of us – are way more suggestible than we’d like to think, and influenced by factors even the savviest of us might not expect. (They’ve even fooled a class of oenology students by coloring a white wine red.)
Actress Elaine Stritch, 89
“Once, when she went to the Actors Studio for a tune-up, [Lee Strasberg] just waved her away with ‘Elaine, you were born with The Method’.”
Philadelphia Theatre Co. Hangs On And Hopes
“Its finances are precarious, the mortgage is in foreclosure. Real estate agents are busily showing its home to potential buyers. A possible savior – Philadelphia’s Roberts family – might offer a helping hand, but not yet. As the Philadelphia Theatre Company hangs on by a thread, theater leaders say its loss would be a blow – artistically, and to the city.”
When Alan Jay Lerner Fought Cameron Mackintosh Over “My Fair Lady”
“He is the most powerful musicals producer of all time, but in his early career Sir Cameron Mackintosh faced harsh criticism from one of the world’s greatest song-writers, according to previously unpublished letters.”
Richard Mellon Scaife Leaves Two Small Pa. Museums Big Art Collections
The late billionaire “left nearly half his large art collection, a 900-acre Western Pennsylvania estate, and $15 million to the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art in Chadds Ford.” The other half goes to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pa.
What Do You Get When You Cross Samba, Frevo And Break-Dancing?
You get passinho, “a street dance born in Rio’s shantytowns that has broken through social divides to captivate Brazilians from all walks of life and win international attention.”