“President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has ordered his government to look into buying the archive and Swiss estate of the émigré composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff, continuing an effort to reclaim and repatriate Russian cultural legacy.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
America’s Least-Favorite City Is Now American Television’s Favorite Subject
So when we look at our wealthy capital city and see a group of people getting everything wrong, sometimes lying, and generally turning into that mean pimp, we want someone to show us why this is happening. We want a story that will impose some explanatory order on Washington’s horribleness. Each new show about Washington – one after the other after the other after the other – does that.”
How The Bolshoi Is Like Russia
“Ballet is a self-destructive art, privileging the will over the body. Great dancers retire in physical ruin; the next generation assumes their roles. That same impulse has been observed politically over the course of Russia’s history. The nation has repeatedly dismantled itself in the service of renewal. Institutions are collapsed, or allowed to collapse, to facilitate their transformation by the ruling powers. The Bolshoi will emerge from this time of troubles to better reflect the nostalgic imperialism of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”
Canada’s Refugee From The Bolshoi Makes Her Debut In Her New Home
This weekend’s National Ballet of Canada program of new works will feature Svetlana Lunkina, who “made headlines in January when she announced that, after 15 years as one of the Bolshoi’s top-ranking artists, she was leaving the troubled ballet company.”
Fort McMoney: Documentary Meets Video Game In The Alberta Tar Sands
“An online documentary about Fort McMurray, Alta., lets viewers visit the city at the heart of Canada’s oilsands by taking part in a hybrid film-game project. Fort McMoney lets players explore the city and surrounding areas in the frame of economic simulator and point-and-click adventure games.”
A Day In The Life Of The Milwaukee Symphony
“Seventy-five Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra musicians joined music director Edo de Waart and guest pianist Ingrid Fliter to play a matinee concert last Friday at the Marcus Center. … Rick Wood photographed the musicians before, during and after the concert, with an eye toward capturing images of what their day’s work is like.”
Composer Conrad Susa, 78
Best known for his operas Transformations (set to Anne Sexton’s retellings of fairy tales) and The Dangerous Liaisons, Susa’s oeuvre “also included more than 200 theatrical scores and a wealth of choral music … [It] was marked by a combination of tonal harmonies, judicious dissonances and a gift for the well-turned vocal phrase.”
A Juror’s-Eye View Of Twelve Angry Men
“Nobody shouted or got into a fight in our jury room – but I definitely recognised the tense atmosphere. Our foreman was always trying to keep order, and in one of the cases, the majority of jurors initially favoured a guilty verdict, and gradually changed their minds.”
Why Are Humans Compelled To Take Things Apart And Examine Them?
Philosopher Michael Stevens posits the existence of a magic black box that could answer any question about the future. Sooner or later, someone would almost certainly open up and take apart the box to figure out how it works – even if it meant the box never worked properly again. What’s behind that urge?
Chapel Interruptus: New York Art Installation Stopped Cold By Italian Customs
Artist Francesco Vezzoli “had contracted to buy the ruins of an old deconsecrated church in the southern Italian town of Montegiordano and had planned to ship them to New York, brick by brick, for exhibition in the courtyard of MoMA PS1. His videos would be shown inside.” The Italian authorities had other ideas.