“One of the world’s cherished concert venues, where audience and performers alike praise the acoustics and say the spirit of musicians past seems to seep through the walls, the [Liszt Academy’s] ‘Large Hall’ in Budapest has been painstakingly restored during a four-year closure to its early 20th-century Art Deco style.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
What It Takes To Make Masterpiece
In a new memoir, longtime executive producer Rebecca Eaton shares some of the secrets of the flagship PBS series, including foibles of royalty (Princess Margaret was not amused by Upstairs, Downstairs), audiences (many think that all the shows come from the BBC), and herself (she turned down the chance to air Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot).
Bolshoi Acid Attack Trial Opens – And Promptly Adjourns
“The long-awaited court case on the ugliest and most chilling incident in the Bolshoi Theater’s history, … the acid attack on Bolshoi ballet artistic director Sergei Filin, was adjourned for a week because of the absence of one of the lawyers.”
Is Ashley Page Still Bitter About His Departure From Scottish Ballet?
Not anymore. “He admits to being ‘disappointed’ about his experience in Scotland, but seems to be excited by the possibilities of being a freelance operator – his first period of professional freedom since joining the Royal Ballet in 1976 as a young dancer.”
Research Upends Standard Notions Of Inherited Intelligence
“One of the longest standing assumptions about the nature of human intelligence” – in particular, “fluid” intelligence versus “crystallized” intelligence – “has just been seriously challenged.”
Have A Look At The Finalists For The 2013 Turner Prize
Visitors to the finalists’ show in Derry “can attend a Mad Hatter’s tea party with Laure Prouvost’s grandparents, be accosted by strangers to discuss the free market thanks to Tino Sehgal, see Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s made-up portraits, and join the world’s daftest life-drawing class hosted by David Shrigley.”
Britain’s Largest Theatre Operator Sold To Private Investors
“Ambassador Theatre Group is to be sold to private equity investor Providence Equity … with ATG’s current principal investor Exponent retaining an 18% stake in the company. All management … will retain their stakes.”
The Emily Dickinson Wars Break Out Anew Over Online Archive
The project “bring[s] together on a single open-access Web site thousands of manuscripts held by Harvard University, Amherst College, the Boston Public Library and five other institutions.” It is also fueling a “quarrel [that] has been handed to generation after generation after generation.”
Vaudevillian/Yoga Master/Character Actor Kumar Pallana, 94
Following a six-decade career doing magic tricks, juggling and plate-spinning on three continents as well as teaching yoga in Dallas, Pallana was invited by two young screenwriters – Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson to be in their first film (Bottle Rocket). He went on to become a scene-stealing, widely beloved bit player in films and on television.
Strad Stolen From London Train Station Could Sell For £2M
“A Stradivarius that thieves once tried to sell for £100 may fetch more than £2m when it goes for auction in December, ending its long association with an internationally acclaimed violinist. The violin, then valued at a mere £1.2m, was snatched at a Pret a Manger cafe at Euston station, London, in November 2010.”