“With more arms than a centipede, the Philadelphia Orchestra now has the most diverse touring schedule in its history, including coaching sessions and joint concerts with local orchestras” – and a tie-in with Zhou Libo, “a dapper, surprisingly outspoken comic who has rock-star status in China.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Detroit’s Emergency Mayor Ponders Selling Off DIA’s Art Collection
“The once unthinkable is suddenly thinkable. Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr is considering whether the multibillion-dollar collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts should be considered city assets that potentially could be sold to cover about $15 billion in debt.”
Detroit Institute Of Arts Director Says Collection Cannot Be Sold
Graham W. J. Beal “said on Friday that he believed the museum’s collection was ‘held in the public trust’ and could not be sold by the city to help pay down its multibillion-dollar debt, and that he expected the city’s emergency manager and his office to reach the same conclusion.”
Grown-Ups Can Still Learn As Children Do
“A decade ago, few neuroscientists would have agreed that adults can rival the learning talents of children. But we needn’t be so defeatist. The mature brain, it turns out, is more supple than anyone thought. … Indeed, many researchers believe that an adult’s lifestyle may be the biggest obstacle.”
Could Blockbuster Movies Spread Muslim Values?
A tub-thumping Turkish romance titled Selam and two upcoming biopics of the Prophet Muhammad (one Sunni, one Shia) are among “several projects currently aiming to make a piercing statement on behalf of Islam with cinema, a medium – because of the nature of image-making – with which this religious tradition arguably has compatibility issues.”
Liberace Left A Real Legacy In Classical Music
“In the ’70s, the Kronos Quartet made the once-stodgy string quartet stylish enough [for] David Bowie … In the ’80s, violinist Nigel Kennedy sported such a punk look that he was once turned away at the backstage door of a London concert hall … Organist Cameron Carpenter and violinist Amadéus Leopold come across, in their bejeweled fashion statements, as 21st century Liberacistes.”
Ai Weiwei’s Prison Dioramas
“What took shape this spring at an industrial space in the Chinese capital” – and will be displayed in Venice in tandem with the Biennale – “were six fiberglass dioramas that depict, at half-scale, his often banal daily existence as a captive of the vast government security apparatus.”
Actors’ Equity At 100
Actors’ Equity Association was born to fight the appalling working conditions actors faced – no pay for weeks of rehearsal, having to buy their own costumes, etc. – in early 20th-century New York. Over the next hundred years, the union bargained successfully with generations of producers, spread across the US, and was at the forefront of social issues from segregation to HIV/AIDS.
Houston Picasso Vandal Gets Two Years In Prison
“It’s been nearly a year since Uriel Landeros walked into the Menil Collection with a can of spray paint and stenciled a bull and bullfighter, along with the word ‘conquista,’ on Pablo Picasso’s Woman in a Red Armchair. On Tuesday, the 22-year-old Landeros pleaded guilty to vandalizing the 1929 painting in exchange for two years in prison.”
Kansas City Ballet Names New Artistic Director
“Devon Carney, a veteran dancer and choreographer with ballet companies in Boston and Cincinnati, is the Kansas City Ballet’s new artistic director. … He succeeds William Whitener, who retired this month.”