“The appointment is a major coup for the Islington theatre. Goold has become one of the biggest names in British theatre following a string of bold and inventive productions. He was frequently tipped as a potential successor to both Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre and, until Gregory Doran’s appointment last year, Michael Boyd at the Royal Shakespeare Company.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Official Stops Newcastle’s Plan To End All Arts Funding
“Harriet Harman, the shadow culture secretary and deputy Labour leader, has intervened in the arts funding crisis in Newcastle to prevent the Labour council from cutting their culture and arts budget by 100%.”
Jazz Trumpeter Donald Byrd Dead At 80
“[He] emerged from the jazz caldron of Detroit in the mid-1950s and quickly became one of the primary instrumental voices of the hard-bop movement, a swinging blues-based style of jazz built around driving rhythms and tight ensemble work. … [He] later achieved commercial success, if not always critical acclaim, by exploring the contours of soul and funk music.”
Police Suspect Fellow Dancers In Bolshoi Acid Attack
Reports from Moscow indicate that the police investigating the maiming of ballet director Sergei Filin are now officially considering certain company members, unnamed as yet, to be suspects.
Nikolai Tsiskaridze Says Bolshoi Acid Attack Is A Hoax
Currently the company’s most famous dancer and the most public enemy of ballet director/attack victim Sergei Filin and of the Bolshoi’s administration, Tsiskaridze has publicly alleged that whatever was thrown into Filin’s face couldn’t have been sulfuric acid because his wounds weren’t serious enough.
Classical Grammys: Familiar Winners, New(-ish) Music
Leading the pack were the San Francisco Symphony (its 15th Grammy) and chamber group eighth blackbird (third Grammy in a row). But the winning works were a surprise: out of ten classical awards, only one (to the Met Opera for its Ring cycle) went to music from before World War II.
Richard Artschwager, 89, Painter And Sculptor
“[He] turned his apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker into a distinctive approach to making sculptures and paintings that defy easy categorization.”
$45 Million For Picasso Portrait Of Marie-Thérèse
“A bidder paid $45 million Tuesday for a Picasso portrait of his mistress and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter at the opening sale of a series of auctions at Sotheby’s in London of impressionist, surrealist and modern artwork.”
Steering Through Troubled Waters At Vancouver Opera
“In 2010-11, VO reported a budget shortfall of $1.4-million, resulting in an accumulated deficit of $831,000 and the elimination of four positions. A surplus in 2011-12 of more than $500,000 helped counter that, but the company was still running a deficit.” Maintaining corporate contributions is a particular challenge as headquarters move out of Vancouver.
There Were Almost No Obituaries For Sylvia Plath
“At the time of her death by suicide – 50 years ago, on February 11, 1963 – she was a published novelist and an acclaimed poet; beyond that, she was also a statuesque, stylish American married to the celebrated English poet Ted Hughes. … The secrecy surrounding Plath’s suicide, as it turns out, masked more than just the ugly details of her death.”