“For organizations … that are charged with protecting an artist’s legacy, the job of patrolling for fakes has become something like a game of Whac-A-Mole.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Composer Elliott Carter Dead At 103
The grand old man of American classical music, and the last living link with Charles Ives, Carter “fused European and American modernist traditions in seminal but formidable works, and … lived to hear ovations for music that was once thought to be anything but listener-friendly.” He never retired, and in fact published a dozen works since his 100th birthday.
Minnesota Orchestra Board Refuses Meeting About Contract
“The orchestra’s management was scheduled to sit down with the board of directors from the Minnesota Orchestra Association so the musicians” – who have been locked out since October 1 – “could express their concerns about pending contract proposals.”
Why Great Sign Language Interpreters Are So Animated
Lydia Callis, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s sign language interpreter and new Internet star, “was expressive, but that’s because she was speaking a visual language. Signers are animated not because they are bubbly and energetic, but because sign language uses face and body movements as part of its grammar.”
The Paris Opera Ballet’s Odd Woman Out
“At 5 foot 9 inches, or 175 centimeters, with the square shoulders of a champion swimmer and a fiercely energetic drive to her dancing,” Marie-Agnès Gillot “is the odd woman out amid a slew of female dancers who tend to be demurely accomplished and physically well-suited to the Romantic-era roles of the classical repertory.”
Australians Did Not Flock To See Works From The Prado
“Queensland Art Gallery’s Prado blockbuster was billed as a coup for the state, driven by a significant interstate marketing campaign and the allure of some of the world’s finest art. But not even a last-minute rush over the weekend to see ‘Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado’ could have reversed the slow attendances for the $6 million, 15-week exhibition that ended yesterday.”
Author Han Suyin, 95
“She published almost two dozen novels, nonfiction books and memoirs – and countless essays for mainstream newspapers and magazines,” repeatedly provoking controversy with her defenses of the Chinese Communist government through the Cold War. Yet her most famous book was the semi-autobiographical novel A Many-Splendoured Thing.
The Avant-Garde Opera-Directing Twins
David and Christopher Alden, aged 63 and native New Yorkers, are known for daring and sometimes controversial stagings of the classics. David (finally making his Met debut) made his career in Europe, where his style is more or less mainstream, while Christopher “has persevered in America, doing what he wants to do, where it’s basically completely against the grain.”
Director David Alden On Verdi’s Ballo In Maschera
“Gustavo is a dreamer and a fantasist – a king who wants to escape his duties, who initiates an affair with the wife of his staunchest defender almost to create his own assassin (Christ and Judas?) – a king who laughingly (how many kinds of laughter there are in this piece, ranging from light to diabolical to desperate) plots his own death step by step.”
Amazon Begins Deleting Authors’ Reviews Of Other Authors’ Books
The stated policy: “We do not allow reviews on behalf of a person or company with a financial interest in the product or a directly competing product. This includes authors, artists, publishers, manufacturers, or third-party merchants selling the product.”