Ondrej Cerny says he was abruptly given notice of dismissal on Friday, with no reason stated. Culture minister Alena Hanakova has given unclear and conflicting reasons for her decision, and following a disastrous television interview on the subject, calls are mounting for her to resign.
Author: Matthew Westphal
See The World’s First Color Film Footage – From 1902
“The films were made by Edward Raymond Turner from London who patented his colour process on 22 March, 1899. Some of the footage features Mr Turner’s children in the garden of their home in Hounslow.”
Shlomo Mintz Fired As Director Of Swiss Music Festival
Citing conflicts of interest, the Sion-Valais International Music Festival terminated the Israeli violinist’s contract as artistic director after finding out through press reports that Mintz had accepted a similar post at the Festival Crans-Montana Classics.
Pedro E. Guerrero, 95, Prominent Photographer Of Art And Architecture
He spent 20 years as Frank Lloyd Wright’s exclusive photographer and captured widely influential images of the work of Philip Johnson, Marcel Breuer, Louise Nevelson and Alexander Calder.
Jan Morris’s Only Future Book Will Be Posthumous
“I decided not to write another proper book after Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere [her superb 2001 evocation of the Adriatic city] because it was the book in which I think I found my true voice, and I don’t think I’ll ever write a better one.” But she continues to work on a volume titled Allegorisings, to be published after her death.
Revived Pasadena Playhouse Keeps Artistic Director, Names New CEO
“Sheldon Epps has renewed his contract as artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse, and Elizabeth Doran will join him as its new executive director … Epps has led the company since 1997 and helped see it through the 2010 financial crisis in which the playhouse closed for eight months, then emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.”
Our Ambivalence Toward Work
“We applaud people for their work ethic, judge our economy by its productivity and even honor work with a national holiday. But there’s an underlying ambivalence: we celebrate Labor Day by not working, the Book of Genesis says work is punishment for Adam’s sin, and many of us count the days to the next vacation and see a contented retirement as the only reason for working.”
Is Paul Taylor The Last Of The Great Modern Choreographers?
Marina Harss: “Sadly, that characterization is probably true: Martha Graham died in 1991, and Merce Cunningham in 2009. Who else is there? The dance world has moved on. Rare is the choreographer who builds a unique, personal vocabulary of movement, a signature style brought into play in piece after piece, or who can sustain a regular stable of dancers.”
Royal Opera House, Despite Closing Its New Works Program, Insists Its Commitment To New Works Is Intact
“New Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare has spoken publicly for the first time about the closure of ROH2, insisting that the move would not affect the amount of new work produced by the company.”
Putting Stage Musicals On Screen Is A Risky Enterprise
Charles Isherwood: “[Rock of Ages and Bachelorette] both had me wincing more often than I laughed. The dispiriting part is trying to keep intact in your memory file the delight you took in the material onstage when it has been so thoroughly flattened onscreen – to say nothing of trying to explain its allure to people who saw only the movie version. How many ways can you say, ‘You kind of had to be there’?”