“There are, on the surface, few similarities between Ka and Wagner’s Ring, besides the brandishing of a large nugget of what appeared to be gold at the start of the Cirque show and a shared fixation on twins. … [Yet] it is nevertheless possible to see how Peter Gelb and others at the Met could have watched Ka and wanted Mr. Lepage to direct the Ring.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Europe’s Biggest (And Dustiest?) Contemporary Art Center (Re-)Opens In Paris
“After a renovation that nearly tripled its size, the revamped Palais de Tokyo swung open its doors Thursday, inaugurating what is now the largest – and perhaps dustiest – contemporary arts center in Europe. The dust is not a mistake. It’s part of an unfinished look meant to inspire artists now allowed to run free within its walls.”
Tamara Rojo Named Artistic Director Of English National Ballet
Last year, the 37-year-old Royal Ballet principal “was on the list to replace Monica Mason as the Royal’s own director: and with this growing momentum behind her it was almost inevitable that when Wayne Eagling’s (abrupt) departure from ENB was announced two months ago, it would be Rojo who would step in.”
Louisville Orchestra Musicians Say Contract Settlement Is Near; Management Denies It
“The Louisville Orchestra Musicians Association announced Thursday that it is in talks with Louisville Orchestra management over a one-year contract that Metro Council President Jim King has been brokering. However, orchestra CEO Robert Birman dismissed the announcement. ‘We are not in negotiations with the musicians,’ he said, calling the announcement ‘game playing’.”
Nadine Gordimer Says Her Novels Are Not Political
“You accept or reject the influences around you, you are formed by your social enclosure and you are always growing. To be a writer is to enter into public life. I look upon our process as writers as discovery of life.”
Remember The Beijing Olympics’ Aquatic Center? It’s Now The ‘Happy Magic Water Cube’
“Inside, it’s a warren of neon plastic slides, tunnels, water jets and pools, alongside elaborate, surreal underwater styling. There’s a lazy river, a 40ft freefall drop inside a plastic tube, and a wave pool designed to mimic the ocean that many Chinese visitors will never have seen.”
How Very Young Children Remember – And How We Remember When We Were Very Young Children
“For a few reasons – nascent neural structures, the lack of knowledge to make sense of early experiences, the lack of language to represent those experiences – it may be impossible for any part of our lives before, say, 24 months to stick around into adulthood.” But what makes us recall the earliest memories that do stick? The key may be in how our parents talked to us.
Ireland’s Answer To Jacob’s Pillow
“The middle of nowhere in County Longford is not the most obvious spot to stumble upon an international dance Mecca. But that is exactly the kind of strange fruit that has sprouted up on a former dairy farm just outside Legan since the arrival of South African ballet dancer and actor Anica Louw in 1978.”
The Most Valuable Job A Critic Can Do (As Explained In Ratatouille)
Said Anton Ego, the animated film’s restaurant reviewer, “[We] thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. … [But] the discovery and defense of the new [is what’s important] … The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.”
John Golding, 82, Artist And Art Historian
While he had a successful career as one of Britain’s top abstract painters, Golding was best known for organizing major Picasso exhibitions and writing what isa considered the definitive book on Cubism.