“To say that this orchestra is resurgent is to understate things. With fine reviews and prizes falling into their laps at almost every turn” under popular music director Antonio Pappano (who holds the same position at London’s Royal Opera), “Italy’s premiere orchestra is more highly regarded that at any time in its history.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Agony and Ecstasy, The BBC Ballet Documentary Series – Did It Tell The Truth?
English National Ballet director Wayne Eagling: “We’re thrilled with Agony and Ecstasy. … it’s had a great effect on both our box office and our public image. But we had no editorial control over the end product, and because, inevitably, it needed to be good television and play up controversy and crisis, it over-emphasised a lot of things to the point of misrepresenting them.”
Banishing Consciousness: The Mysteries Of Anaesthesia
“The development of general anaesthesia has transformed surgery from a horrific ordeal into a gentle slumber. It is one of the commonest medical procedures in the world, yet we still don’t know how the drugs work. Perhaps this isn’t surprising: we still don’t understand consciousness, so how can we comprehend its disappearance?”
Stradivarius Violin ‘Replicated’ Using CAT Scans
“A Stradivarius violin has been ‘recreated’ using an X-ray scanner normally used to detect cancers and injuries, according to researchers. The US-based group used a computerised axial tomography (CAT) scanner on the 307-year-old instrument to reveal its secrets. They then used the data recovered to build ‘nearly exact copies’.”
Why Wills Need Copy Editors: Two Israeli Orchestras Fight Over $1M Bequest
Dr. Kurt Nassau, a gemologist and tech executive, bequeathed his estate to “the Israel Symphony Orchestra.” Strictly speaking, there is no such group. So the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Lezion are in a New Jersey court, each claiming to be the intended beneficiary.
There Will Be No More Kissing Of Oscar Wilde’s Grave
“For years visitors would confine themselves to leaving gently admiring billets doux … All that changed in the late 1990s, when somebody decided to leave a lipstick kiss on the tomb. Since then lipstick kisses and hearts” have covered the tomb, damaging the stone. Henceforth there will be a glass barrier.
Coming Soon: Occupy Broadway
“Theater performers and artists in New York are planning to descend on the Times Square area on Friday for a 24-hour occupation that they are describing as ‘a form of creative resistance.’ The occupation is expected to feature continuous free performances from some noted downtown New York artists.”
Publishers Weekly Names ‘Worst Book Ever’
“In 1987, The Book Services Ltd published a slim, 144-page cookbook called Microwave for One … a book whose title and cover is so rife with sadness that one almost has the urge to brush the invisible tears from [author Sonia] Allison’s face as she leans over her microwave and her food spread.”
Occupy Amazon.com: Customer Reviews Of Pepper Spray
“It’s an unusual forum for talking about what happened at UC Davis … but the Amazon product page for ‘Defense Technology 56895 MK-9 Stream, 1.3% Red Band/1.3% Blue Band Pepper Spray’ has attracted some amazingly clever and biting reviews.”
Guy Laliberté Creates A Show For Marine Museums
The founder and director of Cirque du Soleil “has a new passion: to re-energise the museum exhibition and spread his concern about the world’s water crisis. Laliberte’s new baby, Aqua: A Journey into the World of Water, opens at the Australian National Maritime Museum next week. It is a gamble for the museum.”