“‘His older brother would be renting The Transformers, and David would be asking for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,’ says [mother] Colleen Hallberg. ‘We didn’t know where that came from. Not from us’.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
In A Decade, Deborah Borda Leads LA Philharmonic From Distress To Prosperity
“When she arrived in January 2000, the Phil was running chronic deficits and was borrowing from its endowment to meet operating expenses – a recipe for disaster if continued too long.” By the end of 2009-10, the orchestra’s net assets had increased by a factor of nearly 20.
Turkish Publisher Arrested On Terrorism-Related Charges
“The international literary community is demanding the immediate release of Turkish publisher and free speech activist Ragip Zarakolu, who has been arrested and imprisoned in Turkey” as part of a crackdown on a Kurdish party alleged to be connected to rebels in the country’s southeast.
Broadway-L.A. Revival Of Funny Girl Postponed
“The highly anticipated revival of Funny Girl that was set to open in early 2012 at the Ahmanson Theatre in L.A. before transferring to Broadway in April has been put on indefinite hold … The culprit, it appears, is the weak economic climate that has made it difficult to raise money for the show.”
Armenian Church Suit Against Getty Museum Moves Forward
“The J. Paul Getty Trust failed Thursday to derail a lawsuit by the Armenian Orthodox Church that accuses the museum of harboring stolen illuminated medieval manuscripts – 755-year-old works that are masterpieces and, to the church, spiritually and historically sacred.”
Ethical People More Satisfied With Life, Says Study
“[A] University of Missouri economist finds a relationship between life satisfaction and low tolerance for unethical conduct.”
Dance Offerings In UK Schools Should Match Music
“Sadler’s Wells artistic director Alistair Spalding has called on the government to promote dance in education, calling for a similar initiative to Darren Henley’s review of music in schools earlier this year. Spalding also claimed dance was ‘severely underfunded’.”
BBC News Switches From Automated To Human-Made Tweets
Says the BBC’s head of social media, “I think the evidence is pretty clear … that auto-feeds are fine for getting your stuff out but humans produce better tweets: they are more likely to drive engagement to get people interested in what you’re saying, encouraging them to pass it on, to click-through, and to talk about you.”
Musical America’s Musicians Of The Year: David Finckel And Wu Han
The cellist-pianist couple, artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, are the first joint winners of the award. Other honorees include Meredith Monk (Composer of the Year), Jaap van Zweden (Conductor), Gil Shaham (Instrumentalist) and Jonas Kaufmann (Vocalist).
Russian Booker Prize 2011 To Be A Booker-Of-Bookers
“The Russian Booker Prize is set to choose the best novel of the decade. The five finalists were picked by professional jury from a list of 60 books, previously shortlisted for the prize in various years from 2001 to 2010.”