Confirming the second high-profile cancellation in as many days, the Metropolitan Opera said that, for “personal reasons,” the mercurial soprano has pulled out of six of her eight scheduled appearances as Carmen, including the New Year’s Eve gala and a worldwide high-def simulcast. “The production was conceived as a showcase for Ms. Gheorghiu and her husband, the tenor Roberto Alagna, who will still be singing Don José. It happens that the six performances Ms. Gheorghiu will miss are those in which Mr. Alagna was to have been her co-star.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Ever-Evolving Figure Of Judas Iscariot
“Judas didn’t start out a monster. The earliest extant biblical writings don’t mention him at all (but then they don’t mention the resurrection either). Paul doesn’t even seem to have heard of him, writing only that Jesus ‘was betrayed’.” Yet over the course of 2000 years, Judas has been portrayed as “the anomalous apostle, the treacherous pariah, the ‘homophilic’ kisser of Christ, the rash Zealot and the unhappy fall guy for the salvation of mankind” – and, most harmfully, as “the monstrous, anti-Semitic totem figure of the Judas-Jew.”
How The Rediscovered ‘Gospel Of Judas’ Served A Very Modern Purpose
“Many American religious thinkers are more liberal than their churches. They wish that Christianity were more open – not a stone wall of doctrine. To these people, the Gospel of Judas was a gift. As with the other Gnostic gospels, its mere existence showed that there was no such thing as fixed doctrine, or that there wasn’t at the beginning.”
Sidney Poitier, Chita Rivera Among 16 Recipients Of Presidential Medal Of Freedom
“As the honorees entered, the audience greeted each with whoops and cheers (Sidney Poitier got a round of applause that nearly rivaled the president’s). … Hearty laughter followed [President Obama’s] opener for Chita Rivera: ‘Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero knows that adversity comes with a difficult name.'”
Sticky Stage Floors, A Superstar’s Homecoming, And Wooing Miss Alonso: Scenes From The Royal Ballet’s Tour Of Cuba
Dance superstar (and Cuban hero) Carlos Acosta, on the crowds the company drew: “Can you imagine? People are concentrating. And it’s ballet … ballet! It’s not a world cup, it’s ballet.” Another dancer speaks amazedly of strangers cheering her on the street: “‘Welcome Royal Ballet,’ people shout. ‘Welcome to Cuba.'”
In Wealthy Orange County, Arts Groups Are Just Not Used To Recession
“Buoyed by its diversified economy and wealth, O.C. has powered through past recessions relatively damage-free. Not this time.” The financial crisis facing the arts institutions in Orange County “holds a mirror to our singular way of doing things: our maverick entrepreneurial spirit has been both a strength and a weakness for the arts in O.C. … This time around, munificent millionaires and their splashy gifts of money might not be the answer.”
Never Mind: Emmy Broadcast To Feature All Awards Live After All
“After two weeks of mounting criticism over plans to ‘time-shift’ eight of the Emmy Awards bestowed on the prime-time telecast, the TV academy and CBS have relented. Now all 28 Emmys will be presented live during the Sept. 20 awardscast.”
Kiri Te Kanawa To Retire From Opera Stage (Wait, She Was Still Singing Opera?)
Saying she finds the discipline of full-scale opera “exhausting,” Dame Kiri will sing a cameo as the Duchess of Krakenthorp (usually a spoken comedy role) in Daughter of the Regiment at the Met next February, followed by final performances as Strauss’s Marschallin (a signature role) at the Cologne Opera in April. (She pointedly reminds us, however, that she is continuing her concert work.)
Shuttered Vibe Magazine To Relaunch With Online Focus
“Vibe, the hip-hop magazine that folded six weeks ago under a pile of debt, is being resurrected with a new spin – as a Web-focused publication with a greater emphasis on Vibe‘s roots. … The new owners say they plan to relaunch Vibe.com in the next few weeks. They intend to bring out the print edition only at the end of the year and then publish it quarterly rather than monthly, possibly increasing the frequency after 2010.”
Bad-Boy Choreographer Back From The Brink: Michael Clark
“At one stage, in the mid-90s, he disappeared so completely that rumours swept around London that he had died, perhaps of Aids, perhaps of drugs.” It turned out that he was holed up in his mother’s house, battling addiction and demons. Clark “came back in the early Noughties … [and from] 2005-7 he was artistic associate at the Barbican and developed three new Stravinsky ballets.” Now he’s back at Edinburgh after 21 years.