“Rossen Milanov, associate conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra and artistic director of The Philadelphia Orchestra at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, has been named music director and conductor of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, effective July 1. … [He] is also music director of Symphony in C in Camden (formerly the Haddonfield Symphony), one of three professional training orchestras in the United States, and the New Symphony Orchestra in his native city of Sofia, Bulgaria.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Indian Playwright-Director Habib Tanvir, 85
“Born in Raipur, Tanvir is considered a pioneer for bringing Indian folk theatre – its stories, music, the Chhattisgarhi dialect and even untrained performers hailing from villages – to the contemporary stage.”
Rosie O’Donnell To Be A Babe In Arms
“Plans are afoot for a Broadway revival of 1937 Rodgers and Hart tuner Babes in Arms to star Rosie O’Donnell. Randy Skinner, recently Tony-nommed as choreographer of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, is attached to helm and choreograph the production, which has a new book by Joe DiPietro (Memphis).”
Chicago Launches An Early Music Festival
“The centerpiece will be Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Francesco Cavalli’s Giasone, which opens April 24, [2010], for which Baroque Band will be the pit ensemble. In addition to The Newberry Consort and Baroque Band, other participating organizations include Music of the Baroque and the University of Chicago Presents.”
A Twitter Play Epistolary Novel Performance
On June 10, California playwright Jeremy Gable begins 140: A Twitter Performance (http://twitter.com/twit_play), which will unfold in the form of tweets from each of four characters over the course of 60 days.
Oh, The Riffraff That Turns Up At The Ballet These Days
“A Russian oligarch who mysteriously vanished from his Moscow dacha nearly six months ago, and who is wanted by both the Kremlin and Interpol, has been spotted at a gala ballet performance at London’s Covent Garden.”
100-Year-Old Artist Unveils 60-Meter Mural
“Swiss artist Hans Erni at age 100 unveiled one of his largest works Saturday – a massive mural on the outside wall of a U.N. building in Geneva. The irrepressible Erni … had to cover up some of the muscular nudes in his mural after concerns were expressed in Geneva that his original design might shock some viewers.”
Statues Of Limitations
“The Roman Senate posthumously censured Nero and decreed the erasure of his public image. Art historians refer to the statue scrubbing as Damnatio memoriae, Latin for “damnation of memory.” Obit Magazine picks out some modern-day candidates for the treatment.
There’s A Biological Downside To Being A Hunk
“Skinny men have new reason to celebrate. Well, kind of. Beefcakes may be able to attract women by rippling their muscles, but the downside of all that brawn is a poor immune system and an increased appetite, a new study finds.”
O Temperance! O Mores!
“[W]hat is most interesting to the anthropologist is the ease with which [Anglo-Saxon] puritan outrage can be displaced from one topic to another and the equal ease with which the thing formerly disapproved of can be overnight exonerated from all taint of sin. […] Puritans lack this sense of measured and temperate appetite. When sexual taboos were lifted, therefore, they found no further reason to refrain from indulgence. Since no virtue was at risk in our sexual transgressions, these ceased overnight to be transgressions.”