“Hyundai Motor Co. will use music by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a Super Bowl XLIII television commercial that consumers can re-edit online, Billboard has learned.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Soprano Tessa Bonner, 57
A mainstay of London’s early music scene for more than 25 years, Bonner performed and recorded with the Tallis Scholars (1,100 concerts), the Gabrieli Consort and Players, The Sixteen, the Taverner Consort, Collegium Vocale, the King’s Consort and many other groups.
If We Can’t Recycle One Way, We’ll Do It Another
As the price for recycled materials falls along with the economy, some artists are taking advantage. One crochets strips of plastic shopping bags (she prefers Target’s) into baskets; another has made a bra from old TAB cans; a third transforms frozen orange juice containers into surprisingly attractive lanterns.
England’s Opera North Moves Into Former Porno Theatre
“In the 19th century, the venue played host to minstrel and magic shows. In the 1970s, it served as a porn cinema. Now Leeds’ Victorian assembly rooms have been reinvented once again – as a new space for Opera North. Next week sees the formal opening of the Howard Assembly Room, the culmination of a £31m refurbishment of Opera North’s base, the Leeds Grand Theatre.”
Choreography On Celluloid
“Dance on film can exist as an art form quite different from dance onstage. When a director makes us see or think about movement in new ways, or uses a camera as a choreographic tool to amplify our senses, dance and film can seem a perfect fit.”
Last Of The Piano Rolls
QRS Music Technologies, the sole remaining mass producer of the paper rolls used in mechanical player pianos, punched out its last of the iconic sheets last week. “The roll market has continued to decline, which is no surprise,” said an official of the company, which years ago began concentrating on digital piano technology.
How A Foreign Cartoon Beat Milk And Wall-E For A Top Critics’ Prize
“It’s the most surprising best-picture choice of the National Society of Film Critics since Babe in 1995! This year’s selection of Waltz With Bashir marks the first time that the society has ever picked an animated film or a documentary.” Tom O’Neil looks at the balloting.
In Defense Of Snark
“When no one – from politicians to pundits – says what he actually means, irony becomes a logical self-inoculation. Similarly, snark, irony’s brat, flourishes in an age of doublespeak and idiocy that’s too rarely called out elsewhere. Snark is not a honk of blasé detachment; it’s a clarion call of frustrated outrage.”
The Silver Lining To This Month’s Rush Of Broadway Closings
Charles Isherwood: “In the interest of accentuating the positive as we embark on an unusually tension-inducing new year, why not focus on a single ray of sweetness amid the gloom: For those who love the theater, this month will be a bonanza of emotional farewells and festive goodbyes in front of adoring audiences.”
Left-Handedness May Be An Advantage For Top Pianists
One expert suggests that, among other advantages, “All piano students must overcome the two hands’ resistance to work separately; by having to work harder on what’s essentially a right-handed instrument, the neurons of left-handed pianists get an extra workout and thus grow stronger.”