A new festival and a book award are seeking out the real literary merit in sports journalism.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Peter Maxwell Davies Harrumphs Again, This Time About Damien Hirst
Says the Master of the Queen’s Music: “We can all learn from a recent auction of art as an instantly recognisable iconic commodity, where it has become part of the entertainment industry, crossed with investment banking.”
Kirov Relishes Its ‘Lowbrow’ Don Quixote
“Among the surviving 19th century ballets, Don Quixote… doesn’t get much respect. It wears its lowbrow intentions a mite too proudly… But let’s face it: Don Q is about keeping the audience entertained, and high art is often perceived as tainted when it entertains. The Kirov Ballet, not surprisingly, approaches it with no such hang-ups.”
As Columbus Symphony’s Situation Settles, Money Starts to Flow
“The resolution of a months-long contract dispute at the Columbus Symphony Orchestra has prompted the Greater Columbus Arts Council to unlock more than $180,000 in operating support.”
Louise Bourgeois Knocks a Critic Sideways
“I was the victim of a brutal emotional mugging… I was shaking, on the verge of tears and genuinely frightened… [by] a set of paintings that are so filled with rage, fear and frustration that, for the first time in my life, I began to understand what it must be like to be a woman.”
This Is Why It Needs That Renovation
At the Sydney Opera House last night, Opera Australia’s new production of The Makropulos Case was stopped in its tracks when the theater’s lighting desk (“one of the most heavily used pieces of theatrical equipment on the planet”) malfunctioned and plunged the auditorium into darkness for several minutes.
The Smithsonian’s New Chief After His First 100 Days
“It’s not easy trying to modernize a massive institution known more for historic artifacts than for cutting-edge technology.[Wayne] Clough says hopes in 500 years, visitors to the museums will say those people in 2008 had their act together.”
Jacques Brel, Neither Alive Nor Well, Is Entangled With Lawyers
On the 30th anniversary of his death, a Sotheby’s auction of the singer’s manuscripts is taking place amidst a messy legal dispute among his heirs.
So It’s Like Arts Journal?
“The Daily Beast, Tina Brown’s culture and news website, went up Monday, and in case any puzzlement remains about what she’s up to, there’s a long Q&A with Brown herself laying it out. The site, she says, is not an ‘aggregator,’ […] but will ‘sift, sort and curate’ the Web every day.” (So why should we visit? “Sensibility, darling.”)
Dracula to Rise Again
“Drawing from handwritten notes by Bram Stoker, the horror author’s great-grandnephew is set to pen a Dracula sequel entitled Dracula: The Un-Dead. The new project is the first story authorized by the Stoker family and estate since the 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi.”