Alsop, who is currently music director of the Baltimore Symphony and begins as chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony this fall, steps down from Brazil’s leading orchestra at the end of this year. Fischer, who will remain the Utah Symphony’s music director through the 2021-22 season, begins in São Paulo next March, after the summer break there. – Gramophone
Author: Matthew Westphal
Brazil’s Museums Exempted From Bolsonaro’s Massive Change To Cultural Funding Law
“Among the changes [to the “Rouanet Law“] due to come into effect next year is the reduction of the annual funding cap per project from 60m reais ($15.44m) to 1m reais ($257,000), but museums, material and immaterial heritage projects, conservation initiatives and some entertainment productions will be exempt.” – The Art Newspaper
Anthony Davis Builds Operas From Headlines
“The words ‘Trump’ and ‘opera’ occurring in the same sentence might seem far-fetched, but for composer Anthony Davis, whose latest work, The Central Park Five, has its world premiere at Long Beach Opera on June 15, inserting a Trump figure was, in fact, integral to the story. Based on the notorious case of a quintet of African-American teenagers falsely accused and convicted of rape and assault after a 1989 attack on a white jogger — one in which presidential hopeful Donald Trump played an infamous role — the opera tops off a series of so-called ‘ripped-from-the-headlines’ works that Davis has composed in his decades-long career.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
Shifting The Opera Gaze
“Women in opera need to be not only acknowledged for their work, their passion and dedication to the artform, but placed front and centre, asked for their opinion, introduced as a driving force in the industry. The championing of the representation of women in opera, inviting women in, making space, and creating opportunities, enriches the opera ecology exponentially. Women in all facets of the opera creative industry – composers, directors, designers, conductors, singers, writers, producers – need to be recognised, supported and seen.” – Limelight (Australia)
The Hand Of Native American Women, Visible At Last
“The role of women art-makers in Native communities has gone widely ignored. Now a bold museum show [at the Minneapolis Institute of Art], by and for these women, is shining a light on 1,000 years of their art.” – The New York Times
A Visit To One Of America’s Dying Rural Radio Stations
“Small-town radio is fizzling nationwide, as stations struggle to attract advertisement dollars. And as station owners are forced to sell, media conglomerates snap up rural frequencies for rock-bottom prices, for the sole purpose of relocating them to urban areas. … With limited frequencies available, larger broadcasters purchase as many as possible – especially those higher on the dial – in a race not dissimilar to a real estate grab.’ A reporter looks in on one of the victims of this phenomenon, KHIL in Willcox, Arizona. – The Guardian
Steppenwolf Theatre Brings Back The *Real* First Queer Candidate For President (Sorry, Mayor Pete!)
Back in 1992, the drag queen Joan Jett Blakk ran a campaign (“Putting in the camp, taking out the pain”) for president on the Queer Nation Party line. Now Tina Landau and playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney (who also stars) have created a play titled Ms. Blakk for President — “part campaign rally, part nightclub performance, part confessional — and all party!” – American Theatre
A Tribute To Tin House, The Literary Journal For ‘Brilliant Weirdos’
“A quarterly that began publishing in the spring of 1999, [Tin House] quickly set itself apart, injecting the staid world of literary magazines with humor, adventurous design and an expansive editorial mission that mixed risky work by new and established writers. This month, Tin House will publish its 80th and final issue.” Nicole Rudick looks at what made the journal so special and talks with the people who made it happen. – The New York Times
Protests Against Drag Queen Story Hour Spread To Brooklyn (Brooklyn?)
Mind you, this wasn’t in Williamsburg or Park Slope; it happened at the library branch in the somewhat remote neighborhood of Gerritsen Beach. Even so, about 40 people protesting the reading by Angel Elektra were met by more than 50 counter-protesters. “One side played church hymns from a loudspeaker, the other played Lady Gaga and Ke$ha from phones.” – Brooklyn Eagle
Take Me To Dance Church
“In 2010, Kate Wallich was a 22-year-old choreographer in Seattle, … [who] had started her own dance company, Studio Kate Wallich, but hated how insular the contemporary dance world felt (dancers were the only ones who came to class or performances). So she made a bold decision: she opened up her Sunday morning company class to, well, anyone — and soon Dance Church was born. … The ‘church’ part has nothing to do with religion — the name stuck because the class happens on Sunday mornings and because it felt like a weekly ritual.” – Dance Magazine