Author: Matthew Westphal

Violinist And Teacher Nina Beilina Dead At 81

A former student of the legendary Soviet violinist David Oistrakh, Beilina was a highly-regarded musician in the USSR when she emigrated in 1976. “Despite the rave reviews Ms. Beilina received for her debut, her career in the United States did not soar. Like other Soviet musicians who emigrated, she had trouble adjusting to a system where the government was not overseeing every aspect of her career.” She did develop a devoted following as a teacher at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, where she also founded the Bachanalia Festival in 1988. — New York Times

Can We Talk Openly About How Hard It Is To Keep An Independent Dance Company Running?

Ryan P. Casey: “I know I’m not the only company director to have funded gigs with my personal savings, spent thousands of dollars on largely unsuccessful APAP showings, received rejections for grant applications that took hours to complete, or lost money on events I produced. But watching ensembles such as Trey McIntyre Project, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and now Jessica Lang Dance announce their final bows in recent years has made it clear that we’re all waging similar battles, and they’re not going to be won alone.” — Dance Magazine

The Fraught Role(s) Of Native American Arts And Artists In Modern-Day America

“Native people frequently note that the word ‘art’ is virtually unknown in indigenous languages. Today, making a living as an artist is mediated by market forces with demands of its own. At stake are complex dynamics that weave together identity and culture with non-Native expectations about value based on authenticity. This inevitably involves stubborn stereotypes born from lack of knowledge. It also means that the Native artist, no matter the genre or medium, wittingly or unwittingly is cast in the role of educator.” — Los Angeles Times

$100,000 Grawemeyer Award To Joël Bons For Concerto For Cello And Asian Instruments

“Nomaden, which was written for the French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and the Atlas Ensemble, a group of 18 musicians from Asia, the Middle East and Europe, had its premiere at the Cello Biennale in Amsterdam in 2016, where it was received enthusiastically. It pairs its cello soloist with musicians who play instruments from China (erhu and sheng), Japan (sho and shakuhachi), India (sarangi), Turkey (kemenche), Armenia (duduk), Iran (setar) and Azerbaijan (tar and kamancha).” (includes audio) — New York Times

Australian Aboriginal Art And Immanuel Kant

“There is beauty here in exactly the way that Kant meant the word, a beauty that comes from the pleasure of looking at designs that ‘mean nothing on their own.’ … The problem is that … Aboriginal artists aren’t working with anything like a Kantian conception of a free play of the faculties and they have, in the vast majority of cases, no interest in the idea of abstraction as that idea emerged in … painting in the 20th century.”

A ‘War Hostel’ For Tourists Who Want To Relive The ’90s Siege Of Sarajevo

“[There’s] a sound system that, day and night, fills the place with the din of gunfire and explosions. Getting to sleep can still be a challenge: There are no beds, only thin mattresses on the floor with no pillows or sheets, and heavy, scratchy blankets that create the feeling of sleeping with a dead horse.” And, for brave guests, there’s “the bunker.” And yes, there is a demand for all this.

We Each Have Our Own Oscar Wilde

“Saint Oscar; Wilde the Irishman; Wilde the wit. The classicist; the socialist; the martyr for gay rights. … So if Oscar’s ultimate genius was to allow us to see ourselves in him, what do we see in 2018? And what is there left still to see in a life that ended prematurely and has been so closely scrutinized?”

Robert Morris, Magpie Minimalist Sculptor, Dead At 87

“[He] was one of a generation of artists who embraced the Minimalist credo, along with Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin and others. But while his peers continued to work within the genre’s austere limits, Mr. Morris went on to explore an astonishing variety of stylistic approaches, from scatter art, performance and earthworks to paintings and sculptures symbolizing nuclear holocaust. His detractors, noting his tendency to borrow ideas from other artists freely, questioned his originality and authenticity. His supporters saw in him a mind too restlessly alive to the possibilities of art to be confined to any one style.”

This Year’s Man Booker Prize Winner May Never Write Again

Anna Burns, who took the 2018 award for her novel of Northern Ireland during the Troubles, Milkman, suffers severe back and nerve pain due to botched surgery some years ago. “Thanks to the Booker, which includes a $64,000 prize, she may get treatment in Germany without having to worry about the cost. ‘If it’s successful, I’ll be able to write again,’ she said. ‘I haven’t written in four and a half years.'”