Author: Matthew Westphal

Using The Arts To Help Rebuild Mosul, Ravaged By Three Years Under ISIS

The Iraqi city was the largest one that the violent extremist group conquered, and while it was liberated last year, there is still wreckage (physical and psychic) everywhere. Late last month, a group from the Iraqi National Symphony organized an orchestral concert in Mosul, and the city is hosting more cultural events as well — not least to get attention from international donors who could fund reconstruction.

Using Music To Help Rebuild Mosul, Ravaged By Three Years Under ISIS

The Iraqi city was the largest one that the violent extremist group conquered, and while it was liberated last year, there is still wreckage (physical and psychic) everywhere. Late last month, a group from the Iraqi National Symphony organized an orchestral concert in Mosul, and the city is hosting more cultural events as well — not least to get attention from international donors who could fund reconstruction.

‘I Never Stole Or Embezzled Anything’: First Day Of Director Kirill Serebrennikov’s Trial In Moscow

“The artistic director of the Gogol Centre theatre said he did not understand the meaning of the prosecution’s indictment, which he compared to a ‘broken printer’ that repeats ‘absurd’ claims over and over. … Last week, Serebrennikov was nominated in three different categories for Russia’s prestigious Golden Mask theatre award,” and his staging of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, which he directed remotely while under house arrest, opened in Zurich.

Elena Ferrante Says Using Stereotypes In Fiction Is Fine

Within reason, that is. “It’s useless to point out to the storyteller that stereotypes are abundant in real life. The narrator says he’s sorry: look, the thief really was Neapolitan, and there really was laundry hanging in the alley. … In this case stereotypes become functional” — they become a shorthand for the reader, helping the narrative flow smoothly — “the writer obeys rules; the story is a journey with inevitable stopping points – very familiar, yet always enjoyable.”

Now’s the time

The Wall Street Journal pays me to go see plays each week and write about them, which is my idea of a terrific way to earn a living. I have yet another reason for loving my job, though, one that might just be of even greater importance, which is that it forces me to engage each week with a brand-new set of experiences.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist: Whitey Bulger Gave Stolen Art To IRA, Says Investigator

“Following a network of leads, many from underworld contacts, [former Scotland Yard detective Charles] Hill is convinced that the Gardner treasures are still stashed in the Republic of Ireland. ‘Even if Bulger did not order the robbery originally, he would have muscled in and taken control of the haul soon after it took place. … Whitey felt he owed one to his friends in the Republic. I believe he offered them the paintings.”

An Orchestra Should Be A ‘Community-Building Mechanism’, Says Oakland Symphony Music Director

For Michael Morgan, “art and politics are, to varying degrees, indivisible: There’s no either/or. In the end, he’s interested in community, in blending cultures, the power of diversity, and the intersection of music and well-being, imagination, and hope. His obligation is to find that intersection over and over again — that’s his revolution.”

Actors Call For UK Production Companies To Get Tax Breaks If They Employ More Women, Minorities And Disabled

Actors Call For UK Production Companies To Get Tax Breaks If They Employ More Women, Minorities And Disabled
“The actors Lenny Henry, Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor were among the signatories to a letter to The Guardian that said similar moves had been successful before and should be tried again. … Also putting their names to the letter were the Paralympic athlete and television presenter Ade Adepitan, the playwright Lucy Prebble and Jodie Whittaker, the first female actor to play Doctor Who,” as well as playwright and Young Vic artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah.

English National Opera To Project Ads Onto Its Stage’s Safety Curtain

“The company, based in the Coliseum in London, has submitted a proposal to Westminster City Council that would see its safety curtain repainted to incorporate a ‘plain white painted area’ … [which] would be ‘used as a projection surface pre-show and at the interval to project films showing the ENO forthcoming opera seasons’. It is not clear whether this could be extended to external advertisers in time.”