The Tony-winning director (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) will step down as artistic director when his contract expires at the end of the 2018-19 season. He has also served as artistic director of San Diego’s Old Globe Shakespeare Festival and directed the Broadway production of Anastasia; he makes his Metropolitan Opera this fall with Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, which will open the house’s season.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Russian Law Finally Recognizes Contemporary Art As Art
“Previously, valuable works of art created fewer than 50 years ago were officially treated as ‘luxury goods’ and subject to 30% import dues. This changed on 29 January with the passing of a new law that is part of a radical revision of Russian art import-export regulations aimed at opening up the Russian art scene to the world.”
Revered Russian Actor Oleg Tabakov Dead At 82
“[He] started building his career in the 1950s Soviet Union, gradually becoming one of the best known and beloved actors of his generation. He received multiple awards for his film and stage work, including the 1980 Boston International Film Festival award for his portrayal of a 19th century Russian nobleman in Oblomov. In his later years, he taught acting in Moscow and served as director of several large theaters, including the legendary Chekhov Moscow Art Theater. … In addition to theater and movie roles, Tabakov was also popular for his voiceover work in children’s cartoons.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.12.18
Decorative but not useful: the instrumental benefits of the arts
What good are the arts beyond the personal aesthetic pleasure we gain from them? There is quite a list out there, of these so-called instrumental benefits of the arts … But you don’t have to work in the art world long to know that these instrumental benefits are not seen as a purely intellectual enquiry, but are a tool for advocacy … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2018-03-11
TEFAF Maastricht: Changing, But the Same
The world’s best art fair – Tefaf Maastricht. whose 275 participating galleries show the art of seven millennia, all told – got underway last Thursday, as usual. Fair organizers are keen to point out what’s different this year: … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2018-03-12
Monday Recommendation, Keith Jarrett Trio: After The Fall
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette, After The Fall (ECM)
In 1998 Keith Jarrett was emerging from a siege of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that had sidelined him for two years. As he … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-03-12
Disruption
Life is full of small pleasures, and I do my best not to undervalue them. For me, many of life’s pleasures are solitary. … Sometimes, though, events capture my attention, pull me out of my self and away from my solitary activities. Last spring was such a time. Like many others, I found national and world events disrupting my routines. That disruption was a good thing: … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2018-03-12
If We’re In A Golden Age Of Drag, Then Drag Kings Want In
“Largely due to the commercial success of RuPaul’s Logo-turned-VH1 reality competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag has become perhaps more mainstream and visible than ever. But … drag kings still perform on the fringes of mainstream pop culture. Even though the medium has existed, in different forms, for decades, performances of masculinity aren’t privileged the same way performances of femininity are.” Reporter Hazel Cills meets some of the folks trying to change that.
Conductor Myung-Whun Chung Injured In Auto Accident
The former chief conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France and the Opéra-Bastille in Paris has been forced to withdraw from performances next week of La Bohème at La Fenice in Venice after his car was hit by a truck.
‘It Tore The Cover Off A City’: An Oral History Of ‘The Wire’, Ten Years On
Creator and showrunner David Simon sold The Wire to HBO as “the anti-cop show, a rebellion of sorts against all the horseshit police procedurals afflicting American television.” Says actor Aidan Gillen, “It dealt with issues that no other shows would be interested in dealing with. It didn’t compromise in any areas. To get it, you had to watch and listen, and there was a risk that people might not have bothered, but they did.”
Marina Abramović Is Going To Play Maria Callas In An Opera
“Almost 30 years after she first conceived the idea, Marina Abramović is to finally realise her Seven Deaths project. The Belgrade-born artist has turned the work into an opera, which she will direct herself. The production is due to debut at the Munich Opera House in 2020, with plans for it to tour to Covent Garden in London. The project will see Abramović play her lifelong hero Maria Callas dying in seven operas”
If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? Dumb Luck, Says New Computer Model
“[A team of researchers in Italy] created a computer model of human talent and the way people use it to exploit opportunities in life. The model allows the team to study the role of chance in this process. … Their simulations accurately reproduce the wealth distribution in the real world. But the wealthiest individuals are not the most talented (although they must have a certain level of talent). They are the luckiest. And this has significant implications for the way societies can optimize the returns they get for investments in everything from business to science.”
Obamas In Talks With Netflix For New Series
“Under terms of a proposed deal, which is not yet final, Netflix would pay Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, for exclusive content that would be available only on the streaming service, which has nearly 118 million subscribers around the world. The number of episodes and the formats for the shows have not been decided.”