“Annotations in the margins of a 16th-century text that is believed to have been one of the sources for Hamlet could have been made by Shakespeare himself, according to an independent researcher. John Casson was looking through the British Library’s copy of François de Belleforest’s Histoires Tragiques, a 1576 French text thought to have been one of the sources for Shakespeare’s tragedy … [He] noticed that faded ink symbols had been made in the margins next to six passages.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Atlanta Symphony Musicians Get Raises, More Players In New Contract – And Negotiations Were Friendly At Last
“That friendliness was in contrast to the bruising conflict between the orchestra and the Woodruff Arts Center, which led to lockouts in 2012 and 2014, picket lines, and harsh words. Ongoing deficits and deteriorating relations also brought about pay cuts, a shorter season and a shrinking orchestra.”
David Hallberg Injured Again
He was performing alongside Natalia Osipova in the Royal Ballet’s Giselle in London when he somehow hurt himself (no details were given) early in Act One. While he finished the act, he did not return to the stage after intermission. “Mr. Hallberg returned to the stage just 14 months ago, after a two-and-a-half-year injury-filled break and a painful, painstaking fight back to physical prowess. (Dancing with Ms. Osipova again, he has said, was one of his strongest motivations.)”
France’s Highest Court Throws Out Conviction Of Picasso’s Electrician For Possessing Stolen Artworks
In 2015, Pierre Le Guennec and his wife Danielle were given suspended sentences of two years in prison after authorities discovered a cache of 271 works by Picasso, believed to be stolen, stored in the couple’s garage. Now France’s Court of Cassation has ruled that prosecutors presented insufficient evidence that the artworks were actually stolen and has ordered the case to be retried.
Ten Indicted For Scheme To Use A Picasso To Launder Money
“The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday unveiled criminal charges against 10 defendants, including London-based brokerage Beaufort Securities Ltd, over their alleged roles in a more than $50 million stock fraud and a laundering scheme involving a late work by Pablo Picasso.”
With Lincoln Center Festival Gone, Mostly Mozart Expands Programming Beyond Music
Lincoln Center announced in the fall that it was pulling the plug on the Lincoln Center Festival, the multidisciplinary summer festival it had presented since 1996. Officials said that the move was partly intended to save money, … but there was also a desire to consolidate programming: Lincoln Center Festival was in some ways essentially competing with Mostly Mozart, which had expanded its range in recent years.”
Harvey Schmidt, 88, Composer Of ‘The Fantasticks’ And ‘110 In The Shade’
“The Texas-born songwriter met his longtime lyricist Tom Jones when they were both students at the University of Texas/Austin in the late 1940s, and over the course of a career that spanned nearly the next half-century, Mr. Schmidt never wrote with anyone else.” Their most famous show, The Fantasticks, had the longest run of any play in American history: 17,162 performances over nearly 42 years in a small off-Broadway theater.
Tefaf Moves Beyond Maastricht And New York In Attempt To Become ‘Global Brand’
“The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands, long recognized as the world’s reigning showcase of museum-quality art and antiques, is not just a destination art fair anymore but a global art brand. Or at least that is the aim of the Dutch foundation that runs the fair.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.05.18
Anne-Sophie Mutter and André Previn: Music from the divorce that didn’t work
Anne-Sophie Mutter has long maintained supreme artistic poise in the classical violin world, but the wild card in her repertoire has often come from her ex-husband, the multi-Oscar-winning composer André Previn. … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2018-03-05
Misunderstood and Maligned
Poor Grant Wood. Seventy-years after his death, his work is widely known – thanks to American Gothic – but equally widely misunderstood, under-appreciated and, recalling the old insult to George W. Bush, misunderestimated. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2018-03-04
Tainted money
[Jerry Saltz’s] is not the first, nor will it be the last, protest over donations to an art or educational institution from a questionable source. How should we think about this? … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2018-03-04
Dispatched from the Audition Room
I say to colleagues that our personal artistic opinions are not as important in considering prospective students as our expert evaluation of their potential. It may be quite difficult to make such a distinction. … read more
AJBlog: PianoMorphosis Published 2018-03-05
Your Colleagues Probably Know You Way Better Than You Know Yourself
Adam Grant: “As a social scientist, if I want to get a read on your personality, I could ask you to fill out a survey on how stable, dependable, friendly, outgoing, and curious you are. But I would be much better off asking your coworkers to rate you on those same traits: They’re up to 12 times more accurate. They can see things that you can’t or won’t – and these studies reveal that whatever you know about yourself that your coworkers don’t is basically irrelevant to your job performance.”