Author: ArtsJournal2

Composer And Conductor Krzysztof Penderecki Has Died At 86

Penderecki, composer of the scores for The Exorcist, The Shining, and Wild at Heart, also wrote operas and choral works, and won multiple Grammys. “Penderecki’s stated aim as an avant-gardist in the early 1960s was to ‘liberate sound beyond all tradition,’ and his emotionally charged experimental 1960 work ‘Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima’, for 52 strings, brought him to international attention and acclaim when he was only 26.” – The Guardian (UK)

Online Buyers For Powell’s Are So Hungry For Books That Company Recalls 100 Laid-Off Workers

Some of the still laid-off Powell’s staff are unhappy with the way the company has handled the store closures and layoffs, but for others, the present is a little rosier. CEO Emily Powell wrote on Friday in a memo on the website, “Thanks to your orders on Powells.com, we now have over 100 folks working at Powell’s again – all full time with benefits.” – The Oregonian

Unable To Get To Supplies Or Tools, Art Students Demand Partial Refunds

The Yale School of Art, NYU’s Tisch School, and many other art schools are witnessing students demand partial refunds for the rest of the semester since they can’t access anything they need. And at the Rhode Island School of Design, the move to cancel classes came very late. “Some students suspected that by staying open for another week, the university was attempting to circumvent its withdrawals and leave of absences policy, which guarantees a 20% refund of tuition fees for withdrawals during the fifth week of the semester, but not beyond.” – Hyperallergic

Hollywood Workers And The Bailout

For actors, writers, directors, and all of the many, many thousands of craft workers, there’s a little help: “The act includes a provision known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance that extends unemployment benefits to those who otherwise would not qualify, including the self-employed and independent contractors.” – Los Angeles Times

What Happens To This Spring’s Most Anticipated Books?

Remember last fall and winter? Well, there were plans: “Months ago, in what now feels like another era, publishers planning their 2020 schedules hoped to avoid releasing books in the fall, typically the industry’s biggest season. Editors and writers worried that new releases would be lost in the deluge of political news leading up to the presidential election, so publishers jammed some of their biggest titles into the spring.” – The New York Times

Defiant British Museum Appoints Mary Beard As Trustee

Despite her nomination being rejected by Downing Street last year, the British Museum appointed her anyway. “The Cambridge don, who will take up the role for an initial period of four years on Monday, said she was delighted. ‘It was a visit to the BM which first inspired me to work on the ancient world,’ she told the Observer. ‘I have been a huge beneficiary of this and other museums in the country over the past 60 years, and am now delighted to be able to give something back.'” – The Observer (UK)