“Winners write the history books – which is why the Afghan government’s recent decision to eliminate any post-1973 events from its school texts is so worrisome. Since none of the major groups can agree on a basic set of facts, the country’s new school books simply leave out the last four decades of events: no Soviet involvement, no brutal years of civil war, no rise of the Taliban, and no U.S. involvement.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
What Makes An Opera American? (And Does An Opera In French Qualify?)
“America’s rich tradition of musical theatre means that audiences expect operas to be accessible. A good example is Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, which was commissioned by the Dallas Opera and opened in Dallas in 2010. The opera turned a classic American novel into a spectacular stage show, featuring ladders, masts and winches and stormy screen projections.”
Berlinale: Far From Lackluster, And Catering To, Well, Everyone
“Last fall the German Film Critics Association held a symposium on the future of the Berlinale titled ‘What Now After All the Bad Reviews?’ The Berlinale’s director, Dieter Kosslick, who has headed the festival since 2001 and whose contract was recently renewed through 2016, has a ready answer for detractors: Look at the numbers.”
Windsor Symphony Orchestra Searches For A New Conductor, Via YouTube
How to thin the ranks of prospective composers? Digital video, of course. “‘Maybe we are doing a little pioneering,’ says symphony executive director Jeth Mill. … ‘It is an entirely different world than 11 years ago when the symphony went looking for (leaving conductor) John Morris Russell.'”
No-Secrets Art: The Transparency Grenade
Want to leak information from private, closed meetings? Ask artist Julian Oliver for help. He’s got an explosive design for you.
You Think Hollywood Loves Itself, But What You See Is Actually Self-Loathing
“The Oscar nominees may not be just a demonstration of a sudden burst of nostalgia. They may be a demonstration of the self-contempt of an industry that is finally tired of itself and of the movies that have defined it for two decades. This doesn’t mean that they will retreat from teenage blockbusters. It just means that they are using the Oscars to stage a small protest against the sorts of movies they feel we the audience sadistically forces them to make.”
Without Distractions, No Opportunity For Art
“For me, now, things do get done; books are finished, and other projects are started that are also finished. They take the time they take, and the breaks are as important as the continuities. Only a fool would think that someone should be able to bear boredom and frustration for long hours at a time and that this would be an achievement.”
Cate Blanchett, Theatre Boss (Even When She Leaves Her Artistic Director Post)
“‘I was hoping you’d come later in the week.’ It’s a curious thing to hear from someone who has five Academy Award nominations, and who took an Oscar home for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator. But this is theatre, and Blanchett, like any stage actor before press night, doesn’t quite know how it will go.”
The Backlash To Frank Gehry – And His Response
“According to the art critic Hal Foster, Gehry’s Walt Disney concert hall in Los Angeles is a ‘media logo’ and his style of architecture is a ‘winning formula’ for ‘any corporate entity that desires to be perceived, through an instant icon, as a global player’. Someone started selling T-shirts saying ‘Fuck Frank Gehry’ (and he bought some).”
Cirque Returns To The Oscars – Without Setting The Theatre On Fire, This Time
After a decade, Cirque de Soleil gets another invitation to the Oscars show. Producers just hope the 50-performer extravaganza isn’t quite as boisterous this time.