Michael Pastreich served as CEO of the Tampa Bay-based Florida Orchestra, the state’s largest, for 11 years. He steps in at the Washington Ballet for outgoing executive director Michael Mael. – The Washington Post
Blog
1,000 Experts Beg Macron: Don’t Rush The Rebuilding Of Notre-Dame!
“[1,169] leading conservators, curators, academics, architects and engineers” — among them former Met Museum director Philippe de Montebello and Delphine Christophe, chief conservator at France’s Centre des Monuments Nationaux — “have signed an open letter urging the French president Emmanuel Macron not to bypass experts in his rush to rebuild Nôtre-Dame-de-Paris after it was ravaged by fire on 15 April.” – The Art Newspaper
Despite Controversy, Edinburgh’s New Concert Hall Gets Final Go-Ahead
The Dunard Centre, with a 1,000-seat main auditorium and a 200-seat chamber hall/recording studio, will be the home venue for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and an additional performance space for the Edinburgh International Festival. – Edinburgh Evening News
Is Bollywood In The Tank For Indian Prime Minister Modi?
In the lead-up to India’s current elections, a recent Modi biopic, a film about a 2016 military raid against Pakistan, and a high-profile trip of two dozen stars to take selfies with the PM all have critics wondering if India’s film industry is trying to campaign for the incumbent. Reporter Amrit Dhillon suggests that it’s not that simple — or, rather, that it’s simple in a different way. – The Guardian
Les Murray, Australia’s Leading Poet, Dead At 80
“One of Australia’s most successful and renowned contemporary poets, Murray’s career spanned more than 40 years. He published close to 30 books. … In 2016, he was named by The Atlantic as one of the greatest English language poets of his time.” – The Guardian
A Historian Ponders The Ethical Questions Of Artificial Intelligence
Fei-Fei Li: The machines don’t need to have consciousness of their own in order to predict our choices and manipulate our choices. If you accept that something like love is in the end and biological process in the body, if you think that AI can provide us with wonderful healthcare, by being able to monitor and predict something like the flu, or something like cancer, what’s the essential difference between flu and love? – Wired
The “Dundee Effect”? How A New Museum Transformed A Scottish Town
Could anyone in Dundee have imagined how the V&A project would have helped transform perceptions of the city? It has been hard to keep pace with the plaudits and accolades that have been heaped on Dundee in the last couple of years and, somewhat remarkably, there is no sign of them slowing down. – The Scotsman
When Nureyev Became Nureyev
A new biopic tries to pinpoint it. Nureyev’s glamour and celebrity — he was a regular at Studio 54, where he hobnobbed with the likes of Liza Minnelli and Truman Capote — gave ballet a new allure, which wasn’t hampered by his reputation for perfectionism, arrogance and tantrums. – The New York Times
The Split Personality Of Trying To Make A Venice Biennale That Reflects Where We Are Now
Curator Ralph Rugoff: “Now that we live in a world in which you can go online and find out in two minutes that there never was a curse brings up interesting issues that seem relevant to this time.” – The Art Newspaper
Neon Is The Ultimate Symbol Of The 20th Century
It represented the future when it was first switched on early in the century. By mid-century it signalled decline more than it did excitement… – The Atlantic