In a survey of 31 prominent American novelists, Kerry supporters, unsurprisingly, vastly outnumbered Bush supporters. Still, the writers’ choices differed. “Authors cited a range of reasons, from a vote for Kerry ‘because I have a brain and so does he’ (Amy Tan), to a vote for Bush because ‘we’re at war, and electing a president who is committed to losing it seems to be the most foolish thing we could do’ (Orson Scott Card).”
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The High Art Of The Pre-Show Reprimand
“People recall that distant age when the theatre began with nothing more than a lowering of the lights and the raising of a curtain, when the whole notion of pre-emptive audience rebuke was unheard of, but those days have passed into misty legend.” By now the reminder to turn off your cell phones, beepers and chiming watches — and to unwrap your candy now — is ubiquitous. Fortunately, it has also evolved into an opportunity for creativity and humor.
Stockhausen’s Seven-Part Licht To Debut
Twenty-five years in the making, “German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen’s epic Licht cycle is to be staged in its entirety for the first time. The European Centre for the Arts Hellerau in Dresden will stage the 29-hour piece in 2008 to coincide with Stockhausen’s 80th birthday.”
Opera Students’ New Teacher: Pavarotti
“Former opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, 69, is to give singing lessons in his home town in Italy. The tenor, who retired from his opera career last year, will tutor students on a two-year singing course at a music conservatory in Modena.”
Want Musical Kids? Surround Them With Sound
“Educators and others agree that early and regular exposure is the key to developing a child’s true appreciation for music. … The music appreciation process should be fun, too, experts say. But whatever form of music you seek to promote with your children, there are time-tested rules: expose them to the music early and often; make music a recurring positive experience; and be creative.”
Voting Gets A Redesign (Literally)
In the past four years, voting has been revitalized as an issue in the United States, but usually when people talk about taking another look at the design of the system, they’re not thinking about aesthetics. Frank Gehry, Christo, Robert A.M. Stern, Diane von Furstenberg and Richard Meier are some of those who are. “The Voting Booth Project, on display at Parsons School of Design in New York, features offbeat interpretations of about 50 of the Votomatic booths used in Florida during the controversial 2000 presidential election.”
More Opera, More Of The Time
With its Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts due to open in fall 2006, Toronto is heading toward a richer operatic future, more like that of another opera-mad North American city. “What made San Franciscans so susceptible to the plight of consumptive sopranos and murdered tenors? Sheer exposure has had a great deal to do with it. Since the War Memorial Opera House threw open its many doors in 1932, the city of the Golden Gate has possessed what most cities on this continent still lack, a house specifically designed to accommodate the stage works of Mozart, Verdi and Wagner.”
Now, That’s Government Support For The Arts
“Denmark’s Queen Margrethe will design the costumes and scenery for an upcoming play based on the fairy tale ‘Thumbelina,’ written by Hans Christian Andersen.”
Copyright, Coincidence Led To Loeb Fracas
A Damian Loeb painting titled “Blow Job (Three Little Boys)” that was removed from a University of Hartford exhibition does, in fact, depict the sons of a wealthy businessman with ties to the school, staff and faculty say. “And Douglas S. Cramer, the collector who lent the works for the show, said the university had informed him that the boys’ family was distressed by the painting. … But by every account, from the curator to Mr. Cramer to Mr. Loeb, the painting’s removal was less a clear censorship case than it was one of copyright and surprising coincidence.”
The Singing, Dancing, Acting Irish?
The University of Notre Dame is known for two things: Catholicism and football, not necessarily in that order. With a new, $64 million performing arts complex intended to be a presenting and teaching space, the university is seeking to become known for prominence in a third area: the arts.