Regarded as one of the best harpsichordists of her generation, with a repertoire covering four centuries, from William Byrd through Francis Poulenc, Verlet was especially known for her performances and recordings of Bach, Scarlatti, Rameau, and, above all, Couperin. (in French; for Google Translate version, click here) — Le Figaro
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Edinburgh Fringe Festival Is Now Scotland’s Most Lucrative Event
It’s now worth £200 million. Organizers say the event’s value – which has risen more than £25 million since the last official research was done in 2015 – demonstrates how it has become “an economic powerhouse in its own right.” – The Scotsman
Claim: A Change In Ireland’s National Theatre’s Policy Has Devastated The Theatre Community
It claims that the Irish theatre community is “in a critical situation” and that, although the Abbey may be financially buoyant, “the freelance theatre community, in particular, has been cast adrift”. – Irish Times
Leisure Gap: Men Are Watching More TV On Average Than Women
According to the government’s American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which tracks how people spend their days, men on average are watching three hours of TV or movies per day, while women average two hours and 34 minutes. – The Atlantic
The Next Big Thing In British Art: Research Architecture?
“Where the Young British Artists were about ego and in-your-face art, with its sharks and suggestive arrangements of kebabs and fried eggs, this is collaborative, research based and politically committed, spanning architecture, journalism, law and science. As with all the most interesting movements, there’s controversy over whether it’s even art.” – The Guardian
Somebody Tried To Shame Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez By Posting A Video Of Her Dancing In College. Really?
Dance Critic Sarah Kaufman: “Perhaps, somewhere, there exists a small, sad sliver of the human population that still believes, 17th-century style, that dancing is sinful, that having fun is wrong, that music is corrupting, that a young woman playfully noodling around with her hair down must be some kind of wild, out-to-get-you Medusa. I guess the Puritan prejudice against a good time hasn’t entirely disappeared. Otherwise, how could anyone think that publicizing a video clip of a beautiful, college-age Ocasio-Cortez dancing with her friends could harm the Democratic congresswoman from New York?” – Washington Post
Ranking All 213 Beatles’ Songs From Worst To Best
This quixotic task was performed by longtime music critic Bill Wyman. It’s an admittedly deeply subjective ranking. Wyman heaps the most scorn for Paul McCartney’s “Good Day Sunshine” which ends up at the bottom. He calls it bland and contends that it ruins “Revolver” the album it was on. – New York Magazine
How The Prado Museum Revitalized Itself
Central to this shift was the Prado’s hard-won independence from government interference. Once, directors came and went with each political quarrel, creating uncertainty and malaise. “The Prado was sometimes a weapon used by one political party against the other”. – The Art Newspaper
Gauguin. Spirituality and Max Hollein
Most Paul Gauguin exhibitions show him off as a sensualist who abandoned his family in France to canoodle with young Tahitian girls. So it was refreshing to see Gauguin: A Spiritual Journey last year at the de Young museum in San Francisco. The exhibit leaves out his most sensualist works and therefore presses visitors to see other aspects of his work. — Judith H. Dobrzynski
Pioneering Animator Don Lusk, 105
“Lusk’s passing is not just the death of a great animator, but the closing of an era in American animation history. He was the last living Disney animator who had made significant contributions to the original animated features produced by Walt Disney, starting with the company’s very first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. ” – CartoonBrew