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How Can Choirs Can Sing Together Again COVID-Safely? In Cars, Drive-In Movie-Style

“It started with David Newman, a baritone on the voice faculty of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. In May, after a widely discussed web conference on the dangers of singing, Mr. Newman set up a sound system with four wireless microphones, an old-school analog mixer and an amplifier. Several singers gathered in their cars on his street, and he conducted them from his driveway. It worked.” – The New York Times

Unknown Style Of Rock Art, 6,000 Or More Years Old, Found In Northern Australia

The Maliwawa Figures, as they’re called, date from 6,000 to 9,000 years ago and are unusual in picturing humans and animals together. Archaeologists say they are “a missing link in the history of Aboriginal art, bridging the gap between the large naturalistic animals characteristic of the dynamic figures, created about 12,000 years ago, and the stick figures that arose around 4,000 years ago, known as X-Ray art.” – Artnet

As Late As 2019, Curtis Institute Failed To Respond To Lara St. John’s Allegations Of Rape And Sexual Abuse

“The damning, detailed 54-page report by the law firm Cozen O’Connor … shows that … time and again, the elite music conservatory on Rittenhouse Square failed to respond to St. John in a meaningful way to her accounts of rape and repeated abuse by violin professor Jascha Brodsky.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Two Actors’ Unions Fight For Jurisdiction Over Streamed Theater

“Actors’ Equity Association [theater] is accusing SAG-AFTRA [film, television and radio] of raiding its turf and undercutting its contracts by negotiating lower-paying deals with theaters for streaming productions. SAG-AFTRA, in turn, says that work made for broadcast has always been its domain, and that it has offered to work with Equity through the pandemic but that the stage union has refused all efforts at compromise.” – The New York Times

Royal Shakespeare Co. Will Keep Two Theatres Closed Until 2022; Layoffs Coming

“While the RSC’s smaller stages, the Swan and the Other Place, will remain shut, the organisation is to reopen its Royal Shakespeare theatre for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic closed venues in March. … The RSC has [slao] said that 158 people are currently in [jobs] at risk. Through voluntary redundancies and redeployment, the organisation hopes to keep the number of compulsory redundancies below 90.” – The Guardian

Louise Glück Wins Nobel Prize For Literature

“The writer, 77, born in New York, is one of the most celebrated poets in America. She has previously won a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, a National Book Critics Circle Award and a Bollingen Prize. She was the poet laureate of the United States from 2003 to 2004. Before today, only 15 women have ever won the Nobel Prize in literature since it was first awarded in 1901.” – The Washington Post

How Whitney Balliett Created A Blueprint For Writing About Jazz

He retained the enthusiasm of a fan, but it was married to the expressive virtuosity of a master writer who could extract from his typewriter something akin to what others drew from their saxophones and trumpets. It was almost as if he were a jazz musician himself, but one who wrote essays for The New Yorker instead of soloing over “I Got Rhythm” chords. – City Journal