“Behind the scenes, executives are reviewing departments and evaluating staffers’ expertise to determine ‘the most efficient merger’ and to ‘match people to the right roles based on our priorities,’ said Kerri Hoffman, the former PRX CEO who holds the same position in the new entity. … The merger, announced last month, will also bring a combined board, free services for stations, and new experiments with PRI’s The World, the network’s flagship newsmagazine.”
Blog
Can You Mix Bach And Community Engagement? Yo-Yo Ma Can
“Over the next two years, he will visit 36 cities — winking at the fact that each of the six [Bach cello] suites has six sections — on six continents. In each city, he will pair a performance of the full cycle … with what he’s calling a ‘day of action’ that brings Bach into the community. It’s a small and glancing, but also deeply felt, attempt to suggest that this music, with its objectivity and empathy, its breathless energy and delicate grace, could, if heard closely by enough people, change the world.”
How A Pioneering Woman In Silicon Valley Became A Classical Music Philanthropist
“The Chamber Music Society (CMS) of Lincoln Center recently received a $5 million gift from Ann S. Bowers of Palo Alto, earmarked for its CMS Two residency program, which develops the next generation of young musicians. … Bowers’ gift is the largest individual gift in the society’s 48-year history. If that wasn’t newsworthy enough, consider the source of the gift. Bowers has the distinction of being the first woman to hold a vice president title in Silicon Valley while working for Apple. In a giving space where tech donors remain less than enthusiastic about the arts, Bowers’ gift is a notable outlier — and an encouraging one.”
Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Budget-Cutting Pays Off
“The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, which two years ago had to cut costs after reporting a $200,000 operating deficit, posted its second consecutive year with a surplus, … thanks in part to cutting more than $500,000 in expenses compared with the previous season. The company also reported less revenue, taking in $268,689 less than the 2016-17 season, thanks to a shortened touring schedule.”
Art Dealer Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison For Fraud
“Ezra Chowaiki, who was the face of Chowaiki & Co. Fine Art Ltd. on Park Avenue before its bankruptcy last year, … ripped off at least a half dozen art dealers with sham transactions in which some victims were led to believe they were buying stakes in fine art earmarked for quick resale. Other victims left works at his gallery on consignment and never got them back.”
Pussy Riot’s Pyotr Verzilov Released From Berlin Hospital After Suspected Poisoning
Verzilov, who took part in the protest at the World Cup final and runs an independent news website in Russia, was rushed to the hospital on Sept. 11 after losing his ability to see, speak, and walk and was later airlifted to Berlin for specialized treatment. Doctors says there are now no traces of toxins in his system but that poisoning is the most likely explanation for his illness; Verzilov believes he was poisoned by the GRU (military intelligence agency).
21 Years After Fire Nearly Destroyed It, Turin’s Chapel Of The Shroud Reopens
“A masterpiece of Baroque architecture, designed by the mathematician priest Guarino Guarini, it was commissioned in 1668 by the Savoy ducal family … The origin of the fire that raged throughout the night of 11 April 1997 remains a mystery. It burned especially fiercely because the chapel, which had just been restored, was still full of wooden scaffolding.”
At This Theatre, Every Show This Season Is Directed By A Woman
When Anna Bergmann became the director of the playhouse at the Badisches State Theater in the German city of Karlsruhe, “her first major decision … was downright radical: Tired of hearing that theaters would like to hire female directors but could find few, she said she wanted women to lead most of the productions during her first season at the helm. The State Theater’s general director … proposed going further: Why not exclusively use female directors, for once?”
Misty Copeland: Instagram Is Bringing People To Dance
“I’ve connected with the most people using Instagram’s platform,” she said. “I just think that it allows people who may have felt intimidated — or they didn’t belong in [spaces] like the Metropolitan Opera House — it kind of gives them a view into my world.”
Is Firing NY Review Of Books Editor A Chilling Of Intellectual Courage?
Laura Kipness: “Allocution is a tough genre. But even when the account is disingenuous and self-pitying, I’m interested in what the accused have to say for themselves, including those I think are guilty and despicable and who haven’t learned the proper lessons from their crimes. One of the reasons we read prison literature is because we’re all guilty and despicable. One of the reasons we read literature as such is to know what it’s like to be a criminal, a coward, a refugee, a pariah. In other words, human. Something significant was lost last week.”