One consequence of the Metropolitan Opera’s recently-announced changes to its season schedule — Sunday performances, going dark in February, adding weeks in May and June — is that the available time for American Ballet Theatre’s spring season there is being reduced from eight weeks to five. Marina Harss explains why the move might just make sense to the company, and she offers a suggestion for where they might go instead.
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City Of New York To Commission Artists To Make The Construction Sheds And Fences Everywhere Less Ugly
“The [City Canvas] program was designed to beautify New York City’s visual landscape by installing large-scale – and temporary – artwork on its endless construction fences and 270 miles of sidewalk sheds. … Buildings Commissioner Rick D. Chandler said ‘If anyone can bring some love to the sidewalk sheds New Yorkers love to hate, it’s our city’s artists.'”
Watching Jaap Van Zweden Get Started At The New York Philharmonic
Reporter Michael Cooper and photographer Nina Westervelt follow the Phil’s new music director through his first week on the job — unpacking his office, meeting with CEO Deborah Borda, strategizing with his publicist, taking selfies with passersby who recognize him from the ads around town, and (of course), rehearsing for the opening night concert.
Ian Buruma Explains Why He Resigned From New York Review Of Books After Ghomeshi Essay
“No, [the publisher] did not fire me. But he made clear to me that university publishers … were threatening a boycott. They are afraid of the reactions on the campuses, where this is an inflammatory topic. Because of this, I feel forced to resign — in fact it is a capitulation to social media and university presses.” Even so, he says, “I still stand behind my decision to publish.”
The History Of ‘Salvator Mundi’ Just Got Clearer (And Stranger)
The recently authenticated Leonardo da Vinci painting, now the world’s most expensive artwork ($450 million), spent nearly half a century in a family home in Baton Rouge before dealers purchased it in a 2005 estate sale for under $10,000.
Architect Robert Venturi, 93
“Over the course of a career that spanned more than 50 years, Venturi mounted a sustained counterattack on the high seriousness of modernism, praising the vernacular, the commercial, and even the avowedly ordinary in writings and buildings that he often produced in collaboration with his wife, Denise Scott Brown.” Famously, he responded to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s pronouncement “Less is more” with the quip, “Less is a bore.”
Seven Of Robert Venturi’s Top ‘Postmodern’ Projects
Yes, he disavowed the “postmodern’ label, but nevertheless, here are seven signature examples of his style, from the house he created for his mother (the design that started it all), through his fire station in the modern architecture mecca of Columbus, Indiana and his museum buildings in London, Seattle, Houston, and San Diego to his “Queen Anne” chair.
London’s Royal Opera House Finished Its Major Renovation Without Missing A Single Rehearsal Or Performance
The venue’s CEO, Alex Beard, describes the $66 million project as “a bit like having open-heart surgery while going for a run.” The architect said that “We had meetings every day where we’d work out the little windows of time we could make noise.” Alex Marshall reports on the results, including a much larger foyer, a cafe, more ladies’ loos, and a complete upgrade of the ROH’s 406-seat Linbury Theatre.
India To Have First-Ever Queer Literature Festival
In November, just two months after India’s highest court decriminalized same-sex relations, the Awadh Queer Committee (which has already organized a pride march and a film festival in the past year) in Lucknow will present the first dedicated LGBTQ literary event anywhere in South Asia.
Geta Brătescu, Superstar Of Romanian Contemporary Art, Dead At 92
“Brătescu’s work has for years been a powerful influence on artists in the Romanian contemporary art scene, but it wasn’t until the past few years that she achieved fame outside Eastern Europe … [Her] output took the form of films, collages, photographs, installations, travel journals, drawings, and more over the course of her seven-decade career. Her primary interests included the body and the relationship between art and life, and her work often tackled these themes with a dry sense of humor.”