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A Sistema For Opera, Founded By A Music Critic, In South African Townships

“Inspired by the successes of Venezuela’s music education programme El Sistema in effecting social change, South African-born [Shirley] Apthorp was convinced that opera could be a tool for empowering people. She founded Umculo, an organisation that brings music theatre to young people and adults alike, working with professional singers and instrumentalists to give performances that have garnered international acclaim. (podcast)

Egyptian Military Court Sentences Actors Arrested For Play That ‘Insulted The Armed Forces’

The playwright, director, and cast of a play titled Suleiman Khater – about a young policeman who shot seven Israeli tourists in the Sinai in 1985 – were arrested and jailed in March following a performance near Cairo. Following the four months the men spent in prison awaiting trial, the tribunal gave them a suspended sentence of two months.

Missing Pages From Malcolm X’s Autobiography Turn Up

Their possible existence was first teased at in 1992, when a private collector at an estate sale scooped up material belonging to Alex Haley, Malcolm X’s collaborator on the book, who died that year. Years later, one biographer was allowed a 15-minute look at some of the papers, but otherwise they have been mostly locked away, surrounded by a haze of carefully cultivated mystery.

Iranian Gallerists Released After Paying $10 Million Bail

The couple, who own the Aun Gallery in Tehran, were arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in July 2016. In January this year, the couple were sentenced to draconian jail terms of 16 years for Neyssari, and 27 years for Vafadari on accusations that have ranged from “assembly and collusion against national security”, “spreading corruption”, “storing alcoholic drinks” and “dealing in indecent art.”

Classical Music’s Ugly Side: Rampant Sexual Harassment Is Institutional

Over a six-month period starting last November, The Washington Post spoke to more than 50 musicians who say they were victims of sexual harassment. These artists, many of whom shared their stories for the first time, described experiences ranging from sexual harassment to sexual assault, at every level from local teachers to international superstars. Opera singers spoke of attempted assaults in dressing rooms or in the wings during performances. Students described teachers inappropriately touching their bodies during lessons.

Was Artist Robert Indiana Exploited In His Final Years?

Wrangling over who had Indiana’s best interests at heart has stoked conspiracy theories about his death, said John Wilmerding, a friend and art historian who has studied Indiana’s work. Indiana might have relished this development, said Wilmerding, an emeritus professor at Princeton. For Indiana treasured fame, even as it tormented him, and courted chaos, even when it endangered his craft.

We Need New Ways To Measure Pleasure

“In fact, there are two standard ways to compare different pleasures with each other – the ordinal and the cardinal. The ordinal criterion simply tells us which of two pleasures is more pleasurable, and nothing about how much more pleasurable it is. The cardinal criterion, on the other hand, tells us how much more, or less, pleasurable one activity is compared with the other; for instance, does someone find reading a book twice as pleasurable as drinking a Coke?”

When Americans Rioted In The Streets Over Theater

“In the years before managers could dim auditorium lights and keep audiences in darkness during a performance, culture and politics met head-on in 19th century American theatres. Endowed with a conviction in their ‘natural right’ of self-expression, audiences would attack bad acting, poor plays and, more commonly, English actors.” That conviction, combined with good old American anti-elitism, ultimately led to the deadly riots outside New York’s Astor Place Opera House in 1849.