“Rumblings of the company’s demise began when their website and Facebook page were taken down. … [Then,] an email communiqué … stated that the board of LehrerDance had terminated company founder and artistic director Jon Lehrer as of February 7 and ‘in consultation with its attorneys and accountants, is in the process of determining the organization’s financial status but has declared a halt to all operations of the company.'” Yet this may not be just another case of a small dance company running out of cash.
Blog
Vladimir Jurowski Will Step Down From London Philharmonic
Just days after the news arrived that the Russian conductor will become music director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in 2021, the London Philharmonic revealed that Jurowski will step down as its chief conductor when he starts in his new position.
Ken Dodd, British Comedy Legend, Dead At 90
“[He was] a force of nature, a whirlwind, an ambulant torrent of surreal invention, physical and verbal, whose Liverpudlian cheek masked the melancholy of an authentic clown. ‘This isn’t television, missus,’ he’d say to the front stalls, ‘you can’t turn me off.’ And then he would embark on an odyssey of gag-spinning that, over five hours, would beat an audience into submission, often literally, banging a huge drum and declaring that if we did not like the jokes he would follow us home and shout them through the letter-box.”
Director Darko Tresnjak To Leave Hartford Stage
The Tony-winning director (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) will step down as artistic director when his contract expires at the end of the 2018-19 season. He has also served as artistic director of San Diego’s Old Globe Shakespeare Festival and directed the Broadway production of Anastasia; he makes his Metropolitan Opera this fall with Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, which will open the house’s season.
Russian Law Finally Recognizes Contemporary Art As Art
“Previously, valuable works of art created fewer than 50 years ago were officially treated as ‘luxury goods’ and subject to 30% import dues. This changed on 29 January with the passing of a new law that is part of a radical revision of Russian art import-export regulations aimed at opening up the Russian art scene to the world.”
Revered Russian Actor Oleg Tabakov Dead At 82
“[He] started building his career in the 1950s Soviet Union, gradually becoming one of the best known and beloved actors of his generation. He received multiple awards for his film and stage work, including the 1980 Boston International Film Festival award for his portrayal of a 19th century Russian nobleman in Oblomov. In his later years, he taught acting in Moscow and served as director of several large theaters, including the legendary Chekhov Moscow Art Theater. … In addition to theater and movie roles, Tabakov was also popular for his voiceover work in children’s cartoons.”
A Compendium Of Academic Language And Its Peculiarly Specific Meanings
The entries are composed with a knowing wit. Some are twisty and loquacious, others witheringly economic. They’re structured like jokes, and there’s a light, nerdy thrill in following these paragraphs—crammed with technical terminology and seeming digressions—to the punch line. Naturally, a lot of the humor is self-directed, mocking the authors’ own sense of seriousness.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.12.18
Decorative but not useful: the instrumental benefits of the arts
What good are the arts beyond the personal aesthetic pleasure we gain from them? There is quite a list out there, of these so-called instrumental benefits of the arts … But you don’t have to work in the art world long to know that these instrumental benefits are not seen as a purely intellectual enquiry, but are a tool for advocacy … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2018-03-11
TEFAF Maastricht: Changing, But the Same
The world’s best art fair – Tefaf Maastricht. whose 275 participating galleries show the art of seven millennia, all told – got underway last Thursday, as usual. Fair organizers are keen to point out what’s different this year: … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2018-03-12
Monday Recommendation, Keith Jarrett Trio: After The Fall
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette, After The Fall (ECM)
In 1998 Keith Jarrett was emerging from a siege of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that had sidelined him for two years. As he … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-03-12
Disruption
Life is full of small pleasures, and I do my best not to undervalue them. For me, many of life’s pleasures are solitary. … Sometimes, though, events capture my attention, pull me out of my self and away from my solitary activities. Last spring was such a time. Like many others, I found national and world events disrupting my routines. That disruption was a good thing: … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2018-03-12
HBO Creates A Real “Westworld” Theme Park At SXSW
HBO created an entire theme park set in the American frontier, where “Westworld” fans can experience what it’s like to be a guest of the sci-fi show’s park. Actors playing the town’s residents live out elaborate storylines, and visitors interact with them like they’re AI hosts from the show.
Metropolitan Opera Fires James Levine
The Met did not release the specific findings of its investigation, which it said had included interviews with 70 people. The statement also said that the investigation had “uncovered credible evidence that Mr. Levine engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct toward vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers, over whom Mr. Levine had authority,” adding that he was also being fired as the artistic director of the Met’s young artists program.