The three productions – Verdi’s Aida, Strauss’s Salome and Wagner’s Lohengrin – are the first joint ventures for the two companies. No dates or directors have been announced yet, though Bolshoi general director Vladimir Urin made a point of saying that the project has President Putin’s approval.
Blog
Anne Wiazemsky, Star Of French New-Wave Cinema, Dead At 70
“Ms. Wiazemsky, a granddaughter of the Nobel literature laureate François Mauriac, was a leading lady in Godard films as well as [Jean-Luc] Godard’s wife, a sometime muse and later a chronicler of his pioneering role in the New Wave, which swept France in the 1960s … She became an instant star in 1966 when she was barely 18 … [in Robert Bresson’s film] Au Hasard Balthazar.”
Beirut’s Museum Of Memory Opens Its First Exhibition (Though It Has No Board Or Director)
“The architect behind the $18m project to renovate and conserve the building as a memorial museum says it was a milestone simply for it to be open to the public during the 40 days of the show. Tangled local politics and the sensitive subject matter have left the museum without a director or governing board, and a generous research centre, offices and library have lain empty for over a year.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.09.17
Life in a Whirlwind
The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company presents a new work: A Letter to My Nephew. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-10-07
masculine-feminine
When I was an undergrad, I was taught the concept of masculine and feminine cadences. It went like this: masculine cadences resolve on the strong beat; feminine cadences resolve on the weak beat. I have no idea if this nomenclature is used by anyone anymore. … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-10-09
Billy Bragg and the Rebel Power of Skiffle
Back in the mid-’80s, I was in a Calculus class when a friend I knew mostly from our shared love of punk rock handed me a hand-labelled cassette of a musician I’d never heard. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-10-09
Seattle Classical Music Station KING-FM Lures USC Radio Group President As Its New Leader
Brenda Barnes succeeds longtime KING FM General Manager Jennifer Ridewood, who was at the helm of the station when it transitioned to a listener-supported public radio station in 2011. KING FM now has more than 15,000 members and last year garnered $4.4 million in revenue, up from $2.1 million in 2010, before the transition occurred, according to the station.
Are We Becoming Addicted To Distraction?
“Checking phones or tablets for the next message, the latest tweet, a new Skype meeting request, the email we’re waiting for, has become for us the new fidgety, anticipatory normality. These devices, and the systems and knowledge to which they give us access, addict us to the (short-term) future. And ‘addict’ is not a ill-chosen word. Such technologies underline for us that even the most recent past is out-of-date, and might as well be forgotten.”
Canada’s Proposed New Cultural Policy Sidesteps Cultural Issues
Canadian private broadcasters such as CTV and Global are regulated by a series of interlocking responsibilities (such as providing Canadian content) and protections (such as being allowed to drop their ads into competing U.S. signals). The requirement that they be majority-Canadian-owned means they don’t have to compete directly with American broadcasters. Without it, Canadians would simply have been watching ABC North or CBS Canada since the early days of TV.
Research: People Who Volunteer Give Twice As Much To Charity
We may offer training, and even recognition of these volunteers, but generally that’s the extent of how we see them. Perhaps we ought to be looking more intently at them as donors. Research from Australia shows that people who volunteer for a charity (nonprofit) give, on average, twice as much as those who simply donated money.
Oh, But It’s Fun To Mock Futurists. But Then…
“A futurist is a person who spends a serious amount of time—either paid or unpaid—forming theories about society’s future. And although it can be fun to mock them for their silly sounding and overtly religious predictions, we should take futurists seriously. Because at the heart of the futurism movement lies money, influence, political power, and access to the algorithms that increasingly rule our private, political, and professional lives.”
What Has Happened To The Nobel Literature Prize?
“Something funny has happened in Stockholm over the last three years, a period that has coincided with the Swedish academic Sara Danius becoming chair of the Nobel Committee for Literature, replacing Peter Englund. The Nobel has become, well, fun. It opened up the definition of literature to include 2015 laureate Svetlana Alexievich’s oral histories and 2016 laureate Bob Dylan’s off-kilter folk songs. Kazuo Ishiguro, the 2017 laureate, would appear to be a far more conventional choice—his prevailing theme is memory and he has returned on multiple occasions to World War II.”