“Back in the 16th century, the composer and lutenist John Dowland was similarly popular – pressing into a vein of moping soppiness that made him famous, and has served English musicians ever since.” (But the first? Perhaps the author forgot about the troubadours.)
Blog
Leonard Bernstein’s Near-Death Experiences In Philadelphia
When he first arrived in the City of Brotherly Love, to attend Curtis, Lenny described it as “a city of dust and grit and horror.” And while one of those near-death experiences was metaphorical, a professional disaster, the other was real: he nearly got shot. David Patrick Stearns has the stories (and others, too).
Talking To The Folks Who Do One Of The Hardest Jobs On Broadway: Understudy
Peter Marks meets Donna Migliaccio, Patti LuPone’s understudy in War Paint, and the subs from Come From Away, who each have to have five roles committed to memory.
Robotics Companies Are Hiring People From Animation Firms To Make Their Machines Cuter
“They’re taking cues from some of fiction’s friendlier robots – think the droids in Star Wars, or Wall-E – and blending it with the latest thinking on how our own brains work to create real-life robots that may make us more inclined to accept these technologies into our lives…. This cottage industry of bot-makers are concerned with what the machines look like, how they sound, and what kind of personalities they have.”
Venice’s Rebellion Against Tourists Is Spreading Across Europe
“With the continent sweltering under a heatwave nicknamed Lucifer, tempers have been boiling over, too, as a wave of anti-tourism protests take place in some of Europe’s most popular destinations.” Demonstrations have taken place from Dubrovnik to Barcelona and beyond, with cruise ships and Airbnb being particular targets of anger.
Classical Music Needs To Drop ‘Elitist’ Trappings To Survive, A Third Of Poll Respondents Say
“One in three [British] adults responding to an online poll highlighted ‘aloofness’ as a challenge for the artform, and a similar percentage said they thought major classical events only ever happened in [London]. 40% of respondents said concerts need to be performed in more everyday places – such as parks and clubs – for classical music to remain relevant.”
Meet The Bright (And Popular) Young Book Critics Of YouTube
“‘BookTubers’ as they are (slightly irritatingly) known, post videoed book reviews on YouTube and many rack up hundreds of thousands – even millions – of views. … Who could have predicted that, in the age of smartphones, video games and constant distraction, a vast audience of young people would be clamouring for broadcast literary coverage?”
Five Versions Of Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ United For First Time – Virtually
“Six of those now-famous paintings survive, five in public collections … Alas for aficionados, those five publicly held Sunflowers are scattered over three continents and have never been seen together. But Thursday morning, their isolation ended, so to speak, when a ‘virtual exhibition’ reunited the Arles Sunflowers on Facebook in a single cyber-gallery – dubbed Sunflowers 360 – creating the illusion that they are hanging in a single space.”
Russian Censors Clear Controversial Film About Last Tsar
Matilda a sumptuous production about the young Nicholas II’s affair with a half-Polish ballerina, has sparked more protests in Russia than any other film since the fall of the USSR. Conservative Orthodox Christians, appalled at the depiction of an illicit (but well-documented) relationship involving a monarch they consider a holy martyr, have been demanding that the film be banned.
Choreographer Pam Tanowitz Wins $50,000 Cage Cunningham Fellowship
“The prize – which comes with $50,000, access to the [Baryshnikov Arts Center’s] John Cage and Merce Cunningham Studio for eight weeks and administrative support to create a new work – goes to an artist who reflects the innovative spirits of Cage and Cunningham, life partners and collaborators who were titans of 20th-century music and dance.”