No, Dostoevsky’s novel is only the second-most popular title among inmates there; Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita is in the top spot, with Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo at number three. The data was released by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service as part of a nationwide government program to encourage reading called “Books Are Your Friends.” – The Moscow Times
Blog
Salzburg Festival Will Happen This Year, And Here’s How They’ll Do It
“A sprawling, 44-day anniversary program has been mostly postponed until next year. It has been replaced with a reduced, 30-day schedule, through Aug. 30, of concerts, plays and two (instead of seven) staged operas.” Artistic director Markus Hinterhäuser says “we have measures for cultural institutions — which are 200 percent necessary — that respect the health of the people working and the audience.” And those measures, it turns out, were designed partly by a baritone-otolaryngologist. – The New York Times
Black Classical Musicians Share Stories Of The Crap They’ve Had To Put Up With
“During my senior year of undergrad, my voice teacher complimented me on my final Mainstage role by saying: ‘You did great! And you don’t even look African-American on stage!'”
“[The language coach] said, ‘Silly me … no ‘decent’ French ever comes from such big lips anyways … Maybe patois, but not Français.'” – WQXR (New York City)
How Earlier Black Classical Musicians Faced (And Faced Down) American Racism
Shirley Verrett: “Maestro Stokowski called. He was embarrassed, but said that it would not be possible for me to sing with the Houston Symphony because the symphony board did not want to use a Negro singer.” (Stokie made it up to her later in Philadelphia.) And then there was the time Jessye Norman was invited to play a maid in a sitcom … – WQXR (New York City)
John Homans, Longtime Editor At New York Magazine And Vanity Fair, Dead At 62
“Because he was not a celebrity editor, he was not particularly well known outside the publishing universe. But let us assure you, because we saw it firsthand: There was nobody quite like him. A disproportionate number of the best things you ever read in New York came through his hands. .. We’ve invited his colleagues at New York, past and present, to talk about him. Here’s John in their words.” (And here’s a similar piece from his colleagues at Vanity Fair.) – New York Magazine
Washington Ballet Loses Another Executive Director
In a statement that also announced the cancellation of all remaining 2020 performances (including The Nutcracker), the company revealed that Michael Pastreich is departing after 14 months. He’s the third executive director to resign since Julie Kent succeeded Septime Webre as artistic director in 2016. But a pattern of Washington Ballet CEOs quickly coming and going was established quite some time ago, writes Sarah Kaufman. – The Washington Post
First Indoor Play Approved By Actors’ Equity Won’t Be Indoors After All
Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires was all set to go with a production of playwright David Cale’s one-man play Harry Clarke — the union had given the go-ahead, and the theater had had seats removed and the bathrooms and air conditioning system redesigned to meet COVID safety guidelines. But the state of Massachusetts has refused to waive its ongoing ban on indoor performance. The show will go on, however — in a tent. – The New York Times
As COVID Cases Continue To Rise, South Carolina Reopens Performance Spaces And Cinemas
“Venues newly allowed to reopen to customers include movie theaters, auditoriums, stadiums and performing arts centers. Those represent the last of the business restrictions not rolled back two months ago. However, they must keep capacity at 50 percent or 250 people, whichever is less.” – The Post and Courier (Charleston)
Internet Archive Responds To Publishers’ Copyright Lawsuit Over Lending
Controlled Digital Lending’s essential position is that it’s fine for a nonprofit like the archive or a library to scan a print copy of a book it owns, then lend that digital scan out on a one-copy-per-one-user basis. The print copy is to be unavailable while the digital copy is loaned, meaning that only one copy is out at a time in any format, and an author or publisher has the right to opt out of this by asking. Many rights holders have, indeed, asked to opt out because, as they see it, the user of a loaned digital copy of their book has paid nothing for that loan and this means copyright revenue has gone unpaid. – Publishing Perspectives
Why Racism Is Deeply Built Into Arts Institutional Structures
David Balzer: “Here, I want to go beyond critiquing institutional messaging and superficial pledges towards diversity, equity, and inclusion. Instead, I want to use my experience as the former co-leader of a cultural nonprofit — a white, cis-gender queer who attempted, not always successfully, to change that nonprofit’s relationship to colonialism and white supremacy — to explain why such statements were doomed to fail.” – Hyperallergic