Creshevsky studied composition with some modern legends, but he “found his calling in the studio-bound world of electronic music. Using the prevailing technologies of the day — at first cutting and splicing magnetic tape, later using samplers and digital audio workstations — he made music that was dizzyingly complex in its conception and construction. But because he built his works from everyday sounds as well as voices and instruments, his compositions felt accessible, engaging and witty.” – The New York Times
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A Glimpse Inside Hanukkah Related Medieval Manuscripts
Illuminated manuscripts are, well, filled with light. For instance: “A full-page rendering of a menorah surrounded by Temple implements, in color and gold.” – LitHub
Sure, There Are Zillions Onscreen, But Nutcracker Season Doesn’t Feel Real This Year
And that’s a problem for the future. The Nutcracker is “the production that helps make a lot of others possible. That holiday ballet can account for 20% of many companies’ ticket sales, and, in the case of a major company like Chicago’s Joffrey, about half of its annual earned revenue. Ashley Wheater, the artistic director of The Joffrey, told us the company has lost more than $12 million in earnings during the pandemic and has had to cancel newer works they had planned.” – NPR
The Movie Theatre Is Dead; Long Live The Movie Theatre
Sorry, multiplexes: It’s the indies that will survive. “To put it bluntly, people who just want to gobble popcorn while gaping at the latest special-effects extravaganza … will be happy enough doing so in their basements and living rooms, whereas folks who appreciate the theatrical experience as the communal, quasi-religious ceremony that it is will be back.” – Oregon ArtsWatch
Barcelona Gives Same-Day Testing For Concertgoers A Try
More than 1000 people gathered for the experiment: Take a same-day, 15-minute antigen test, and then enjoy a concert. In this case, the concert was a free, indoor, rock and roll experiment wherein 500 people got to enjoy the music while the other 500 are serving as a control group. “The crowd reveled in the newfound freedom, dancing closely together and jostling one another for a bit of fun.” – Seattle Times (AP)
When Corporate High Streets Collapse, Perhaps ‘Craft Beer Social Democracy’ Can Have A Turn
Urban planning is having a bit of a hard time with Covid-19 hitting Britain’s corporate-driven main streets and malls – but better spaces are possible, says critic Owen Hatherley, when small crafts get involved. “The notion of community wealth building, rather than disconnected projects, is so important.” – The Guardian (UK)
Movie Musicals Like ‘The Prom’ Do A Massive Disservice To The Shows’ Stage Actors
The movie, which premiered on streaming December 11, is an ode to the power of Broadway. Its journey from stage to screen, though, “underscores the inequities underneath the surface of Hollywood’s shiny stage musical adaptations, which often leave the original cast members hanging — and render invisible the work they’ve done to make the production what it is in the process.”- Los Angeles Times
Othella Dallas, Who Kept The Flame Of Katherine Dunham’s Dance Technique Burning, 95
Dallas taught Dunham’s dance style, “a polyrhythmic style rooted in early Black dance that Dunham developed through her ethnographic research in the Caribbean in the 1930s,” well into her 90s at her studio in Basel, Switzerland. “You feel it like a religion. … It’s in our bloodline. You live with it when you teach it. You respect it. And then you give it to someone else, so they may have the honor of teaching it and seeing the genius of Dunham.” – The New York Times
US Senator Mike Lee Blocks Legislation To Create Smithsonian Women’s, Latinx Museums
“The last thing we need,” Lee said, “is to further divide an already divided nation with an array of segregated, separate-but-equal museums for hyphenated identity groups.” – NPR
How NY Bars And Restaurants Found Ways To Start The Music Again
Birdland, and a number of other noted jazz clubs and piano bars across the city, were quietly offering live performances again, arguing that the performers were playing “incidental” music for diners, and that the music was therefore permitted by the pandemic-era guidelines set by the State Liquor Authority. – The New York Times