Category: people

“No American novelist knows his craft better than Philip Roth. But in the past decade, as he turned out a series of masterworks and became, at 70, a bestseller all over again, Roth apprenticed at a literary form that was new to him: the eulogy.” Four close friends died in quick succession, leaving Roth meditating on his own mortality. The pain became the backdrop for his latest novel, which focuses on the death of its title character, Everyman.

Hilma Wolitzer has a new novel out, and that, in itself, qualifies as news. Wolitzer, who was one of the more celebrated authors of the 1980s and early ’90s, went through a series of personal tragedies following the publication of her last novel in 1994, and simply stopped writing fiction. She seems almost embarrassed by the 12-year bout of writer’s block, but the malaise came to an abrupt end last year, when the main character in her new book sprang to life in her head.

“There is, accidentally, a sort of mini-Sondheim festival taking place around Britain at the moment… The revivals reveal the range of Sondheim’s concerns: from the motivations of the men and women who assassinate American presidents to the opening up of Japan; from the psychological power of fairy-tales to the travails of art. It is this kind of list that leads to Sondheim being branded ‘difficult’, but he isn’t really. He smuggles intellectual concerns into musicals, but they remain first and foremost musicals, full of light, life and colour, with songs that may not be traditionally catchy but have a remarkable way of winding themselves into your mind and heart.”

This month, Andrew Litton will conduct his final concerts as music director of the Dallas Symphony. His 12-year tenure with the orchestra has been rocky at times, and in recent years he has clashed openly with local critics and the DSO’s president, but he is also credited with keeping the orchestra in the recording business at a time when most other American ensembles couldn’t buy a record deal. The DSO has also had a lot of turnover in the last decade, and “Litton has hired a third of the DSO’s current roster of musicians. That may be his greatest achievement.”

“When people make lists of prominent, Chicago-spawned writers, the name Sarah Ruhl doesn’t typically appear. Even though it should… At the age of just 32, Ruhl already has become a leading American playwright — nationally known and widely admired for her ability to mix a warm, empathetic kind of realism with flights of post-modern fancy. She has rabid fans — especially among women — who happen to have some of the most powerful jobs in the American theater.” But success doesn’t come easy in Chicago, and Ruhl didn’t have much luck getting work in her hometown, to the extent that she eventually moved away. And became a star.

“No American conductor of his generation is more formidably gifted [than Andrew Litton.] He’s a quick study with a score, and he has a keen ear. He’s a skilled and attentive accompanist. And no conductor anywhere speaks more naturally, more engagingly, with audiences. But facility may also be Mr. Litton’s weakness. One musician has likened him to a certain kind of pianist who can sight-read any score, note perfectly, but rarely goes much beneath the surface. The DSO’s most eloquent and finely detailed performances have tended to come from other conductors. Criticisms of superficiality have dogged Mr. Litton’s career, and not only in Dallas.”

California State University faculty are protesting a decision to take back former Getty director Barry Muintz back on the staff at a salary of $160,000. “Has the CSU administration been living under a rock the last eight months? They are using public money and playing with it like it’s Monopoly money. Fees at CSU have gone up 76 percent. … To pay him a salary that exceeds the highest salary at the university — and have him teach one class — offends everyone.”

Bono will be the guest editor of the May 16 issue of the UK newspaper the Independent as part of a media fundraiser to raise money for Red, the singer’s initiative to tackle Aids in Africa. “The newspaper has also agreed to donate half of its revenues for the issue a week on Tuesday to the Product Red cause.”

He was convinced that for a society to be not merely affluent but livable (an important distinction now all but lost) it had to put more political and economic power in the hands of people who exercised very little of it.

“Leighton studied at Tufts University and Boston College, receiving degrees in chemical engineering and journalism, before beginning his writing career at Women’s Wear Daily, in 1951. In 1955, he moved to The Voice, which carried his byline until 2004. His honors during his Voicetenure included two ASCAP/Deems Taylor Awards and a letter of distinction from the American Music Center. He also wrote for Musical America and Travel + Leisure.”