Category: people

“While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out,” said a statement from the series’s producers at 20th Century Fox. “We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.” – The Washington Post

The 36-year-old actor, a star of the Fox series Empire, received an outpouring of national attention and sympathy after he was reported to have been violently attacked in Chicago by two white men shouting anti-black and anti-hay epithets. After the police found and interviewed the ostensible attackers, who turned out to be two Nigerian-American brothers, and collected additional evidence, they arrested Smollett, alleging that he concocted the entire thing. – Vulture

“The cathedral had commissioned the sculptor Martin Jennings to create a statue of Austen for its inner close … [But] residents and local groups submitted ‘a barrage of criticism’ in response to the plans. ‘There is a strong body of opinion that rejects the idea of another Jane Austen statue anywhere, or any statue at all in the cathedral close,’ wrote one resident.” – The Guardian

“In addition to his fourteen operas, he composed song cycles, choral pieces and musical monodramas, establishing himself as one of the most adept practitioners of text-setting within his generation of American composers. Though his polystylistic idiom ranges from opulent Romanticism to acerbic dissonance, his melodic lines are unfailingly well suited both to the voice and to the straightforward delivery of the words.” – Opera News

“If the Monkees were a manufactured version of the Beatles, a ‘prefab four’ who auditioned for a rock-and-roll sitcom and were selected more for their long-haired good looks than their musical abilities, Mr. Tork was the group’s Ringo, its lovably goofy supporting player.” – The Washington Post

“She was perhaps the best known and most prolific advocate for classical music the Twin Cities has ever known. … She wrote erudite and witty program notes for the Minnesota Orchestra for 33 years while serving as the orchestra’s principal speaker, which meant giving 60 speeches a year, some of them on radio and television but most of them in the form of pre-concert talks at Orchestra Hall, a format she pioneered.” – MinnPost (Minneapolis)

“Ms. Ferreira, who sang in English, French and Spanish as well as in Portuguese, began acting when she was a child and continued performing well into her 90s … Her voice was powerful and protean, capable of making material identified with artists like Édith Piaf and Frank Sinatra entirely her own.” And she made history as Brazil’s first Eliza Doolittle and Dolly Levi. – The New York Times

Lagerfeld made the leap from fashion-industry stalwart to pop-culture icon when he was appointed creative director of Chanel, showing his first couture collection in January 1983. It’s a sign of his transformative influence that few remember that Chanel was in genteel decline at the time, adrift since the death of its eponymous founder in 1971. Lagerfeld gave the ailing Parisian label an adrenaline shot to the heart, cunningly remixing the house’s classic looks for a younger, more international clientele.  – The Atlantic

“He has been one of the primary architects of the contemporary art world, and has also opted out of its social trappings entirely. For decades, he has divided his time between quiet towns along the East Coast and a remote retreat designed by Philip Johnson in St. Martin. Now, he rarely leaves Connecticut. The curator John Elderfield has called him ‘the hermit of Sharon.'” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine