Category: people

“Nicholas Serota is stepping down as director of the Tate after 28 years in charge to be the next chairman of Arts Council England. The timing of the move next February, … months after the opening of a new wing of Tate Modern (Switch House) will come as a surprise to many although there has been speculation … that such a move was on the cards.”

“Uncommonly versatile, Botha shone in roles ranging from Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio to main figures in works by Verdi, Wagner, and Richard Strauss. … Over a nearly 30-year career, he appeared on most of the world’s top stages including La Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the State Opera in Vienna, where he made his home.”

“Braunstein was a purveyor of contemporary art when there was little market for it in the Bay Area, and an early champion of such artists as painters John Altoon and Mary Snowden. She was particularly supportive of artists who worked in clay, taking the so-called “craft” medium of ceramics seriously and building an audience for the work of Peter Voulkos, Richard Shaw and Robert Brady, among others.”

“He composes, he travels, he coaches young musicians in their performances of 30-year-old scores. Asked whether he has any plans to retire — like his fellow octogenarian, the novelist Philip Roth — Reich professes to not quite understand the question.”

“Like today’s tech moguls, Guglielmo Marconi was heavily contested by some of his rivals. Like them, he rose above the fray by sheer determination, as well as talent, luck and vision. But more than any of today’s icons – more than Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and the rest – Marconi was uniquely at the center of the communication revolution of his time.”

“Smart-Grosvenor first gained widespread attention in 1970 with the publication of her book Vibration Cooking or, The Travel Notes of Geechee Girl. Later she would gain even greater fame as a regular contributor to NPR and host of her own television cooking show.” (Among her many other gigs: backup singer for Sun Ra.)

“Mr. Butor objected to being characterized as a member of the nouveau roman movement, although he shared a publisher … [with] leading figures in the school. His novels shared certain characteristics with theirs – a cameralike detachment, an indifference to psychology, a preoccupation with physical details and the instability of human perception – but he took a more philosophical and political approach.”

Pyotr Pavlensky – the man who literally sewed his lips shut to protest the Pussy Riot trial, nailed his scrotum to Red Square, and set fire to the headquarters of Russia’s secret service as an art project – is being honored by the St. Petersburg branch of the fast food chain with a series of special-edition hamburgers named for his most famous stunts projects.

“David would only be caught doing mundane things if it’s what he was actually doing. He’d never play up to the camera. It just turned out that it was just morning to night, he’s in the studio and he’s like that since he was a child, working and working on the studio. That’s all he does, he’s a hardcore artist.”

“Javier asks if I’d like to see his garden. He keeps one on the roof of the marquis of the Richard Rodgers theater, so that he could be alone for a few minutes on performance days, and so that he could watch things grow.”