Category: people

“When the playing of his three colleagues – all Austrian exiles – threatened to become too sweet, Lovett could be relied on to bring them back to the right side of good taste with a finely drawn phrase from his Stradivarius instrument.” – The Guardian

Mark Swed: “I’ve never heard a cellist make the instrument sing quite the way Harrell did. Despite his impressive physical presence — he had been an athlete in his youth and traded football for music — his sound was not particularly loud and never penetrating. He was anything but pushy when it came to the limelight. Rather, his way was to rely on the sheer persuasion of song and personality.” – Los Angeles Times

She made her Metropolitan Opera debut at age 23 and sang 54 roles there over 42 years, becoming one of the most beloved singers within the company. Perhaps most notable among the many operas she sang at other houses was Samuel Barber’s Vanessa: she created the role of Erika in the opera’s premiere, and almost 50 year’s later she sang that character’s grandmother. What’s more, at age 81 she made her Broadway debut. – The Washington Post

Horchow was the first retailer to sell high-end goods by mail-order catalog — without first opening a bricks-and-mortar store on the street to establish its reputation with buyers. He was so successful, he sold his mail-order outfit to the store that had hired him and inspired him: Neiman Marcus. Then he went on to win a Tony Award producing his very first show, which became a world-wide success. And this was when only one out of every 22 Broadway shows ever made its money back. – Art & Seek (KERA)

Buffman produced everyone, including Elizabeth Taylor in The Little Foxes (it was a hit) and Muhammed Ali in Buck White (it was a memorable flop). But he “was even busier in Florida than on Broadway. Starting in 1962, he produced shows at the Coconut Grove Playhouse (which he owned) in Miami; the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale; the Jackie Gleason Performing Arts Center in Miami Beach; the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando; and Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.” – The New York Times

Idir trained to be a geologist, but “his life took a twist in 1973 when he was called up as a last-minute replacement on the radio to sing ‘A Vava Inouva.’ It was a lullaby with the ‘rich oral traditions’ of the Berber culture and became a beloved song in the country” – and he continued to give voice to Berber and Kabyle culture from then on. – The Washington Post (AP)

Allen was a Nigerian drummer who perhaps didn’t invent Afrobeat but certainly popularized it and took it everywhere. “Allen’s swirl of jazz, Yoruba and highlife was unlike anything the world had ever heard: a full-body polyrhythmic workout that would give most drummers sore wrists just thinking of it.” – The Guardian (UK)

Jonas ran the English National Opera and the Bavarian State Opera in his career, emphasizing “bold interpretive approaches to the great yet elusive and multilayered operas of the past.” And he changed the options for opera houses’ rotations: “He championed overlooked 20th-century works, reached out to living composers and presented many premieres. Yet he also made the case that Baroque operas were not just fare for early-music aficionados but also compelling music dramas.” – The New York Times

Choreographer Paul Taylor once wrote of McGehee, “She is basically a lyric dancer but she can turn into a spark-ejecting demonette when cast in dramatic roles.” She taught the Graham technique for many years after she retired from dancing herself. – The New York Times

Davies was also a fierce advocate for the art form at the Photographers’ Gallery, intended to be democratic in its shows and its audiences. “School parties were encouraged, as were discussion groups, which extended to monthly meetings of the Unemployed Photographers’ Club, formed following layoffs at Times Newspapers in 1991. Sue had rejected her first choice of name – The Photography Gallery – for a reason: she wanted to create a space where photographers felt at home, surrounded by photographs.” – The Guardian (UK)