Jeff Melanson is “a disruptive innovator and so I think it would be safe to say that status quo is not going to be the way the Toronto Symphony moves forward.”
Category: people
Al Feldstein, 81, ‘The Soul Of Mad Magazine’
“He had been a writer and illustrator of comic books when he became editor of Mad four years into its life and just a year after it had graduated from comic-book form to a full-fledged magazine. … Feldstein gave Mad its identity as a smart-alecky, sniggering and indisputably clever spitball-shooter of a publication.”
Seattle Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Dies Suddenly
“The death came as a shock to Jerry Manning’s wide circle of friends and colleagues in Seattle and beyond. In early April he told the Times he expected to recover fully from the operation, and he announced a line-up of plays for the 2014-15 season.”
Actor Bob Hoskins Dead At 71
“In his moments of on-screen rage, he resembled a pink grenade. But he was defined from the outset by a mix of the tough and the tender that served him well throughout his career. … No other actor has a more legitimate claim on the title of the British Cagney.”
Forget ‘The Long Good Friday’ And ‘Mona Lisa’ – This Was Bob Hoskins’s Greatest Performance
“[His] appeal lay in a chirpiness forever on the edge of explosion. Yet his most powerful hour came playing a man with genuinely unsettling intent beneath that cuddly exterior.”
What Eddie Izzard Puts Himself Through, And Why
Not long ago he ran 43 marathons in 51 days; he’s learning Spanish, Russian and Arabic so he can do stand-up comedy in those languages on international tours, and he’s already performing in German and French. (audio)
Terry Teachout Wins $250,000 Bradley Prize
“Terry Teachout has distinguished himself, not just as a first-rate journalist, but as a supporter of the arts,” the Bradley Foundation’s president, Michael W. Grebe, said in a written announcement of the prize, which also cited Teachout’s work as a biographer (books about Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, H.L. Mencken and George Balanchine), a playwright and an opera librettist.
Director Of Royal Ballet School Dies
“Gailene Stock has died aged 68 after suffering from cancer. Born in Australia, she ran the world-renowned school, in Covent Garden, for 15 years.”
The Fatwa On Salman Rushdie, 25 Years Later
“The controversy made Rushdie, for his day, an archetypal man on the run—as Edward Snowden is for ours—and he has spent his life since then trying not to be defined by it.”
Spain Charges Montserrat Caballé With Tax Evasion
The superstar soprano, still not fully retired at age 81, is accused of dodging more than €500,000 in taxes on roughly €2 million in income in 2010 by using the good old tax haven ploy.