Category: people

After a singing career that included more than 300 performances at the Metropolitan Opera and 60 appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, he served from 1991 to 2001 as general director of Fort Worth Opera, where he stabilized the company’s finances and revived its flagging reputation.

The 112-year-old academy announced Monday that Streep and conductor James Levine had been elected to a special category, established in 1983, for ‘Americans of great distinction in the arts whose work falls outside the traditional departments’ of music (composition), literature and art.” Nine others, including Francine Prose, Thom Mayne and Marilynne Robinson, were made members in the regular way.

“The service included Fugue For Tinhorns from Guys and Dolls – which Redgrave had always wanted to be played at his funeral – and a recording of him singing Goodbye from his 1969 film Oh! What A Lovely War.”

“I was in fifth grade at a parochial school in Texas, and the nun brought in some shellacked records. She put on Puccini love duets with James Melton and Licia Albanese and I was gone. The other 29 kids in the class were sleeping, throwing spitballs, reading comic books and being tortured while I loved it instantly.”

“Saskatchewan-born Spohr earned his place in Canada’s cultural pantheon by transforming the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) from a struggling provincial troupe into a company that won medals, ovations and critical plaudits in major capitals around the world.”

“The old, overstuffed Franco Zeffirelli production was trotted out for the last time and the Met went into opera factory mode, which meant very few rehearsals. The backstage gossip is that Slatkin arrived unprepared. But unprepared for what?”

Slatkin writes that: “Realizing that my credibility as a Verdian might be questioned, I decided never to reveal [to the orchestra] that this score was new to me.” Note to bloggers: Posting sensitive information on the Internet is not generally the best way to keep it a secret.

“Acclaimed Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa said Friday he was recovering well from cancer but decided to cancel more engagements to concentrate on treatment.”

“Solway and his late first wife, Susan Graves, founded the period instrument baroque orchestra in 1978. Although they left the ensemble, it is today considered one of Canada’s most important cultural institutions, performing in more than 50 concerts a year, both at its Toronto base and around the world.”