Category: people

Nico Muhly is not your standard issue composer. The New Yorker gained notoriety for helping Icelandic pop star Björk realize some of her unconventional musical ideas, and the experience seems to have informed his entire compositional style. “Muhly moves readily between the classical avant-garde and indie-pop worlds, interacting with the likes of Laurie Anderson and Grizzly Bear. He swoons not just to a Benjamin Britten passacaglia, but also to Final Fantasy. The distinction in his mind comes not so much from the music, but the scenes surrounding each.”

Civil charges concerning looted art have been dropped against Marion True. But “the more serious criminal trial against True, 58, will continue. The announcement came after a subdued ceremony in Rome’s Ministry of Culture, where Getty officials confirmed their August pledge to return 40 of the 46 ancient artworks that Italy has claimed were looted and smuggled out of the country before being purchased by the Getty.”

“As of today, painter Joan Snyder is a MacArthur Foundation anointed ‘genius,’ and there’s just one modest request she has: Could the institutions that own her paintings please put them on display? ‘At least two major museums in New York own my work, and it sits in the basement,’ she said, referring to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. ‘And now the Guggenheim has one, and I hope they hang it.’ “

Jazz violinist Regina Carter, a MacArthur winner last year, is at work on several projects and says she’s put her money away, but she’s also “had to deal with people from her past trying to put the touch on her and show presenters trying to knock down her usual fee.” And playwright Sarah Ruhl? She says she’s using the cash to pay babysitters.

“Albert Fuller, an influential harpsichordist, conductor, teacher and author, and the founder of two important early music organizations, the Aston Magna Foundation for Music and the Humanities and the Helicon Foundation, died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan.”

“The soprano Dawn Upshaw, the playwright Lynn Nottage, the writer Stuart Dybek and the installation artist Whitfield Lovell are among the 24 recipients of this year’s $500,000 ‘genius awards,’ to be announced today by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.”

Banksy, the mysterious graffiti artist who has gone from underground street phenomenon to darling of collectors including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, has been embroiled in an eBay scandal.

“Ken Danby, recognized as one of the world’s foremost realist artists and best-known in Canada for his iconic hockey painting, At The Crease, has died at the age of 67 while canoeing in Algonquin Park.”

Marceau wasn’t just a mime, he was an actor. “This wasn’t an exercise in merely imitating physical action. No, this was an entire play, made up of the same complex characterizations and emotional depth as a script by Arthur Miller … the only difference being that Marceau played all the roles and never said a word.”

“Glenn Gould has been dead for almost exactly 25 years, and some of his less endearing enthusiasms have been so thoroughly forgiven that many of his fans know nothing about them.”