Category: people

“He pleased far more crowds than critics. John S. Wilson, reviewing Mr. Ferguson’s big band at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival for The New York Times, called it ‘screaming’ and ‘strident.’ Yet that same year the readers of Down Beat magazine voted the band the world’s second-best, outranked only by Count Basie’s.”

Ara Guzelimian has been named new dean of Juilliard. Guzelimian comes from Carnegie Hall. “At Juilliard, he said, his emphasis would center on the role of the artist in society, or “the subject of how do you engage in the society around you in the broadest and most unexpected ways, rather than the narrow definition of success for a young dancer, actor or musician.”

Gunther Grass is a fake, writes Christopher Hitchens. “Grass’ many defenders have not asked themselves the question that needs to be posed, which is: Has he at last decided to appeal to the new German readership that is, so to say, a bit fed up with hearing about how dreadful the Nazis were? If this admittedly rather cynical suggestion has any merit, then at least his recent boring writings and operatic confessions would, in combination, make perfect sense. But they would also make absolute nonsense of his previous career as a literary policeman and a patroller of the line of taboo.”

“Umberto Baldini, the director of the conservation studios at the Uffizi Gallery who helped save and restore hundreds of artworks damaged by the famous Arno River flood of 1966, died at his home near Florence on Wednesday.”

“Anne-Sophie Mutter, at 43 one of the world’s most celebrated violinists, and renowned composer and conductor André Previn, 77, have quietly ended their four-year marriage, according to reports from the London Mail on Sunday and United Press International.”

“Bismillah Khan is credited with popularising the shehnai, a wind instrument which can be loosely compared to an oboe, and elevating its status in India. He had the rare distinction of performing as the Indian flag was unfurled at the historic Red Fort in Delhi to mark the country’s independence from Britain in 1947.”

“The Getty Trust, one of the world’s richest cultural and philanthropic organizations, said Friday that David P. Gardner, a former chairman, had agreed to repay approximately $99,000, or about half of the compensation he had received for work on an unfinished book commemorating the trust’s 25th anniversary. The book contract, which was canceled in March, is thought to be part of a continuing investigation by the California attorney general’s office into allegations of financial improprieties at the trust.”

Lech Walesa has accused Gunther Grass of confessing his Nazi past to sell more books. “I can understand a confession from a Christian point of view. We should understand people and help them. But if someone wants to create publicity for himself, I don’t want to be a part of that.” Walesa also has called upon Grass to renounce his honorary Gdansk citizenship.

“Lean Scully amazed her many friends at the Edinburgh International Festival when it was revealed that almost her entire fortune had been left in trust to them as a thank you for decades of enjoyment.
But delight has turned to disappointment after Scully’s relatives emerged to claim the Irish art lover had ‘ignored’ and ‘turned her back on’ her own family.”

“Film critic Roger Ebert suffered another health setback earlier this month, but friends and co-workers of the ‘Ebert & Roeper’ co-host remain guardedly optimistic about his condition. Ebert, who has been hospitalized in Chicago since June, underwent his third surgery in as many months on Aug. 6… Media insiders are buzzing that doctors removed at least part of his jaw and that the critic’s recovery could take many months.”