Category: today’s top story

Filmmakers say “3-D will affect much more than whether a filmgoer picks up a pair of glasses: It will change what films get made, and even the very nature of cinematic storytelling.”

“It’s not just that audiences, especially in London, seem more enthused by adventurous programmes than for decades … [There’s] an exciting new breed of young composers who are genuinely impassioned about communicating with the wider public and capable of creating dazzling scores.” Not to mention the resurgence of Britain’s regional orchestras, the rise of gifted young conductors, and the still-vigorous choral tradition.

“The threat, submitted as a cluster of budget amendments, would withhold the $2.4 million the Boston Public Library expects to receive from the state next year. If the amendments pass, the city, in order to receive the funding, would have to keep open all its 26 library branches in some capacity, regardless of staffing levels, layoffs, or hours of operation.”

Staff at a Philadelphia-area theater company producing Neal LaBute’s “play that audaciously examines the way people who are not overweight perceive people who are” were surprised at the issues that arose as they searched for an actress to play the heroine. “How do you call someone and ask, Are you fat? Very carefully.”

“To the extent that we are now designing brand-new cities at all, they tend to be marked more by wariness and anxiety — particularly about looming environmental disaster, terror attacks and global epidemics — than sweeping optimism. If Brasilia embraced the future, in other words, today’s cities seem to be on guard against it.”

“An obscure upstate theater group that receives far more state aid than any of New York’s world-renowned cultural institutions is rife with corruption, mismanagement, nepotism and possibly illegal conduct, according to a scathing report released on Tuesday by the state inspector general’s office.”

Aleksandra Kurzak is one of many musicians whose ability to travel has been challenged by the volcanic ash cloud. “Last heard, the Dutch Nieuw Ensemble was stuck in Hong Kong, the Asko Ensemble wasn’t leaving New York anytime soon, the Ensemble Modern was still in Istanbul and the Dresden Philharmonic was stranded on the Spanish island of Mallorca….”

“A $17.8 billion state budget passed by the Georgia House last week would wipe out the arts council, which supports the arts statewide, administers grants and maintains the State Art Collection. … Georgia could be the only state without an arts council recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, unless the Senate restores funding cut by the House.”

“When musicians, board members, and administrators return from concerts in Asia, they’ll be barely over jet lag as they begin grappling with these big, who-are-we-anyway? questions.”

“In an interview with The Aspen Times on Thursday afternoon, [Alan] Fletcher said that a meeting of festival trustees and faculty is likely to be held in around two weeks’ time, at which a vote will be proposed to weigh in on whether Fletcher should continue in the position he has held since early 2006.”