Category: today’s top story

Approached the wrong way criticism is an inherently arrogant and narcissistic pursuit, yet what I’m left with, increasingly, is how humbling it is. It’s hard to get a review right for yourself, let alone for anyone reading it later. It’s even harder to be an artist worth writing and reading about, because so much conspires against even an inspired artist’s bravest efforts.

“Now, more than halfway through the festival’s 62nd season, music seems to have regained the upper hand. While passions remain high, the fighting has stopped.”

“Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic societies. Our findings suggest that members of WEIRD societies are among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans.”

“One of Gao Qiang and Zhen’s exhibits shows multiple Maos aiming rifles at Jesus. Another features Hitler and Saddam Hussein. They don’t consider themselves dissidents, just artists seeking the truth.”

Conductor Simone Young: “It’s not enough that a woman is a great pianist – excitement is generated in the media by the odd fact that she keeps wolves. … We, the musicians and artists, must find some way to make the story be about what we do … rather than the story of who we are or how we became who we are.”

“If innovative theater is going to change the way we think or pave the way for such, we need an environment that supports it and understands it. How are theaters supposed to go out and do work that they know will alienate 95% of the general population? What’s their incentive to be brave?”

“Donald Rosenberg, 56, claimed in the lawsuit that the orchestra lobbied The Plain Dealer to replace him as orchestra reviewer because he frequently panned its conductor, Franz Welser-Moest.” The jury voted 8-0 against the age discrimination and defamation claims and 7-1 against the interference claim.

An American attorney living in the city has recruited squads of volunteers, Italian and foreign, to “clean up after graffiti artists who have swathed the city’s palazzos and piazzas in tentacles of spray paint.” But some Romans see all that spray paint as continuing a local tradition that stretches back to antiquity – and reclaims their city from the tourist hordes.

“New York is the ideal city from which to explore the question of what happens to the arts when private money runs the show. As with so many other things in the city, whatever you’re seeking you can probably find it, but you have to be able to pay for it. Art here is eye-wateringly, and often prohibitively, expensive.”