The renowned pianist, who was the victim of anti-Jewish invective after he criticized the new Hungarian government’s harsh media laws, says “I am absolutely persona non grata in Hungary now. I don’t believe I’ll ever perform in Hungary again, or even visit.”
Tag: 01.16.10
At Age 10, Miami Contemporary Dance Company Hangs On
In the past year, the troupe “has lost more than $100,000 in funding, three dancers and two administrators and has had to cut from 32 to 21 the number of paid weeks for its six dancers.” Yet founder/director Ray Sullivan’s “combination of serious themes, challenging technique and organizational ability has consistently drawn fine dancers, who usually stay for years.”
How Australia Relies On Its Arts Festivals
“Modern communications might have made the world smaller in many ways, but many arts remain as local as they ever have been. You have to be there to experience them. … Australians rely on festivals to keep in touch with the wider world. … [They] play a crucial role in seeding our collective and individual imaginations, in stirring the cultural pond so it doesn’t sink into stagnation.”
The Connection Between Fame And Hypochondria
“Today we appear to have excelled the hypochondriac cultures of the past by elevating the morbidly self-involved to the level of paragon. Hollywood has long been the land of fixed teeth and busts, blurred hairlines and effaced waistlines. But fame increasingly consists in a state of almost constant near-collapse.”
An Ouster Exposes The Fault Lines In Getty Management
When J. Paul Getty Trust President James Wood requested museum director Michael Brand’s resignation, the move disturbed “the very waters Brand and Wood were hired to calm. But more alarming to some observers is that Brand’s resignation suggests the Getty has failed to resolve a tension inherent in its management structure from its earliest days.”
American Arts Respond To The Haitian Crisis
The same night George Clooney hosts a two-hour telethon on multiple networks, “Washington’s Kennedy Center will donate proceeds from a National Symphony Orchestra concert,” aiming “to raise about $100,000 in ticket sales for the Haiti Relief and Development Fund of the American Red Cross.”
How Gabby Sidibe Transformed Herself Into Precious
“‘My psychology training gave me knowledge of what a victim looks like,’ she explains, and demonstrates by curbing her animated gestures and shrinking into herself, hunching her shoulders, taking up less space in the room, and pulling down the shutters on a face that had previously been so open and quick to smile. Her eyes look dead, her mouth sullen, and she looks ugly, overweight and alienated from a body that only seconds before she had seemed totally at ease with.”
Who Wrote Shakespeare’s Plays? There’s A New Candidate, And She’s Not Who You’d Think
“The nominee is a complete shocker: Amelia Bassano Lanier, a converso (clandestine Jew) and the illegitimate daughter of an Italian-born, Elizabethan court musician.”
TV Toes A Tricky Line In Covering Haiti Earthquake
“In a disaster this huge, television reporters are the heralds of the fund-raising effort. News organizations repeatedly let people know how and where to donate money for Haiti, … [Yet the] line between compassion and self-congratulation is thin on television; in a calamity this vast and acute, many viewers flinch at any sign of reportorial showboating.”
Cleveland Orchestra Musicians Plan Strike As Negotiations Continue
“On Saturday, [the players and management] announced a mediated bargaining session beginning noon Monday. But while a resolution could come from that meeting, a spokesman for the musicians said the artists are still operating under their previously-stated plan to strike if a new accord is not reached before midnight Sunday.”