Over the course of his career, Gershwin was praised and criticized in equal measure for his willingness to borrow and fuse musical elements from various cultural and ethnic realms. He regularly tapped into the aesthetic values and popular tastes of his surroundings, in an attempt to compose works that would connect with as broad a public as possible. This approach to composition produced mixed results. – Times Literary Supplement
Tag: 02.24.20
The New Choreography For ‘West Side Story’ Misses What Made Jerome Robbins’s Dances So Essential, Says NY Times Dance Critic
“That’s because what Robbins created wasn’t just a series of dances, however peerless, but an overarching view of how, beyond anything else, movement could tell a story,” writes Gia Kourlas. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s choreography for Ivo van Hove’s new Broadway staging “is part of a larger vision that renders it extraneous or, worse, inconsequential.” – The New York Times
Baltimore Symphony, In Debt, With Unhappy Musicians And Losing Its Music Director, Asks For $15M To Expand
Recommendations of the task force, created last spring to examine ways to staunch the BSO’s losses, include obtaining an extra $5.5 million through 2026 from the state government, which last year promised and later withdrew emergency funding of $1.6 million. The BSO also will attempt to increase gifts from private donors by $10 to $15 million over the next three years. The extra cash would be used to create new programs designed to increase the orchestra’s presence statewide and to provide for a 52-week performing season, which has been a demand of — and flashpoint for — the musicians union. – Baltimore Sun
Polonium, The Opera: Work About Poisoning Of Alexander Litvinenko Is Coming
The Life & Death of Alexander Litvinenko, with music by Anthony Bolton and a libretto by Kit Hesketh-Harvey based on the book Death of a Dissident by Litvinenko’s widow, premieres this July at Grange Park Opera in England. Reporter Mark Brown talks to Marina Litvinenko, Anthony Bolton, and Grange Park director Wasfi Kani. – The Guardian
Arts Venues Is Britain May Be Required By Law To Protect Against Terrorism
“Home Office officials are to launch a consultation on legally forcing organisations to increase physical security at venues and train staff to respond to terrorist attacks, as well as putting in place incident response plans – and how failure to comply would be enforced.” – The Guardian
Has Anything Really Changed In Hollywood Since The Harvey Weinstein Case Broke? Actually, Yes
“Structural problems, such as Hollywood’s persistent lack of women in positions of power and key creative roles, will take years to adequately address. Still, on top of the specific changes to industry practices, advocates say there’s a strong sense that the underlying standards of behavior toward women in the industry have changed in significant ways.” Here are five ways in which progress has been real. – Los Angeles Times
Langston Hughes, Spanish Civil War Correspondent
“The Baltimore Afro-American newspaper sent him abroad to write ‘trench-coat prose’ about black Americans volunteering in the International Brigades. … Hughes’s 22 articles covered an angle no one else in the world was focused on as companies such as the Abraham Lincoln and Washington Brigades were not only integrated but featured Negro commanders leading white troops.” – Literary Hub
Merce in Three Dimensions
Alla Kovgan’s new film Cunningham not only shoots its dancers in three dimensions, but collages historic, two-dimensional black-and-white images in smaller sizes on the screen, often overlaid with print. This practice allows us to choose (or stumble upon) those visions most meaningful to us, or to accept multiplicity and not worry about what we didn’t see. – Deborah Jowitt
Neuroscientists Study Blind Pianist’s Brain And Discover How It Rewired Itself
“Pretty remarkable. His entire brain is stimulated by music. His visual cortex is activated throughout. It seems like his brain is taking that part of the tissue that’s not being stimulated by sight and using it or maybe helping him to perceive music with it. It’s sort of borrowing that part of the brain and rewiring it to help him hear music.” – People
When Filmmakers Make Films In Languages They Don’t Speak Well
“It is a truth universally acknowledged in world cinema that a celebrated auteur, making their first film outside their native tongue, must be preparing a dud.” But is it actually true? Well, there are a few success stories such as Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth and Alps in Greek, then The Lobster and Oscar-winner The Favourite in English), but only a few. – The Guardian