Graciela Daniele talks about making the dances for her first opera, Rossini’s Armida at the Met. “Rossini? I think it is easy because with all my respect, it’s very light. In fact, when I was working, I thought this is like early Richard Rodgers. I’ve heard this before; is it Show Boat?”
Tag: 04.07.10
Social Contagion Through The Ages (No, We Don’t Mean Venereal Disease)
A series of studies has suggested that obesity, excessive drinking, depression and other behavior-related ills can be “socially contagious,” spreading from friend to friend like a flu virus. Yet, “[l]ong before the advent of germ theory, the word contagion – which means ‘to touch together’ – was sometimes used to refer to the transmission of behaviors and ideas, especially dangerous ones.”
Philippe Braunschweig, 82, Founder Of Prix de Lausanne
A passionate ballet fan and wealthy scion of a Swiss watchmaking family, “Braunschweig seemed less enthusiastic about performances than about his ceaseless campaign to better the lot of aspiring dancers and retired dancers.” So, in 1973, he created the now-famous Prix de Lausanne “with a focus on furthering dancers’ training, offer[ing] scholarships to some of ballet’s leading academies.”
Alberta Ballet’s Latest Pop Star Collaborator: Sarah MacLachlan
“Alberta Ballet artistic director Jean Grand-Maître – who has created successful works based on the music of Joni Mitchell and Elton John – said his collaboration with McLachlan will include music from her new album, The Laws of Illusion, to be released in June.”
Atlanta Symphony Looks Beyond Music World For New Chief
“The heavy odds were for an insider – a career symphonic administrator who’d already led one of the nation’s top orchestras and was looking for a lateral move. Instead, the board of [the ASO] is naming Stanley E. Romanstein, 54, as its new president. For the past nine years he has been president and CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center in St. Paul and has never led a performing arts organization.”
Boston Public Library May Close 7 Branches, Cut 94 Jobs
Another option is to shutter four branches, while a third “would keep all 27 locations open but dramatically slash hours across the board, leaving 18 branches open two or three days a week.” The library, which is facing a $3.6 million budget shortfall, may cut up to 94 jobs.
Vocal Technique, Reconsidered
“Technique isn’t just something that refines your voice into a polished, finished, pretty product, although too many singers and teachers do approach it as if it were a kind of finishing school: polishing the talent, as if painting roses on the cheeks of a porcelain doll. … Technique is something sturdy. It enables you to dig in and get some use out of your instrument.”
Visual Artists To Challenge Google Books In Court
“On Wednesday, the American Society of Media Photographers and other groups representing visual artists plan to file a class-action lawsuit against Google, asserting that the company’s efforts to digitize millions of books from libraries amount to large-scale infringement of their copyrights.”
Neighboring Manholes Ablaze, Jersey Boys Fails To Go On
“Broadway crowds were stunned yesterday when an underground electrical cable sparked an explosion that spewed flames and carbon monoxide into the air — forcing the evacuation of four buildings and canceling a performance of ‘Jersey Boys.'”
Tracing The Painful History Of A Painting Taken By Nazis
Pissarro’s “Rue Saint-Honore,” purchased by Spain from a Swiss art collector in 1993, “has been displayed in a government-run museum near the famed Prado since then and reproduced for sales and promotions.” An 88-year-old Californian, born in Berlin, is suing for the return of the painting the Nazis forced his grandmother to sell.