“American violin virtuoso Joshua Bell was named music director of the world-renowned Academy of St Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra on Friday, replacing Sir Neville Marriner, who founded it half a century ago.”
Tag: 05.27.11
Publishers Preparing Digital Script Archive
“Publishing houses Bloomsbury and Faber and Faber are to launch an online digital archive giving access to more than 2,000 years of drama. Drama Online, which will launch in October 2012, will offer access to digital versions of plays ranging from Greek dramas to recent hits.”
A Dance Critic Watches A Military Changing Of The Guard
“Like so many great romantic moments in the arts, it begins with the tolling of a bell. The sound dies. Hushed anticipation. Finally, the soldier makes his entrance – no ordinary recruit, but the relief commander of the 3rd U.S. Infantry, taking part in the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.”
New Online Exchange For Recycling Sets And Costumes
“With the tag line ‘giving your unwanted set a new home’, Set-exchange.co.uk has been launched with the aim of encouraging production companies to share unwanted sets, costumes and props with other theatre organisations across the UK for free.”
Met Opera HD Broadcasts A Big Hit In Latin America
“Opera simulcasts around Latin America are often sold out, and in Mexico City, the Met operas have been [a major] success with people of all ages … During a recent Mexico City showing of Il Trovatore, all 6,500 seats [at the National Auditorium] were sold out at $3.50 to $35 each.”
The Soul And Rock Mecca In The Alabama Sticks
Muscle Shoals “wasn’t in New York or Chicago or Philadelphia, or indeed in any major conurbation. It was 780 miles away in the middle of nowhere in Alabama, a state where, up to 1955, black people couldn’t even use the same bus as white folks.” Yet the studio founded there 50 years ago became “a recording centre that was to cater for everybody from Aretha Franklin to The Osmonds, from Bob Dylan to Paul Simon and from Etta James to the Rolling Stones.”
Antique Chinese Painting Becomes A Metaphor For Taiwan-Mainland Relations
“The 660-year-old scroll, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, is considered one of the masterpieces of Chinese painting … For decades a crucial section of the scroll has been sitting in a museum in mainland China, while the majority of the painting is on display at Taiwan’s National Palace Museum. Next week, the museums on both sides of the Strait of Taiwan will bring the sections of the scroll together for the first time in 360 years.”
E-Books Do Not Portend The Death Of Literacy, Folks
Irshad Manji: “A few days ago, Amazon.com announced that for the first time ever, it’s selling more e-books than paper ones. … ‘Sad,’ a colleague of mine grumbled at hearing the news. ‘Welcome to the suicide of a literate society.’ Wrong. It’s the reverse.”
Why “American Idol” Gets Snubbed By The Emmys
“Coming off what is arguably its biggest season ever, Idol has never been better poised for Emmy accolades. But the academy must stop punishing the show for being hugely popular.”
How Migration Powers The Wealth Of The World
“If rich countries were to admit enough migrants from poor countries to expand their own labour forces by a mere 3%, the world would be richer, according to one estimate, by $356 billion a year. Completely opening borders would add an astonishing $39 trillion over 25 years to the global economy. That is more than 500 times the amount the rich world spends on foreign aid each year. Migration is the most effective tool yet devised for reducing global poverty.”