In what is the orchestra’s first trip abroad since March and possibly the first overseas tour by any European orchestra since the pandemic began, the Philharmoniker, 100-odd-strong, are performing in four Japanese cities under Valery Gergiev’s baton, traveling in their own segregated buses and train cars. – Kyodo News (Japan)
Author: Matthew Westphal
A Dance Critic On The Dancing In The Streets When The Election Was Called
Gia Kourlas: “Last weekend, the explosion of dance — which overtook social media, making it seem like it was happening everywhere — was a celebration of community. But for those of us in the dance world it emphasized another point: While the pandemic will continue to prevent public performances for what now looks to be another year or so, dance is still alive in the world. … Dancing is not just about moving your body, but reclaiming it — and with that, your faith in the world.” – The New York Times
Why Engage?
When we investigate the disconnect between what we are doing with our art and what we might do, we become aware of who has been left out of what we present, preserve and protect, what has been disregarded, who does or does not benefit using our current model, and who has been harmed by our decisions. – A guest post by Penny Brill
The Dance World Is Making Peace With This Online Class Business
“In the time between COVID-19’s first worrisome appearance in the U.S. and, for many, months of shelter-in-place orders, dancers and teachers alike found their opinions of online learning shifting: from outright resistance, initially, to begrudging acceptance, to — for some — actual enthusiasm.” – Dance Magazine
Playing Tetris With Patron Seating And Whack-A-Mole With Problems: How Front-Of-House Staff Reopened UK Theatres Under COVID
Before the latest lockdown, “it was all looking so hopeful. Reopening theatres after seven months was never going to be easy, but big and small teams across the country had been rising to the challenge and welcoming audiences back with gusto.” Here’s a look at how the ways they went about it. – The Stage
British Museum Initiative Documents Vanishing Traditional Skills Worldwide
“Centuries-old practices and traditions across communities worldwide that might be lost forever — from bee keeping in Kenya to creating the Dalai Lama’s clothes — are being quietly supported and documented online through the British Museum’s Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (EMKP).” – The Art Newspaper
With Hollywood Idled By The Virus, East Asia’s Film Industries Are Stepping Up
China has now overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest movie market. South Koreans watch more films per capita than any other nation (and they made Parasite). Vietnam has more than 100 million people, a growing industry, and (with COVID-19 largely contained) open theaters. Japan, of course, has had a vibrant cinema for decades and is a world leader in animation. Says one well-placed observer, “I don’t think [these] countries … even need to think about America now. They’re like the Bollywood film industry in India, in that they want to reach their own first. Any other success elsewhere is just gravy to them.” – BBC
Young Opera Singers Are Paying To Audition Via Video. Does Anyone At Companies Actually Watch? We Can Find Out.
Zach Finkelstein, a professional data analyst as well as a lyric tenor, spoke with 15 applicants to young artists’ programs and looked at YouTube Analytics figures for their privately uploaded videos. “The data suggests that some companies rejected those singers without viewing any of their video auditions. YouTube reports also indicate that the average company isn’t considering more than a short section of those singers’ arias — the views registered by the platform last, for most, roughly a minute, less than half of one aria.” – The Middleclass Artist
Strand Bookstore’s Owner And Remaining Staff Aren’t At Each Other’s Throats, Exactly, But …
“Why, they wonder, are their fellow employees still out of jobs while the owner gets a government payroll loan and has the money to invest elsewhere?” (Owner Nancy Bass Wyden spent more than $100K on stock in Amazon this year.) “Bass Wyden … says she needs to spend money to make more money while the Strand isn’t performing, a means to keep it afloat in the long term. The workers … see her putting her personal wealth before the institution. The truth, it seems, lies somewhere in the middle, with both sides wanting the store to live forever and, in true 2020 fashion, having their nerves frayed to the limits.” – InsideHook
Jazz Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield Pleads Guilty To Fraud Charge
“Irvin Mayfield and Ronald Markham, a pair of musicians-turned-impresarios who had worked to put New Orleans’s jazz scene back on its feet after Hurricane Katrina, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit fraud, capping a precipitous fall from grace that now leaves them each facing up to five years in prison.” – The New York Times