Charles McNulty wonders if the one million free theater tickets the British government is providing to young people are going to the right audience. “All joking aside, without the AARP crowd, American theater would have collapsed ages ago. If anyone deserves free tickets, it’s those stalwart patrons on fixed incomes who have made theater a regular part of their lives.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Renzo Piano Wins €134,000 Prize
The 71-year-old architect of the new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has been awarded the 2008 Sonningprisen, Denmark’s top arts honor, “in recognition of exceptional work that showcases European culture.”
Another New Philip Glass Opera
The subject of the prolific Mr. Glass’s next operatic portrait will be Walt Disney. The new work, titled The Perfect American, is scheduled to open New York City Opera’s 2012-13 season – in time to honor the composer’s 75th birthday.
‘What’s the F—— Point of That?’ David McVicar at Work
A portrait of the “pugilistic” director rehearsing Manon at Lyric Opera of Chicago: he coaches; he rants; he flutters a fan; he kisses Natalie Dessay (repeatedly); he gets down on the floor with Jonas Kauffman; he tells the chorus, “I need a gaggle of trollops!”
Shakespeare in the Favela
For two decades, the resourceful company Nós do Morro has been presenting professional theater in a hillside slum above Rio de Janeiro. “People from the rich areas of the city will now come here to go to the theater,” says the troupe’s founder. “They might never have ventured to a district like this before.” (Next month the company does Two Gentlemen of Verona at London’s Barbican.)
How to Get Rich Selling Art During a World War
France in 1940 was not the best time to get started in the art business. But Aimé Maeght was living in the unoccupied Côte d’Azur, where “there was not enough art to go around.” Matisse and Bonnard, whose studios in occupied Paris were closed, were nearby and needed income. Thus (with some smuggling thrown in) was a great career and fortune made…
Dallas Symphony’s New MD ‘Applauded from Every Corner’
“So far, most everyone agrees that [Jaap] van Zweden has measured up to the dazzling first impressions. And top music aficionados elsewhere in the United States are talking about the new guy in Texas.” That includes his players. “‘I have not heard one negative comment, and for musicians, that is saying something,’ says Erin Hannigan, the DSO’s principal oboist.”
The Art of Forgery (And the Forgery of Art)
Notorious forger John Myatt reveals the secret to creating a convincing fake masterpiece: “You ‘hypnotise’ the original painting, look at the canvas, the thickness of the paint, the way it’s presented. The rule applies to anyone from Rembrandt to Picasso, just learn to look at the original, stand in front of it… Then I’ve got into my car with my mental file of it in my head, so I can get home and start working on it.”
Romantic Chemistry (In a Literal Sense)
“At the birth of English Romanticism, chemistry and other sciences, notably astronomy and the physics of electricity, were exciting components of the new mood. For so long assumed to be polar opposites, Romanticism and Science are justly reunited in Richard Holmes’s new book [The Age of Wonder].”
When Disciplines Collide
“[Artist] Martin Creed’s latest piece, Work No. 955, […] though barely three minutes in duration, could well be Creed’s most ambitious piece to date: not only due to the fact that it requires an entire symphony orchestra to realise it, but because it raises fundamental questions about the relationship between music and art in general. We accept that music is a form of art – but is it equally the case that art can take the form of a piece of music?”