This Mahler 8th arrives some four years after the live performances, and it signals not only a high-water mark in Nézet-Séguin’s relationship with the orchestra but a certain evolution in the performance practice of the piece itself. – David Patrick Stearns
Category: AJBlogs
Small Consolation: Museums’ Hit-&-Miss Attempts to Engage Audiences Via “Virtual Exhibitions”
Too much of museums’ existing online content, now being repurposed, reminds me of “park and bark” — the great opera stars of yesteryear, standing stock-still at center stage and belting out their arias. By contrast, I found much to admire in purpose-built content that some museums managed to put together on the fly. – Lee Rosenbaum
Safety, Solvency, Service
These past few weeks, a whole world of arts organizations have been searching for, revisiting, or assembling-on-the-fly their emergency readiness plans as the pandemic turns that world upside down. Many are finding that “pandemic” wasn’t among the expected disasters in their plans, so they’re diving into action as best they can. – Andrew Taylor
Joy in the afternoon
This is, first of all, an expression of profound gratitude for the innumerable messages of sympathy I have received. I thought you might like to read about Hilary’s last good day. – Terry Teachout
A letter to unknown friends
A few days after my beloved Hilary received her double-lung transplant, I published an open letter in The Wall Street Journal addressed to the family of the anonymous organ donor whose lungs she used to breathe during the last month of her life. – Terry Teachout
Recent Listening: Ernesto Cervini’s ‘Tetrahedron’
The Canadian drummer’s new album manages to meld elements of contemporary electronica with references to developments in the six decades since John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman turned the music in new directions. – Doug Ramsey
They don’t trust me with cheese
‘The man next to us is honking like a seal,’ whispered my friend Mel at the interval of One Man, Two Guvnors at the National Theatre back in 2011. Tonight the National Theatre will stream their film of the show (available on YouTube for a week afterwards), and I’ve just found the review I wrote for Plays International. – David Jays
Ask
I’ve also been watching with great interest the number of arts organizations making content available online, providing virtual experiences to help us get through this. At the same time, I wonder if a myopia inherent in our industry might get in the way of doing even greater good. – Doug Borwick
More on Shuttered NYC Institutions: A Brief Reprieve for Met’s Endangered Staff; A “Frick Breuer” Update
Faced with mounting pushback against its plan to consider cutbacks beginning Apr. 5, the Met has now postponed any such changes until May 2. The Frick’s plans, including a temporary move to the Breuer, have not changed. – Lee Rosenbaum
Hilary Teachout, R.I.P.
The “Mrs. T” of this blog suffered throughout our years together from pulmonary hypertension, a rare and devastating illness that gnawed inexorably at her body without touching her soul. She faced death as she faced life, with indomitable courage. – Terry Teachout