Category: AJBlogs

The screen announces “The Philadelphia Matter 1972/2020,” and glimpsed behind it is the large, alarmed face of its creator: choreographer David Gordon. The piece (no surprise) is propelled, guided, and shaped by words. Postmodern poetry — written and uttered by Gordon and/or his wife, Valda Setterfield — repeats and enlarges upon itself. – Deborah Jowitt

“Poignant” is a word that I’ve never before seen (and hope never to see again) in connection with the Holocaust. These paintings soft-pedal and aestheticize photos that were taken of gas chamber victims while their remains were being burned and disposed of. – Lee Rosenbaum

Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s stunning new trio album for the Sunnyside label is one that we have been hoping for weeks to call to your attention: It’s a highlight among recent releases in all jazz genres. – Doug Ramsey

I’ve been planning to call out the lamentable decision of the Everson Museum in Syracuse to jettison its only Jackson Pollock painting “in order to refine, diversify, and build the museum’s collection for the future” (in the words of the museum’s self-justification). – Lee Rosenbaum

Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony may not have been the work of a Black composer. But Dvořák embraced the African-American experience to a degree that would be controversial today. – Joseph Horowitz

On “the Porgy Exchange,” in which an ordinary woman changed, on the spot, the opinion of two prominent Black opera singers that white baritones should be able to take on the lead role in Gershwin’s opera. – Joseph Horowitz

I’ve suggested that the Met’s radical downsizing of staff (necessitated by the Virus Crisis) might give its leaders an opportunity to install their own hand-picked team “sooner and less controversially than would have otherwise been possible.” “Sooner” turns out to be immediately. – Lee Rosenbaum

Celebrations and stories about experiencing reopening of arts organizations are being shared, and they are joyous and poignant. Here are four of my favorites. – Hannah Grannemann

Two years ago ArtsEngaged created the Facebook group Become Indispensable as a mechanism for people interested in community engagement in the arts to learn and share. That group’s advisory board has had its first meeting, and here are some of the changes and ideas we discussed. – Doug Borwick

It’s with dejected déjà vu that I report the imminent departure of some 90 Metropolitan Museum staffers from more than half a dozen departments. – Lee Rosenbaum