The composer, Mohammed Fairouz, wanted to bring out every Trump similarity possible. The (in effect) executive producer, Francesca Zambello, insists, “It is not about the president-elect or his wife.” The librettist originally had in mind the late Pakistani dictator Zia ul-Haq. And director Ethan McSweeny said, “We were all joking among ourselves that if that guy Trump got elected, this would be the most politically prescient piece of opera ever produced in America. Well, that happened.”
Tag: 01.10.17
Let’s Talk Candidly About How Much Writers Make
“Writers know so little about how other writers make ends meet that it’s difficult for them to have much perspective on their own ability to do so.”
Testing The Detroit Institute Of Arts’ New Augmented Reality App
“At a media preview on January 9,” writes Sarah Rose Sharp, “the Detroit Institute of Arts introduced Lumin, a new interpretive guide developed in partnership with Google and an augmented reality (AR) platform creator called GuidiGO. Subsequently, a tempest of conflicting emotions was triggered in the soul of this arts writer.”
The Strangest Things Librarians Have Found In Returned Books
“Inspired by [Claire Fuller’s] Swimming Lessons, we went to the experts in unexpected ephemera and well-loved books – librarians – and asked them to tell us the most interesting thing they’d found in a library book. Their answers delighted, disgusted, and exceeded our wildest expectations. It was hard to pick our favorites, but here they are.”
Should Performers Just Swallow Their Qualms And Perform At The Trump Inauguration For The Sake Of Healing A Divided Nation?
The president of a historically black college whose marching band will be there says, “We feel the inauguration of a new president is not a political event but a civil ceremony celebrating the transfer of power.” Alyssa Rosenberg takes apart the premises behind that position.
Winston-Salem (NC) Symphony Music Director To Step Down After Next Season
Robert Moody joined the orchestra in 2005; he says that he and the board “all felt really strong in our belief that a decade, give or take a few years on either side, was about the right amount of time.”
This Year’s Sundance Film Festival Takes An Emphatic Political Stance
Sundance finds itself navigating some unusually slippery terrain this year. Mr. Redford, who recuses himself from programming decisions, bristles when his festival is seen as having an agenda. “We don’t take a position,” he insisted. At the same time, his top programmers, John Cooper and Trevor Groth, say they are taking a specific stance, one that is political by nature: For the first time in the festival’s history, there will be a spotlight on one theme — global warming and the environment. Their goal?
When Artists Ran Upstart Galleries In The East Village (It Didn’t Last Long)
“It was a diverse scene that held out a hint of utopian promise at a time when Abstract Expressionism was waning and new categories had not yet hardened: It included many more women than the uptown art world; it was not completely white; abstraction and figuration jostled side by side (if not always comfortably), along with genre-bending sculpture; and the gloriously messy birth of modern performance art took place in the midst of it all.”
Box Near The Queen’s Seats In Royal Albert Hall Offered For £2.5 Million
Nicholas Shaw of Harrods Estates said it was “the most expensive box we have ever offered for sale”. The box is on the western side of the auditorium and has approximately 849 years remaining on its lease.
What We’ve Learned About David Bowie Since He Died
“From clues to his cancer hidden in Blackstar‘s artwork to his mortal fear of Tina Turner, some astounding new Bowie facts have come to light over the last year.”