Denise Duval, 94, Poulenc’s Favorite Soprano

“Denise Duval didn’t set out to be a muse. In 1947, … she was rehearsing Madama Butterfly at Paris’s Opéra Comique when a voice bellowed from the darkened auditorium, ‘That’s the soprano I need!’ It was Francis … For the next sixteen years – until the end of his life – Denise Duval was his colleague, his friend, his inspiration.”

Costa Award For Book Of The Year Goes To Frances Hardinge’s ‘The Lie Tree”

“The prize has been selecting a book of the year since 1985, choosing from the categories of novel, first novel, biography, children’s book and poetry. It has been compared to choosing between ‘bananas and chicken curry’ by one former judge. The only other children’s book to win was The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman, in 2001.”

MoMA Backtracks On The Most Ambitious Parts Of Its Expansion Plan

“The Museum of Modern Art has decided to forgo the retractable glass wall. And it no longer plans to install a floor that moves up and down nor a new entrance to its sculpture garden. Responding to criticism, the museum and its architecture firm, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, have dropped the splashiest elements of the expansion plan they disclosed two years ago.”