The first drafts of art history are written not by the art historians, but by those in the business of art – the dealers and collectors. But how is it that some artists/art works grab a toe-hold in this world, while others fail? The Getty is in the middle of a year-long exploration…
Tag: 04.04.04
Choreographers: A Room Of Their Own
“The obstacles for an aspiring choreographer are formidable: he must find not only bodies who will work with little or no pay, but also a way to show the outcome publicly. Even those successful enough to get commissions from companies are usually constrained by limited time, punishing rehearsal schedules and the psychological pressures of a looming premiere. Peter Martins, the director of the New York City Ballet, has long believed that choreographers would be making more, and better, ballets if they had the chance to work without these limitations.”
The New Arab-American Playwrights
A new generation of Arab-American women playwrights born in the 1960s and 70s is making its mark on New York stages. “Their religious roots vary: they are Christian, Muslim or Zoroastrian, and their national ancestry may be, to name a few, Iranian, Palestinian, Lebanese or Indian. But they are united by a commitment to take their hyphenated experiences to the New York stage, and by their perception that, although many of them are not Arab, that is how they often are seen in the United States at this tense moment in the country’s history.”
Why The Long Island Phil Is A Tough Sell
Why is the Long Island Philharmonic sort of problem is one that confronts almost anyone who presents live classical music. The ‘event’ aspect of live music has been challenged on one hand by the advent of electronic reproduction of music and on the other by what we might think of as the “museum-ification” of classical music generally. The development of new technologies that make performed music readily and easily available has had a profound effect not only on how and when people listen to music but on what listeners expect to hear.”
Lost Bach Manuscript Found
A lost musical score by JS Bach has turned up in the estate of a Japanese pianist. “The 1728 composition, called “Wedding Cantata BWV 216,” was found among the papers of Japanese pianist Chieko Hara, who died in Japan in 2001 aged 86.”
Who Was The Real Shostakovich?
“Was he a faithful servant of the Soviet regime, as his public behavior and official pronouncements might suggest? Or was he a secret dissident who expressed with musical signs and subtexts all the protest he could not make in words? Or did he live and work, like so many Soviet citizens, in a complicated gray area between those extremes?” Two new books revive the controversy but fail to deliver the definitive answer.
Chicago – The Buildings That Worked (And Those That Didn’t)
City downtowns are the accumulation of building ideas that survive to be built. But there’s a shadow history too – the buildings that for one reason or another didn’t make it past the idea stage. “Lost opportunities like that make you cringe, and there are others, including unbuilt residential towers that blow away the monotonous condo high-rises now deadening the cityscape.”