“With an impressive resume that includes training as a singer and experience as a stage manager and production director, [Ian Derrer] previously worked with Dallas Opera, between 2014 and 2016, as artistic administrator. Since then, he has been general director of Kentucky Opera. … The company moved quickly to fill the position, vacated in January by Keith Cerny, its head for the previous 7½ years.”
Tag: 04.05.18
These Teen Vandals Were Sentenced To Read Books. Here’s What They Learned
After the five teenagers spray-painted swastikas and graffiti on a 19th-century schoolhouse for black children, a judge ordered them to read books from a list that included (among others) Elie Wiesel’s Night, 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Did the sentence have the hoped-for effect?
Dutch Old Master Painting Discovered In Iowa Storage Closet
Apollo and Venus, painted between 1595 and 1600 by Otto van Veen (a teacher of Rubens), had been donated (with other works) to the Des Moines Women’s Club, which used the pieces as the nucleus of an art gallery. And why did this one end up in the closet? Well, it may have been a bit too risqué for these Iowa matrons.
Drue Heinz, Cultural Philanthropist And Publisher Of The Paris Review, Dead At 103
“Mrs. Heinz, the British-born widow of Henry J. ‘Jack’ Heinz II, was a quiet but influential force in the literary and cultural life of the United States and Britain for decades. She endowed literary awards in both countries, supported quarterly journals and a publishing house, and bankrolled a major expansion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She and her husband devoted much of their philanthropy to Pittsburgh, the home base of the Heinz family’s enterprises, and were instrumental in the development of the city’s downtown cultural district in the 1970s.”
Berkshire Museum’s Sale Of Art Approved By Mass. Supreme Court
“Under the terms of the deal, the museum can sell all 40 works – but with one major caveat. Once the proceeds from the sale reach $55 million, it cannot sell any more art. Furthermore, Norman Rockwell’s celebrated Shuffleton’s Barbershop – perhaps the best-known work the Berkshire sought to sell – will be sold to an as-yet-unidentified nonprofit American museum.”
Surprise Choice For New Editor Of The Paris Review
Emily Nemens, 34, comes from Baton Rouge, where she has been a co-editor of The Southern Review for five years. Shew replaces Lorin Stein, who resigned in December following a board investigation into his sexual relationships with magazine staffers.
America’s Most Popular Museum Has A New Leader
“A former NASA chief scientist and a leader in the effort to send humans to Mars will make history as the first woman to lead the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Ellen Stofan will become the John and Adrienne Mars Director of NASM starting April 30.”
Anime Director Isao Takahata, Co-Founder Of Sutdio Ghibli, Dead At 82
“He is probably best known for his first film at Ghibli, the critically acclaimed Grave of the Fireflies (1988), a tale of two children struggling to survive at the end of World War II. Takahata himself survived heavy U.S. bombing of Okayama City when he was 9 years old. … The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Takahata’s fifth and final for Ghibli, was one of the most expensive Japanese films made, anime or live-action, with a budget of around $50 million.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.05.18
Historically informed performance: How does it translate into the real world?
Are we there yet? That classic question that comes with long-delayed arrival was inevitable after a weekend packed with early-music concerts in New York … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2018-04-05
Deaccession Dejection: Court Allows Berkshire Museum Sales
Justice David Lowy of Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has just handed down a lamentable decision that rubber-stamps the devil’s bargain between the Attorney General and the trustees of the Berkshire Museum … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-04-05
Bill Kirchner: Two Views
Composer, saxophonist, bandleader and author Bill Kirchner is the subject of two new articles that recognize his decades of creativity. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-04-05
The First Video To Get Five Billion YouTube Views
The official video of the catchy Spanish-language track, featuring Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee, on Wednesday surpassed 5 billion views on YouTube — becoming the first video in the platform’s history to hit that watermark.