Medieval Song From Stolen Manuscript Page Gets First Performance In 1,000 Years

“The theft occurred in the 1840s, when a German scholar visiting the university surreptitiously snipped a page from an 11th-century manuscript known as the ‘Cambridge Songs.'” The thief wasn’t busted until 1982, and the page turned out to be the key to the collection, without which the songs’ melodies probably couldn’t have been deciphered.

Producing Radio Has Dramatically Changed These Imprisoned Women’s Lives

“Palabra Libre — translated it means ‘free word’ — began as a way to humanize those in the nation’s penal system and nurture inmates’ life skills. The program is a collaboration between Ecuador’s Ministry of Justice and provincial government of Pichincha to help ‘personas privadas de libertad’ — people deprived of physical liberty — to reintegrate into society by participating in the arts.”

Is There Any Point Anymore To The ‘European Capital Of Culture’ Business?

“Initially celebrating the wealth of European heritage, the title, with its attendant year-long cultural extravaganza in the host city, went to the obvious candidates, including Berlin, Amsterdam and Dublin … But, hand on heart, who can say that in the intervening years they have beaten a path to Maribor in Slovenia, Mons in Belgium or Essen in Germany? Who can name five cultural highlights in Guimarães in Portugal, Stavanger in Norway or Umeå in Sweden?”

White Actors ‘Blacking Up’ For Othello Isn’t Inherently Awful, Says Simon Callow

“Is it so offensive? I don’t know. People say it’s offensive because it reminds you of the Black & White Minstrel show. But, it’s a different thing altogether. … The great point of acting is that it is an act of empathy about someone you don’t know or understand. I continue to defend Laurence Olivier’s performance as Othello.”

Scorsese, De Niro, Foster Et Al. Talk About ‘Taxi Driver’, 40 Years On

“[Robert] De Niro reunited with director Martin Scorsese, co-stars Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd and Harvey Keitel, screenwriter Paul Schrader, and producer Michael Phillips for an onstage chat moderated by the director of the New York Film Festival, Kent Jones. They talked about everything from how they came up with Bickle’s mohawk to Foster’s fear of hot pants and Keitel’s improvisations with a pimp. Then Vulture typed it all up for you.”

Chaos At Bucharest’s National Opera House: Latest General Manager Lasted One Day, Performances Cancelled, Musicians And Dancers Split Into Factions

Last week, in an attempt to win back Johan Kobborg, the house ballet’s artistic director – along with his superstar fiancée, Alina Cojocaru, and all the company’s non-Romanian dancers – the culture minister brought back the former general manager whose replacement led to the crisis. But that general manager, George Călin, had been removed because of corruption charges; when he returned, the opera side of the house and the orchestra went on strike (shutting down ballet performances as well). Călin stepped down the next day, and the house has been leaderless since; the culture minister has tried to convince legendary Romanian-American stage director Andrei Serban to return to Bucharest and turn the company around, as he did with the National Theatre after the Ceaușescu regime fell. Now the pro- and anti-foreignerKobborg sides (which roughly but not entirely align with the ballet and opera sides) are bitterly hurling accusations at each other, with the deputy prime minister attempting to mediate. (in Romanian; Google Translate version here)