“We should have been a wonderful, democratic country. Instead we had 21 years of military dictatorship, something we are still paying for. So bossa nova represents a different way of life; a culture more sophisticated than the one we have today.”
Tag: 05.08.08
When The Sponsor Becomes The Subject
You’ve probably seen the Dove soap company’s “Campaign for Real Beauty,” featuring everyday women posed like models. But would you recognize it as a play? A Toronto playwright has accepted a commission from the company, and insists that the resulting stage work has nothing to do with selling soap.
Boosting Arts Audiences On Philly’s Agenda
“The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance believes it can help double audience participation at area arts events over the next 12 years. And the Pew Charitable Trusts has put up $5 million to help finance an elaborate marketing effort – called Engage 2020 – to push for that goal, officials intend to announce today.”
Airport Books Get Special Cover Consideration
“Publishers, especially the purveyors of what some derisively refer to as ‘airport books,’ actually want you to judge their books by the covers. They’ve arranged the jackets with that very plan in mind… Imagery, fonts, type sizes and color palette conspire to telegraph whether the stuff inside is concerned with code-crackers and shoe phones, spirits and trapdoors or rich widows and pool boys.”
Soprano Frances Yeend, 92
Acclaimed soprano Frances Yeend, a regular on New York stages in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s has died aged 92. “Her last performance with the Met was in 1963, as Gutrune in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung… Most recently Ms. Yeend was an emeritus faculty member of West Virginia University in Morgantown.”
American Buyers Active At Sotheby’s
“Sotheby’s sale of Impressionist and modern art on Wednesday proved to be a solid if unexciting evening… Unlike at [Tuesday’s] Christie’s sale, which was dominated by European buyers, at Sotheby’s Americans took home 67 percent of the work, and Europeans bought 27 percent.”
Obscenity Charges Dropped Against Indian Artist
“A court in the India has dropped legal proceedings in three cases against one of the country’s best-known and controversial artists. MF Husain has been accused of obscenity in at least seven cases filed against him in a number of Indian states… In dropping criminal proceedings against the painter, the Delhi court said the painting was not obscene.”
GG Architecture Prizes Announced
Canada’s Governor General’s Medals for excellence in architecture were announced this week, with structures in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and east Toronto being recognized.
Welser-Möst Pulls Out Of Zurich Opera Production
Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst has disengaged himself from a Zurich Opera production of Die Fledermaus, citing artistic differences with the opera’s director. What could Welser-Möst be objecting to in the staging? Well, the vampires, for a start…
Kennedy Not Welcome At Classical Brits
“Maverick violinist Nigel Kennedy says he has been ‘prevented from performing’ at the Classical Brit awards… Organisers confirmed that ‘artistic differences’ with Kennedy had ‘proved insurmountable’, while the star’s manager said he was ‘dumbfounded’.”