05.23.18 – Page 2 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Sacramento Ballet Gets A New Artistic Director

Amy Seiwert, who was a Sacramento Ballet dancer for eight years in the 1990s and created a ballet company in San Francisco, will succeed co-artistic directors Ron Cunningham and Carinne Binda, a husband-and-wife pair who choreographed performances for 30 years . Seiwert’s term begins July 1.

The Rise And Rise Of Kerry James Marshall

“In 1997, African American artist Kerry James Marshall painted Past Times, an artwork depicting a black family in high-class leisure – playing golf, playing cricket, as well as water skiing and driving a motorboat across a lake. It’s a take on a pastoral scene typically filled with European aristocratic types yet instead filled with black figures. Last week at Sotheby’s, it sold for $21.1m, breaking a new world record, making Marshall, according to reports, the highest-paid African American artist.” Says Marshall, “My ambition was never to make a lot of money. I was really just struggling to make the best pictures I could make.”

Nobody Does A Book-Signing Like David Sedaris

“Nor did anyone mind when … he said, ‘What happened to your mother — is she dead?’ to a man named Richard, who wanted a book signed for his father.
‘She is to him,’ Richard said.
Mr. Sedaris drew a little person and gravestone with ‘R.I.P.’ written on it. ‘Here is your father looking at the ashes of his failed marriage,’ he explained.”

Saudi Arabia’s First Female Filmmaker Has A New Movie About (Of All Subjects) Mary Shelley

Haifaa al-Mansour came to worldwide attention in 2012 with Wadjda, both the first-ever feature by a Saudi woman and the first shot entirely inside Saudi Arabia. Even she was surprised by the idea that her next film would be about the 19th-century English author. “But when she read the script, Ms. Mansour was amazed at the parallels between Shelley’s struggles to publish her masterpiece, Frankenstein, and make a name for herself as a writer, and her own experience as an aspiring artist in a conservative Muslim culture in which women have traditionally been denied the same rights as men.”

Slowly And Carefully, New York City Ballet Begins Search For New Leader

In what seems to be an attempt to calm the tensions caused by the (let’s say) fraught departure of Peter Martins, City Ballet’s search committee is conducting an extensive “listening tour,” talking with dancers, staff, donors, and board members about what they’d like to see in a new artistic director and in the direction of the company.

One Of World’s Highest-Profile Choral Conducting Posts, At King’s College Cambridge, Has Its Next Maestro

“[Stephen] Cleobury’s announcement that he was retiring from the position – which he had held since 1982 – sparked speculation about who would step into the prominent and demanding role. Aside from singing daily services in the extraordinary chapel, the choir have been prolific recording artists over many year, most recently releasing albums on its own label, launched in 2012. Meanwhile, the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols reaches audiences of millions both on radio and television.” Cleobury’s successor will be Daniel Hyde, currently director of music at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue in New York City.

In Reversal, Pennsylvania Ballet Decides To Raze Historic Building For New HQ

“Pennsylvania Ballet, which long planned to renovate a white terracotta-clad building on its property at North Broad and Carlton Streets as part of its expansion a few blocks north of City Hall, now says it will demolish the building instead. … The troupe says it has determined that keeping the historic four-story building fronting Broad Street isn’t feasible.”

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Awarded 2018 Mark Twain Prize For American Humor

“The actress said in a statement: ‘Merely to join the list of distinguished recipients of this award would be honor enough, but, as a student of both American history and literature, the fact that Mr. Twain himself will be presenting the award to me in person is particularly gratifying.'”

Canadian Breaks Into House To Drink Wine And Play Piano

Only in Ontario? “According to [local police in the town of Erin], the man broke-in to the unlocked residence, drank a bottle of wine from the fridge, then proceeded to play the family’s piano until he was caught. There were two residents located upstairs at the time of the break-in.” (One shudders to think how this might have played out in Florida.)

Tag: 05.23.18