A Colorado ecologist “has compiled evidence from around the world that shows how different species of animals appear to have an innate sense of fairness, display empathy and help other animals that are in distress.”
Tag: 05.24.09
For Spoleto’s Chamber-Music Man, This Festival Is The Last
“It has been a pretty good run, as the performing arts go. Charles Wadsworth has hosted the popular chamber-music concerts at Spoleto festivals on two continents for a half century. … Wadsworth turned 80 on Thursday and the Spoleto Festival which opened the following day will be his last as he retires to a life of concerts and composing that may be only slightly less hectic.”
The Do-It-Yourself Diva
Mezzo Sarah Connolly badly wanted to record Purcell’s Dido, which she felt nobody else sang the way she thought it should go. With no record label behind her, she put together the cast and raised the money herself. Same with her Handel “Heroes and Heroines” CD. “I know I don’t pay sufficient court to the media. I don’t chase them, and consequently they don’t chase me … I can out-diva anyone, but promotion is not my main priority.”
Oh, Forget Arts Journalism, Let’s Become Mechanics
“The trades suffer from low prestige, and I believe this is based on a simple mistake. Because the work is dirty, many people assume it is also stupid. … The work is sometimes frustrating, but it is never irrational. And it frequently requires complex thinking.” Compare that with, say, middle management in a big organization, or any number of “knowledge worker” jobs …
Pompidou’s Men Go Into Storage, Women Go On The Walls
“Imagine a museum that boasts the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe. Now imagine that an intrepid female curator puts all the men’s work in storage and fills the permanent collection galleries with a new version of 20th and early 21st century art history, the one that women created.” That’s what’s happening in the Centre Pompidou exhibition, “elles@centrepompidou,” opening Wednesday.
A Bloodbath Of Hollywood Agents
“The turmoil comes as agencies weigh the cost of the recession. Box-office revenues remain robust but DVD sales have slumped and fewer films and TV shows are getting the green light. Owing to difficulties securing finance, the once extortionate salaries offered to actors and writers are being slashed.”
Acropolis Museum – A Broadside Aimed At Britain
“The absence of the originals on the reconstructed frieze, and the glaring whiteness of the copies put in their place, is a powerful broadside aimed at Britain by a Greek government that is dedicated to bringing the marbles home.”
English Actors Union Wants Better Screen Credits
“Performers have a ‘sense of outrage when they see the cavalier way credits are treated’ – and highlighted the practice of credits being ‘squeezed into a corner’ or run through at high speed.”
Poet Fights To Keep Prestigious Oxford Post After Sleaze Claims
“Ruth Padel, the first woman to be elected to the most important academic poetry position in Britain, is resisting calls from across the literary world for her to quit following her admission that she tipped off newspapers about claims of sexual impropriety against her chief rival for the post.”
Summer Concert Prices Falling…
“Some artists without ‘must-see’ status may find touring difficult this summer, or be forced to make extra concessions. The economy is forcing fans to make choices about how they spend their music money.” It’s a problem because “in the past decade, when radio airplay and record retail revenue – formerly the biggest sources of income for musicians – have all but disappeared due to Internet downloading and the iPod revolution, music acts have come to rely almost solely on live performances for their livelihood.”