Tag: 06.08.18

How To Open Minds And Reshape – Or At Least Reinvite People To See And Hear – Opera

Opera (not among its fans, of course) has a reputation for being overwrought and definitely misogynistic. These contemporary composers are working to change that reputation and the world of opera in general. Composer Emily Howard: “I like history and tradition. I just don’t think that opera should be a historic genre. I like to look forward.”

Ira Berlin, Whose Work Upended Our Understanding Of Slavery In The U.S., Has Died At 77

Berlin persistently wrote about slavery’s varied effects across the years, but he never lost sight of the cruelty. “In books like Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South (1974) and Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America (1998), Dr. Berlin, a longtime professor at the University of Maryland, upended simplistic notions of how slavery was practiced and what happened after it ended.”

Here’s How The Stanford Laptop Orchestra Works

The orchestra members have gathered at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics to rehearse a new kind of musical composition. Together, sitting on meditation pillows in front of MacBooks, they create songs that stretch the definition of music. The orchestra plays laptops like accordions, turns video games into musical scores, and harnesses face-tracking software to turn webcams into instruments. But at this rehearsal, the Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk) looks less like the symphony of the future and more like an overworked IT department.

The Art Market Has Become Financialized (And Blockchain Is Making It More So)

Last month in London, DACS, Britain’s leading artists’ rights management organization, unveiled “The Art Market 2.0” to lawmakers in the House of Commons. A report by academics at the Alan Turing Institute in London and Oxford University, it envisioned how blockchain technology might “change the balance of economic power in the art market” and “integrate art into the financial sector.” A financialized Art Market 2.0 would lead to an “explosion of liquidity and value,” according to the report.

Bending Gender In Traditional Ballet

For the first time in modern ballet history, a male dancer is performing as part of the female ensemble at an international ballet company, signaling an important moment in an art form that often celebrates a particular ideal of femininity. Or, as the great choreographer George Balanchine said, “ballet is woman.” But in a world with a heightened awareness of gender fluidity, and with transgender people increasingly accepted in a variety of professions, including acting and modeling, ballet is taking its own brave leap.

Chase Johnsey, Formerly Of Trocks, Is Now Dancing With Female Corps De Ballet

“For the first time in modern ballet history, a male dancer is performing as part of the female ensemble at an international ballet company, signaling an important moment in an art form that often celebrates a particular ideal of femininity. … ‘I want to be seen as a ballerina,’ said Mr. Johnsey, who identifies as gender fluid but uses male pronouns. ‘My hair is up, I wear makeup, female attire. I am able to do female roles and look the part, so that is artistically what I do.'” In January, he left Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo after 14 years, claiming that the famous drag company had been harassing him for being too feminine.