How Music Gets Into Our Brain And Messes With It

Understanding the mechanisms of violated expectations in music elucidates some of the basic functions of learning, memory, and our perception of time. Along with enhancing our understanding of music, the study of how we process expectations, and learn to revel in ambiguity and uncertainty, is important in understanding how we appreciate many aspects of art and life that involve solving puzzles and deciphering codes, from poetry to painting, science to math.

Who And What Are The ‘Angel Shadows’ In Broadway’s ‘Angels In America’?

“The Angel Shadows — three dancers and two puppeteers — are one of the most remarkable elements about this Tony Award-winning production, directed by Marianne Elliott. Through intricate choreography and cues, the Shadows are responsible for propelling the Angel into the air and operating her heavy wings.” Gia Kourlas talks to the designers who came up with the idea and some of the performers who enact it.

Why Oprah Winfrey Has Mattered For 35 Years

Wesley Morris: “The more she empowered us to speak, the better she got at knowing how her emotional algorithm could supply us with books and feelings and tools for betterment. And she took real risks to better understand this country, too. … Oprah didn’t do this work alone. She helped us do it. She was a platform. She was Facebook. Forget the presidency. She was the facilitator in chief.”

Here’s Some Real Dish About Simon Rattle’s Relationship With The Berlin Philharmonic

“At the end of Rattle’s 16-year tenure as music director of the orchestra, their relationship is not unlike a couple that’s been married for too long. … ‘The orchestra doesn’t look at him anymore,” one string player familiar with the situation in the orchestra said. … Rattle is ‘the nicest and most diplomatic guy on the planet,’ [a] former member of the Karajan Academy said. ‘But particularly with this orchestra, if the conductor isn’t demanding something bigger than themselves, it’s a free-for-all.'”

Did They Just Find The Oldest Surviving Work By Leonardo Da Vinci?

“A small square tile with the profile image of a beautiful angel has been claimed not only as the earliest surviving work by Leonardo da Vinci, but as his own self-portrait as the Archangel Gabriel. If genuine the tile has survived miraculously unbroken for more than 500 years, since the 18-year-old artist made it in 1471. The claim – dismissed out of hand by the world renowned Leonardo expert Martin Kemp – is certain to spark academic debate.”

Audiobooks Get Stronger Physiological Response Than Movies Do: Study

“UCL, in collaboration with audiobook giant Audible, measured the physical reactions of 102 participants aged between 18 and 67 to audio and video depictions of scenes from [well-known] books … According to the study, while the participants reported that the videos were “more engaging” than the audiobooks by about 15% on average, their physiological responses told a different story, with heart rates higher by about two beats a minute, and body temperatures raised by roughly two degrees when listening to audiobooks.”

Miami City Ballet Hires New Executive Director

Tania Castroverde Moskalenko, a Miami native who has spent the last two years at the helm of the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, will take the reins at MCB later this summer. “Thursday’s announcement noted that under Castroverde Moskalenko’s leadership the Auditorium ‘experienced a significant financial turnaround … and is projected to end Fiscal Year 2018 in August with a surplus.”

Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.21.18

Antiquities Ambiguities: Parsing the Legal Arguments in the Battle of the Getty Bronze
Italian Judge Giacomo Gasparini‘s June 8 decision giving the laurel wreath to Team Italy in the Olympian legal contest over the Getty Bronze seems to me persuasively well-reasoned … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-06-21

When Grant Green Got Funky
Grant Green, From Paris To Antibes (1969-1970) (Resonance)
Grant Green, Slick! Live At Oil Can Harry’s, (Resonance)
Two previously unissued Grant Green albums are giving the guitarist’s music something of a comeback. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-06-21