“Long before President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – which included libraries as institutions where desegregation was mandated but did not name them specifically – the national NAACP and chapters had launched small campaigns that did everything from championing the cause of a Black librarian assistant’s promotion in the New York Public Library system or, in this case, investigating Violet Wallach’s allegations about her [New Jersey] hometown library.”
Tag: 07.05.16
Louisville Orchestra’s New Music Director Wants To Make The Symphony Matter To People The Way Sports Does
“[Teddy] Abrams has been the music director of the Louisville Orchestra for two years and by his own measure has had real success engaging the local community. He’s relentlessly tried new things, both in the way he goes out into the community and in programming … He’s approached his ‘mission,’ with the conviction that in Louisville he’s got to start from scratch, he’s got to find a way to make the lifestyle of a classical musician echo the excitement of being a sports star.”
Baritone Collapses And Dies Mid-Performance
Bernard Imbert, 53 and for ten years a resident soloist at the Opéra de Nice, was taking part in a concert of Offenbach arias and ensembles at an open-air theatre near Cannes on Saturday when he passed out onstage. No cause of death has yet been determined. (in French; Google Translate version here)
Violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann’s Strad Got Repossessed; Now He Has It Back
Zimmermann had been performing on the “Lady Inchiquin” Stradivarius for 13 years; it was on permanent loan from a Düsseldorf bank, WestLB. But when that bank failed last year, its successor decided to auction off all of WestLB’s artworks, including this violin. Then a savior – perhaps an unlikely one – appeared.
London’s Royal Ballet Teams Up With University’s Sports Science Program
“Academics from St. Mary’s University … will provide strength and conditioning, and sports science support to Royal Ballet dancers, as well as design a bespoke programme on performance and injury recovery. … A fully funded academic position will also be available as part of the collaboration.”
The World’s Oldest Haute Couture House? The Paris Opera Ballet’s Costume Shop
“There, in the back of the 19th-century theater, is a warren of workshops, just as there is any storied couture house, each dedicated to a specialty: tailoring, soft construction (known as ‘flou‘), knitwear, accessories, millinery and embroidery, as well as dyeing and painting. And as in the couture house ateliers, seamstresses cut and sew stiff linen mock-ups, called toiles, to perfect the design before cutting it in the final fabric, and produce embellishments, like handmade silk blossoms and gold braiding.”
Composer Suffering With Alzheimer’s Completes New String Quartet
“Alzheimer’s Masterpiece: It is a striking title for a string quartet, and not atypical of the creativity shown by Canada’s best-known living classical composer during a career that has spanned more than 60 years. But there is more than artistic significance to the name of this composition … R. Murray Schafer has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.05.16
This Week in Audience: Boston Ballet’s Dive Into Data
This week: Boston Ballet has done some serious data diving to produce a successful season at the box office … NPR is finding gold in podcasts … When news becomes unmoored from its sources, do we care? … A “young” (didn’t know it was a noun, eh?) declares what will get “youngs” to the arts … Will the machines eventually determine our tastes in art? … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-07-05
When communities become markets, citizens become consumers, and culture becomes an exploitable products
A couple weeks back I had the privilege to give a talk in Christchurch, NZ at an event called The Big Conversation—hosted by Creative New Zealand, the major arts funding body for the country. … read more
AJBlog: Jumper Published 2016-07-05
Injured Elvis’ Secret Tryst with Conservators: SFMOMA’s Neal Benezra Tells All
Journalists (including me) extracted only minimal information from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s press office about the “minimal” damage suffered by Warhol‘s celebrated “Triple Elvis [Ferus type],” 1963, … But Neal Benezra, the museum’s director, was more forthcoming when I caught up with him last week … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-07-05
Monday Recommendation: John Hollenbeck
John Hollenbeck Claudia Quintet, Super Petite (Cuneiform) Hollenbeck’s little band has unity of thought, purpose and execution more often found in long-lived classical ensembles than in jazz. The difference, of course, is improvisation. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-07-04
‘Dadaglobe’ — Show vs. Catalogue
Although “Dadaglobe Reconstructed”at MoMA is a magnificent project of deep-dive reclamation, the catalogue that recreates Tristan Tzara’s never-realized Dadaglobe anthology also recreates the limitations of Tzara’s original concept. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-07-05
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Gay Talese Disowns His Creepy New Book – Kinda Sorta
“I’m not going to promote this book. How dare I promote it when its credibility is down the toilet?” said the author of his soon-to-be-released The Voyeur’s Motel after being confronted with evidence that his source and subject had lied to him. Liam O’Brien observes, “Talese neatly distances himself from his own work, which defuses any pressure on him to defend his choices – except not really, because, you know, he wrote the damn thing.”
John Luther Adams Writes A Soundtrack For A Stroll Between Met Museums
Michael Cooper: “It was with some trepidation that I set out last week to try Soundwalk 9:09, a piece the Metropolitan Museum of Art commissioned from … the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer. Composed of sounds recorded in the area, the work is intended for people to listen to on their smartphones as they make the eight-block walk between the museum’s mother ship, on Fifth Avenue, and its new outpost, the Met Breuer, in the old Whitney building on Madison Avenue. What if I did it wrong?”