“Thailand has cancelled the visa of Russian conductor Mikhail Pletnev, meaning he faces deportation even if child rape charges against him are dropped, an immigration official said on Wednesday.”
Tag: 07.21.10
SF-MOMA Selects Architect For $250M Expansion: Snohetta
“Can an art museum in this economic climate raise $480 million for an ambitious expansion and endowment campaign without a world famous architect like Frank Gehry or Renzo Piano attached to the project? SFMOMA has just placed a very big bet that it can, by selecting the critically acclaimed but not so commonly known Oslo-based firm Snøhetta,” which is best known for Norway’s new national opera house.
Director Peter Stein Quits Met Opera’s New Boris
“German director Peter Stein has withdrawn ‘for personal reasons’ from the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Boris Godunov, the company announced on Wednesday. Stephen Wadsworth will take over the production, which is set for its debut on October 11.” The sets and costumes for the staging have already been made, and conductor Valery Gergiev and bass René Pape remain scheduled.
Carlos Acosta Wants To Start A New Dance Company In Cuba
“For sure I will go back because I am very deep to my roots. I would like to create a bridge from Cuba to the world so that all the [modern] choreographers like Russell Maliphant can come and maybe try different things with the dancers there, so we can bring dance up to date.”
Mapping America’s Moods, Using Twitter
A team of researchers has “found that these ‘tweets’ suggest that the west coast is happier than the east coast, and across the country happiness peaks each Sunday morning, with a trough on Thursday evenings. The team calls their work the ‘pulse of the nation’.”
Depression Really Does Make The World Seem Gray
“Scientists at the University of Freiburg, Germany, who previously showed people with depression struggled to detect black-and-white contrast differences, have now carried out tests on the retina which show the impact of the illness is similar to turning down the contrast control on a TV.”
Nilas Martins Retires From NY City Ballet
The son of company ballet master Peter Martins “has quietly retired from the company after several seasons of dwindling appearances.” Nilas, who made headlines in 2007 when he was arrested for cocaine possession during City Ballet’s Saratoga season, has received a fellowship to study arts management at the Kennedy Center.
No More Baptisms in the Jordan River – It’s Too Polluted
“An environmental group on Wednesday called for a halt to baptisms in the Jordan River where tradition holds that Jesus was baptized, saying the waters there were dangerously polluted.” Currently, 98% of the river’s fresh water is diverted for irrigation purposes, with the flow being replaced by raw sewage.
George Plimpton Remembers Ernest Hemingway
“I noticed how small his eyes had become, suddenly, and bloodshot, as if affected by the flush of rage that showed on his cheekbones, and if I had not been carrying a very excellent picnic hamper of his with some wine left over in it and some cheese, he might well have bulled me off the dock into the bay.”
The Top Ten Highest Paid Musicians
“U2 have earned $130 million over the last 12 months.”