“As protesters have remade this avenue, forcing the removal of memorials to men who betrayed their country, covering the remaining plinths with graffiti and activating the street day and night with new forms of protest and community, they also have underscored deep connections between urban planning and old ideologies of whiteness, greatness and cultural ambition. They have made problematic the idea of the City Beautiful, a powerful late 19th-century American contribution to the annals of urban design.” – Washington Post
Tag: 07.29.20
Opera Philadelphia Cancels O20 Festival, Postpones Main Season, Announces Newly Made Online Offerings
The company’s annual fall festival, much praised ever since its 2017 debut, is off this year; most plans for next season, including Jennifer Higdon’s latest opera and Sondra Radvanovsky’s role debut as Lady Macbeth, are postponed. Instead, there will be “a series of online performances — most created anew — to be shown on a new Opera Philadelphia Channel available [on several] platforms.” Highlights include Lawrence Brownlee in a staged version of Tyshawn Sorey‘s Cycles of My Being, a new version of David T. Little’s Soldier Songs, and the great Willard White in Henze’s El Cimmarón. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Learning Music Does Not Make Kids Smarter, New Study Finds
“After analysing data from 54 studies conducted on 6,984 participants between 1986 and 2019, [researchers] found music training was ineffective at enhancing cognitive or academic skills, regardless of the skill type, participants’ age and duration of music training.” What was the problem with previous research that found otherwise? Poor study design, say the authors. – The National (Abu Dhabi)