Tag: 07.30.16

Do The Arts Really Matter? (But Why?)

“Art opens us up to new ideas – so important always, but crucial now as the world seems to be losing its peripheral vision. We can all take refuge in our echo chambers, but the danger of cutting ourselves off from other ideas – or from ideas, period – is in vibrant display at the moment.”

Regional Theatre Pioneer Zelda Fichandler, 91

“Zelda Fichandler dedicated her early career to the establishment of America’s resident theater movement. When she co-founded Arena Stage, there were few non-commercial theaters in the United States and fewer theaters committed to providing a full range of world-class drama to its community with a resident company of professional actors.”

The Quantum Computer That Makes Music

“As Juliette Pochin, the Welsh mezzo-soprano, sang inside the castle-like manor house at the Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall, an Internet connection piped her voice across the world and into the D-Wave machine installed in the University of South California’s Information Sciences Institute in Marina Del Rey, outside of Los Angeles.”

Can We Talk About Composer And Critic Virgil Thomson Now?

“Blithely ignoring conflicts of interest, he remained a working composer throughout his tenure at The Herald Tribune. His pieces were performed by leading orchestras, sometimes with Thomson conducting! He reviewed ensembles and artists who performed his music, usually quite favorably. While at the paper, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Far from being embarrassed, his editors boasted of their critic’s accomplishment.”

What Did This Woman Learn From A Year Of Submitting Her Plays Under A Man’s Name?

“As Max, I don’t have to worry—at least not as much—that his leadership skills will be labeled ‘bossiness,’ or his humor will be dismissed as ‘silly,’ or his edgy tweet or blog post (#meta) will be met with responses that he should be bludgeoned and left in a ditch. At every corner, life as Max is easier and less intimidating than the equivalent interactions I have as myself.”