“We want to announce little nuggets at a time and build as much excitement as we can,” says Arkansas Philharmonic executive director Jason Miller. This is one of several new initiatives — another is “APOx Small Bites,” a, early-evening 30-40-minute chamber concert with food and drink aimed at working families — undertaken by the orchestra for its 10th season. – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tag: 09.08.19
Canceling ‘Cancel Culture’ — Would That Even Be Necessary?
“The best argument against cancel culture is that the whole thing is a myth, existing only in the furious minds of outraged social media users. People who are canceled usually don’t stay that way, and often the attention just fuels their success.” – Wired
Opera Union, Not Trusting Opera Companies, Opens Investigation Into Allegations Against Placido Domingo
The American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents opera performers and staff, has launched its own investigation into the sexual harassment and abuse allegations against the singer. The claim: This investigation will go beyond any individual company and will “examine the systemic failures within the industry that could have allowed this conduct, if substantiated, to continue unchallenged for decades.” – Billboard (AP)
The Muslim Woman Who Photographed The Last Synagogue In This British Town
In Bradford, “a city that became home to so many German Jews in the 19th century that the warehouse district they created is still called Little Germany,” the 2011 census showed fewer than 300 Jewish residents left. The photographer is a single mother who can’t afford her own camera, but her documents of the final synagogue, which has an unusual Moorish style, are going up as an exhibit. “‘There are fewer and fewer Jewish people left,’ she says. ‘It’s this declining population and disappearing culture that I wanted to document.'” – The Guardian (UK)
Can An Opera Company Do ‘Butterfly’ Without Offensive Stereotypes?
Sure, if the opera company completely strips down and alters the opera’s plot, going back to the original story, and removing race as a driving issue. Anne Midgette: “I wondered how anyone who didn’t know the opera would react to the piece, as those of us who did were inevitably recognizing familiar pieces and assessing how well they fit together in this new configuration.” – The Washington Post
Camilo Sesto, Spain’s Romantic Songwriter And Pop Singer, Has Died At 72
Sesto, writer and performer who also brought Broadway musicals to Spain with Jesus Christ, Superstar, had more than 50 pop hits go to number one on the worldwide charts. Though El País reports that he was practically forgotten in Spain, he was still beloved in the U.S., and he had a (second) farewell tour planned for next year after he released a retrospective album in 2018. – The New York Times
Disney’s Big British Move Raises Concerns
Disney will have the use of almost every bit of Pinewood Studios, outside of London for at least 10 years – and that comes just after Netflix did a similar deal for Shepperton Studios. Those two deals “are sure to deepen concern that studios space in Britain, already in scarce supply, will now be even tougher for smaller companies and indies to secure.” – Variety
Update On The Progress Of The Boy Thrown From The 10th Floor Of The Tate Modern
Though the 6-year-old French boy still can’t speak or move a month after the trauma, he’s responding to his family by smiling and possibly, they say, laughing. “The family has raised more than $83,000 so far to help his recuperation. He was visiting London with his family and was on the museum’s 10th-floor viewing platform when he was thrown off, falling around 100 feet and landing on a fifth-floor roof.” – The New York Times
Many New Accusers And Sources In Book About Harvey Weinstein
The Weinstein Company’s accountant was one of the key sources in the reporters’ investigation, for one thing. “It was Mr. Reiter who provided the reporters with an explosive internal memo from an employee who described Weinstein’s routine harassment of junior female employees and actresses. Mr. Reiter also alerted Ms. Kantor and Ms. Twohey, who were investigating financial settlements for sexual harassment from decades ago, to other recent accusations against Mr. Weinstein, bringing new urgency to the investigation.” – The New York Times
The Star Of Crazy Rich Asians On Women Of Color In Hollywood
Constance Wu is about to star in the movie Hustlers alongside Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B, Lizzo, and some rising stars on the film scene – and it’s a film directed by a woman and written by a woman. Wu wishes none of this were a big deal though – not because it isn’t, but because things should be better: “Part of us should stop being grateful for scraps from the table and demand the whole table. Because it shouldn’t have been history that I was the first in that TV show or movie. It shouldn’t be historic that Hollywood made a story that gives an Asian American a full human experience. That should be regular.” – NPR