“The opera by [composer] Brett Dean and [librettist] Amanda Holden, based on the Peter Carey novel of the same name,” will have its world premiere runs in Sydney and Melbourne next March and April before heading to the Edinburgh International Festival. The story “is described as a modern fable in which suburban everyman Harry Joy ‘dies’ for nine minutes after a heart attack on his lawn and wakes up in hell.”
Tag: 09.11.09
What’s “English” About The English National Opera?
“How does the company now see its identity and purpose? Its right to define itself by those words “English” and “National” seems totally hollow. The company hasn’t toured out of London for decades, and it shows very little interest in Englishness, or even Britishness, either.”
China Threatens Pullout At Frankfurt Book Fair Over Writers’ Participation
“Shadows have been cast over a debate about perceptions of modern China in Germany this weekend, after Chinese authorities insisted that the exiled writer Bei Ling and investigative journalist Dai Qing be struck from the list of participants.”
What A Difference A Tweet Makes In Book Sales (If It’s The Right Tweet)
“Sales of David Eagleman’s book of short stories about the afterlife soared by 6,000% after [British comedian] Stephen Fry raved about it on Twitter.” Fry has more than 750,000 followers.
Lawrence Brownlee Is That All-Too-Rare Bird, A Star Black Tenor
“Historically, African American tenors have had a particularly difficult time breaking into the operatic mainstream: You can count the famous ones on one hand.” Yet though, as the 36-year-old Brownlee says, “[t]here are definitely times that I haven’t been hired, or rehired, because of who I am,” he’s been singing bel canto leads at La Scala and the Met, including on a worldwide HD broadcast.
Protesters Torment Toronto Film Fest Over Choice Of Tel Aviv For City-to-City Spotlight
“Whether you’re a film festival director, a college president or a secretary of state, you know that you’ve landed in Media Hell when Noam Chomsky, Jane Fonda and Harry Belafonte start signing open letters complaining about your policies.”
Principal Flutist Mathieu Dufour Spreads His Love Between Chicago And L.A.
“The French musician, principal flute [of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra] since 1999, is taking up the same position with the Los Angeles Philharmonic next month while still keeping his CSO job – at least for now.”
Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Latest Outsourcing Job
“Lloyd-Webber’s latest Saturday night talent show will search for a girl to play Dorothy and a dog to play Toto in The Wizard Of Oz, the BBC says. Winners of the programme will star in a West End production of the musical.”
Toronto Film Festival – Women Directors At The Fore
The “question is whether the Toronto festival’s first couple of days might help propel a clutch of female directors to the front of Hollywood’s award race. Something like that happened in 2003, when a Toronto screening of ‘Lost in Translation’ put Sofia Coppola on the path to a best-director Oscar nomination.”
NEA Communications Director Demoted
“The National Endowment for the Arts has reassigned former communications director Yosi Sergant, who had become the latest target of FOX News talk show host Glenn Beck.”