Sydney Theatre Co. To Create New Work With Australian Military

“Sydney Theatre Company is to collaborate with the Australian Defence Force in a new verbatim play that will bring the stories of servicemen and women to the stage in the centenary year of the start of the first world war. The Long Way Home, which will premiere in February 2014, will include the experiences of personnel who have served in operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor.”

Fred Katz, 94, Who (By Accident) Made The Cello A Jazz Instrument

“One night, playing between sets at a small club … [with] his eyes closed in reverie, [Katz] did not realize that his bandmates had crept back onstage. The stage was tiny and crowded, and by the time the band swung into an up-tempo number and he realized what had happened, he could no longer get to the piano. So he stayed where he was, cello in hand, and played along – and with that the group had its new sound, and went on to become one of the most popular in jazz.”

Check Out The Hall Renovation The Minnesota Orchestra Spent All That Money On

“In the newly remodeled Orchestra Hall, black is the new orange. An auditorium long known for its sea of 1970s orange now has seats and balconies in a near-black color called ‘thundercloud.’ A glassy new lobby is twice the size of the original. … New white-oak floors are used in the auditorium, and the stage floor and the signature acoustical ‘tumbling dice’ remain in place.”