By the time Welser-Möst’s extension runs out in 2027, he will have been the orchestra’s music director for 25 years, one year longer than George Szell. Early in 2020, the orchestra will begin issuing a series of recordings (CD and digital) of concert performances, and the new fellowship program, called Nurturing Diverse Talent, aims to give young Black and Latinx musicians “people a chance to rise to the level of the Cleveland Orchestra.” – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Tag: 09.21.19
Recent Listening: Kerry Politzer’s ‘Diagonal’
Kerry Politzer, Diagonal: A Tribute To Durval Ferreira
The pianist recruits several of her talented Pacific Northwest colleagues for this album of pieces by a Brazilian composer whose works were central to the rise of bossa nova. – Doug Ramsey
It’s Only 2019, But The Guardian Has Made A List Of The 100 Best Books Of The 21st Century
Agree, disagree, tick off the ones you’ve read on a list … whatever, here they all are, from nonfiction to poetry to doorstop novels to graphic novel memoirs to everything else that won the approval of the British newspaper’s reviewers. (We hesitate to imagine the epic meetings and battles that took place to decide on number one.) – The Guardian (UK)
Male Dancers Say Homophobia And Misogyny (Yes, Misogyny) Still Cloud Their Careers
The recent #BoysDanceToo discussion – and the need for that discussion – highlighted the issue that boys and men who become dancers, especially ballet dancers, face bullying and homophobia offstage, and, if they’re gay or bi, problems of heteronormativity onstage. – NBC
A New, Young Generation Of Fashion Photographers Is Changing The Genre
These photographers have the covers of (American) Vogue or (British) Vogue, gain access to their subjects for portraits on social media, and change the way the people they photograph are thought about – and maybe treated. “It is easy to point to magazine covers as markers of changing times, but many of these photographers didn’t wait for the old-guard titles to bestow approval, forging partnerships with brands such as Nike, Apple and Tiffany & Co.” And, of course, “platforms such as Instagram have helped democratise the creative industries.” – The Guardian (UK)
New Museum Organizes A Festival In The Bronx, But Anti-Gentrification Activists Say No
The New Museum planned a whole festival about climate change. ” IdeasCity Bronx … was supposed to feature a series of discussion panels, artist talks, performances, and workshops,” but it ended an hour in after activists disrupted the very first panel. – Hyperallergic
Can Anyone Truly Explain Britain’s Strictly Come Dancing?
Not really, but let’s try: Strictly “is a lightheartedly competitive dance show that is still rigorously ruled by ancient stone tablets engraved with edicts and stored in a holy room at the back of the BBC archives; ones that producers are too scared to deviate from in case they bring down an ancient blood curse.” – The Guardian (UK)
A Secret Shofar, Blown On High Holy Days In Auschwitz
Is the account of this shofar credible? Holocaust historians say it definitely could be. “The impossible was possible, both to the bad and the good.” – The New York Times
Zadie Smith On The Most Important Book Of The 21st Century
The author of White Teeth and Swing Time says we should all read a 700-page nonfiction book about technology and capitalism. “If a book’s importance is gauged by how effectively it describes the world we’re in, and how much potential it has to change said world, then in my view it’s easily the most important book to be published this century.” – The Guardian (UK)
Why Did American Classical Music ‘Stay White’ – Take Two
And why it’s a problem: “What we’re looking at right now, this extreme marginalization of classical music, is really the chickens coming home to roost.” – Joe Horowitz