Andrzej Wajda, Poland’s Great Filmmaker, Dead At 90

“Polish cinema burst upon the world in the 1950s with Andrzej Wajda’s war trilogy, A Generation, Kanał and Ashes and Diamonds, with the director becoming the voice of disaffected postwar youth. A generation later, [with Man of Marble and Man of Iron,] Wajda … was the voice of Poland again, as the country struggled to survive political and economic turmoil.”

Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.10.16

Profiling Audiences in Pittsburgh and Charlotte (my new home town)
I am in the midst of another big life change, having recently moved from rural Maine to Charlotte …The arts scene here in this bustling boom town, where the population is increasing by nearly 20,000 people a year and every other corner features a new construction project, is naturally on my mind.  … read more
AJBlog: We The Audience Published 2016-10-10

The flickering veil
As I approach the far shore of middle age, I can now say without exaggeration that I remember a fair number of things that happened a half-century ago. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-10-10

Music by Women
Saw a very nice concert this past week by the Lumina Duo – oboist Merideth Hite-Estevez and pianist Jani Parsons.  The program was all music by women from the 12th century to the present. … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2016-10-10

[ssba_hide]

Has El Sistema’s Flagship Orchestra Stumbled?

“The decision to turn the Simón Bolívar orchestra pro, in a sense, may have been a miscalculation. For one thing, it raises expectations of excellence. When it was a student ensemble, it was easy to simply root for these inspired young musicians. But the music-making during these three recent programs, though exciting, was uneven, certainly not at the level the orchestra’s current status would call for.”

What The Goodman Theatre Is Finding Out With Its Audience Engagement Experiments

Engagement isn’t just a simple matter of making more information available. It’s a mindset. “What if a person pays $50 for a show they end up hating? Or what if a person is organizing a night out with friends, or a date, or a family gathering—and everyone has a poor experience? Our goal is to show them that a new play is exciting because it’s untested, not in spite of its lack of production history. Who wouldn’t want to be part of something new? Letting the audience learn more about process allows them to share in our excitement.”