Says the coloratura soprano, “Andalusia has everything, the music, the roots in Moroccan culture, the architecture, the beauty of the country, the pride of the people. The women are strong and free, but they don’t neglect their femininity. All of this is in flamenco music and flamenco dance. You make music with your feet.”
Tag: 10.27.09
Hey, Kids! Crowdsource Your Trick-Or-Treating!
“The folks at Zillow.com have created their first Trick or Treat Housing Index, which draws on the site’s real estate data to determine the top-five neighborhoods in Seattle and Los Angeles to maximize candy intake this Saturday.”
Studying (And Studying And Studying) Sesame Street
“Leafing through the literature is like letting the Cookie Monster loose in a Mrs. Fields franchise: You delve in excitedly before realizing there’s more here than any single creature can digest.”
Cecilia Bartoli Compares Michael Jackson To The Castrati
Says the mezzo (who is promoting her new album of arias written for 18th-century eunuchs) of The King of Pop: “He was an amazing, amazing musician and talent and genius really of music. He was really also a victim of this, in a way. Mutilating himself – what he did for his body, for the skin, for the nose.”
The Complicated Friendship Of Auden And Britten
The late-life meeting between estranged geniuses W. H. Auden and Benjamin Britten in Alan Bennett’s new play, “The Habit of Art,” never took place in real life. Nonetheless, “Bennett’s brilliant conjecture … leads us straight to the heart of one of the most gripping and symbolic relationships in 20th-century culture.”
Miami Art Museum Director Departing At Critical Moment
Terrence Riley said the timing of his resignation “worked very well for me and very well for the project” of building MAM a new, $220 million home. “Riley said he leaves the job with very few regrets. One is that he didn’t do enough to muster the support of Miami’s art heavyweights.”
Online Theatre, Done Well, Is A Breakthrough
“[I]t appears that the company [Digital Theatre], which has the experienced stage director Robert Delamere among its founders, has found a way of cracking the perilous transfer of stage show to screen.” It’s no replacement for the live experience, but as cheaper alternatives go? Not bad.
Landscape Architect Lawrence Halprin Dies At 93
“He left his mark at all scales, from the crafting of San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square in the 1960s to the transformation of the 52-acre base of Yosemite Falls that was completed in 2005.” Charles Birnbaum, president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, called him “the single most influential landscape architect of the postwar years.”
Ritchies Auction House Ordered Into Bankruptcy
“The troubled Toronto-based Ritchies Auctioneers has been pushed into bankruptcy by its landlord, who is claiming the 42-year-old company is indebted to her for nearly $131,000.” Court documents say Ritchies owes its one secured creditor about $300,000, while unsecured claims total “at least $1.5-million.”
Boston Public Schools Get $750K Grant For Arts
“The district will be receiving a $750,000 grant from the Wallace Foundation,” which “will help the district develop a strategy for rolling out more arts programs, and it could lead to a larger donation to implement more programs.”