"Decades before Cecil B. DeMille sent horse-drawn chariots thundering through the desert, the world's most famous ballet choreographer created an epic version of Egypt for the stage, and par…
Jill Lepore traces the history (and prehistory) of "the most extensively researched television program [ever made]" " from the educational and social ideals of its creators (and the entertai…
The Ravinia and Grant Park cancellations bring this point home in one stunning blow, an entire musical season quashed before it started. We grieve these losses, knowing that they're slight c…
"Flanked by 20 strings on each side, her fingers coated in rosin, [Ellen] Fullman, 62, walks a central aisle while rubbing the strings lengthwise, conjuring thrumming minimalist drones and q…
A new subscription plan that's part virtual, part in-theatre? Fierce scenario planning that projects out the next two years… " Philadelphia Inquirer
"The [Spanish] flu did not transform the American cultural scene, as the new coronavirus threatens to; when the outbreak eased, in 1919, musical life returned swiftly to normal. A columnist …
The problem is not audience participation. It may drop, but, as my analysis to follow shows, even if it drops 20, 30, or even 40 percent, that is not the drop we should worry about. What wil…
Artist Sam Winston, as part of his project A Delicate Sight, invited Bernardine Evaristo (co-winner of last year's Booker Prize), Raymond Antrobus (winner of last year's Folio Prize for poet…
Plague columns haven't been much in fashion for nearly 300 years. But as the horrendous toll of death and suffering from today's modern coronavirus plague continues to climb, the time may ha…
"When the playing of his three colleagues " all Austrian exiles " threatened to become too sweet, Lovett could be relied on to bring them back to the right side of good taste with a finely d…
"Diary of a Sergeant," a 1945 U.S. Signal Corps documentary short about Harold Russell, a paratroop sergeant who lost his hands in a World War II demolition accident. (In the film, Alfred Dr…
Your absence has gone through me Like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color. W.S. Merwin, "Separation" (courtesy of Emily Gordon) Continue reading Almanac: W.S.…
Things are far from perfect north of the border, but overall Canadian artists and organizations say they feel relatively well taken care of, especially when they look south. Kate Brown repor…
Musicians and their audiences may be physically separated these days, but they're closer emotionally, writes David Patrick Stearns. "The old sense of 'us' and 'them' " each side with its res…
Until recently, BPT had enjoyed a good reputation, sometimes called the David to Ticketmaster's Goliath. One unpaid client, the Taste of Philadelphia Food Tour, had been doing business with …
"After a decade of spectacular growth, the entertainment conglomerate has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Its 14 theme parks (annual attendance: 157 million) delivered record pr…
"By the time the eight-week course was over, I was the wretch I am now: an unhinged woman vehemently obsessed with oil painting who wrestles with it like a feral person for hours every day. …
What makes it hard to maintain our intellectual integrity in such times is that crises can expose some political truths, though we have to struggle to see straight and recognize the limits o…
For those governing and supporting museums, the old standards about the use and disposal of collections and endowments are rapidly risking obsolescence. Museums are, of course, property-rich…
"We have the power to decide to value art and culture in ways that support the kind of lives we want to be living. But to do that, we need more skin in the game"a greater shared commitment a…
The art world we return to"if there is one to return to at all"will be formed in this moment. This is the time to build our own institutions. Our shelter-in-place orders and the masses of wo…
Nicola Benedetti already offered online music classes through her own Benedetti Foundation. But the lockdown made her wonder whether they could reach an even wider audience on social media p…
"In Rousseau's scheme of things, solitude was the natural human state. By stepping outside of society, by distancing oneself from other voices, one was facilitating a return to oneself. But …
Mark Swed: "I've never heard a cellist make the instrument sing quite the way Harrell did. Despite his impressive physical presence " he had been an athlete in his youth and traded football …
She made her Metropolitan Opera debut at age 23 and sang 54 roles there over 42 years, becoming one of the most beloved singers within the company. Perhaps most notable among the many operas…