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01/09/2026 11:07 PM
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John Luther Adams on “Why I Moved from the US to Australia”
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 A couple of my recent blogs – here and here — have saluted John Luther Adams as “among the most esteemed present-day American composers for orchestra. . . . Encountering Adams’s Become Ocean on a 21st-century symphonic program is so fundamentally enthralling that it risks cliché. It is the proverbial oasis in the
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01/09/2026 06:32 PM
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Good Morning
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Blockbuster news from Washington, where the Washington National Opera has decided to leave the Kennedy Center’s Opera House. The company plans to move its performances to other venues, marking a dramatic rupture for one of the center’s flagship residents (The New York Times). In Atlanta, public media stations are facing a “cold dose of reality” […]
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01/09/2026 05:22 PM
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Washington National Opera To Leave The Kennedy Center
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 The resolution calls for the opera to move its performances out of the Kennedy Center’s 2,364-seat Opera House as soon as possible and to reduce the number of performances as a cost-saving measure. Opera officials said that new sites in Washington have been lined up but that no leases have been signed. – The New […]
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01/09/2026 02:50 PM
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How Does This Professor Get Students To Read Complete Books? With A Class Called “Existential Despair.”
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 The professor is Justin McDaniel, chair of the religious studies department at Penn. The class meets once a week for seven-to-eight hours, reading one book cover-to-cover in complete silence, then discuss it. No phones, of course. – New York Magazine
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01/09/2026 02:03 PM
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Could Japan’s Highest-Grossing-Ever Live-Action Film Revive Interest In Kabuki?
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 In the movie Kokuho, a epic covering five decades in the life of a fictional kabuki actor, we see the traditional theater slowly fade from Japanese popular culture. In real life, interest in kabuki has fallen, especially since COVID. Now there’s hope that the film’s success could attract new fans to the genre. – CNN
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01/09/2026 01:44 PM
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Philanthropist Ensures Live Orchestra For San Diego Opera
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 On Monday, San Diego Opera announced that Jacobs has committed $4.5 million to establish The Joan and Irwin Jacobs San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera Collaboration Fund. – San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
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01/09/2026 01:31 PM
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The Humanities Crisis Is Over. Uh-Oh.
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 There is no longer a crisis in the humanities. Our field’s long-running narrative of continuous crisis is over. The bad news: The crisis of the humanities has been revealed by the events of the last year to be a crisis of civil society writ large. – Chronicle of Higher Education
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01/09/2026 01:15 PM
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The Poverty Of Living When Everything Is Ranked
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 Value capture occurs when you get your values from some external source and let them rule you without adapting them.” Because we live in a world in which nearly everything is quantified and ranked, value capture is everywhere. – The New Yorker
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01/09/2026 01:02 PM
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First Designs Released For 2032 Olympic Stadium In Brisbane
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 The design, by the Australian firms Cox Architecture and Hassell in collaboration with the Japanese practice Azusa Sekkei, is inspired by the wraparound verandas of traditional “Queenslander” houses. (Brisbane is the Queensland state capital.) – CNN
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01/09/2026 12:44 PM
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Making Climate Change Real: When We Write About Places People Know
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 We have discovered that writing about local places that people are already connected to changes this dynamic and gives people a way to examine their own assumptions within a recognisable framework. – The Conversation
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01/09/2026 12:31 PM
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Science Fiction And The Art Of Predicting The Future
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 At odds with the outspoken desire for that which is novel and original in art, audiences also have a hunger for the familiar or at least the spectacularly plausible. If the future can’t be predicted, then maybe it can be gamed out, run through a series of thought experiments. – The Baffler
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01/09/2026 12:15 PM
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Researchers Use AI To Decipher Tens Of Thousands Of Medieval Manuscripts
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 More than 32,000 manuscripts were transcribed in the space of a few months. – Inria
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01/09/2026 12:04 PM
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One Of America’s Top Luthiers Is Still Picking Up The Pieces After Last Year’s L.A. Fires
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 Mario Miralles has made violins and cellos for everyone from Yo-Yo Ma and Anne Akiko Myers to principals in the Los Angeles Philharmonic to students to Gustavo Dudamel. His home and studio were in Altadena, and he lost years’ worth of carefully sourced wood, instrument diagrams, and almost everything else. – The New York Times
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01/09/2026 11:44 AM
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More And More Artists Being Asked To Help Finance Museum Shows Of Their Work
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 Across the US, artists report being called on to subsidise budgets for museum exhibitions, public commissions and even acquisitions. In some cases, opportunities evaporate entirely when the artist and organisation are unable to raise the money needed for production. – The Art Newspaper
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01/09/2026 11:31 AM
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Universal Music Chief Warns About “Irresponsible” Business Models For Music Taking Hold
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 “Let me be clear: UMG will not stand by and watch irresponsible business models take hold, models that devalue artists, fail to provide adequate compensation for their work, stifle their creativity and ultimately, diminish their ability to reach fans.” – Music Business Worldwide
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01/09/2026 11:15 AM
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Vancouver Symphony Backs Down, Says It Won’t Require NDAs In Harassment Settlements
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 On Tuesday, the VSO issued an open letter saying it would be ending the use of confidentiality agreements in cases of sexual misconduct, unless it is specifically requested by the complainant. – CBC
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01/09/2026 11:03 AM
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San Diego Museum Of Art At 100
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 “After starting out with … mostly borrowed and donated items a century ago, the museum today boasts a collection of more than 39,000 items, including many Spanish Old Masters and significant numbers of French, Indian, Asian and American works. Annual attendance now tops 550,000, about five times (that of) 2010.” – The San Diego Union-Tribune […]
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01/09/2026 10:35 AM
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Dance Theatre Of Harlem In Court Battle With Its Former Archivist
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 “The court conflict involves Dance Theatre of Harlem; its former archivist, Judy Tyrus; and ChromaDiverse, a nonprofit Tyrus founded to preserve the records of performing arts groups. Dance Theatre of Harlem has accused the heirs of their one-time photographer of illegally donating 16 boxes of archival materials to Tyrus’s organization.” – Gothamist
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01/09/2026 10:01 AM
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Ron Protas, Martha Graham’s Heir And Controversial Custodian Of Her Work, Has Died At 84
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 “Graham … died in 1991 at 96. Tensions between her company and Protas then simmered for a decade before boiling over in a court fight starting in 2001, after which performances by her dancers all but ended for two years. To (his) critics, … he was ‘the most reviled man in dance.’” – The New York Times
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01/09/2026 09:32 AM
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“A Cold Dose Of Reality”: Atlanta’s Public Radio And TV Face A Future With No Federal Funding
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 With Congress’s defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its subsequent dissolution this week, WABE in Atlanta and jazz station WCLK-FM have seen the loss of about 13% of their budgets, while Georgia Public Broadcasting has now lost 11%. – Inside Radio
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01/09/2026 09:06 AM
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Frank Gehry-Designed Concert Hall For Wimbledon Will Go Ahead
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 The local council governing the London suburb, along with the trust created for building the venue, have confirmed that planning and construction of the project will proceed despite Gehry’s death last month. – The Standard (London)
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01/09/2026 08:34 AM
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An “Existential Question” For Scotland’s National Orchestra?
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 The Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s chief executive says that government funding of the group is the same amount as in 2009 — amounting to, adjusted for inflation, a 30% cut. He warns that the RSNO may have to switch from a salaried ensemble to a freelance model without a funding boost. – The Scotsman (MSN)
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01/09/2026 07:59 AM
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Most Arts-Vibrant Communities In The US 2025
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 “This year marks a decade of measurement. In celebration, we’re releasing our most comprehensive analysis yet: rankings for the top 100 communities nationwide and all 50 states.” – SMU DataArts
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