London's Tarisio Auction House has sold a Stradivarius violin once owned by Lady Anne Blunt, the daughter of the Earl of Lovelace and granddaughter of the famous poet Byron, for $16 million, more than four times the record for a Stradivarius, in a special auction to aid in Japanese disaster relief. You don't need to spend millions to do your part to aid victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, just head over to the American Red Cross.
Who Are Your Top Ten Composers?
...and how does your list compare with the one 8-year-old piano student Lucas Amory sent in to NY Times music critic Anthony Tommasini in response to Tommasini's Top 10 Composers project? When Armory took issue with a few of the critic's choices, the Times posted the young pianist's list and the Kaufman Center spoke to him on camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Eul6aRdDK4
Beethoven, Mahler, and Schoenberg Inspire Early 20th-Century Viennese Painters
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has inspired many, but not in the way it inspired Austrian artist Gustav Klimt at the dawn of the 20th Century. The National Gallery of Victoria, Australia's oldest public art gallery, has done a major survey of turn-of-the-century Viennese art to celebrate the museum's 150th anniversary. Klimt's Beethoven frieze is the exhibition's crowning glory.
Wex Drive-In Offers Free Entertainment For All Ages
You've probably driven past one of these mid-20th-century ghosts at least once...a crumbling marquee, a giant screen sitting in a field, and maybe a few posts poking up through the overgrown grass like tombstones in a forgotten cemetery. While few still exist (Columbus still has the South Drive-In on South High Street), the Wexner Center's Wex Drive-In series is offering some free outdoor entertainment again this year for families and film buffs.