Author Archives: Culture Spectator
The NPG’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition until the 23rd February
By K. Mitchell Snow Laments over the demise of the “traditional” portrait have been penned at least since the days my great-grandfather sat before a camera, head held firmly in a brace to prevent him from moving, in the makeshift studio of an itinerant photographer. These complaints have come to nothing. Rather than destroy portraiture, […]
A. Quincy Jones at the Hammer Museum ‘til 8th September
By Richard P. Townsend The domestic architecture of A. Quincy Jones is the quintessence of Postwar Los Angeles, whether innovative tract housing or homes for high living for such luminaries as actor Gary Cooper or art collectors Frances and Sidney Brody. So it is all the more surprising that the excellent exhibition at the Hammer […]
Rossini’s La donna del lago at Santa Fe July 2013
By Richard P. Townsend Gioachino Rossini’s works in the opera seria vein are rarely given. Everyone knows and loves The Barber of Seville and perhaps even Cinderella and Italian Girl in Algiers. In great productions, some of these comedies can be truly profound such as The Turk in Italy, recently seen in Los Angeles in […]
World Premiere of Morrison’s Oscar at Santa Fe July 2013
By Richard P. Townsend Opera as vehicle for social justice. While this may not be something that occurs to us when attending an evening at the theatre, there are occasional, powerful examples such as Philip Glass’ Satyagraha or John Adam’s recent The Gospel According to the Other Mary. It was quite apparent by the remarks […]
