Warhol exhibit to tour Asia over 3 years

PITTSBURGH (AP) ― A large retrospective exhibition of Andy Warhol’s artwork will tour five Asian cities over the next three years.The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh says the exhibit will be the pop art icon’s largest ever in Asia. It will include more than 300 paintings, photographs, screen prints, drawings and sculptures. The exhibit, “Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal,” will open in Singapore in March. It will head to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing in 2013 and Tokyo in 2014.The tour marks the

Feb. 1, 2012

Bjork makes foray into music education

NEW YORK ― Americans may know Bjork Gumunsdottir best for that strange swan dress she wore at the 2000 Oscars. But now, after selling millions of recordings and videos ― not to mention being named best actress at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for “Dancer in the Dark” ― at the age of 45, the Icelandic musician is turning into a teacher.In February, she is presenting 10 New York performances ― sold out already ― of “Biophilia,” her interactive iPad app musical science project. It’s interactive bec

Feb. 1, 2012

Matching fans to music tops agenda for record industry

CANNES, France (AFP) ― After a decade-long battle against file-sharing, music and technology giants are now pushing users to share to their hearts’ content, with online music recommendations a key issue at the MIDEM trade fair that wrapped up Tuesday.Record industry executives were in a buoyant mood for the four-day Riviera event, boosted by figures suggesting music lovers are slowly turning their backs on piracy and that legal digital music is finally taking off.Last year saw a jump in the reac

Feb. 1, 2012

A choreographer’s happy homecoming at City Ballet

NEW YORK (AP) ― At the end of the all-Christopher Wheeldon evening at New York City Ballet this weekend, the choreographer came out alone for a curtain call. The crowd stood and cheered. It would have been a rare moment for any choreographer, let alone one who isn’t yet 40.Wheeldon looks even younger than his 38 years, and may always seem like a wunderkind. But he’s already created more than 40 ballets and is steadily burnishing a reputation as one of the world’s very top choreographers.The occa

Jan. 31, 2012

Williams, first black opera diva, dies at 92

CHICAGO (AFP) ― Camilla Williams, the first black woman to perform with a major US opera company who became both a cultural ambassador and civil rights activist, has died at the age of 92, officials said Monday.“I can confirm that she died at home of complications from cancer,” Alan Barker, a spokesman for Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where Williams taught for 20 years, told AFP.Born in a small town in the segregated southern state of Virginia, Williams began her singing career at

Jan. 31, 2012

Asian stars in Cannes to woo Western record market

CANNES, France (AFP) ― Asian stars flew into the French Riviera resort of Cannes at the weekend for the global music industry’s annual MIDEM pow-wow, in a state-backed bid to woo Western markets.Chinese authorities have sent one of the country’s biggest rising stars, Ruhan, to MIDEM to promote her debut album, “Time to Grow”, which features tracks sung in both Chinese and English.It is the first time that Beijing has brought an artist to the MIDEM fair.Taiwan also came to town with one of Asia’s

Jan. 31, 2012

Verdi’s first opera, ‘Oberto,’ gets rare airing

WILMINGTON, Delaware (AP) ― The year was 1839, and a young, unknown Italian composer was having his first opera produced at La Scala.Though only a modest success, “Oberto’’ launched the career of a man who over the next half-century would turn out nearly 30 operas, many of them now staples of the repertory, like “Rigoletto,’’ “La Traviata’’ and “Aida.’’But Giuseppe Verdi’s first work is rarely heard today. So it’s a service that the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia is presenting it in conce

Jan. 30, 2012

Stars cover Bob Dylan songs for Amnesty International

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) ― Anyone who ever doubted the transformative power of Bob Dylan’s music need only look to Ke$ha.Yes, Ke$ha.The irreverent pop star known for singing about brushing her teeth with “a bottle of Jack’’ turns poignant while covering a song from one of music’s great lyricists on the new four-disc “Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International.’’ The project features 75 newly recorded Dylan songs by 80 artists, including Adele, Sting, Su

Jan. 30, 2012

Voyage to heart of Islam opens at British Museum

LONDON (AFP) ― It is a rite that all followers of Islam are supposed to perform at least once in a lifetime, yet for the rest of the globe the hajj is veiled in mystery.Now the British Museum in London has opened the first ever major exhibition on the pilgrimage, to give non-Muslims a glimpse of the heart of this world religion.“This exhibition is for everybody, Muslims and non-Muslims, everyone who wants to know more about this extraordinary phenomenon, which is one of the great religious manif

Jan. 30, 2012

U.K. radio’s ‘Desert Island Discs’ turns 70

LONDON (AP) ― Margaret Thatcher chose Beethoven, Michael Caine picked Frank Sinatra and boxer George Foreman selected The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love.’’They are among almost 3,000 guests who have appeared on the radio program “Desert Island Discs,’’ a British broadcasting institution that turned 70 on Sunday.The show’s simple format hasn’t changed since 1942: Ask an illustrious or famous figure to choose the eight pieces of music they would take with them to a deserted isle, and talk about wh

Jan. 30, 2012

For Malkovich, the struggle of the sexes changes little

PARIS (AFP) ― More than two decades after John Malkovich starred in “Dangerous Liaisons” as the film’s arch seducer, the American actor is revisiting the classic French work, this time directing a stage version in Paris.For Malkovich, the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos published in 1782 highlights the centuries-old struggle between men and women.“I’m not saying war between men and women, but the struggle between them. I don’t think that’s changed since the time of Choderlos de Laclos,” Malk

Jan. 29, 2012

Louvre’s Da Vinci restoration ignites art world row

PARIS (AFP) ― Delicate work to restore a Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece, to be unveiled in March, has turned into a headache for the Louvre, after experts accused the Paris museum of putting the precious oil work at risk.Da Vinci began painting “The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne” in 1503 and when he died in France in 1519 the unfinished work, depicting Christ beside his mother and grandmother with a sacrificial lamb, was acquired by King Francis I.Restoration carried out in the past century le

Jan. 29, 2012