All articles tagged with #arts
Matthew Rhys won Best Actor at the Bafta Cymru Awards for his role in the Netflix thriller The Beast in Me. This marks his second win in the category, 29 years after his first for the Welsh-language film Bydd yn Wro. The ceremony, held in Newport, awarded 17 total prizes, with Carol Vorderman and Lauren Evans receiving outstanding contribution honors.
Jonathan Abbott has been appointed the new CEO and Maurice Marciano Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, effective September 24, 2026. Abbott, a 15-year veteran of public media who served as president and CEO of GBH in Boston, replaces interim director Ann Goldstein. The appointment follows a year-long international search and aims to stabilize the institution ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2029. Abbott will work alongside Chief Curator Clara Kim to expand the museum’s audience and strengthen its community ties.
The Metropolitan Opera opened its 2026-27 season on September 23 with a new production of Verdi's 'Macbeth,' directed by Louisa Proske. The staging blends gothic horror with campy spectacle, featuring a large coven of witches, acrobatic sword fights, and a rotating set. Critics praised the vocal performances of Lise Davidsen and Quinn Kelsey, as well as Yannick Nézet-Séguin's conducting, though some noted a lack of psychological depth in the central couple's dynamic.
The 2026 Booker Prize shortlist was announced on September 22, featuring six novels including two by previous winners, Marlon James and Douglas Stuart. The judging panel described the selection process as a 'tussle,' with chair Mary Beard noting the intense deliberation required to narrow the field. The winner will be announced on November 9 in London, receiving a 50,000-pound prize. The shortlist includes diverse genres, from dystopian fiction to historical drama, reflecting a wide range of contemporary literary styles.
Ella Langley’s country ballad Choosin’ Texas has held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a 23rd nonconsecutive week, surpassing Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You and crowning Langley as the chart’s new record-holder. The track, co-written with Miranda Lambert, evokes a Nashville sound with nostalgic nods to George Strait and Ronnie Milsap, and has dominated the top since July after an October release.
The Deutsche Oper Berlin opened its season with Karlheinz Stockhausen’s epic Mittwoch aus Licht, staging a lavish, surreal production that features helicopters and dancing camels as part of a space‑themed ritual, marking the house’s first season under new artistic leadership and the second time the work has been staged; the performance showcases highly complex choral and instrumental writing paired with striking video and sound design.
Gallerists uncover rare works by Marguerite Zorach and her husband William, revealing a pioneering American modernist partnership formed in Paris in 1911; newly recovered embroideries and batiks, along with revised attributions, spotlight their collaborative practice and prompt renewed attention at Independent 20th Century Fair.
Dancer-actor Robbie Fairchild debuts Lord Chamberlain’s Men at Fall for Dance, offering a 30‑minute preview of his first work as director‑choreographer‑star. The piece treats Shakespeare’s elusive “lovely boy” as a figure from the playwright’s troupe whose forbidden longing informs Romeo and Juliet, drawing on Judi Dench’s tutelage, input from Nicholas Hytner and Will Tosh, and guidance from Christopher Wheeldon, with music by Tchaikovsky and spoken text to convey emotion rather than proof. Fairchild frames the project as a plausible fiction rather than a historical claim, aiming to illuminate queer longing in Shakespeare’s world.
Obituary-style tribute noting the death of American author Annie Dillard, highlighting her 13 books, the 1975 Pulitzer Prize, the 2015 National Humanities Medal, and her devotion to making intimate contact with readers through transcendent writing.
Open in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art houses more than 1,300 works—from Norman Rockwell and Banksy to Star Wars concept art—organized around 'myths' and universal storytelling themes like love and work. Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson and designed by Ma Yansong, the 300,000-square-foot museum elevates illustration as narrative art, with Steven Spielberg on the board. After two decades and roughly $1 billion from Lucas, it opens to the public Sept. 22, inviting visitors to believe in creative possibility.
A rare 1950s Gertrude Abercrombie painting, found for $30 at a Michigan estate sale, is expected to fetch up to $250,000 at Freeman's Auctions in Manhattan; the piece, Alderman Merriam's Shells, depicts nine seashells tied to Chicago alderman Robert Merriam and was authenticated by art historian Susan Weininger.
Riot Fest at Douglass Park will end early Saturday as rain and a flood watch loom over Chicago; several sets were shortened or moved (Afroman’s 8 p.m. slot cut, Bright Eyes moved to 6:30 p.m.), and all headliners that were to start after 8 p.m. were shifted to 6:30 p.m. at the latest, with every act wrapping by 7:30 p.m. Sunday's schedule remains unchanged despite more rain and storms forecast and a flood watch through Sunday morning.
Pete Davidson and Colin Jost staged a one-night comedy show on a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry, renamed Snapple Island Ferry for the event and sponsored by Snapple; a lineup of NYC comics performed on a hot, stationary boat, with Jost poking fun at the ferry’s impulsive purchase, as authorities and investors continue to debate the vessel’s future beyond the evening’s laughs.
More than 6,400 people formed a human chain around the Kennedy Center to protest its two-year closure after a Trump-appointed board voted for the shutdown, amid a broader legal dispute over renovations, funding, and the center’s naming.
Grace Reiter and Saidah Belo-Osagie will join Saturday Night Live for Season 52, blending traditional sketch cred with strong social-media reach. Reiter is known for The Chair Company and viral online content, with a Netflix project, Minimum Wage, on the horizon; Belo-Osagie is a Nigerian American comedian with directing credits at Tribeca/Gotham, a festival‑hit short, and a rising TikTok profile. Their arrivals reflect SNL’s shift toward digital incubators and help fill the void left by Ego Nwodim’s departure.