A&E

Citing security risks, renowned Berlin opera house cancels Mozart production

By Alyson Brodsy and Melissa Eddy · Tuesday, Sept. 26,2006 10:49 p.m.

BERLIN -- A leading opera house canceled a three-year-old production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" that included a scene showing the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad, unleashing a furious debate over free speech.

Live at MAC features 3 genres

By Shannon Valentine · Monday, Sept. 25,2006 10:23 p.m.

The Jacobs School of Music is hosting its third annual Live at the Musical Arts Center Series, highlighting a semester of performances aimed at engaging students and Bloomington community members with music from IU students.

Hitler watercolors and sketches to be sold at auction

By Paisley Dodds · Monday, Sept. 25,2006 10:22 p.m.

LONDON -- Watercolors and sketches attributed to Adolf Hitler are up for sale Tuesday, forcing a tiny auction house in southwest England to install multiple telephone lines to accommodate an expected crush of bidders from Canada to New Zealand.

Nail art breaks boundaries of classic manicure

By Colleen Long · Monday, Sept. 25,2006 10:15 p.m.

NEW YORK -- Hand-carved three-dimensional fruit, intricate snakeskin and tiny faces all painted on a fingernail. Is it art? Or just a really good manicure?

School of Music Summer Festival has international appeal

Monday, Sept. 25,2006 9:22 a.m.

The Summer Music Festival's reputation for drawing scholars and musicians internationally is renewed this year thanks to a concert performed by violinist Joshua Bell, as well as appearances from conductors Michael Stern and Leonard Slatkin.

Around the Arts

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Sept. 24,2006 10:52 p.m.

Check out what's going on with the arts around Bloomington.

Live, laugh, love ... and buy a new

By Alyson Brodsy and Teri Rosenbaum · Sunday, Sept. 24,2006 10:44 p.m.

Every time I head back home to what has inevitably become "my parents' house," I have to face the nightmare of my past: my old bedroom.

Only the costumes disappoint in Opera Theater's 'Giovanni' production

By Alyson Brodsy and Paige Ingram · Sunday, Sept. 24,2006 10:42 p.m.

As is the style of many operas, IU Opera Theater's production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" explores the ins and outs of love and relationships through the lens of melodrama. From men as lotharios to identities hidden by makeshift disguises and love portrayed as a casual emotion, the stereotypes abound.

Buskirk-Chumley rolls out red carpet

By Paige Ingram · Friday, Sept. 22,2006 8:26 p.m.

Alison Zook felt like a Barbie doll as she waited backstage at the Buskirk-Chumley Thursday night. "And it smells like an old Barbie doll," she said as she held the black vintage dress to her nose.

Film, book resurrect flamboyant politician

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Sept. 21,2006 11:22 p.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- For his first meeting with presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, Huey P. Long dressed in his flamboyant Kingfish mode: plaid suit, purple shirt and pink necktie. During lunch, Roosevelt's mother gazed down the table at the United States senator in the garish outfit. She whispered: "Who is that awful man?"

Russia marks 100th birthday of Shostakovich

By Alyson Brodsy and Jim Heintz · Thursday, Sept. 21,2006 11:17 p.m.

MOSCOW -- It's a rare talent that would make internationally acclaimed cellist Mstislav Rostropovich feel second-rate. Dmitri Shostakovich had it. Rostropovich is among the renowned musicians who will put the wide and contradictory breadth of Shostakovich's vision on full display this month as Russians observe the 100th anniversary of his birth. The celebration will include a concert by Moscow Conservatory's orchestra, which will perform Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony conducted by Rostropovich.

IU Opera Theater presents 'Don Giovanni' this weekend

By Molly Peters · Thursday, Sept. 21,2006 10:55 p.m.

This weekend, IU Opera Theater will present "Don Giovanni," a Mozart masterwork said to be one of the greatest operas ever written, according to the Jacobs School of Music Web site. This drama giocoso, meaning "playful drama" or "tragic comedy" in Italian, is based on the legendary Spanish tale of Don Juan. Don Giovanni is a lustful man who engages in episodic conquests of seducing women for nothing more than his own gratification. Giovanni is as easily loathed as is he is adored, as his malicious intentions are contrary to his irresistible charm.

Art by students is a hot commodity for patrons

By Joann Loviglio · Thursday, Sept. 21,2006 12:02 a.m.

PHILADELPHIA -- If there's an art to collecting art, Susan Guill just might be considered an old master.

James Brown storms auditorium, performs energetically for hundreds

By Zack Teibloom · Wednesday, Sept. 20,2006 11:59 p.m.

James Brown, decked out in a bright red sequined suit, got down on his knees during a nearly 15-minute rendition of "A Man's Man's Man's World" and told the audience members he loved all 2,500 of them Tuesday night during his performance at the IU Auditorium.

'Urinetown' actor finds humor in his roles

By Lindsey Landis · Wednesday, Sept. 20,2006 11:58 p.m.

Senior Kevin Anderson is not a bad guy. He just plays one in most of his productions. The theatre and drama major tackled the role of Batboy's evil mother in the fall 2004 production of "Batboy -- The Musical," which he described as "ridiculous," because he had to dress up in women's clothing.

Iranian and Turkish film series offer hits from Muslim world

By Christina Stigliani · Wednesday, Sept. 20,2006 11:57 p.m.

This week the Department of Central Eurasian Studies kicks off an international film series.

Art from all Angles

By Colleen Carroll · Wednesday, Sept. 20,2006 11:57 p.m.

ulpture on the lawn of the IU Art Museum is nothing more than a meaningless shape. "It looks like a circle to me," he said. But that big circle is Charles Perry's "Indiana Arc," one of several pieces of abstract art that exists on IU's campus.

7 Decades of Funk

By Zack Teibloom · Wednesday, Sept. 20,2006 12:49 a.m.

James Brown, decked out in a bright red sequined suit, got down on his knees during a nearly 15-minute rendition of "A Man's Man's Man's World" and told the audience members he loved all 2,500 of them Tuesday night during his performance at the IU Auditorium. Erupting in applause that bounced off the balcony, the people in the crowd yelled back their adoration for the "hardest working man in show business," who begged for 10 more minutes of performance time.

Steven Irwin memorial at Australia Zoo Wednesday

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Sept. 19,2006 10:51 p.m.

BEERWAH, Australia -- More than 5,000 people, including the Australian prime minister, are expected to cram the "Crocoseum" at the Australia Zoo Wednesday to say farewell to "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin at a memorial service.

City-owned art collections in California: vast, varied and sometimes forgotten

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Sept. 19,2006 10:50 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO -- For a city boasting Rodins and Munchs in its public collection, the basement of Building 30 at San Francisco General Hospital is no place for art. Steam pipes lattice the ceiling, the dust on rusting file cabinets thickened by the years.