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Extraordinary Beethoven, and an adventurous streak
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear never knew his father, who died of cancer a month before he was born. But Stewart Sr., an aspiring writer, left his only child a rich musical legacy in the form of a large, eclectic collection of LP recordings. Even when he was just 3 or 4, Goodyear was enthralled by Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Ravi Shankar, Joe Cocker and Carlos Santana. But it was two boxes containing the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky that made him want to become a musician. Somehow I sensed that there was never a limit to the emotions expressed in this music, Goodyear, 43, said in a recent interview. This was the world I wanted to be a part of. Beethoven wound up occupying a central place in his diverse career. Goodyear has recorded the Diabelli Variations; the five ... More

The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair to be held 18-20 June
PETWORTH.- The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair is opening in just a few weeks in the grounds of Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 June 2021, since lockdown delayed its usual slot in May this year. This is the second time the event has had to be rescheduled due to the pandemic - last September the fair was successfully and safely held in its purpose-built marquee in the National Trusts 700 acre deer park to much acclaim. One of the main highlights for sale at the fair has an impressive provenance, as it was owned for many years by HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and comes complete with a folder of documentation from Kensington Palace. The 19th century Qing dynasty Chinese export Dehua porcelain blanc-de-Chine figure seated on a Buddhist lion, probably Manjusri bodhisattva of wisdom, ... More

Mary Ahern, who produced early TV and then preserved it, dies at 98
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Mary V. Ahern, who was an important behind-the-scenes figure on the cultural magazine show Omnibus and other early television programs, then helped preserve those and similar touchstones of television history as the Paley Center for Medias first curator, died May 1 at a care center in Peabody, Massachusetts. She was 98. Her niece Joan Curry said the cause was cancer. Ahern spent much of her career working with Robert Saudek, an Emmy Award-winning producer whom The New York Times once described as alchemist in chief of what is often recalled as the golden age of television. Saudek, who died in 1997, created Omnibus in 1952, when television was new. Ahern was his valued right hand, as she had been earlier when he worked in radio. Omnibus was hosted by Alistair Cooke, who at the time was ... More

Roger Hawkins, drummer heard on numerous hits, is dead at 75
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Roger Hawkins, who played drums on numerous pop and soul hits of the 1960s and 70s and was among the architects of the funky sound that became identified with Muscle Shoals, Alabama, died Thursday at his home in Sheffield, Alabama. He was 75. His death was confirmed by his friend and frequent musical collaborator David Hood, who said Hawkins had been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other conditions. An innately soulful musician, Hawkins initially distinguished himself in the mid-60s as a member of the house band at producer Rick Halls FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. (The initials stand for Florence Alabama Music Enterprises.) His colleagues were keyboardist Barry Beckett, guitarist Jimmy Johnson and Hood, who played bass. Hood is the last surviving member of that rhythm ... More

Three dramas explore the margins of the digital form
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Puppets cant cry. But they can make people cry. Or at least exceptionally well-made and well-voiced ones, like those in Vancouver, by Ralph B. PeÃ±a, can. They create a new path for emotion by blocking access to paths that have become too familiar. Vancouver is among the many productions that, at this late date in the era of remote playgoing, are still exploring the ways artists can engage audiences theatrically even when what theyre offering is basically film. The gorgeously carved humanoids (and canines) in Vancouver like the uncanny green screens in the workplace drama Data and the deliberately funky video in The Sprezzaturameron are just some of the de-cinematizing strategies Ive recently experienced online. As audiences creep out of their shells, these three got me thinking about ... More

'We always rise.' A Black-owned bookstore navigates the pandemic
NEWARK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Dexter George, owner of Source of Knowledge, a bookstore on Broad Street here, wore a tool belt as he walked through aisles dotted with djembe drums and past walls lined with Ghanaian masks. Smoke coiled upward from a bowl of burning sage. George, 56, has kept his business operating partly by practicing caution during the pandemic. Even when he opened his front door to start the workday, he kept the key in the inside lock; all customers who were allowed in were quickly directed to have their temperature taken and take a squirt of hand sanitizer. George eyed them through a hard plastic face shield. Theres a lot of people we arent seeing again, he said. This virus is going around in a circle until it gets everybody. George counted 30 customers killed by the coronavirus. Almost 1,000 people have ... More

Federer serves up memorabilia treasure trove
ZURICH (AFP).- Roger Federer is auctioning t-shirts, racquets, and shoes from his trophy-laden tennis career after delving into the vast memorabilia archive stored up for years by his wife and family. The sports legend is hoping to raise Â£1 million ($1.4 million, 1.15 million euros) for the Roger Federer Foundation, which supports educational projects in southern Africa and his native Switzerland. "The Roger Federer collection is the most important single-owner collection of sporting memorabilia that has ever come to the market," said Bertold Mueller, the continental Europe managing director of the British auction house Christie's. The items cover 21 years of Federer's career, Mueller told AFP at a pre-sale exhibition of the auction lots in Zurich. The collection is on show in Hong Kong until Tuesday. The 39-year-old has won 20 Grand Slam titles, a record ... More

Thierry Goldberg opens an online exhibition of works by Francisco G. Pinzón
NEW YORK, NY.- Thierry Goldberg is presenting De la mano al zodíaco an online exhibition of works by Francisco G. Pinzón Samper. The exhibition is on view from May 21 to June 19, 2021. When Francisco G. Pinzón Samper describes his works, the first thing he mentions is range. A range from high to low, a range from design to artistry, from elegance to camp. Pinzón Samper plays with these dualities in his work, drawing technicolored portraits and trippy fantasies that mix design tropes of hippie psychedelia, with Art Deco design, and Gen Z fashion. What develops are technicolor works that are bursts of expression and concentrated love. Pinzón Sampers primary series in the exhibition, a set of portraits, experiments with design, color, and ritual. Pinzón Samper borrows design tropes from Art Deco, Emilio Pucci, and 1960s long flower skirts ... More

Asya Geisberg Gallery opens its fifth solo exhibition of work by Melanie Daniel
NEW YORK, NY.- Asya Geisberg Gallery is presenting No Mans Land, the fifth solo exhibition of Melanie Daniel. As Robin Laurence states in her Border Crossings article, Daniel takes on the dismaying subject of global climate change in a strangely oblique and highly imaginative fashion. Daniel has created futuristic narratives in which human beings struggle to reclaim their lives in the aftermath of environmental disasters; their efforts however, appear to be doomed by the benighted optimism or sheer absurdity of their undertakings. In her newest series, the artist is still plunging into her idiosyncratic vision of these potential after-effects on people not unlike herself, but the pandemic has provoked a wider net of anxiety about the unplannable. Daniels itinerancy has girded her approach to painting: with roots in western Canada, she ... More

Magnificent Victorian East End butcher's shop display model to be offered at auction
LONDON.- An impressive Victorian Folk Art butcher's shop display model of Butchers, that was originally in Limehouse (East London) will be offered by Catherine Southon Auctioneers & Valuers in an online auction on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 11am via www.the-saleroom.com. It is estimated to fetch Â£12,000-18,000. The polychrome decorated wood and plaster model is finely detailed and depicts the shop front on one side decked with meat cuts, carcasses and produce with a butcher holding a steel knife. Whilst on the other side, the model depicts an abattoir showing figures engaged in butchery including the slaughtering of a bull, above the sign inscribed 'Fernley Family Butchers'. The model which measures 78 cm high and 94.5 cm wide dates from 1880 is being offered on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, who bought ... More

Important 'Batte of Britain' medals awarded to spitfire ace fetch £110,000 at Dix Noonan Webb
LONDON.- Spitfire Ace, Group Captain C. B. F. Kingcome of the Royal Air Force was one of the outstanding characters of the Battle of Britain and his group of seven medals including a 1942 D.S.O and 1940 D.F.C. was sold by Dix Noonan Webb for Â£110,000 in their auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria Wednesday, May 19, 2021. It was bought by an UK collector of outstanding gallantry awards. Charles Brian Fabris Kingcome was born in Calcutta, India in 1917 and educated at Bedford School. He was one of the outstanding characters of the Battle of Britain, who, during its height, led 92 Squadron with great success from Biggin Hill. Shot down and hospitalised in October 1940, he returned to fly with the squadron until appointed to the command of 72 Squadron in February 1942, leading them as the fighter escort of Esmonde V.C.s ... More