Arts
A Modern Moment
On January 23, 1957, renowned architect and Dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design Josep Lluís Sert sat down to write a letter. Its mission: Convince the controversial modernist sensation Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier, to make his first visit to Cambridge. “Is there any chance of getting you to come here sometime next fall or spring?” he wrote. “Both MIT and this School are willing to do their best to get you to come here.”
Maestro Mankiw?
Dr. N. Gregory Mankiw conducts the River Charles Ensemble on Saturday afternoon on the Science Center Plaza. Dr. Mankiw was joined by members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals to depict a colorful rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony for Arts First Weekend.
In Arts Medal Ceremony, Matt Damon Reflects on Marathon Bombings
Speaking before a Sanders Theatre crowd on Thursday, Academy Award-winning actor and filmmaker Matt Damon, a Cambridge native formerly of the Class of 1992, said he was glad to be home in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Sommer Highlights Cultural Agency at Allston Ed Portal
In a speech that drew mixed reactions from an audience of about 30 Allston-Brighton residents, Romance Languages and Literatures Professor Doris Sommer described art’s potential for social empowerment both in the community and internationally at the Allston Education Portal Tuesday evening.
Big Shoes to Fill
What’s more mind-blowing than the idea of entirely re-making a perfectly good song (especially when the original belongs to a legend), though, is an artist’s ability to rework it so much so that it takes on an entirely different meaning. There is nothing trickier than a cover song.
Framing Harvard Film
As the Carpenter Center celebrates its 50th anniversary, film pieces from past and present students show that Harvard’s program in film education coalesces with the liberal arts curriculum and results in a unique, holistic preparation for the film industry.
Of Monsters And Men
Put simply, “Cargo” succeeds because it eschews the urge to read some deeper symbolism into the zombie apocalypse and instead embraces zombies’ meaning on their own as the ultimate negation of what it means to be human. In the face of zombification, we see a man wordlessly struggle to preserve those elements he fears he will lose.
100 Years of Jazz Saxophone
I don’t presume to be anything more than a student of the jazz saxophone tradition, but in my few years of study I’ve benefited immensely from drawing my own map of the historical territory. Of course, ignorance and misinformation are par for the course, but it’s been an invaluable exercise to try to orient myself while navigating the unspeakably diverse collection of voices that define the legacy of the jazz saxophone.
Smart Girls at the Party
In the soundbite age, it’s rare to encounter such honesty, particularly from our public figures. When politicians misstep, they issue formulaic apologies. When celebrities give interviews, they offer canned, publicist-penned answers. Reality television is immensely popular, but there’s no sign of “reality” within them.
