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Spirited singing fails to enliven Mozart opera

All the lovely singing fails to save the Vienna State Opera's new production of Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito."

German baritone opera singer Fischer-Dieskau dead

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the renowned German baritone who performed for more than five decades on stages in Berlin, Vienna, London and New York, died Friday. He was 86.

Warsaw fires architect of planned art museum
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Officials have fired the Swiss architect tapped to design an ambitious museum of modern art in Poland's capital, throwing the whole project off track.

Wayne Newton sued over Las Vegas home museum plans

Plans to turn Wayne Newton's sprawling Las Vegas estate into a celebrity museum have shifted into an ugly legal battle citing mismanagement, animal abuse and sexual harassment.

Mattila withdraws from new Met Opera 'Ballo'

Soprano Karita Mattila has withdrawn from the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball)."

Canada museum kills masturbation video after outcry

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's federal science museum has removed an animated video showing youth masturbating from an upcoming sex exhibit following a public outcry, a museum spokesman said. The Canada Science and Technology Museum will open the "Sex: A Tell-all Exhibition" on Thursday as planned despite strong criticism from Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, who has called it an insult to taxpayers. ...

Rodin Museum in Philadelphia to reopen in July

The Rodin Museum in Philadelphia is getting ready to reopen after three years of renovations.

Book Talk: Museum conservator finds life in automaton

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A museum conservator and horologist loses her colleague and married lover of 13 years, forcing her to use the intricate restoration of a 19th century automaton and the diaries of the man who commissioned it as the means to cope with her grief. Set in London in 2010, "The Chemistry of Tears" is the 12th novel by Australian-born Peter Carey, winner of two Booker Prizes for "Oscar and Lucinda" and "True History of the Kelly Gang". ...

'Newsies' choreographer draws on his background

Seventeen young dancers stop horsing around on the Nederlander Theatre stage as Christopher Gattelli approaches.

Telemann's 'Orpheus' given staging by NYC Opera
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No longer a major institution and now a shrunken, vagabond company, New York City Opera is ending its first season since departing Lincoln Center with a handsome staging of Georg Philipp Telemann's "Orpheus," a work premiered in 1726 that was long lost before it was rediscovered in 1978.

NY's Met Museum lets visitors climb to cloud nine

Go ahead. Poke your head in the clouds.

NY's Met Museum lets visitors climb to cloud 9
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New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is big on bubbles.

Santa Fe festival will honor Navajo artist
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Artist Tony Abeyta just can't help himself.

Up on the roof of NY's Met museum in "Cloud City"
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Argentine artist Tomas Saraceno combines art, architecture and science in a striking installation on the rooftop garden of The Metropolitan Museum of Art that gives visitors a different perspective of the sky, clouds and the city around them. "Cloud City," which opens on Tuesday and runs for six months, is a giant jumble of interconnecting modules, measuring 54 feet long and 28 feet high, that rises to varying levels and incorporates reflective materials, mirrors and glass with New York's skyline and Central Park as the backdrop. ...

Curator of Georgia O'Keeffe Museum resigns

Few people in the world know as much about the life and art of Georgia O'Keeffe as Barbara Buhler Lynes, who resigned Friday after years as curator and director of the research center at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe.

A 'Picasso' That an Ohio Man Bought in a Thrift Store Sold for $7,000

Zachary Bodish, 46, of Columbus, Ohio, bought what he thought was a poster reproduction advertising an exhibit of Pablo Picasso for $14.14 in a thrift store and sold it for $7,000 to a private buyer.

Artist Kapoor finds beauty in London's Olympic orbit
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LONDON (Reuters) - Turner prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor said on Friday that Britons would grow to love his spiraling red tower on London's Olympic Park, just as people had come to appreciate other structures initially loathed, including the Eiffel Tower. The 115-metre tall structure, higher than London's Big Ben and New York's Statue of Liberty has divided opinion, with some describing it as resembling a carnival slide or a water pipe. ...

Estonia to open maritime museum in seaplane hangar

Estonia will open the Baltic states' largest maritime museum in a hangar once used by Charles Lindbergh.

Detroit orchestra hopes Kid Rock show raises $1M
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This time last year, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra was about a month removed from a contentious musicians' strike that worsened its already strained finances. Now, the rebounding organization aims to raise the roof — and hopefully $1 million — with help from a hometown musician known more for rock, rap and country than classical.

Jeff Koons seeks to wring emotion from "empty" art

BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - U.S. pop artist Jeff Koons is seeking to fire up your emotions at a retrospective show of his work in Switzerland. Although some critics regard his work as empty kitsch, Koons has put 30 years of sculpture - including his famous Balloon Dog - into his first museum show in Switzerland along with the admission that his art is in eye of the beholder. Visitors to the Fondation Beyeler in Basel are met by a giant globe-like sculpture made of thousands of flowers. ...

Ohio man's luck changes with signed Picasso print
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An unemployed Ohio man was browsing at his local thrift store for items he could restore and resell when he spotted a Picasso poster with the word "Exposition" written across the front, some French words, and the image of a warped round face. He handed over $14.14 for what he saw as a nice commercial print.

Van Gogh museum unveils new willow watercolor

A young Vincent van Gogh was so struck by a dead willow leaning "lonely and melancholy" over a pond near The Hague that he knew at once he had to paint it.

Warhol 'Elvis' fetches $37M at NYC auction
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Andy Warhol's "Double Elvis" sold for $37 million and works by Roy Lichtenstein and Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei broke their own records at Sotheby's contemporary art sale on Wednesday.

Warhol, Lichtenstein, Bacon head to auction in NY
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Paintings by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Francis Bacon and a work featuring one ton of handmade porcelain sunflower seeds by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei are among the artworks leading a Wednesday night contemporary art sale at Sotheby's.

American soap opera 'Bold' is big hit in Italy

With sunglasses and spike heels, makeup artists and wardrobe experts, the American soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" has landed in Italy.

Pittsburgh opera fans jeer plan to honor governor
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The Phantom of the Opera may be fine, but opera fans say Gov. Tom Corbett is a problem.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra to tour Mexico, Asia

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Riccardo Muti plan trips to New York, Asia and Mexico for the 2012-2013 season.

Warhol painting of Elvis heads to auction in NY
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An Andy Warhol portrait of Elvis Presley as a cowboy is being sold at a New York City auction.

Minn. Orchestra to lay off 13 percent of staff

The Minnesota Orchestra says it's laying off 13 percent of its permanent staff to save money.

The Met Costume Institute Gala 2012

Stylish celebs gather for fashion's biggest night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.