Opera companies can't just keep staging the same old productions of "Tosca" and "Carmen—they have to shed their snooty image if they want to thrive. But how? Houston Grand Opera's Anthony Freud thinks he has the answer.
"India's Fabled City: The Art of Courtly Lucknow," at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, reveals the rich tradition of visual arts that blossomed in what was once the cultural capital of north India.
"Cézanne's Card Players," at the Metropolitan Museum, is the first monographic show there devoted to the artist in more than half a century, and contains some revealing reassessments of his work.
To save the Alexandria Library from damage during the recent unrest, Egyptian youths joined hands and formed a human cordon around the building. It's become a symbol of tolerance and openness in that country.
Once dismissed for being too fussy and gaudy, new scholarship has led Béatrice Quette to reassess cloisonné's standing among china's decorative arts.
The Whitney Museum's "Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time" is as much a chronicle of the artist's contribution to the evolution of American art as it is a story of the institution's development of its collection.
Designed by Foster + Partners, the new wing is an unassailably logical solution, superbly executed and singularly lifeless—redeemed only by curatorial and installation expertise.
The new Art of the Americas Wing puts proper emphasis on art above architecture, but in doing so highlights shortcomings in the museum's own collection.
Williams Meyers on current exhibitions of Pentti Sammallahti, Hai Bo and "From the Picture Press."
At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, "Fresh Ink" engages old and contemporary art in conversations that enrich our experience of both.
Pairing compositions by Bach, Desprez, Lassus and de Victoria with new works by contemporary composer Robert Kyr, the Conspirare chorus gave emotional depth to music that often appeals more to the head than the heart.
Both inside and out, the National Museum of American Jewish History manifests the tension in the institution's mission.
Frank Gehry's latest creation gives the New World Symphony in Miami a permanent new home. It's a safe design, with emphasis on the interior experiences rather than exterior flourishes.
A heavy debt load borrowed on high-risk financial instruments pushed the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco to the brink of bankruptcy. This could have been avoided.
In Britain 250 years ago, Salvator Rosa was the name on every collector's lips, while Caravaggio was unrecognized. The Kimbell Art Museum's current exhibition of 36 Rosa pictures shows us why the attention was deserved.
When an artist dies of an early suicide, the quality of the material is often overlooked because it is immediately more valuable. Call it the Sylvia Plath Effect or the Diane Arbus Syndrome.
In an increasingly crowded marketplace, writers are taking matters into their own hands and promoting their own books, sometimes with the help of iPods and sex toys.
A splendid 1,700-year-old mosaic floor accidentally discovered during highway construction in Israel gives us a sumptuous glimpse into the domestic lifestyle of a local merchant.
Thomas Leeser's redesign of the Museum of the Moving Image is a bold architectural reinterpretation of the institute's current and future role, especially in the video and digital arts.
From the moment they enter the redesigned lobby of the Museum of the Moving Image, visitors are reminded of how screen images can summon seductive alternate worlds.
Structures in the ancient Roman city have been collapsing in recent months, and many more across Italy are in danger of the same fate.
When the Menil Collection offered Vija Celmins the opportunity to select the subject for an exhibition of her work, she surprised by choosing a set of less-known early works that differ radically from her later ones.
To mark the institute's sesquicentennial, MIT Museum has assembled 150 objects that encapsulate the work and culture of the school.
'Rietveld's Universe,' at the Centraal Museum Utrecht, shows the designer's development from furniture maker to town planner and architect of more than 100 buildings—in a setting that shows his work put into practice.
"Kurt Schwitters: Color and Collage," at the Menil Collection, seeks to increase the obscure Dadist's name recognition.
"John Pawson: Plain Space," manages to escape the preconceptions that burden shows on architectural minimalism while staying true to the approach of the man often called "Mr. Minimalism."
"On Becoming an Artist," at the newly refurbished Noguchi Museum, allows us to compare the works of famed sculptor Isamu Noguchi with those of his colleagues.
"Abstract Expressionist New York," a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, paints a fragmented picture of this distinctly American movement.
Two current exhibitions return us to the years when photography nervously believed it had to define its goals and possibilities.
For a show of this scope and scale, "Alternating Currents" is not only surprisingly good and various, but representative of its region and the broader trends of contemporary art.
Originally intended as a smaller piece of an enormous but still unbuilt cathedral, the Interfaith Peace Chapel was the last building Philip Johnson designed.
"The Spanish Manner," at the Frick Collection, is really two complementary exhibitions of drawings: an erratic overview, mainly of 17th-century artists, and an in-depth look at Francisco Goya.
At New York's New Museum, 'The Last Newspaper' considers the fate of print journalism.
At a time when museums large and small are in various states of transition, the mansion and collection established by Henry Clay Frick serenely endures.
John La Farge may be better known for his stained-glass windows, but a trip to the South Pacific in the late 1800s revealed that he was also an accomplished painter.
The paintings in "The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin" have such an off-the-cuff quality that it's easy to imagine the master reaching for his brush while chatting with a student.
Once designed for easy access to trolleys and streetcars, they're now a gateway to many of the city's hidden treasures.
In seeking to make modernism more humane, contextual and familiar, James Frazer Stirling moved architecture beyond faux history, funky colors and insider jokes.
Architect Bing Thom's update and expansion of Harry Weese's Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. is an imaginative $135 million project that local planners are hoping will spur a $2 billion neighborhood makeover.
A new suite of galleries at the San Diego Museum of Art has rescued the extensive Binney collection and made it the cornerstone of "Temple, Palace, Mosque," an installation of the permanent collection.
William Meyers on current exhibitions from the George Eastman House, Dawoud Bey and Teun Voeten.
For only the second time in its 40-year history, New York's Film Forum spotlights a composer whose scores have helped shape movie history. It's part of Carnegie Hall's ambitious JapanNYC festival, and runs from Dec. 3 through 16.
Cabaret, which has long attracted audiences eligible for Social Security, is now drawing more and more performers from the same age group.
"Flowers of the Four Seasons," at the Berkeley Art Museum, draws 112 pieces from one of the greatest private collections of Japanese art in the U.S. to highlight the culture's pursuit of "beauty" in all things.
Is there such a thing as German Impressionism? Didn't everything begin with Manet, Monet, Degas, Cézanne and their colleagues? The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gives us the answer.
Lance Esplund on current exhibitions of Thomas Nozkowski, Anthony Caro and John Walker.
For the first time ever, audiences in the U.S. can view two masterpieces of the Goddess Diana, both painted by Titian, at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
J.P. Morgan's 1906 Italianate marble villa—part of the Morgan Library & Museum—gets a comprehensive makeover for the first time since the crusty financier lighted up his first cigar in his study.
William Meyers on exhibitions of David Vestal, Leon Levinstein and Paul McDonough.
It's no surprise that the Metropolitan Museum of Art continues to flout received wisdom in mounting expensive, magisterial retrospectives. Yet a Jan Gossart exhibition remains an odd, remarkable choice.
Olmec art is massive and impressive. But we know surprisingly little about it.
The Addison Gallery of American Art opens a renovated building and a new wing with a spectacular exhibition
Two exhibitions remind us that on the battlefield, the pencil sometimes captures more than the camera.
"Red Luster" may look like a beauty pageant of objects chosen for their color, sheen and good looks. But the real fun at the Newark Museum of Art is in drawing the web of connections that link these works together.
Military images dominate American history painting because wars represent critical moments in politics and culture. "For Us the Living" shows us the work of Mort Künstler, considered the dean of Civil War painting.
William Meyers on current exhibitions of Alfred Stieglitz, Tina Barney and Ed Kashi.
Long before film and television, not to mention video games, legions of children stirred their imaginations and broadened their knowledge with toy theaters made of paper.
In New York, a perverse form of preservation wreaks architectural destruction just as effectively as a wrecking ball, only in a more subtle and insidious fashion.
Examine some of the finest furniture designed by the epitome of American Arts & Crafts style and explore his contributions to the reform of interior design in "Gustav Stickley," at the Newark Museum.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art's latest addition, the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, is what museum curators have often claimed to long for. The art inside, however, falls short.
Eykyn Maclean's Alberto Giacometti retrospective is intimate, elegant and alive, and Andrew Butterfield and Fabrizio Moretti have organized "Body and Soul," an exhibition of 12 recently discovered masterpieces.
Once again, the annual awards show proves that it's ultimately a celebration of marketing and promotion rather than musical excellence, aimed at selling more product regardless of quality.
Bobby Long's new album of folk-blues announces the arrival of a promising talent.
Long before the era of megavolume amplifiers and string-bending Stratocaster guitars, the instrument that really rocked the concert stage was the violin. Violinist Jennifer Koh cranks it up a notch in a solo recital at the 92nd Street Y.
In a just world, Dolorean's new album would bring the group the kind of wide-spread fan support and critical acclaim it's been denied for 10 years.
Paris's Île de la Cité was once a city within a city, an intense intellectual environment with its own art and politics. The early-music ensemble Sequentia presents a series of concerts dedicated to the polyphonic music produced there.
Abigail Washburn's new album, 'City of Refuge,' shows how versatile contemporary American folk music can be when it's played earnestly yet with a sense of adventure.
Gregg Allman underwent painful liver-transplant surgery shortly after recording 'Low Country Blues.' Looking forward to the release of the album helped him heal.
He was one of the great avatars of an era in pop music when comedy was as important as romance, when even top stars like Frank Sinatra and Doris Day were expected to sing both novelties and ballads.
Rock acts from the 1980s and '90s are increasingly paying tribute to themselves. It's a trip down memory lane, and fans are lapping it up regardless of artistic merit.
"The Complete Elvis Presley Masters" serves as a reminder of how vital was the early music of Presley, but it doesn't help much in answering the question of his present relevance as a musician.
Over the course of a 70-year career, Billy Taylor helped the world learn to take jazz seriously.
Had Quincy Jones never met Michael Jackson, he'd still be one of the biggest names in American pop-music history. The legendary musician talks about producing for the greats, and of the next frontier in music.
Hugo Wolf's 150th birthday passed under the shadow of bigger names who also celebrated anniversaries this year. The composer's obscurity belies his contributions to German art songs.
Forty-seven years after she took part in rock and pop's greatest Christmas album, Ronnie Spector returns with "Ronnie Spector's Best Christmas Ever."
Celebrating "Cry Me a River," a song that dramatizes darkness and lust for revenge.
Deadmau5 may be reluctant to identify himself as a bona fide musician, but crisp, clearly articulated patterns are found in many of his relentless and gleeful dance tracks.
World-renowned concert pianist Byron Janis on some important lessons he's learned, as a teacher and a student.
With his incredible respect for melody and lyrics, tenor saxophonist Houston Person instills a touch of humanity in his music.
You might think they got the chronology wrong, but after their last album commented on the end of one pop-industry business model, the Black Eyed Peas's new album marks the rise of the next.
Two years ago, an illness nearly silenced jazz pianist Fred Hersch; it couldn't touch his talent.
One person's spiritual experience is another's head-scratching incomprehension.
A concert reunites many of the 90 musicians who have at some time been members of the band—along with longtime friend and supporter Willie Nelson.
On a rare solo tour, the classic-rock trailblazer offers a less familiar sound.
Composer Maria Schneider draws from Latin America—and even a bird—to bring nuance to the music of her orchestra, which is playing the Jazz Standard this Thanksgiving week..
Lincoln Center's $1 million refurbishing of Alice Tully Hall's 4,192-pipe organ is complete. But will audiences get a chance to hear it?
Nick Cave and his quartet Grinderman, a lean experimental ensemble free to play what it wants, release a new disc.
Once visible only in art houses, "Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones" is now out on DVD.
The famed country-music producer-songwriter—notorious for shunning the spotlight—is finding 2010 to be the year he can avoid country's highest accolades no longer.
A new group comprising Cuban and Malian musicians, AfroCubism, sprang from the successful Buena Vista Social Club project.
Once confined to the margins of the scene, saxophonist Henry Threadgill returns to the stage.
A festival that used to be a low-wattage, one-day affair celebrating the legacy of Robert Moog, inventor and electronic-music pioneer, may have outgrown its original mission. That's not all bad.
As Jesús "Chucho" Valdés began the Pablo Milanés composition "Los Caminos," his 4-year-old son sat on his lap, tracing the movements of his long fingers. It was a touching coda to a dazzling performance, hinting at history.
The leader of chamber-pop masters Antony and the Johnsons brings his melodies and emotions to the White Light Festival this weekend.
New York-based pianist Eteri Andjaparidze and lighting designer Jennifer Tipton to join forces in "Spectral Scriabin" at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in Hell's Kitchen.
A new collection of Bob Dylan demo recordings reveals a songwriter in bloom.
"The Emperor of Atlantis," a thinly veiled satire of fascism, nevertheless holds out hope that the hearts of tyrants may be changed. That this opera was written in a concentration camp only makes the piece sadder.
It's been 25 years since Russ Gershon formed his Either/Orchstra ensemble, during which time nearly 50 musicians have played in the band. Twenty-seven of those musicians will reunite in New York for an anniversary concert.
Since he recorded his first hit 60 years ago, B.B. King has kept a lifelong tour schedule that continues to this day.
How does sculptor Jaume Plensa create works that move beyond size and weight and onto the soul?
Saxophonist Charles Lloyd wants to feed his audience's hunger for beauty and peace.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei spends most of his days fighting for the rights of his fellow citizens, much to the chagrin of the Communist Party.
Colin Firth's turn as the Duke of York has won him a Golden Globe. As Mr. Firth tells David Mermelstein, it's a pitch-perfect performance driven by a sense of duty.
Rebuilding Iraq isn't only a physical endeavor. It's also a cultural one. And that's where Karim Wasfi, director and chief conductor of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra, plays an important role.
The National Endowment for the Arts will honor five-time Grammy winner Orrin Keepnews with its Jazz Masters Award. The record producer looks back at a legendary music career built without musical training.
As he prepares for two performances of Mahler's music in New York, baritone Thomas Hampson discusses the composer's poetic legacy, placing him in the lineage of German Romanticism.
The Royal Ontario Museum is in many ways an updating of the earliest types of museums when they were considered cabinets of curiosities. The museum's newest director, Janet Carding, explains.
A fierce defender of New Orleans and its jazz traditions, saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr. embraces the past and future without contradiction.
At 85, Gunther Schuller remains a musical Renaissance man and vocal champion of the art.
The famed pianist Leon Fleisher on the superiority of German music and the problem with today's classical-music performers.
Losing 150 pounds through gastric-bypass surgery has changed soprano Deborah Voigt's singing and voice. But how much is the surgery, and how much is maturity?
New York's Park Avenue Armory as a vibrant 21st-century arts center? President Rebecca Robertson has a plan.
On the eve of his 90th birthday and the broadcast of a new documentary on his life, Dave Brubeck reflects on seven decades of steering jazz into new directions.
As Monday's opening night of "Don Carlo" approaches, Roberto Alagna explains the challenges of being a tenor.
Forty years after Altamont, director Albert Maysles talks about the filming of "Gimme Shelter."
Kevin Brownlow receives an honorary Oscar for his work restoring some of the earliest films ever made.
A legal dispute forced Bruce Springsteen into a three-year hiatus after his breakthrough "Born to Run," a period that would have profound influences on his future, beginning with his subsequent album, "Darkness on the Edge of Town." Video: Bruce in the Studio
Harold Pinter described their love affair as "joyous, dangerous and unavoidable." And it all started with "Must you go?"
As the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame prepares to shower him with even more accolades, Fats Domino unlocks the secret of his success.
Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell acknowledges his music's association with the rural life. But he offers another explanation for his distinct sound: pace.
As a younger conductor, he was always eager to prove himself, to leave his mark on an ensemble. Now, at 35, Daniel Harding has learned that sometimes, it's best just to let an orchestra play.
With his new autobiography, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards reveals himself in far greater detail than any fan could have hoped for. A Cultural Conversation with Mr. Richards, by the Journal's Jim Fusilli.
The architects commissioned to design the new 93,000-square-foot home of the Barnes Foundation collection in Philadelphia discuss the challenges of abiding by the legal constraints of the project.
Rossini's 38th and final opera, "William Tell," was finished when the composer was 37 years old. It's Rossini's longest and most architecturally ambitious overture, an extremely popular concert piece long before it was harnessed by popular culture.
Among his most outlandish tales, the charlatan-subject of "Hermit of Peking" claimed to have been the lover of a 69-year-old Chinese empress.
The Grant Memorial in Washington celebrates its namesake as well as those who carried out his orders. Sadly, most visitors who linger there today do so to photograph the Capitol.
There are those who would not only vilify foods considered less than salubrious, but prohibit them. And what a ridiculous spectacle that is, says Eric Felten.
In his signature work, "Self-Portrait in Tuxedo," Max Beckmann exudes self-confidence, control, singularity and even arrogance.
The Qusayr Amra bathhouse in Jordan, a perfect expression of Prince al-Walid's alleged love for debauchery and power.
What is it about turkeys that sparked the special admiration in John James Audubon?
Elizabeth Smart's prose poem powerfully chronicles an adulterous obsession.
Walker Evans was assigned to document the effects of the Depression when he captured "Lucille Burroughs, Daughter of a Cotton Sharecropper, Hale County, Alabama" in 1936.
Considered his magnum opus, in "Four Quartets" T.S. Eliot addressed in greater depth and coherence themes that had been essential to his earlier works.
A tiny painted panel of a goldfinch suggests the magnitude of what we lost when Dutch artist Carel Fabritius perished in an explosion at age 32.
Marguerite Yourcenar's novel "The Memoirs of Hadrian" is a plotless masterpiece that captivates readers with the quality of the emperor's thought and powers of observation.
To this day, Strauss's magnificent "Blue Danube" waltz is the veritable anthem of Vienna.
The chaos in Cairo helps make the case that artifacts held legally in the U.S. and Europe should stay where they're safer and not be returned.
Two weeks after the death of Peter Yates, Marc Myers and stuntman Loren Janes set out to honor the director of "Bullitt" by driving the film's famous chase route—cautiously.
A new monument in Philadelphia remembers the nine slaves kept by George Washington at the President's House.
A slick new musical with Broadway-style production values is poised to test China's sensitivity to criticism.
The voices of "Shoah"—the survivors, the eyewitnesses, the Nazi perpetrators—keep reverberating. To mark its 25th anniversary, Claude Lanzmann's cinematic oral history will be rereleased in cinemas.
How a baggy-pants comedian did justice to a stage masterpiece.
Why Tony-winning directors Robert Falls and Mary Zimmerman remain rooted in the Chicago theater community, despite being the toast of New York.
Levitating women and journeys to the hereafter: Today's high-school marching-band routines are far removed from their martial roots.
Understanding the outrage that is the TSA's new airport security procedure.
The ancient fear of public humiliation and ostracism has become a high-tech tool to motivate and incentivize, says Eric Felten.
An exhibition makes the case that Germans invested Hitler with their hopes and dreams and explores the fascination that the dictator continues to exert on the German public today.
The only remaining Soviet labor camp has been converted into a museum and public-performance space. Is it ever OK to have fun at the Gulag?
"Me and Orson Welles," recently released on DVD, brings a much-praised "Caesar" back to life.
Angling on Loeb Lake, the rules are simple: catch and release only; no barbed hooks; and no lead sinkers. Photo-ops optional.
Alexei Ratmansky has given American Ballet Theatre a new take on "The Nutcracker."
Despite its popularity, 'The Nutcracker' can be a difficult tale to follow. Choreographer Mark Morris's retelling in 'The Hard Nut,' however, helps clear things up.
Sankai Juku tempers the grim qualities of traditional Japanese Butoh dancing with the theme of rebirth. They perform in Stanford and San Francisco this week.
For his new dance work, "Sutra," choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui combined the ancient movements of Chinese king fu and the buddhist embrace of modernity and open-mindedness.
What began as an inverted variation on the classic Russian ballet, "Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake" has come into its own, and in the process shed some of its controversial baggage.
In a fall season burdened by numerous preshow remarks, New York City Ballet's dancers showed that they can still shine when it counts.
In their first appearance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music since the death of their namesake, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch presented "Vollmond (Full Moon)"—a evocative work filled with powerful metaphoric waves of association.
The Joyce Theater in New York opens its new season with Batsheva Dance Company's "Project 5," a four-part program that presents excerpts of works by choreographer Ohad Naharin.
They've tried to avoid letting work stoppages interrupt their already-brief careers. But this time the galvanizing issue is their long-term health.
This weekend, you may be paying for the game even if your team's not in the Super Bowl.
A recent book makes a convincing case for abolishing the Bowl Championship Series and installing a playoff system.
The Journal's extreme-sports correspondent Michael J. Ybarra visits the Banff Mountain Festival, the biggest film and book festival devoted to the outdoors and those who play in it.
Allen, Texas is getting an 18,000-seat high-school football stadium, complete with giant high-definition video-replay screen. Is this another sign of the excesses of youth sports in America? Not in Allen.
College players are being deprived of some basic American labor rights.
An investigation has found that New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush violated NCAA rules. But Mark Yost says student athletes can't be expected to shoulder all of the responsibility.
When people find out I climb, they usually ask me two questions: Have I ever climbed Everest? Do I want to? No, I say. Still, I was keen on seeing Everest—from a distance.
A powerful James Cameron production is almost drowned by weak dialogue and direction, says Joe Morgenstern. Meanwhile, Natalie Portman is betrayed by "The Other Woman."
Wilfred Sheed managed to make a drama critic look quite a bit like a human being.
How do you make a play written in pre-Revolutionary Russia in 1900 work in America in 2011?
At last, a comedy series about couples that confounds expectations.
How much longer can Anthony Hopkins trade on Hannibal Lecter's special zest, Joe Morgenstern asks. Meanwhile, "The Mechanic" is beyond repair. Also: Reflections on the Oscar nominations—the good, the bad and the unforgivable.
The small-town oddballs of NBC's "Parks and Recreation" make us all look nice but nuts.
Palm Beach Dramaworks' production of "Freud's Last Session" makes you feel as though you're part of the conversation with two intellectual giants, Freud and C.S. Lewis. It's one of the most stimulating plays to come his way, says Terry Teachout.
Brooks Brothers now sells Levi's 501s, to help shoppers complete the classic American ensemble of oxford button-down, jeans and loafers. What's the message here?
In an age of political correctness run amok, defenders of free speech can never let their guard down, says Terry Teachout. Mark Twain, Dire Straits and August Wilson are only the latest examples.
Seth Rogen writes, acts and gets stung in the new film version of "The Green Hornet."
The supernatural creatures in "Being Human" and the polygamists in "Big Love" may sound like monsters, but all they want is affection and understanding.
Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" is a work of transcending beauty, with moments of archangel-like severity, composed under the harshest of circumstances.
A.R. Gurney's "Sylvia," which is being performed with terrific comic energy by the Florida Repertory Theatre, is both clever and cute in all the right ways.
What does it say about the state of civility in our society that we need special roped-off spaces in order to contain discourteous behavior?
The makers of "Season of the Witch" work hard to avoid accusations of lightheartedness, says Joe Morgenstern. Meanwhile, "Country Strong" covers an oft-told music tale.
Vampire stories have been done to undeath in Hollywood and on TV, raising the stakes for anyone putting Count Dracula's original story back on stage.
To learn an artist's opinions is to understand something important about him.
"Downton Abbey" successfully reflects the tradition-bound world of pre-World War I British aristocrats and its religiously observed rules of dress and behavior with a forcefulness impossible to resist.
Starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, the film can be crushing in its portrayal of how two people in love come to lacerate and devastate each other, says Joe Morgenstern.
Three things are needed to make Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" work. Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company gets it all just right.
"Southland," a police drama dropped by NBC after just one season, returns for what promises to be a third season of exceptional writing and superb acting on TNT.
There are those who would not only vilify foods considered less than salubrious, but prohibit them. And what a ridiculous spectacle that is, says Eric Felten.
Jeff Bridges wears the Duke's eye patch well in "True Grit," says Joe Morgenstern. Meanwhile, a touching "The Illusionist" honors the memory of Jacques Tati.
Fisk University is one of America's oldest historically black colleges. It is also known to scholars of music as the home of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an ensemble founded in 1871 that introduced concertgoers around the world to deathless songs of sorrow and hope.
"The Social Network," "The King's Speech' and "Toy Story 3" lead the pack in a modest movie year.
A roundup of the most lauded books of 2010, featuring gripping tales of Prohibition, revolution and finance.
International contenders for outstanding exhibition of the past year include "Matisse/Rodin" and "Henry Moore."
For architects, 2010 has been another difficult year, with many projects killed or stalled, making the year's highlights all the more noteworthy.
Returning television shows like "In Treatment" and "Mad Men" came back strong; a searing "Pacific" on HBO.
It's said the long-playing album is no longer a viable medium for contemporary music. But that was wrong in 2010.