Barbara Holdridge, Whose Record Label Foretold Audiobooks, Dies at 95

Barbara Holdridge, Whose Record Label Foretold Audiobooks, Dies at 95

Barbara Holdridge, who co-founded the first commercially successful spoken-word record label, one that began with the poet Dylan Thomas reciting his story “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and that led to today’s multibillion-dollar audiobook industry, died on Monday at home in Baltimore, Md. She was 95. Her daughter, Eleanor Holdridge, …

Read more

Art to See on Day Trips From New York City This Spring

Art to See on Day Trips From New York City This Spring

The busy calendar of fairs and auctions in May makes New York City an attractive hub of activity for the art crowd. But if a breather is needed or desired, a day trip may be in order. Here are a few art destinations worth considering. Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, …

Read more

The Closed-Door Battle to Become IOC President

The Closed-Door Battle to Become IOC President

Late Wednesday night, members of the International Olympic Committee gathered for a dinner at the Olympic Museum on the banks of Lake Geneva. The next morning, they would see presentations from seven candidates vying to be their leader, a role that would by most measures be the most important in …

Read more

Thomas Sondergard Brings Nordic Music and Hygge to Minnesota Orchestra

Thomas Sondergard Brings Nordic Music and Hygge to Minnesota Orchestra

Hygge lives on at the Minnesota Orchestra. Visitors stepping into Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on a recent, frigid Saturday were greeted with a roaring fireplace and Scandi furniture strewed with blankets. Snacks were on sale from Ingebretsen’s, a local purveyor of Nordic goods, and pastries from the nearby Krown Bakery. …

Read more

Artists Tried to Activate Voters With Billboard Art. Did It Work?

Artists Tried to Activate Voters With Billboard Art. Did It Work?

On Nov. 6, the day after the presidential election, the artist Hank Willis Thomas was at his studio in Brooklyn. His production assistants were poring over tables strewed with blobby red white and blue silk-screen prints of the words “Fragile/ Democracy / Handle With Care” in capital letters. The design …

Read more