Clawdia wolf biography of abraham lincoln
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The darker side of genius
Historical figures tend to become one-dimensional in our minds over time. We remember Princess Diana’s beauty and generosity, Andy Warhol’s artistic genius and George Gershwin’s unmistakable melodies, but we don’t always acknowledge their personal struggles. Veteran journalist Claudia Kalb asks us to do just that in Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder, a collection of 12 seemingly disparate stories of luminaries in architecture, science, politics and more.
While none of Kalb’s individual mini-biographies is startling on its own (we’re hardly surprised to learn that President Lincoln faced depression), when combined, they raise some interesting questions, among them whether mental illness and creative genius are intimate bedfellows. When we read about the endless collection of detritus left behind by Warhol, for instance, we may recognize a hoarding disorder, but also a man who saw objects in a different light and treated them with a reverence many of us do not. We wonder if Frank Lloyd Wright could have continued to create his unique architecture through years of financial ruin if he hadn’t had some sort of narcissism driving his work.
Kalb doesn’t just look at the possible positive effect of ment
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People/Characters Abraham Lincoln
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Kent Nagano
Kent Nagano is considered one of today’s outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. Since September 2015, he has been General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg. In addition, he is committed as Artistic Director of the Ring project “The Wagner Cycles” of Dresdner Musikfestspiele with Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln, and as patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival. He has been Honorary Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin since 2006, Concerto Köln since 2019, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2021 and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester since 2023.
The 2024/25 season is Kent Nagano's last season as General Music Director in Hamburg and brings four new productions to the Staatsoper under Nagano's musical direction: Carl Orff's Trionfi, Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, Unsuk Chin's The Dark Side of the Moon, and Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier's The Illusions of William Mallory. Furthermore, he conducts symphony concerts with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester in the Elbphilharmonie as he does every season, including the New Year's performance and the world premiere of Alex Nante's symphony An