Q. Speaking of broad music polls, how did movie music scores stack up in 2023? . A. In August of 2023, Classic FM reported out on their poll of 10,000 listeners around their favourite movie scores. Coming in at #1? Let’s just say: ‘Please, Mr. Gandalf, sir, don’t hurt me.

Q. Why did the remarkable Kandinsky so favour circles? . A. Well, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy (1866-1944) was also a prolific writer, so he serves up his own answers. In a 1930 letter to art critic and historian Will Grohmann, Kandinsky wrote: ‘Why does the circle fascinate me? It is (1)

Q. They are the most intriguing birds, with their Formula 1 wings, Mr Fantastic tongues, and iridescent protein feathers.  Who are some artists who have worked to capture hummingbird beauty on canvas? . A. American painter and naturalist Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) was one. Heade was utterly taken with these tinkerbirds,

Q. The streets around Times Square are jammed with people filing in and out of theatres. Some are finally seeing shows they’ve dreamed of for years. Others are back again to check out the new cast in their long-held favourites – like ‘The Lion King’, which opened in 1997, or

Q. Who or what is ‘the Green Fairy’? Not the spirited tinker Tinker Bell. She is famously buzzing about Pixie Hollow championing faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust. But what of the green fairy – or ‘La Fée Verte – that has been touted as muse and

Q. We love seeing new takes on old paintings. Who is an artist excelling in the field? . A. Ewa Juszkiewicz is a gifted artist who does incredible work here. In May of 2022, Juszkiewicz saw her striking ‘Portrait of a Lady (After Louis Leopold Boilly)’, featured above, sell for radically

Q. You do you. Flaunt your edges. Who cares what they think?  “Let your freak flag fly”.  Where did this phrase originate? . A. Credit Jimi Hendrix. Born in Seattle – November 27th, 1942 – Hendrix popularized the phrase in his song ‘If 6 was 9’. It was the 7th

Q. Public libraries offer such a unique glimpse at a wide range of people absorbed in all manner of topics. There is also so much to be learned from poking about home libraries, big and nook. Who are some artists who have captured library life on canvas? . A. It’s

Q. With Easter Sunday drawing near: what are some notable historic paintings that depict the Resurrection? . A. An Aragonese painter from the mid 15th Century. The Resurrection . Piero della Francesca. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1463 . Sandro Botticelli. The Resurrected Christ. 1480 . Juan de Flandes. Christ

Q. Sound tastes vary, of course. As does the type of space in which different types of music are best showcased. Overall, however, which concert halls do experts feel have the best acoustics? . A. First of all: what exactly are ‘acoustics’? Merriam Webster offers: ‘a science that deals with