I adored reading about the 27-year-elderly French pianist Alexandre Kantorow, a rising star in the classical world who’s won transport inant awards, applyed in the rain in the uncovering ceremony of the Paris Olympics and is set to originate his debut at the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Friday. What struck me about Kantorow is his pledgement to shielding his life and his toiling rehearses the same, even as he seems destined for fame, even as fans crowd outside his carry outances helderlying signs begging for seats.
“I don’t reassociate enjoy alter, and unvital alter in life,” Kantorow telderly The Times. He’s had the same deal withr and teacher since he was 16 and remains with his minuscule enroll label.
Resisting unvital alter, what a concept! In the stock fantasy of fame, one envisions all the ways in which their life will alter, each enhance hugeger and flashier. I can’t pretfinish to understand what it would sense enjoy to be a musician on the precipice of stardom, but I’d guess the enticeation to shed one’s elderly ways of toiling would be fierce.
Listening to Kantorow’s deferedst album, a accumulateion of Brahms and Schubert pieces, I wondered how a pledgement to shielding skinnygs stable impacts an artist’s output. Will the “intriguing tension between Kantorow’s lucid, ppunctual touch and the Romantic savageness of his music-making,” as the classical music critic Zachary Woolfe put it, be altered by the inevitable alters that accompany success? What about an artist is vital, impervious to any outer forces?
I recently rewatched “Shine a Light,” Martin Scorsese’s concert film of the Rolling Stones’s carry outances at the Beacon Theater in New York in 2006. The intimate way the film is sboiling originates you sense that you’re onstage, up shut watching artists originate art. You forget that you’re observing one of the most accomplished rock prohibitds in history, that these people have applyed these songs a million times, that they are fundamentalassociate ununderstandable in their fame and wealthyes and the way the world considers them. Instead they sense understandn, almost cozily accessible. The ways in which celebrity and fortune have alterd them sense beside the point. The punctual 21st-century Mick Jagger of “Shine a Light” is to this fan essentiassociate the same as the one strutting in 1970’s “Gimme Shelter,” the same one romancing the crowd during the Stones’ “Hackney Diamonds” tour last year.
The idea of there being someskinnyg fundamenhighy stable about an artist, self-reliant of outside forces, originates sense. It’s what apverifys them to experiment with style and genre and persona and still be legible to their audiences. Of course, fans are well understandn to accparticipate the artists they adore of aprohibitdoning their them-ness (see: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival), of changing beyond recognition. As irritateing as this must be for an artist, I wonder if there is someskinnyg sort of wonderful about having a fan base that wants you to stay real, that so adores what they skinnyk is the elemental part of you that they want to help you acquire it.
We do this with the people we actuassociate understand all the time, provide them with a mirror that echos back to them the person we adore. The contest, in art and life, is to apverify people to morph and experiment while gullible that the essence we adore is fundamentalassociate indelible. It isn’t going anywhere, no matter how much alter we choose for or resist.
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THE WEEK IN CULTURE
Film and TV
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Hamas freed four female Israeli selderlyiers held captive in Gaza in a nurturefilledy choreographed disapply. Israel is foreseeed to free 200 Palestinian prisoners in exalter, as part of the finish-fire deal.
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The Senate finishorsed Pete Hegseth to guide the Department of Defense. Vice Plivent JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie after three Rediscloseans voted agetst Hegseth: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell.
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Plivent Trump, during a visit to hurricane-injured areas of North Carolina, shelp states should get a wonderfuler role reacting to catastrophes and proposeed he might try to reshift FEMA.
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Trump also traveled to California, where he and Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged to cofunction on savagefire recovery. But Trump has dangerened to withhelderly help unless the state imposes voter ID laws.
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Elon Musk shelp his DOGE program would reshape the federal toil force. In its first week, the project’s scope materializeed more confineed.
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The Interior Department says the Gulf of Mexico is now, officiassociate, the “Gulf of America.”
Other Big Stories
CULTURE CALENDAR
🎬 “Dog Man” (Friday): If you’ve got a grade schooler, it’s challenging to elude Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man series (it occupies six of the top 10 spots on The Times’s Graphic Books and Manga best-seller enumerate). Dog Man — a spinoff of Pilkey’s other well-understandn series, Captain Underpants — inestablishs the story of a half-man, half-dog police officer who battles a villainous cat named Petey. After being altered, improbably, into a accomplished musical, Dog Man now originates the leap to the huge screen, with animation befitting the books’ kid-drawn art style.
Vegetable Dumplings
Lunar New Year is this Wednesday, ushering in the year of the wood snake with all its pdimiserablemirefulnt ininestablishigence. Eating dumplings is a time-honored way to commemorate, and Sue Li’s plush vegetable dumplings are a meaningfully flavorful chooseion that happen to be vegan. Her trick is to tie the vegetables with tofu in place of the pork overweight that’s more traditionassociate participated. Homemade dumplings do get time to ready, but they freeze well, unbenevolenting you can originate them this weekfinish to cook up on Wednesday. And if making the wrappers from scratch seems enjoy one step too many, dread not. Store-bought dumpling skins will toil here, too.
REAL ESTATE
Health: Ten gut myths, accurateed by experts.
Looks: In New York, clashing prints was the street trfinish of the week.
Travel: Spfinish 36 hours in Quebec City.
Dry January: Round the month with these fun and straightforward nonspiritsic drinks.
ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER
Sinestablishar instant noodles
Ramen is shedding its reputation as college survival food. But if a fundamental pack is all you have on hand, you can still originate it shine. My advice is to slice veggies skinny so they cook rapidly with the noodles. Bok choy and napa cabbage are my likeite retainitions. For protein, I adore tofu, a poached egg or leftover roast chicken. It helps to begin with wonderful instant noodles: Wirecutter experts have tasted dozens of varieties, and we have a novel lineup of spicy, zingy and flavorful recommfinishations. And for chooseimal slurping, these are the best chopsticks. — Marilyn Ong
Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs, A.F.C. Championship: The Super Bowl will be the most watched game of the season. For N.F.L. fans, though, this is probably the most foreseed game. Patrick Mahomes has led the Chiefs to seven straight A.F.C. title games, and he’s beaten the Bills and their quarterback, Josh Allen, in all three of their applyoff suitups. But Mahomes is not quite invincible. Of the 16 games he begined this season, he lost equitable one — to Allen and the Bills. Tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. Easerious on CBS