Arts
Ethan Hawke to take on Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' on Broadway
NEW YORK - Actor Ethan Hawke is returning to Broadway in a production of 'Macbeth', with performances set to begin in October at Lincoln Center, the performing arts center said.
Ringo Starr puts his life on display in Grammy Museum exhibit
LOS ANGELES - Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr put snapshots of his musical and creative life on display in a new exhibit, "Ringo: Peace & Love," which opened on Tuesday at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. | Video
Jailed China dissident's wife decries injustice in letter to Xi
BEIJING - The wife of jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has written an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, protesting against her house arrest and her brother's jailing, which activists have called official retribution on the family.
Hungary "Meistersinger" triumphs over flooding Danube
BUDAPEST - The flood-cresting Danube outside Budapest's Bela Bartok concert hall threatened to drown audience, singers, chorus and orchestra alike, but it couldn't dampen the high spirits inside for a new production of Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg".
London art market woos 'uber-collectors' to buoy summer sales
LONDON - Auctioneers are pinning their hopes on "uber-collectors" to help London summer art sales top last year's $1 billion total when the series kicks off later this month.
Painting seized by Nazis fetches more than $3.3 million at auction
NEW YORK - A 17th century Dutch masterpiece that graced the collections of Catherine the Great's art adviser and Russia's Hermitage Museum before being seized by the Nazis sold for nearly $3.4 million at auction, a record for the artist Gerrit van Honthorst.
Brazil's Portinari tops Christie's Latin American art sale
NEW YORK - A dream-like painting of children releasing kites by Brazil's Candido Portinari sold for $1.4 million at Christie's Latin American art sale and set a world auction record for the artist.
Venice Biennale seeks to capture the "unruly" world of art
LONDON - Blocks of ice from the Bahamas, cardboard bed clothes from Iraq and a thumping Vatican heartbeat will help the 2013 Venice Biennale attempt to capture the "unruly" world of art.
La Scala's new manager wants an Italian music director
VIENNA - Alexander Pereira, the next manager of Italian opera house La Scala, would like to have an Italian music director, ideally Riccardo Muti or Claudio Abbado, he told an Austrian newspaper.

