Arts & Culture

LONDON — Frieze London and Frieze Masters close today in Regent's Park after five days. The two fairs drew nearly 300 galleries: 172 at Frieze London and about 140 at Frieze Masters. Sotheby's London contemporary evening sale on Thursday raised about £46 million ($61 million) with fees. The hammer total of £36.9 million fell below the £41.7 million low estimate. A 1977 Willem de Kooning untitled abstraction led at £9.8 million, followed by a Gerhard Richter at £6.7 million. Of 34 lots offered, six went unsold, including works by Jadé Fadojutimi and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. A Yayoi Kusama sold well below its estimate. Records were set for a Michael Andrews work on paper (£704,000) and for a David Hockney iPad drawing (about £1.9 million). Sotheby's Hockney sale, 20 Flowers from Normandy, runs online in London through October 27.

MEMPHIS — The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will open its new downtown campus on December 6, rebranded as the Memphis Art Museum. The Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron designed the building with Memphis firm archimania as architect of record, and OLIN designed the landscape. The 123,500-square-foot museum sits on the Mississippi bluff at Union Avenue and Front Street. It adds 50 percent more gallery space and, per the museum, six times as much free, art-filled public space. That includes a 10,000-square-foot courtyard and a 50,000-square-foot rooftop sculpture garden. Galleries will be organized into 18 exhibitions. ARTnews reported an initial cost of $180 million, with the city contributing $30 million and the state $12 million. Shelby County residents will be admitted free. Trade press describes it as among the first major U.S. museums built with laminated timber.

STOCKHOLM — The Swedish Academy awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature on October 8 to Canadian poet, essayist and classicist Anne Carson, 76. It cited her work's playful dialogue with the classical tradition and the new forms it created. Publishers Weekly noted she is the third Canadian laureate, after Alice Munro and Saul Bellow. The committee singled out her debut, Eros the Bittersweet, and her latest collection, Wrong Norma, from New Directions. The academy's secretary said Carson was in Iceland when notified. Two more major prizes follow. The Booker Prize winner will be named November 9, from a shortlist including Marlon James's The Disappearers (Riverhead), Douglas Stuart's John of John (Grove) and Elizabeth Strout's The Things We Never Say (Random House). The National Book Awards will be presented November 18 in New York, with Salman Rushdie receiving a lifetime medal.

NEW YORK — Alana Hadid and Jenan Matari have withdrawn Displacement and the Palestinian American Story from Random House Children's Books, a Penguin Random House division, days before its planned release. The Guardian reported the dispute Thursday, based on drafts and emails the authors supplied. Written for ages 10 to 13 and part of the Race to the Truth series, it was due out in September. The authors say an editor added a line calling the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks a violation of international law, which they rejected. A Random House spokesperson said the process followed standard bookmaking procedures and that the publisher respects the authors' decision and remains committed to Palestinian perspectives. The authors will publish with Palestinian-owned Interlink Books in 2027 under the title Understanding Palestine for Young Readers: A Palestinian American Perspective. The series co-creator, Saira Rao, said she will not work further with Random House.

LOS GATOS, Calif. — Netflix said Thursday that Bela Bajaria is leaving as chief content officer after about a decade. She will be replaced by Peter Rice, a former Disney and Fox executive, effective October 26. Rice will run global content, including series, film and live events. The announcement came a day after Netflix cut about 1,000 jobs, roughly 6 percent of its workforce. That is its largest reduction since 2022. TheWrap reports the company's stock is down nearly 40 percent from a year ago. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos told staff the company sees a chance to deliver more 'buzzy' hits in the U.S. and Canada. BMO analyst Brian Pitz said the moves suggest engagement may have softened further in the third quarter. Variety notes that reports that film chief Dan Lin will also exit have not been confirmed. Netflix reports earnings October 20, and it plans a full theatrical release in February for Greta Gerwig's 'Narnia: The Magician's Nephew'.

LONDON — Sergei Loznitsa's 'Imperium' won best film in the Official Competition at the BFI London Film Festival, which wraps up today. The festival's juries gave the first-feature Sutherland award to Sompot Chidgasornpongse's '9 Temples To Heaven'. It follows a man who takes his ailing mother and nine relatives on a temple pilgrimage. Bertil Nilsson's 'Masc' received a special mention in that section. Asmahan Bkerat's 'Concrete Land', about a mixed-race family fighting displacement and hostility in Jordan, took the Grierson award for best documentary. 'Queer Edward II' by Theo Rollason received a special mention in that section. Rahul Roye's 'Aman' won best short film. Voting for the audience awards closes Wednesday, October 21. The awards-season calendar continues with AFI Fest, which opens Thursday in Los Angeles, and Gotham Awards nominations on October 27.

LONDON — Gramophone announced its 2026 awards on October 9. Bertrand Chamayou and Leif Ove Andsnes won the Piano category for their two-disc Schubert four-hands recording, which the magazine's reviewer called an instant classic. Isabelle Faust was named Artist of the Year, with her recording of the Ligeti Violin Concerto cited. Mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet and pianist Florian Caroubi won the Song award for 'Belle époque!' on Alpha. Slipped Disc reports that the top prize, Recording of the Year, went to a ten-disc set of Louis Couperin's complete works. That site's editor, Norman Lebrecht, criticised the choice as marginal, which is his view and not a consensus. The shortlist had also included Yunchan Lim's Bach Goldberg Variations on Decca and Yuja Wang's Shostakovich piano concertos with the Boston Symphony on DG.

MEMPHIS — The Memphis Symphony Orchestra will perform Verdi's Rigoletto in concert on Saturday, October 24, at 7:30 p.m. at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. Music Director Robert Moody conducts the collaboration with Opera Memphis. The orchestra's season opened in September and marks its 75th year. The most recent program, October 10 and 11 at the University of Memphis's Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center, paired Vaughan Williams's Dona Nobis Pacem with The Lark Ascending, with concertmaster Barrie Cooper as soloist. Next is Orchestra Unplugged: The Planets on October 30 at the Halloran Centre. Later in the season: a world premiere of a new Requiem about U.S. forces in the Pacific from 1942 to 1975, a tribute to naval aviator Jesse L. Brown, and a Grieg Piano Concerto program in May.

LONDON — Gramophone's October Editor's Choices include András Schiff's recording of Brahms's late Klavierstücke. The reviewer praises its range of colour between registers and the transparency of texture, which fits Rubinstein's description of the pieces as chamber music for solo pianist. The Awards issue adds Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's The Beethoven Connection, Vol. 2. The reviewer says the idea is a good one and would buy it for the Hummel sonata alone. It also adds Alexandre Tharaud's Mémoire, which the critic calls an unpretentious album that could slip under the radar. The Rautio Piano Trio's period-instrument Beethoven Op. 70 trios are also picked, for transparency and conversational intimacy. The issue's lead recording is Simon Rattle's live Mahler Second with the Bavarian Radio forces.