Arts & Culture

LONDON — Lion Green Road, a council-commissioned housing scheme in Coulsdon, south London, won the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize on October 15 at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate. It was the prize's 30th year. Mary Duggan Architects designed it with RUFFARCHITECTS. The scheme has 157 homes in five blocks on a former car park with an eight-metre drop. The homes are split between private and socially rented. Building Design reported that it was the 6/1 outsider among six finalists. Haworth Tompkins' Pembroke College project at Cambridge was the 2/1 favourite. The Architects' Journal reported that the project began under Croydon's arm's-length developer Brick by Brick, which was later wound down. The scheme was sold to Regen Capital for £38 million, and the council kept a long lease on 85 affordable rented homes. RIBA president Chris Williamson said the scheme shows density need not reduce quality.

SAN MARINO, Calif. — The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens announced new acquisitions on October 13, led by a gift of Robert Indiana's 'LOVE'. The monumental sculpture will stand near the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art and is due to be unveiled before the end of 2026. Five further works came through the Art Collectors' Council, which marks its 32nd anniversary this year. They include a still life of about 1620 by Jan Brueghel the Elder. The museum describes it as its first European floral still life, and it ties into the botanical gardens. The others include a 1933 copper and gilt sculpture by Sargent Claude Johnson and a Chinese hanging scroll of Mount Tai by Zhang Chenglong. A Raqib Shaw tapestry made for the museum's 2024 exhibition is also in the group. The Huntington also received gifts of a Johannes Swertner view of Haarlem and 68 pieces of British silver.

LONDON — Informa announced on October 6 that it will separate Taylor & Francis, one of the world's largest commercial academic publishers. The group is refocusing on business-to-business events and said it will buy Clarion, a live-events organizer, for £2.24 billion. Informa describes Taylor & Francis as approaching $1 billion in annual revenue and growing about 4 percent. Revenue has roughly quadrupled since Informa bought it in 2004. Informa says it has begun a review of all options for the unit. It has not said whether that means a sale, a demerger or another route. Results of the review are due with the group's full-year results in March 2027. Publishers Weekly said the separation will presumably be a sale or a public listing. The Journalology newsletter reported that the news dominated conversation among academic publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week.

Barbara Kingsolver's Partita, published by Harper on October 6, is her first novel since the 2022 Pulitzer winner Demon Copperhead. It follows Livia Cable, an Appalachia-raised piano teacher whose career ended when her hand was crushed. An old lover's phone call forces her to revisit that past. The book alternates between past and present, with sections named for musical forms. Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review and called it brilliant, affecting work from a master. It praised Kingsolver's handling of class, family and the belief that great art is for everyone. The review site Book Marks puts overall critical reception at "Rave," based on 18 reviews. Some critics found the middle slow. One reviewer called it an unusually sour Kingsolver novel and faulted what the reviewer saw as its limited interest in collective politics.

LOS ANGELES — Beyond the weekend's top spots, the other new wide releases struggled. Disney's 20th Century Studios survival thriller 'Whalefall' opened in fourth place with about $8 million from 3,065 North American theaters. It added about $9.5 million overseas, for a $17.5 million global start against a reported $60 million budget. Tracking earlier in the week had pointed to $10 million to $12 million. Jane Austen adaptation 'Sense and Sensibility' from Focus Features took an estimated $7.25 million from 2,545 theaters. Warner Bros.' 'Digger' has reached about $17 million domestically after 17 days. Variety reported executives put its worldwide break-even near $350 million, with the studio saying $300 million, and projected a theatrical loss of at least $150 million.

BUSAN — The 31st Busan International Film Festival ended on October 15 with Iranian director Majid Majidi's 'Midday Meal' taking the Busan Award for best film. Indonesia-Japan co-production 'Ibuku' won the special jury prize. Taiwan's Lee Yun Chan won best director for 'To Be Ordinary'. Best actor was shared by China's Zhou Xun for 'The First Taste of Loneliness' and Japan's Himeno Kashun for 'Satoko Always'. In the New Currents section, India's 'Birds in the Dark' by Shashank Walia won the top award. The festival ran October 6 to 15 and showed 315 films, including 94 world premieres. Organizers reported total attendance of 277,027, the highest since 2015. Guests included Michelle Yeoh, Isabelle Huppert, Alfonso Cuarón and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

PARIS — Pianist Bertrand Chamayou played both Ravel piano concertos, the G major and the Concerto for the Left Hand, with the Orchestre de Paris under Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Philharmonie de Paris on October 14. Writing for Bachtrack in French, critic Alain Lompech described the performance as bewitching. He said the G major concerto was bouncing and joyful yet sensitive and singing, and that the orchestra and conductor accompanied him perfectly. The program also included the suite from Bartók's The Miraculous Mandarin and the French premiere of Tumblebird Contrails by the American composer Gabriella Smith, which Lompech also credits to an excellent orchestra and conductor. The review follows Chamayou's recent recognition in the Gramophone Awards piano category.

PHILADELPHIA — Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera, has started a conductor mentoring program paid for by Rolex, according to Slipped Disc. Four conductors will first work with the Philadelphia Orchestra on symphonic repertoire and with the Met's Lindemann Young Artist singers. Nézet-Séguin will then choose two of the four for a year-long apprenticeship starting in September 2027. Philadelphia chief executive Ryan Fleur said that developing the next generation of conductors takes more than podium time. It also requires real access to the artistic, institutional and community relationships that shape great music directors. Slipped Disc compared the scheme to Gustavo Dudamel's existing conducting initiatives. The names of the four participants were not given in the report.

MEMPHIS — The Memphis Symphony Orchestra will perform Holst's The Planets on Friday, October 30, at 7:30 p.m. at the Halloran Centre as part of its Orchestra Unplugged series. Music Director Robert Moody will conduct and act as host of the evening. The Memphis Flyer's fall arts guide describes the series as presenting the work in an intimate setting. The concert comes six days after the orchestra's Rigoletto in Concert with Opera Memphis at the Cannon Center on October 24. Both fall within the orchestra's 75th season, which Moody is leading in his 11th year with the MSO. The season runs through May with Grieg's Piano Concerto and Dvořák's Seventh Symphony.