Arts & Culture

SHANGHAI — The Shanghai Grand Opera House, designed by the Norwegian firm Snøhetta, opened to the public on Oct. 17 on the banks of the Huangpu River. According to ArchDaily, the project came out of an international design competition held in 2016 and took about ten years to build. Snøhetta worked with East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI), Theatre Projects and Nagata Acoustics. ArchDaily's coverage highlights the building's sweeping roof and its panoramic river views. The publication said the opening comes while cultural investment is falling in several other countries. It named the opera house as the week's main event in world architecture.

LONDON — The National Gallery's 'Renoir and Love' opened Oct. 3 and runs to Jan. 31, 2027. Studio International says it covers roughly 1865 to 1885, the years when Renoir was a leading Impressionist. The curators focus on his scenes of intimacy: romantic, friendly and family. Reports of the number of works vary from 40 to 45. The Conversation's reviewer calls it well staged and highlights 'Dance at the Moulin de la Galette' (1876), shown in London for the first time. The reviewer says the sparse wall text leaves the paintings to speak for themselves. Other critics are less sure. Brit Brief faults the theme-based hang for muddling the chronology and judges 'The Great Bathers' a weak picture.

NEW YORK — Catapult Book Group, the independent house founded in 2015 by Elizabeth Koch and Andy Hunter, is being sold and is due to stop operating on October 30. The group includes Catapult, Counterpoint, Soft Skull and Hawthorne Books. The source is the newly formed Catapult Workers Collective, part of UAW Local 2110, as relayed by Publishers Weekly and Publishers Lunch. The union says the company disclosed its sale plans while workers were voting on unionizing. It says the deal covers assets only and that continued employment with the buyer was ruled out. The union, about 20 people, is negotiating a separation agreement. No buyer has been named. A company comment was not available in the trade reports. One report counts 16 titles scheduled through spring 2027. A Substack publishing commentator reports a source close to the deal saying the books are going to a good home. That claim is unconfirmed.

NEW YORK — Chad Harbach's second novel, The Brightness, goes on sale Tuesday from Little, Brown, fifteen years after his debut The Art of Fielding. It returns to Westish College, a fictional Wisconsin campus, but centres on women's friendships and a campus sexual-assault controversy set in the 2015-16 school year. Kirkus gave it a starred review and Publishers Weekly praised its female characters. Writer B. D. McClay, reviewing it for The New Yorker, calls it good, though she thinks it is less tightly built than the first book. In her own newsletter she questions whether a novel about campus activism that has no rapists among its characters suits the current moment. Early reader reviews are split: many admire the warmth and humor, while others find the book too long and note that it is a sequel in all but name.

LOS ANGELES — Legendary Entertainment, the Apollo-backed producer of 'Dune' and 'A Minecraft Movie,' has reportedly submitted a takeover offer for Lionsgate Studios. Bloomberg broke the news on Oct. 20, citing unnamed sources. Variety reports the story did not give deal terms. C21 Media, also citing Bloomberg, puts the offer at $3.5 billion including $1.9 billion of debt. Lionsgate shares rose more than 15% on the report. Neither company has commented. Lionsgate owns the John Wick, Hunger Games and Twilight franchises and a library of more than 20,000 titles. A purchase would give Legendary its own distribution arm. It now releases films through Paramount, and its 'Street Fighter' has fallen sharply in its second weekend. Banijay and France's Bollore Group have also been linked to Lionsgate but have not made formal offers. Lionsgate reports quarterly earnings on Nov. 5. Nothing is agreed.

HOLLYWOOD — Quentin Tarantino surprised the crowd at AFI Fest on Friday night at the TCL Chinese Theatre. After a screening of 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' and a Q&A, he offered to either talk about 'The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth' or show its first 17 minutes. The audience chose the footage. Tarantino wrote the sequel, and David Fincher directed it. Brad Pitt returns as stuntman Cliff Booth, and the story is set in 1977, eight years after the first film. Accounts of the footage have Cliff working at a cinema and acting as a Hollywood fixer, with the plot turning to gangsters and blackmail. The footage has not been released publicly. Tarantino told the audience he now sees himself as a writer first, which he gave as his reason for not directing. IndieWire describes the film as a holiday release.

Maria João Pires, who gave up concert performance about 11 months ago after a small stroke, has been photographed rehearsing for recording sessions at the Belgais Centre for the Arts. She founded the centre in Portugal's Beira-Baixa region. Slipped Disc reported on Oct. 21 that she says she is going back to the studio to make some recordings. Her own website and social accounts carry a rehearsal post tied to her upcoming recordings at Belgais, and the site says residencies at the centre are now open for booking. No label, repertoire or release date has been announced. Pires, born in 1944, is widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of 18th- and 19th-century repertoire and previously recorded for Erato and Deutsche Grammophon.

NEW YORK — The Columbus Symphony Orchestra marks its 75th anniversary on Oct. 28 at Carnegie Hall with the world premiere of Gregory Spears's 'The Mysteries'. Music director Rossen Milanov conducts. The program also includes Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and a concerto featuring baritone Davóne Tines. Playbill listed the concert in its weekly roundup of classical events in New York. That week the New York Philharmonic is also performing Michael Abels's score for 'Get Out' live to film from Oct. 28 to 31. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is presenting an 1880s-era program on Oct. 28 with pianists Anna Geniushene and Wu Han.

LONDON — Seong-Jin Cho played Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali in London. Bachtrack's Christopher Woodley, writing on Oct. 22, called Cho's performance impressive and Rouvali's reading mesmerising. Earlier in the month, Yuja Wang played both Brahms piano concertos at De Doelen in Rotterdam. Tarmo Peltokoski conducted the Rotterdam Philharmonic in a packed hall, according to Bachtrack's review of Oct. 15. On Oct. 9, Víkingur Ólafsson played Brahms's First Concerto at Carnegie Hall with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, and Bachtrack praised his clarity and refinement. Bachtrack's piano review listings show the full run of recent concerto reports.