In Brief: It Is April, Right? Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.

• Check out the abstract sculpture by French artist Bernar Venet that is going to be installed for the summer around the equestrian statue in front of the Château de Versailles. [Le Figaro]


• With hat tip to Alex Ross, a recent CNN poll finds that Americans on average think that 5% of the federal budget goes to public broadcasting, which would add up to a budget over 400 times what it actually receives, which is about one-hundredth of 1%. Furthermore, a majority of Americans think that its funding should remain the same or be decreased by a little. [Talking Points Memo]


• Bruno Mantovani's second opera, Akhmatova, has had a problematic world premiere at the Opéra de Paris. Renaud Machart leads off his review by pointing out the family connections the work has in common: Nicolas Joel, director of the company, is directing, something he promised not to do when he took the Paris job; Christophe Ghristi, Joel's dramaturge in Paris, wrote the libretto, and Ghristi's wife, Janina Baechle, is singing the title role. [Le Monde]


• Andrew Patner has an interview with Riccardo Muti, who has returned triumphantly to Chicago. He has reportedly told the musicians in the orchestra during rehearsals that he will “fall on another section the next time.” [The View from Here]


• Self-published author Jacqueline Howett, who had a comment meltdown in response to a bad review, has apparently proven that not all publicity is good publicity after all. [The Guardian]


• Renaud Machart has the mot juste on Lang Lang, who played Beethoven's third piano concerto with Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestre de Paris this week: he is "better than his detractors say and worth less than his devotees think." He goes on to note of the performance that Lang Lang's "capillary explosion is more reserved, his jacket less show-biz," adding that he forms with Eschenbach "an alliance of contrasts that paradoxically functions well." [Le Monde]


• Composer Lee Hoiby died this week, at the age of 85. [New York Times]


• Ezra Reich, rock musician and son of composer Steve Reich. [Culture Monster]


• Celebrate April Fool's Day with this nasty-toned interview with Arianna Huffington. [New York Times]


• Even better, Huffington's poisson d'avril aimed at the New York Times and its new paywall. [Huffington Post]


• Matt Dobkin speaks to mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. [Playbill Arts]