Scope and Contents The Rothko Chapel Renewal and Campus Expansion (Phase One) HoustonThe Rothko Chapel is 50 years old this February, and it has never looked better, thanks to a studious update by Architecture Research Office. For those unfamiliar with the project, it is an essential part of one of the great high-low culture visitor experiences in Houston: an afternoon wandering the Lancaster Place subdivision, with its dreamlike collection of bungalows (all painted grey, with white trim), taking...

Scope and Contents Hearing VoicesAs a librettist, I thought the idea of setting an opera in the Rothko Chapel seemed preposterous. The much hallowed place in Houston, considered by many to be one of the greatest achievements in mid-twentieth-century art, doubles as a gallery exhibiting Mark Rothko's paintings and as a sanctuary of quiet and contemplation. It is where the merest whisper can incur the most censorious sneers from fellow visitors. Setting an opera in the chapel seemed almost...

Scope and Contents "The Rothko Chapel is oriented toward the sacred, and yet it imposes no traditional environment. It offers a place where a common orientation could be found — an orientation towards God, named or unnamed, an orientation towards the highest aspirations of Man and the most intimate calls of the conscience." In 1964, Dominique de Menil commissioned the American abstract expressionist artist Mark Rothko to create this environment. Although he never lived to see his completed vision,...

Scope and Contents The last two weeks of San Francisco Symphony concerts might have seemed like something of a mini Mozart festival, but the most impressive performances of the fortnight actually belonged to another, far more modern composer. Morton Feldman, American maverick from New York City, got a major hearing right next to Mozart's towering Requiem. His champion, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, took a big gamble and won. It wasn't a competition, but more a vindication of MTT's long-time advocacy of...

Scope and Contents News reports regarding the Catholic church over the last few years have largely been ugly. It was thus a relief to read yesterday of praise for Pope Benedict. Though issues related to his regard for actions of Pope Pius XII in Europe during WWII are yet unresolved, his statements exonerating Jews of complicity in the death of Jesus Christ were very clear.About the Pope’s remarks Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said: “…I commend you for forcefully rejecting in your recent book a...

Scope and Contents With the sole exception of one problematic performance of his “Coptic Light” in 1986, Lincoln Center never presented any of Morton Feldman’s music during his lifetime. Indeed, even since his death, in 1987, the center has presented little of his work. A notable exception was its 1996 retrospective of Feldman’s compositions — a well-attended, highly praised series of performances, about which The New York Times’ chief critic marveled at the extraordinary beauty and strangeness of the music,...

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Individual media articles referencing the Rothko Chapel are listed here

Scope and Contents ARO Working on Renovation and Master Plan for Houston’s Rothko Chapel Of NoteAlyssa Morris January/February 2017 nw-n-ne-by-hickey-robertson-copy ARO has been hired to update Houston’s iconic Rothko Chapel to be a better venue for hosting events, while attempting to maintain its original intent as a contemplative space where people can “meet and experience their brotherhood.” Photo by Hickey Robertson photographyThe Rothko Chapel has...