Still II

Great photography goes beyond knowing about how lenses and f-stops work. It’s about creative problem solving under real-world conditions. Taking great photographs means knowing how to choose the right tool or apply the right technique to capture your subject in the best possible way. Photographers who wish to excel—professional and recreational alike—need to have a solid foundation of technical skills and the ability to apply that knowledge intuitively to a wide range of scenarios and subjects.

No mere breakthrough, 1991's Cooleyhighharmony was one of the decade's biggest debuts, setting Boyz II Men well on their path to becoming what the RIAA certified the most successful R&B group of all time. Their sound, dubbed "hip-hop doo-wop" and aided in large part by the productions and arrangements of Dallas Austin, was a shrewd and flexible mix of contemporary and throwback elements.

Le Nuove Musiche, led by acclaimed director Krijn Koetsveld, continue with their exceptional series of Claudio Monteverdi’s complete madrigals. Here, they look back to the very beginning of Monteverdi's works, when the young composer was still under the influence of his teacher Marc'Antonio Ingegneri. At this time, the madrigal was already a popular art form, one that Monteverdi was beginning to add his name to, before – as we know – he would go on to radically extend it with the introduction of the seconda prattica. These two books show that Monteverdi was an assured and dexterous composer in the established genre.

During World War II, the US government interned more than 1,200 captured Italian soldiers at the Letterkenny Army Ordnance Depot located near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. These troops collaborated with the United States in a collective effort to defeat the Axis powers.

The fishing industry in Atlantic Canada has gone through massive change in the last twenty years. Now, even small inshore vessels are outfitted with fishing equipment that would astound those mariners who passed on just a generation ago. But still, despite the incredible advances in technology, dozens of fishermen continue to die each year doing what they know best.

When one selects the subject of a gay king and his tragic story for an opera, the aspect of homosexuality is naturally at the foreground, as is the question of whether such a subject is still relevant in Central Europe in view of the strivings for equal rights there. Edward II is not the first 'gay' opera and will surely not be the last one, either. But most dramas concerning relationships in literature and opera have always focused on the classical heterosexual constellation. Telling more stories about love between people of the same sex, however, does not necessarily have to be due to current political reality. Rather, it is a sign of a growing social variety that is also reflected in contemporary art.