Arts; music; literature & entertainment

Karla Sofia Gascon

Karla Sofía Gascón becomes the first trans woman to win award for Best Actress at Cannes

For the first time in its 77-year history, the Cannes Film Festival’s jury bestowed the award for Best Actress on an out transgender woman. Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón received the award at Saturday night’s gala awards ceremony alongside Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, and Selena Gomez, her co-stars in French film-maker Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez.

Karla Sofía Gascón becomes the first trans woman to win award for Best Actress at Cannes Read more

Orchestra members playing violin

Vienna Philharmonic, once an all-male ensemble, now has 24 female musicians

A male bastion from its founding in 1842 until 1997, the Vienna Philharmonic now has 24 female players among 145 members. It is widely considered among the world’s preeminent orchestras. Harpist Anna Lelkes played with the Philharmonic for 26 years as a nonmember before she became the first woman admitted.

Vienna Philharmonic, once an all-male ensemble, now has 24 female musicians Read more

Buddha statue in the dark

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to return looted ancient art to Cambodia and Thailand

Thirteen of the works are being returned to Cambodia in concert with an investigation from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York and Homeland Security. Among the works are a large head of Buddha made of stone in the seventh century, and a tenth century sandstone goddess statue from the Koh Ker archaeological site.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to return looted ancient art to Cambodia and Thailand Read more