The San Francisco Opera returned this summer to the opera house for three productions. "Das Rheingold" and "Ariodante" were satisfying productions -- but Natalie Dessay's "Lucia di Lammermoor" was a major disappointment.

Brian Storm, president of MediaStorm, is trying to breath new life into the field of photojournalism.

As director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Anne-Imelda M. Radice has launched "Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action," aimed at enhancing conservation of everything from digital information to zoo animals.

An exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago revisits the glory days of the African kingdom of Benin. The exhibit presents a variety of court arts from this Nigerian empire, telling stories of Benin kings, called "obas."

Practically every movie about the Iraq war has flopped at the box office, but HBO feels that because "Generation Kill" -- its new miniseries about the war -- doesn't take sides about the conflict, the show has a fighting chance to succeed.

Sixty years ago this summer, a cadre of arrangers and players worked in a basement apartment behind a Chinese restaurant. The result would later be tagged "the birth of the cool." The combo led by Miles Davis, with roots in the big band of Claude Thornhill, created a subtle type of jazz, awash in gorgeous chords.

Many American artists have a weakness for bigness, which they, and their audiences, often mistake for greatness. Terry Teachout explains why brevity can sometimes be the better part of valor.

The 2008 season is a swan song for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis's general director, Charles McKay. As a send off, the company presented a real find, "Troilus and Cressida."

Art buyers largely played it safe during London's summer art auctions, with collectors gravitating to classic artists like Bacon and Monet over newer artists whose prices could suffer more in an art-market slowdown. Still, overall sales set a record.

To honor the significant contributions of Tatsuya Nakadai to world cinema, New York's Film Forum has been presenting a major retrospective of his work: 27 films in seven weeks.

The results of "Ballet Across America" wandered over the map of taste and theatrical effectiveness.