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Como piloto, Sito Pons se proclamó campeón mundial de 250cc en 1988 y 1999. Enlas fechas bajo sospecha (de 2010 a 2014) dirigía la escudería Pons Racing,que competía tanto en el Mundial de motos como en las World Series by Renault.La Fiscalía considera que gestionaba su empresa desde unas oficinas enCastellbisbal (Barcelona) y que, cuando acudía a los competiciones, saliahabitualmente desde el aeropuerto de El Prat. Según la acusación, el alquilerde una vivienda en Mónaco -y la obtención del permiso de residencia por lasautoridades del país- fue un montaje para evitar el pago de impuestos enEspaña, ya que no constan, por ejemplo, recibos de agua o luz and esa

A special historical find has been made in Steenbergen. The local localhistory circle discovered film images from the war. It shows how themonumental Sint Gummarus church is being shot at. But it also shows Germansoldiers and perhaps even the funeral of a legendary war hero. The film wassecretly made. Film images from Brabant from the autumn of 1944 are quiterare, especially those with shelling. Experts are surprised.

The film was made by Henk van Mechelen, photographer in Steenbergen (1916-1991). “He had a well-known photo shop with film equipment. In theKaaistraat,” says Robert Catsburg of Heemkundekring De Steenen Kamer.

Discovery “His son was cleaning out the attic. There he found five boxes of film. Hecalled us and said his father had made movies showing them blowing up thechurch. I thought: that is never possible!” Catsburg picked up the film. “ThenI saw the footage and I swore! I was shocked myself. What a discovery!”

There were already all kinds of stories about the shooting of the church. TheGermans wanted to blow up the tower. Then the advancing Allies could no longeruse him as a lookout.

On Monday afternoon, October 30, 1944, the German occupiers decided to destroythe tower. “The local OD commander (a resistance group) described that. 1250kilos of explosives were in the bell tower,” says Catsburg.

Guns According to stories from the village, residents tried to change the mind ofthe German soldiers. But without success. Strangely enough, the explosiverefused to explode.

“Then they tried to hit the tower with antiaircraft guns.” The shooting itselftakes place off screen, which is why the weapon is unknown. It may have been aself-propelled gun.

**’ All windows out’ ** At six o’clock in the afternoon the church tower collapsed with a huge thump.”All the windows went out in the area.” It is striking that the collapsecannot be seen on the images. There is no explanation for this, that is aguess. “Maybe that was such a huge blow that it shook the camera too much?”Catsburg cannot explain that.

The tower shell was filmed from the skylight of the photo shop. “It was prettybad what he did. You could even be shot for that.”

In this day and age when the morality of guilt and atonement is popping up allover the place in many guises, I want to talk about good taste for a change.Actually, I never knew what good taste is. It is often said that good taste isnothing more than the opinion of the prevailing fashion, but that answer isnot entirely satisfactory. Bad taste is apparently easier to interpret. Badtaste is close to kitsch and always carries an element of sentimentality.Especially towards Christmas, sentimentality is given free rein in stories andfilms that unexpectedly bring tears to our eyes. Recently I saw a documentaryabout the violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) on Netflix. In it he notes that’sentimental songs are often more moving than the suffering of unhappypeople’.

I bring it up because I recently saw two critically acclaimed films that Ifound to be rather tacky and banal. The first movie was Rimini by directorUlrich Seidl. The film is about a run-down schlager singer, who performs inthe Italian seaside resort of Rimini for tourists, most of whom are overagedAustrian women, looking for a break. The story takes place in winter whenalmost all hotels are closed – an intense sadness splashes from it.

To boost his meager fee, the singer also rents out his body for sexual hand-and-hand services, which is not always easy for him, because he has erectionproblems. Quite logically, the women who allow themselves to be satisfied byhim – or what passes for them – are certainly not mother’s prettiest. I thinkit’s a sign of courage that these older actresses – they must have beenamateurs – let themselves be fucked on camera by a fat man who must smell likealcohol.

Ordinary daily life is often ugly and tasteless. Rimini is such a hyper-realistic film, in which everything is deliberately made distasteful. Thatalso happened without a shred of irony, but with a seriousness that you onlyencounter in German-language films. At another dismal lovemaking I tended towalk away, which may be because I’m a bit older myself and I’m no longerdriven by the urge to twirl naked in front of the mirror.

When I finally stood outside, I realized that this really was a film for IschaMeijer (1943-1995). He was very fond of German schlagers, not least because hehad survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Later, as an adult, he onlyreally got going when he could indulge in German singing. Long ago I saw himperform with Olga Zuiderhoek in an adaptation of Jan de Hartog’s play TheCanopy Bed. A half-naked Ischa, which prompted Theo van Gogh, who was sittingin the room, to remark: ‘People sometimes say that the body is the temple ofthe spirit, but with Ischa it’s more of a squat.’

I was not surprised when I read a jubilant article in this newspaper the dayafter my visit to the cinema Rimini by Arnon Grunberg. What you abhor, ofcourse, you find beautiful.

Another movie that turned out to be a disappointment for me was Triangle ofSadness by Swedish director Ruben Östlund. It does indeed start beautifullywith the casting of models and the subsequent argument between a male and afemale model over who will foot the bill for a dinner party. Social equalitydoes not exist, you get it.

But then follows a lesson in social studies that takes place almost atkindergarten level. The drama takes place on a yacht where the super richenjoy themselves. Their lives are empty, because there is not much left toconsume and spend. Almost everything we see is a cliché: the spoiledpassengers, the drunken captain, the hottie dinner as the storm rolls in, thepuking, vomiting, and shitting of seasickness – Monty Python and Wim T.Schippers did better – the shipwreck, the washing up on a desert island andthe reversal of the balance of power there. Soon I was successfully predictingevery subsequent scene. That existence is a war of all against all, as ThomasHobbes said, was drilled into us once again, while quotes about communism andcapitalism flew around our ears.

That the life of the rich is a cliché, which you should therefore represent assuch, does not seem to me a convincing argument. I don’t see Bill Gates onboard there and even a wealthy hobo like Harry Mens must be capable of morethan complaining about the taste of the champagne and the color of the sails.Triangle of Sadness is three times an empty movie.

There were moments during the filming of the Italian order The eightmountains who “came in hard”, says Belgian director Felix van Groeningen (45)during a conversation about his film. “When your own quest and the character’squest suddenly run parallel.”

The partly autobiographical novel by Paolo Cognetti is about the friendshipbetween Pietro and Bruno. The first grows up in the city, but spends thesummers with his parents in the mountains of northern Italy. There he developsan intense friendship with local contemporary Bruno. When they are teenagersthe contact fades, but when Pietro’s father dies it turns out that he has lefthis son a ruin in the mountains. Together with Bruno, Pietro rebuilds thisalpine house, after which their friendship and their shared love for life inthe mountains continues to take on new forms.

The Italians who had the rights for the book adaptation wanted to turn it intoa production with international allure. They contacted Van Groeningen, who wasat that time making his first English-language film, Beautiful Boy (2018),had shot. The Belgian previously scored international art house hits as theOscar nominee The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012) and The Misfortune ofThings (2006). Le otto montagne received the Prix du Jury at the CannesFilm Festival.

Difficult father-child relationships

Besides themes such as friendship, the passage of time or the tension betweencity and nature Le otto montagne also about difficult father-sonrelationships. Bruno has an absent father and later struggles with his ownfatherhood. Pietro has broken up with his father for several years when hedies. They had a conflict about his studies, among other things.

Both director Felix van Groeningen and his co-screenwriter and co-directorCharlotte Vandermeersch (39) react emotionally when it is mentioned that thestory of the film is also very much a quest by Pietro to find out who hisdeceased father really was.

Vandermeersch is Van Groeningen’s life partner. She also acted as an actressin several of his films and co-wrote the screenplay of The Broken CircleBreakdown. With this film she makes her directorial debut.

Van Groeningen explains that, just like Pietro, they both lost their fathersat an age when you are still trying to find your way in life and you areopposed to your parents. She was twenty-eight, he was twenty-six. VanGroeningen: “There are things that I was angry about at the time, but which Inow view with more softness. I now see, for example, that my father did try todo well.”

Van Groeningen calls the fact that he now has these insights, while it isactually too late, just like Pietro, “painful, but also beautiful”.

The character of Pietro’s father is one of the few elements where theydeviated somewhat from Cognetti’s novel, continues Vandermeersch. “Irecognized myself in the way young Pietro in the book longs for his father,but finds no way to access him and feels rejected.” In the screenplay that thecouple wrote based on the book, the father figure slowly took on traits ofVandermeersch’s own father.

“You see that young Pietro struggles with his father’s split. Mine also hadtwo faces. He was either grumpy, then you didn’t know if you could makecontact with him, or he was a kind of walking encyclopedia who explained theworld in a very pedantic way.”

Van Groeningen points – spoiler alert – to the scene in their film in whichPietro makes the mountain trips that his father undertook in the years thatthey were at odds. And thus discovers what the purpose of the inheritance was.

Also read the report: Visiting the village of Paolo Cognetti: ‘ The EightMountains is also a documentary about our village’

Van Groeningen: “I am proud of how that has taken shape in the film. It was akind of forgiveness and contact with our fathers.” According to Cognetti, hisown father was more gentle than the character in the screenplay, but he likedtheir adaptations.

Inhospitable

In other areas, the directing duo remained remarkably faithful to the originalstory. For example, it was Van Groeningen himself who chose to shoot the filmin Italian, instead of English as some suggested. “The book was so authenticthat it had to be filmed in Italian,” he says. The Belgians learned Italianfor the recordings.

Directing in Italian worked out quite well, says Vandermeersch, because theyknew the scenario through and through and therefore quickly noticed if a scenedidn’t work. Giving nuanced instructions was a bit more difficult in thebeginning. “But if the need is high because you work in remote places, or withchildren, then you progress quickly.”

The film was shot in the mountain area where Cognetti himself lives part ofthe year and where his story takes place. Cast and crew had to go up themountain daily by four-wheel drives, snowmobiles, helicopters or on foot,where they built the house at an altitude of 2,200 meters that plays a centralrole in the story. Working at that height literally involved trial and error:a make-up employee broke her foot when she slid off a ledge, they told theBelgian magazine Knack. Was filming in that inhospitable location worth itin hindsight?

Van Groeningen: “Perhaps a different kind of director, someone who haseverything perfectly in his head in advance, could have recorded this in astudio. But you make intuitive choices while directing that afterwards, alsovisually, fall into place.”

As an example, he gives the image that eventually became the poster of thefilm, in which you see a beautiful visual rhyme between the roof of the alpinehouse that Pietro and Bruno are building and the top of the mountain in thebackground. Or the recording in which Pietro and Bruno talk after a summer ofodd jobs about how they found each other again and about their future.According to Van Groeningen, it was a great scene when they rehearsed it, butduring the shooting on location it suddenly became an emotional blow thatensured that everyone watching on the monitor “sat bleach ”.

Van Groeningen: “The sun went down, you felt the cold and the actors played itafter we had been recording together in the mountains for four weeks and hadreally built half a house. Everything was real, everyone wanted to be thereand stay there.”

Discomfort

Are Van Groeningen’s films getting more and more serious? Opposite a fledglingfilm like Days Without Love (2007), which is about the friendship of a groupof people in their twenties in a Flemish city Le otto montagne serene. Inthat first film, drama, melancholy and coming-of-age are continuouslyinterspersed with humour. Van Groeningen: “I have the feeling that film afterfilm I am becoming more mature – and my work with me.”

But it is also because Vandermeersch co-wrote the screenplay and guarded “goodtaste” a bit, he adds with a laugh.

Vandermeersch: „Felix is ​​very playful. The kind of friendship where youngmen push each other underwater while swimming and fart in each other’s face,as you see in Days without Love. That’s funny, but it didn’t fit for thisfilm. In the end, we cut out a lot of those moments.”

Much remains unspoken in the friendship between Pietro and Bruno.Vandermeersch: “You always feel the desire for closeness with them and howthat can never be fully expressed, neither in words, nor physically, nor intime. Without necessarily having anything sexual or romantic about it. Atleast that was not our intention.”

Van Groeningen: “What I also find recognizable is that every time Pietro andBruno come together after a long time, there is a kind of discomfort that hasto be overcome. Until it clicks again. It is precisely the search that makesit interesting.”

Intento decirlo con elegancia, o al menos sin apologia de la saña, pero huboun momento del domingo en el que odié el fútbol y, estoy seguro, muchos de losmillones que este martes salimos a las calles para recibir a los campeonesestuvimos unidos por ese rencor. No fue la primera vez ni será la última enque me pregunté por qué no elegía el polo, el cricket, el crocket o cualquierotro deporte más aséptico, uno que no haga sufrir.

Con tantos quiebres de guión en los partidos de la selección argentina, ya enlos últimos días de Qatar 2022 había llegado a pensar “Mundial, devolveme lavida”, pero la final contra Francia amenazó con ser demasiado cruel, inclusodentro del repertorio inacabable del futbol. Suelo recordar una respuesta delhumorista Sebastián Wainraich a un entrevistador que le había cuestionado suamor por este deporte, en especial durante los Mundiales -”si no sirve paranada”, le dijo-, y lo terminó desarticulando con una exaltación de la ilógica:“¿Sabés por qué me gusta ser hincha de fútbol? Porque no sirve para nada. Yhoy todo tiene que servir para algo”.

Muchos amigos y amigas, habitualmente indiferentes y que se sumaron a laScaloneta con una liberación bíblica de endorphinas adolescentes, en esteMundial entendieron que el fútbol también duele. Cuando Kylian Mbaappé marcóel 2-2 después de un trámite que parecía resuelto, me desvanecí. No perdí laconsciencia pero me dejé vencer y, como un elefante que se aleja de la manadapara morir, me distancié 30 metros del grupo de amigos con el que estabaviendo la final en la zona de parrillas de un edificio de Buenos Aires y meacosté, totalmente horizontal, sobre el césped.

Allá a lo lejos había otro televisor, y cada tanto levantaba la cabeza ypispeaba, y les hacía comentarios a tipos que nunca había visto en mi vida.Otros momentos los tengo en blanco. Estefi, mi mujer, me dijo que me quededormido. Tampoco lo recuerdo. Este lunes le pregunté a Daniela, una amiga,dónde había visto el partido, si había estado con nosotros: “Sí”, me dijo.También quiero al fútbol porque es un gran amnésico.

Escuché el tercer gol de Argentina, el segundo de Lionel Messi, por los gritosde la gente: levanté la vista, ví que el árbitro asistente marcaba posiciónadelantada pero que el árbitro principal marcaba el centro del campo de juegoy, poniéndome de pie, salí corriendo hacia mi hijo, Félix, para tirármeleencima, mientras él se reía y me decía “no me aplastes”, y yo empezaba allorar y quería hacerle entender –en vano– que a sus 6 años era testigo de unaexplosión de alegría popular que ocurre muy cada tanto, tal vez nunca. No sécómo recordará ese momento de debilidad mía cuando él sea grande, pero ojaláque lo repita con sus hijos. Pero entonces llegó el nuevo empate, y otra vezme desplomé, y los penales, y el Dibu, y el no look de Montiel, ya la calle,y el regreso a mi amor por el fútbol.

No me hago el distraído, pero tampoco renuncio a nuestro delirio permitido: esraro, excesivo, lo que ocurre con el fútbol en este país y esta parte delmundo. El viento sopla en contra en tantas cosas, y sin embargo acá nacieronDiego Maradona y Messi, y hasta muchos prescinden de Alfredo Di Stéfano.

En los últimos días, desde otra lógica, muchos amigos extranjeros me hicieronpreguntas que acá no suelen hacerse, como ¿por qué el presidente, AlbertoFernández, no fue a la final del Mundial? Intenté decir que tenía mucho máspara perder que para ganar en un país con casi 100% de inflación (y que, siArgentina llegaba a perder, encima lo tildarían de portador de mala suerte).¿Por qué el mismo Alberto dio feriado si la economía es su principal déficit?,me repreguntaron. Y también ¿por qué las clases de los chicos y las chicas sesuspenden cuando juega Argentina en los Mundiales? No todo tiene respuesta nitampoco todo merece ser preguntado: el fútbol nos une, es nuestro triunfo máso menos garantizado, nuestra revancha, la Argentina ganadora, y encima a lamuerte de Maradona le siguió la canonización de Messi.

“Hay chicos que vienen a jugar al fútbol para pasarla bien, pero Gonzalosiempre vino para ser futbolista”, reconstruye Bruno Quinteros, el entrenadorque más siguió la carrera de Montiel, primero en Brisas al Sud, un pequeñoclub de futsal, y luego ya and dos etapas formativas and River. “Yo trabajabacon el Tano Nanía, un buscador de talentos en La Matanza, que tambiéndescubrió a Leandro Paredes –otro flamante campeón del mundo– cuando tenía 4años. Una de las primeras imágenes que recuerdo de Gonzalo es cuandoentrenábamos cabezazos con una pelota atada a una soga: es un ejercicio que alos chicos no les gusta, pero Gonzalo ya era un animal, hacía dar vuelta a lapelota por arriba del péndulo. Tenía 6 años, pelo largo, vinchita (cinta), unafiera. No era un virtuoso, había jugadores más técnicos, pero sabías que éliba a llegar”, agrega Quinteros.

De segundo nombre Ariel por el fanatismo de su abuelo Jerónimo por ArielOrtega, ídolo de River, Montiel llegó a ese club en 2009. Tenía 12 años ypocas palabras y sonrisas, como si concentrara toda su energía en el fútbolpara ganarle al futuro. De familia trabajadora, padre albañil y madre personalde limpieza (“no podíamos ir a la cancha porque no teníamos plata para laentrada”, dijo), cada viaje en transporte público para entrenar desde Virreydel Pino, al final de La Matanza, duraba dos horas y media. Montiel también sehizo fuerte desde el dolor: a su abuelo Jerónimo lo mató una vecina a balazosque no soportaba los ladridos de sus perros.

“Volví a dirigirlo en River, en prenovena, y siete años coincidimos en unapretemporada. Él ya había debutado en Primera y yo estaba en el cuerpo técnicode la Reserva. A comienzos de cada año se hace el Yoyo Test, una evaluaciónfísica de recorridos cortos pero intensos, de 20 metros. Gonzalo era el únicoque rompía la máquina, iba y venía, una bestia”, recuerda Quinteros sobre unpibe que, con su primer sueldo, le compró la casa a sus padres.

Aunque su apodo es Cachete, en el cuerpo técnico de Marcelo Gallardo huboquien lo definió, por su tenacidad y constancia, “el alemán”. Ese alemán de LaMatanza, que de defensor central pasó a lateral por falta de altura, nunca sehabía encargado de tiros libres ni de penales. Pero River entró en crisisdesde los 11 metros: erraban todos los especialistas, los talentosos y losdelanteros como Rafael Borré, Juan Fernando Quintero, Ignacio Fernández yMatías Suárez. Montiel sorprendió al sumarse a una definición por penalescontra el Cruzeiro de Brasil, por los octavos de final de la Copa Libertadores2019, y lo que parecía una excepción se convirtió en un nuevo clásico: desdeentonces no dejó de patear y de convertir, siempre con distintos estilos,siempre engañando al arquero, a veces dedicándoselos al cielo a su abuelo conlas iniciales de sus mascotas, L e I, Lucas e Indio. And River anotó los ochoque ejecutó hasta sumarse al Sevilla.

A la espera de ganarse la titularidad en España, su dedicación es tan grandeque la semana pasada se mostró a disposición del partido que el equipo deJorge Sampaoli jugará este miércoles ante Juventud Torremolinos por la Copadel Rey, sin tener noción del role que le esperaba en la última jugada delMundial ni del delirio que lo recibiría en su país.

Suplente de Nahuel Molina en el Mundial, Montiel totalizó 107 minutos en trespartidos: fue titular ante México e ingresó en los tiempos suplementarios antePaíses Bajos y Francia, partidos en los que acertó en ambas definiciones porpenales. Impecable, lleva diez de diez. Scaloni contó que, después de los 120minutos de la final, Montiel estaba llorando porque había cometido el penalque Kylian Mbappé transformó en el 3-3 final. “Igual pateás el cuarto”, ledijo el técnico, confiado. Montiel engañó a Hugo Lloris con un no look–mirar hacia un costado para distraer al arquero rival– y, aunque no le diotiempo para dedicárselo en el estadio Lusail a su abuelo, La Matanza tambiénes campeona del mundo.

Poco después se lesionó Guruzeta y Valverde no tuvo más remedio que poner enel campo a su segundo mundialista, Iñaki Williams. Su hermano ya aparecía enel once. Con un terreno de juego pesado por la lluvia, al Athletic le costóbastante combinar por la presión feroz del Sestao, que no decayó hasta elúltimo segundo.

Gal Gadot was not ousted from her Wonder Woman role, according to newlyappointed DC Studios decision-maker James Gunn.

After Gunn and producer Peter Safran were named the new co-CEOs of DC Studiosin October, updates came this month of some of their changes for the future ofthe comic book properties. Other than confirmation that Gadot’s JusticeLeague costar Henry Cavill is no longer playing Superman, there were alsoreports that Wonder Woman 3 a planned conclusion to her standalone trilogy,was canceled.

Gunn, 56, responded to a person in the comment section of his Instagram poston Monday who claimed he and Safran made “the move to boot Cavill and Gadot,”which “doesn’t inspire confidence” in the future of the DC Universe.

Wrote Gunn, “I’m not sure where you’re getting that we ‘booted’ Gal.”

A rep for Gadot did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Days before reports of Wonder Woman 3 ‘s unclear future, Gadot, 37, wrote onsocial media that she “can’t wait to share her next chapter” of the characterwith fans. She added, “I’ve been so grateful for the opportunity to play suchan incredible, iconic character and more than anything I’m grateful for YOU.The fans. The most amazing, warm, loving fans in the world. I’m still pinchingmyself to see if I will wake up.”

RELATED: Henry Cavill Out as Superman, Gal Gadot ‘s Wonder Woman on Hold:All About the DC Shakeups — So Far

Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot

Clay Enos/Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection Patty Jenkins and GalGadot on the set of Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

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Gunn previously responded to the reports about the future of the Wonderwoman_movie franchise, tweeting that “some of it is true, some of it is half-true,some of it is not true, & some of it we haven’t decided yet whether it’s trueor not.” Multiple outlets reported that a script treatment from Patty Jenkins,the director who made the previous two _Wonderwoman movies, was denied by thenew executives.

Story continues

Jenkins, 51, then broke her silence on the reports, clarifying that she “neverwalked away” from the project and she was “open to considering anything askedof me.”

She added, “I don’t want what has been a beautiful journey with WW to land on[a] negative note. I have loved and been so honored to be the person who gotto make these last two Wonder Woman movies. She is an incredible character.Living in and around her values ​​makes one a better person every day. I wishher and her legacy an amazing future ahead, with or without me.”

RELATED VIDEO: Find Out What Happens if Deadpool, Wonder Woman and BlackAdam Walked Into a Bar

In his statement this week, Gunn said he and Safran “were aware” that there’dbe “a certain minority of people online that could be, well, uproarious &unkind, to say the least,” as they reshape the DC Universe.

“Our choices for the DCU are based upon what we believe is best for the story& best for the DC characters who have been around for nearly 85 years. Perhapsthese choices are great, perhaps not, but they are made with sincere hearts &integrity & always with the story in mind,” wrote Gunn, who directed the_Guardians of the Galaxy_ movies for Marvel Studios, as well as the 2021 DCmovie The Suicide Squad.

“No one loves to be harassed or called names – but, to be frank, we’ve beenthrough significantly worse. Disrespectful outcry will never, ever affect ouractions,” he added. “We were aware there would be a period of turbulence whenwe took this gig, & we knew we would sometimes have to make difficult & not-so-obvious choices, especially in the wake of the fractious nature of whatcame before us. But this means little to us in comparison to our jobs asartists & custodians in helping to create a wide & wonderful future for DC.”

Today is a study day in silence, says soprano Claron McFadden via Skype.Yesterday she sang her entire program in a row, without piano, a cappella.Today her voice can recover, while her brain works. She doesn’t sing a note.But at the end of the conversation, when a child bursts into the interviewer’shouse impersonating a chicken for obscure reasons, McFadden can’t containherself and bursts into an exuberant cackling. Without a doubt the bestchicken imitation of 2022.

You’re either a voice artist or you’re not – and McFadden (1961) is.

‘Vox humana’ is the title of the recital she will give on Thursday at theMuziekgebouw in Amsterdam, together with master pianist Alexander Melnikov. In2019 they already played it at Wigmore Hall in London – five stars, judged_The Independent_. It is a colorful programme, with large song cycles bySergei Prokofiev, Oliver Knussen and George Crumb, interspersed with voicesolos and stunt vocals. Aria from John Cage, for example, a body piece fromMcFadden. But also the infamous written-out orgasm Sonata erotica by ErwinSchulhoff. “I let the voice be heard in all its guises,” she laughs.

Music makes a room vibrate and those vibrations rise, you should not just> drop them

Quiet day

McFadden has just returned to Amsterdam, where she has lived for almost fortyyears, after performances in Brussels and Bologna. Leaving aside the chatter,today is a day of silence: „It is important to build up stamina before I startrehearsing with the pianist. That’s why I sing everything in a row and thentake a rest. Because when the voice gets tired, it doesn’t speak. Peoplesometimes say that music is top sport, I always thought that was anexaggeration, but now I think: yes, there is actually something in it.”

McFadden met Melnikov at a winter festival in Salzburg, where they were pairedup for an ad hoc performance. It was their first acquaintance, on stage, andthey hit it off right away. McFadden: “When I met him again at the airport,Sasha asked [Melnikov, red] if I didn’t want to do Rachmaninov with him, the_Six songs_ , opus 38.” She acted surprised. Rachmaninov’s repertoire ishighly romantic, while McFadden mainly focuses on baroque and contemporary:’If there’s something I’m not, it’s a lyric soprano. Why me? But Sasja wantedthe clarity and precision of my voice, to be able to hear the harmoniesbetter.”

A few years later the time had come. Rehearsals were a lot of fun, saysMcFadden, not least because of Melnikov’s language coaching: “I pretty muchcrawled into his mouth to find out how he made those sounds. I don’t speakRussian, but after the concert his mother was in tears.”

And then Melnikov said: now I want to discover your world. “’Are you sure?’ Iasked. For the pieces by Crumb and Knussen he has to step out of his comfortzone, the idiom and playing techniques are very different from what he is usedto. But he plays them wonderfully. In return, we also do the _Five songs_without words, op. 35 by Prokofiev.”

The three song cycles form focal points at the beginning, middle and end ofthe recital. The works in between are not songs, but pure vocal art: the_Aria_ of Cage, the legendary Sequence III by Luciano Berio, written for hiswife, mezzo and composer Cathy Berberian. From Berberian himself, McFaddenvoices Stripsody , with a graphic score in the form of a cartoon, in whichher virtuoso cackling comes in handy. It’s easy to dismiss such pieces asacrobatic bits and pieces from the twentieth-century cabinet of curiosities,but the listener is doing the music (and themselves) short.

Intensity of a crying child

McFadden: “People knew hundreds of thousands of years ago that sound is linkedto emotion. The more pain, the more fear, the deeper the sound and the greaterthe intensity. When a child cries, you immediately hear whether it is real orfake – you hear it in the silence before. Breath, sound and emotion areclosely connected. And a piece like Berio’s Sequence III is close to thatprimal source of human sound. It can be funny, but I did it once in aperformance about the war, to give voice to a woman who has seen too much.Afterwards it was completely silent.”

McFadden also sees it as her task to train the collective experience, to letthe tension escape in a controlled manner, without anyone clapping too early -whether it is from enthusiasm or from the fright of unleashed emotions: “Musicbrings a space in vibration and those vibrations rise, you should not justdrop them. We made something together, the audience and I. Feeling thatconnection, that’s what it’s all about.”

She tells that she once Bachs Matthew Passion sang in the Concertgebouw andafterwards someone asked her if she was religious. The person was surprised ather answer, says McFadden: “My imagination must be big enough to imagine thatit is me, and that I can make you believe it.”

James Gunn is well aware of the backlash to the early creative decisions hehas made as the new co-head of DC Studios. But he’s not backing down.

In a statement shared Monday on social media, Gunn addressed the”disrespectful outcry” about his and co-chairman Peter Safran’s vision for theDC Extended Universe. The “Suicide Squad” filmmakers, who were appointed tolead DC Studios in October, have been heavily criticized in recent weeks formaking major changes to some of the production company’s most popularsuperhero franchises.

“One of the things Peter & I were aware of when we took the job as heads of DCStudios was a certain minority of people online that could be, well,uproarious & unkind, to say the least,” Gunn wrote in his statement.

“Our choices for the DCU are based upon what we believe is best for the story& best for the DC characters who have been around for nearly 85 years. Perhapsthese choices are great, perhaps not, but they are made with sincere hearts &integrity & always with the story in mind.”

Gunn and Safran came under fire this month after reports surfaced that WarnerBros. Discovery had decided to scrap DC’s “Wonder Woman 3,” starring Gal Gadotand directed by Patty Jenkins. The scoop from the Hollywood Reporter notedthat the new DC bosses were among the executives who made the controversialcall to shelve the project.

Internet scrutiny of Gunn and Safran later intensified after Henry Cavillrevealed that the duo had fired him as Superman — despite the actor recentlyannouncing his return to the role at the studio’s behest before Gunn andSafran took over.

“No one loves to be harassed or called names — but, to be frank, we’ve beenthrough significantly worse,” Gunn continued Monday in his statement.

“Disrespectful outcry will never, ever affect our actions. We were aware therewould be a period of turbulence when we took this gig, & we knew we wouldsometimes have to make difficult & not-so-obvious choices, especially in thewake of the fractious nature of what came before us. But this means little tous in comparison to our jobs as artists & custodians in helping to create awide & wonderful future for DC.”

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A number of entertainment figures with ties to Warner Bros. Discovery —including Henry Golding (“Crazy Rich Asians”), Michael B. Jordan (“Creed”) andZachary Levi (“Shazam!”) — supported Gunn in the comments section.

“The man in the Arena,” Golding posted along with a heart and punching emoji.

“Amen,” Levi wrote.

Elsewhere in the comments section, Gunn disagreed with a fan who accused thestudio heads of making “the move to boot” Gadot from the “Wonder Woman”franchise.

“I’m not sure where you’re getting that we ‘booted’ Gal,” Gunn said.

Last week, Jenkins — who also helmed the first two “Wonder Woman” movies —released a statement setting the record straight about the demise of the thirdinstallment.

“I never walked away,” she wrote. “I was open to considering anything asked ofme. It was my understanding there was nothing I could do to move anythingforward at this time.”

Both Jenkins and Cavill acknowledged in their remarks that the studio is goingthrough a period of transition as a result of the recent Warner Bros.Discovery merger, and neither had anything negative to say about Gunn orSafran.

Wonder Woman “is an incredible character,” Jenkins said. “Living in and aroundher values ​​makes one a better person every day. I wish her and her legacy anamazing future ahead, with or without me.”

“Superman is still around,” Cavill said. “Everything he stands for stillexists, and the examples he sets for us are still there! My turn to wear thecape has passed, but what Superman stands for never will. It’s been a fun ridewith you all, onwards and upwards.”