Fall in Love with Art.  The New York Times published a moving piece by Bill Hayes author of “The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray’s Anatomy,” on September 14 about the Garry Winogrand Photography Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (open until September 21).  Hayes argues that “no different from falling in love with a song, one may fall in love with a work of art and claim it as one’s own.”  He urges people to visit a piece that moves them at different times of the day and that with each viewing, the person can discover something new about the painting.  He also points out that everyone’s Monet, might be an unpolished gemstone or mineral element.  And I think this is certainly true about falling in love with classical music and opera.  Each time I listen to certain pieces, I appreciate something “from the background” like a counterpoint that might not have resonated with me the first time.  What we can take away from Hayes’ piece is that art necessitates more than one glance.

A Female First. Now principal guest conductor at Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki has been appointed the first female conductor of the Helskinki Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO). The city council approved the appointment on Monday for a three-year term starting in 2016. When Mälkki, 45, follows in current HPO conductor John Storgårds’ footsteps, she will become the 13th chief conductor of the orchestra, founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, a close associate of Jean Sibelius. More on the details of the appointment and Mälkki’s impressive musical past here.

Kevin Spacey to Flex Musical Muscles. Having shown off his music talents to the public on rare occasions on both the big and small screen, Spacey is now set to take on the stage as he sings a full concert at Shakespeare Theater’s Harman Hall on Sept. 29. The concert, which is set to include fan favorites by Billy Joel and Simon and Garfunkel as well as the classics of Frank Sinatra, will feature a 40-piece orchestra and raise money for the Kevin Spacey Foundation. The Foundation, which provides financial support to students in performing arts programs at two universities of personal significance to Spacey, is the actor’s way of paying it forward, inspired by advice from his mentor, Jack Lemmon.

Jane Austen Used Pins Before Post-Its. The Bodleian Library in the UK is host to the manuscript of Austen’s incomplete novel, The Watsons, in which the famous author used actual straight pins to attach sections to be inserted at their appropriate places. Keeper of Special Collections at the library Christopher Fletcher notes that evidence of this “pin-it” editing method can be traced back as early as 1617. More on this rare manuscript here.

RSC to Resurrect Shakespeare-era Play. The Royal Shakespeare Company is set to stage a play long forgotten by ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore playwright John Ford for the first time in nearly four hundred years. The revenge tragedy, Love’s Sacrifice, is said to be reminiscent of Othello and is based on the true story of Carlo Gesualdo, a musician who murdered his wife and her lover in the 1500s. The play was selected from sixteen proposed works by a collaboration of four academics and the RSC actors and theatre directors. The short list of works that didn’t make the cut and more on the production of Love’s Sacrifice, can be found here.