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Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Music for a Time of War is a 2011 Oregon Symphony concert recording of four compositions: Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question (1906), John Adams' The Wound-Dresser (1989), Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem (1940) and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 4 (1935). The program was performed on May 7 and May 8 under the artistic direction of Carlos Kalmar at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (pictured) in Portland, Oregon, and again on May 12 at Carnegie Hall. A concert album, the orchestra's first in eight years, was released five months later on CD by Dutch record label PentaTone Classics. The live performances and album received favorable reviews; the recording debuted at number 31 on Billboard's Classical Albums chart, and made several lists of the best classical recordings of 2011. The album earned two nominations from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the 2013 Grammy Awards, and producer Blanton Alspaugh received the Grammy for Producer of the Year, Classical, for his contributions to this and other recordings. (Full article...)

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Eduardo Sasha

... that Brazilian footballer Eduardo Sasha (pictured) is nicknamed after the model and actress Sasha Meneghel?
... that during World War II, the six-member Steinlauf family from the Nowy Sącz Ghetto were rescued by the nine-member Król family, who were risking the death penalty?
... that snowfall in Buenos Aires is rare, being observed only three times since the start of meteorological observations in 1906?
... that Max Reger dedicated Der Einsiedler to conductor Philipp Wolfrum and his choir, but they performed the premiere only after the composer's death, together with his Requiem?
... that the Tennessee Walking Horse RPM was sold as a four-year-old for US$1.25 million?
... that the music video for "Girls / Girls / Boys" was inspired by D'Angelo's video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)"?
... that following safety-related rule changes to limit throwing distances, the U.S. women's high school record for the javelin throw set by Barbara Friedrich in 1967 may never be broken?
... that in the upcoming open world science fiction game Rokh, players must survive on Mars?

In the news

Enda Kenny

In horse racing, Nyquist, ridden by Mario Gutierrez, wins the Kentucky Derby.
Enda Kenny (pictured) of Fine Gael is re-elected Taoiseach of Ireland and forms a minority coalition government.
A wildfire in Canada displaces 88,000 people and destroys more than 1,600 buildings in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
In association football, Leicester City win the English Premier League for the first time.
Mark Selby defeats Ding Junhui to win the World Snooker Championship.
The Kenyan government burns the largest-ever pile of ivory to combat illegal ivory trade.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is re-elected President of Equatorial Guinea.

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On this day...

May 8: Victory in Europe Day; World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day; Miguel Hidalgo's Birthday in Mexico; Parents' Day in South Korea

A glass of Coca-Cola

1842 – A train derailed and caught fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.
1886 – In Atlanta, American pharmacist John Pemberton first sold his carbonated beverage Coca-Cola (glass pictured) as a patent medicine, claiming that it cured a number of diseases.
1924 – Lithuania signed the Klaipėda Convention with the nations of the Conference of Ambassadors, formally taking the Klaipėda Region (German: Memelland) from East Prussia and making it into an autonomous region under unconditional sovereignty of Lithuania.
1945 – A parade to celebrate the end of World War II turned into a riot, followed by widespread disturbances and killings in and around Sétif, French Algeria.
1972 – Four members of Black September hijacked Sabena Flight 571 to demand the release of 315 convicted Palestinian terrorists.

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Today's featured picture

The Kota Kinabalu City Mosque is the second main mosque in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, after State Mosque in Sembulan. Preparations for the mosque began in 1989, and after several delays it was officially opened in 2000 and nicknamed "The Floating Mosque" as it sits on a man-made lagoon. The Kota Kinabalu City Mosque has room for 12,000 worshipers.

Photograph: Uwe Aranas

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