Classical Flotsam and Jetsam

Rostropovich was not just a great cellist, but apparently one of the great collectors of Russian art. His collection will go back to Russia intact, thanks to a multi-million dollar purchase that went through, just before it was to be broken up and sold at auction. Sotheby's auction house seems to have withdrawn information on the collection from their website, but you can bid on the very glossy catalog all the same (Ebay, not Sotheby's).....If you vaguely recollect hearing something about piano music, a hoax, and somebody named Joyce Hatto earlier this year, Mark Singer's article in the New Yorker summarizes deftly......Has anyone noticed how opera, stealthily, bit by bit, is taking over the world of Twin Cities theater? First it was Mozart at Jeune Lune, then Puccini at Theater Latte Da. Next month it's "Jerry Springer: The Opera," as Minneapolis Musical Theatre blends the two emotion-packed, instant-confrontation genres.