Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo image: Gourd being prepared by Dona Marinalva Correia de Sousa.  which received a FAPESP research grant in the Young Investigators – Phase 2 modality As part of the project, Martins conducted a detailed analysis of the production of varnished gourds and calabashes in the 18th-century captaincy of colonial Brazil, called Grão-Pará. These objects are preserved in museums in Portugal. An article on this subject was published in the journal Heritage “The gourds were made by Indigenous women who used sophisticated techniques to create a black like an ‘Amazonian lacquer.’ These fruits had their iconographic fields modified and were refashioned by decorations with motifs inspired by the local flora and fauna but also by patterns for European and Asian embroidery reflecting the artistic exchanges of the time as also happened with objects covered with mopa-mopa It is important to note that these gourds were not made spontaneously and randomly but were produced in manufactories maintained by settlers or within the framework of religious missions in the Amazon The craft of gourd painting was recognized at the beginning of the 18th century The products of these “factories” were mostly destined for the European market participating in a process of globalization that was already underway at the time Ferreira states that between 5,000 and 6,000 gourds were produced each year in the village of Monte Alegre “Their varied and complex decorations based on Indigenous traditions and/or with Asian and European inspirations are examples that show the creative and artistic practices of resistance of Indigenous African and mestizo women,” says Martins In addition to studying 18th-century gourds in 2023 the researcher visited the community of Carapanatuba now by free and empowered women from the riverside region The Association of Santarém Riverside Craftswomen (Asarisan) has brought together artists from the five communities of Aritapera and has played a key role in ensuring that the “Way of Making Gourds from the Lower Amazon” was included in the Register of Knowledge of the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) as part of Brazil’s Cultural Heritage production still follows the same process described by Ferreira Socorro Pereira and others from the communities in the Aritapera region preserve the ancestral knowledge about nature As well as the long process of preparing gourds varnished with cumatê and 'embroidered' with incisions,” says Martins In the garden around the house of Dona (“Mistress”) Lélia and her husband, Senhor (“Mister”) Antônio there are different types of gourd trees (Crescentia cujete) which produce round or oval fruits of different sizes The women pick them when they are ripe: when they make a certain sound The fruits are then cut open with a machete or saw and the resulting gourds are placed in a large pot of boiling water to soften the shells the outer shell of each gourd is carefully scraped with a blade the edge is smoothed with the rough tongue of the pirarucu fish (Arapaima gigas) and the inside with the scales of the same fish The final preparation for the application of the varnish is done by rubbing the inside and outside with the large leaves of the embaúba tree (Cecropia) a species also found in the area near the family’s home The treated but unvarnished gourd is called “pitinga.” The “lacquering” process is done by applying tincture of cumatê a reddish liquid obtained by infusing the bark of another tree of the region the cumatezeiro (Myrcia atramentifera) After being painted with several layers of dye the gourds are placed on a bed of sand or ashes sprinkled with human urine and left covered for an entire night The chemical reaction between the components of the dye and the urine transforms the reddish dye into a kind of shiny black “lacquer.” This technique developed by Indigenous women of the Lower Amazon produces a result comparable to and even superior to the best lacquer from China (Rhus vernicifera or Rhus verniciflua) according to reports from the 18th century the gourds are decorated by making incisions with a small knife The incision removes the varnish and allows the light background to shine through Painting by applying vegetable or mineral dyes to the bare surface which was widely used on gourds in the 18th century although the dye-producing plants are known to the riverside artists,” says Martins consisting of geometric and abstract motifs is increasingly used in today’s gourds also had important functions in the ritual context Ferreira recounted the resistance of the Indigenous women of Monte Alegre to selling certain gourds which had beads and muiraquitãs (a kind of Amazonian amulet) because of their sensitive meanings in the social relations of the communities,” explains Martins gourds are also symbolically associated with fertility and the ancient healing practices of Indigenous peoples and are still widely used today to prepare and pour therapeutic baths and blessings as well as to serve typical Amazonian foods such as tacacá the workshops set up in the villages and religious missions redirected this ancestral tradition to cater for the European market which was hungry for luxury items as well as objects considered “exotic.” Asian or Asian-inspired European pieces served as models for locally produced objects that reinterpreted the imported ones “Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous artists used techniques such as inlaying adapting Amazonian materials and plants such as copaiba (Copaifera langsdorffii) and West Indian locust (Hymenaea courbaril) to create effects similar to the gilding found on Asian objects their intimacy with the nature of the forest is essential for understanding the complexity of cultural and artistic relations in the Amazon in colonial times and today,” concludes Martins The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the state of São Paulo FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally it has established partnerships with funding agencies and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration Cumatê and Colours by Indigenous Women in Grão-Pará in the 18th Century are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system Copyright © 2025 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Port Angeles’ Leia Larson won the 3,200-meter run, Teanna Clark… Continue reading The East Jefferson boys soccer team won a critical… Continue reading Port Angeles senior Faerin Tait ran to victories in… Continue reading The Port Angeles girls softball team took care of… Continue reading Sequim and Forks combined for 34 base hits in the… Continue reading Runners and walkers will… Continue reading Sequim rallied to knock off second place North Kitsap 7-4… Continue reading The Port Angeles baseball team is entering a softer… Continue reading Senior 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Behavioral science and cancer researcher Jane Montealegre, Ph.D. recently joined MD Anderson to advance cervical cancer screening We recently spoke with her to learn more about her background I was mesmerized by insects and always studying them When I found out they could cause diseases I focused on parasites and studied one that caused blindness in Guatemalan coffee workers I was spending all this time in a lab studying diseases that impacted humans when I realized I liked the humans more than the lab Eventually, I started to study access to health care, which led me to study access to cervical cancer screening I’m an associate professor of behavioral science and cancer researcher at MD Anderson A large part of my job at MD Anderson is working on the Expanding Access to Cervical Cancer Screening through Primary HR-HPV Testing and Self-Sampling program a private-public partnership pioneering self-screening tests for cervical cancer Patients are given the screening kits at any health care appointment they might attend and then the samples are sent to the laboratory for testing A navigator calls them with the results and walks them through what’s next It’s the phase where we lose a lot of patients Most of the time they don’t have cancer but they need some sort of follow-up care The work our navigators do is critical because it helps them stay calm and receive the care they need I’m also working with our partners through the Rice Bioengineering Collaborative to bring low-cost screening devices to clinics So many cases of cervical cancer could be prevented or treated successfully if more people had had access to early screening we can detect precancerous cells and then protect against cancer Finding time for health screenings is really a challenge so we’re working to eliminate all the barriers surrounding that There is so much those of us who work with U.S underserved populations can learn from global health programs I couldn’t think of a better place to continue my work than MD Anderson Jane Montealegre, Ph.D. is an associate professor of Behavioral Science at MD Anderson Learn about research careers at MD Anderson. 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Show your support for our mission through branded merchandise.  © 2025 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center compiled by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) The 2022 results represent 24 countries and were drawn from a pool of more than 200 nominations submitted through an open call which was reviewed by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) and a panel of world heritage experts appointed by the WMF during which the organisations aim to evaluate the “historical significance of a place in terms of international or local importance since it doesn’t have to be a well-known place and whether there is an immediate need for intervention” receives more than 3 million visitors per year and has been included on the watchlist several times before “Teotihuacán in particular exemplifies the idea of imbalanced tourism and the need for tourism management which can pose some challenges,” de Montlaur says “It is overcrowded and a new international airport is being built around 15km from there bringing more pressure to the area and to the local communities who often do not benefit from tourism.” Ancient cave paintings in the Monte Alegre State Park in Pará The Monte Alegre State Park in the northern Brazilian state of Pará holds the largest concentration of ancient cave paintings in the Amazon depicting complex symbols and figures made with red and yellow pigments The oldest known ceramics produced in South or North America dating to the sixth or fifth millennium BCE The paintings are located in a once-remote area that is now encircled by deforestation and development “Rock art in general is extremely vulnerable not just because it’s ancient but also because it’s exposed and facing climate projections of much drier conditions,” de Montlaur says The Brazilian government designated the park a protected area in 2001 and imposed restrictions on permitted activities in the area But the site is one of the main visitor attractions for the area which “creates new sources of income for local people but also an influx of tourism the report also notes that the Garcia Pasture in Brownsville which is the subject of a years-long debate between developers and Indigenous communities who claim sacred ties to the site and that the historic Africatown in Mobile which is facing issues related to tourism and environmental justice Most of the sites are not Unesco World Heritage Sites “Unesco inclusions are proposed by governments whereas the WMF has a community-based process,” de Montlaur explains you need a comprehensive file with studies documentation and a pre-emptive plan to protect the site “Sometimes the WMF steps in earlier in the process and helps develop Unesco nomination the Complejo Astronómico Chankillo in Peru a site that we have been working on for a decade that is the oldest astronomical observatory in the Americas as a result of our work with our local partners It is a guarantee that hopefully the government will take good care of the site.” Since the launch of the report, the WMF has contributed more than $110m toward the conservation of more than 300 world heritage sites, and helped raise an additional $300m from public and private funders. the list of threatened heritage sites raises awareness beyond Earth’s atmosphere news17 September 2020As the world contends with Covid, World Monuments Fund makes a bet on sustainable tourismTaking a lesson from how the pandemic dispersed crowds the organisation selects seven sites for preservation and promotion news2 April 2025‘We can’t predict the future or what will happen’: Trump’s slashing of US foreign aid hits heritage conservationRestoration and preservation projects in countries from Sierra Leone to Ukraine are now at risk following US government’s sudden cuts to aid funding By Peter Speetjens, originally published by Mongabay A professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois Chicago Anna Roosevelt has been dubbed the “matriarch” of archaeology in the Amazon River Basin she has authored more than a hundred scientific articles and a dozen books which helped accomplish a radical shift in the way we perceive the past of the human presence in the Amazon the dominant view for decades was that the tropical rainforest was too hostile too infertile to bring forth any complex culture the human presence in the Amazon was thought to be a relatively recent phenomenon consisting mainly of small bands of hunters and gatherers and simple gardeners Having worked from the Orinoco floodplains to the Monte Alegre caves and from Marajó Island to the tropical forests of the Congo River Basin Roosevelt smashed the pillars upon which the “false faith” was built almost everything regarding the human past of the Amazon is the exact opposite of what was taught in academia only 50 years ago Roosevelt is the first to acknowledge that she did not do it alone Too many before her remained ignored for far too long the significance of the [archaeological] sequence is that the Amazonians have always very much managed the rainforest and rivers,” she said but further developed and enriched the natural diversity.” Despite the many existential threats facing humankind and the world Roosevelt is remarkably positive about what the future can bring The forest produces more food per hectare than traditional agriculture or a savanna pasture Anna Roosevelt looking at imagery at the Painted Rock Cave near Monte Alegre dating back to 11,000 BCE Anna Roosevelt spoke with Mongabay by video on Dec The conversation was edited for clarity and brevity Mongabay: How did you first develop an interest in archaeology Her parents were from Missouri but had moved to the U.S my mother grew up in Arizona and New Mexico where she often went around with this doctor who liked archaeology museums and archaeological sites like Mesa Verde And I found it all so exciting that one day I said ‘I want to be an archaeologist.’ I think I was 9 Did that influence you at all in becoming an archaeologist in the Amazon I didn’t really know much about him when I grew up And that my grandmother didn’t like the way he slurped his soup Mongabay: Most aspiring archaeologists dream of working in ancient Rome How did you end up in the Amazon Rainforest But two things happened that took me to South America instead of the Mediterranean and Near East I worked as an intern at the Natural History Museum in New York My supervisors were archaeologists and they treated me and the other interns so wonderfully well That is what first drew me to South America archaeology at the time held there were two nuclear areas in South America: the Andes and Mesoamerica I decided to focus on the intermediate area The hydromorphic soil of the Orinoco was the same as the Nile’s so I asked myself: Why would plant cultivation have been a problem for the ancient people in this part of the world if it wasn’t for the ancient Egyptians Roosevelt’s team at work In a boat at Curupité many people said you could not study plant remains as the wet conditions of the tropical forest could not preserve them Carbonized plant remains are almost indestructible I was looking at ceramic cultures dating from about 1,000 B.C.E when people lived in permanent settlements and depended on agriculture What I found was that the earliest people living on the flood plains didn’t have corn yet which makes sense as it was coming from the Andes or Mesoamerica probably the local people selected from the highland variety to adapt it to the lowland environment and eventually got a type that thrived and became a staple food Because the bones of the human skeletons I studied were full of corn carbon your first steps as an Amazonian archaeologist you took along the Orinoco Anna Roosevelt: That is where I did my first little chunk of the sequence of the Amazon I thought my next step should be to have a look at all the collections of all the museums I could get to That’s where I saw my first projectile points which would eventually lead me to Monte Alegre Anna Roosevelt giving a Fulbright class at Curupité in the Xingu region in 2002 Situated on the northern bank of the Amazon River in the Brazilian state of Pará Monte Alegre is famous for its prehistoric rock paintings depicting animals Roosevelt carbon-dated samples from the Painted Rock Cave and her results stunned the scientific world Humans had been living at Monte Alegre since as early as 11,000 B.C.E while the academic consensus at the time was that the human presence in the Amazon did not exceed some 2,000 years Mongabay: Can you tell us a bit more about how you first got to Monte Alegre and the site’s importance Anna Roosevelt: I first went there on a weekend while digging at Taperinha Not far from the huge lakes that have shellfish and fish and a forest full of fruits and other edibles I went there and asked if anyone knew about the rock art someone appeared and led me to Monte Alegre sites including the Painted Rock Cave and its painted wall designs I immediately realized the cave was not too disturbed inside The deposit below the entrance held lots of lithic fragments I applied to the National Endowment for Humanities and got a grant to dig there Archeologists will often do only two or three I will never forget the moment I got the results from the lab I was in a hotel in Belém when I got the email It was a view of the entire sequence of the Amazon I always thought that dream would make a great movie But I had always found it strange that people thought the Amazon had been occupied by humans for only a few thousand years I had seen the flaked projectile points as well as some very early pottery who had said that the human presence was much older You should know that the mid-20th-century archaeologists who set forth the theory that the rainforest was too harsh and infertile an environment to support a complex culture completely ignored the work of the previous generation of scientists Everything I ‘discovered’ the 19th-century naturalists already knew about A large-stemmed point and palm-wood harpoon foreshaft found by miners at Curupité in 1986 Mongabay: Taperinha is famous for its shell mounds which are essentially ancient garbage dumps with At the bottom you found some of the oldest pottery in South America dating back to the 8th millennium B.C.E. which is yet another indication that the human presence in the Amazon dates back much further than previously thought Can you tell us a bit more about the site where previous knowledge seemed to have been long ignored Anna Roosevelt: Taperinha is a wonderful site located about four hours by boat from Santarém a Canadian geologist who worked at Taperinha in the 1870s at the suggestion of Domingos Soares Ferreira Penna the site belonged to a community of fishing people in the early Holocene [the current geological epoch Hart had collected some shellfish and pottery I had them carbon-dated and it turned out they were some 6,000 years old All I did next in Taperinha was dig to the bottom of the some 6-meter- [20-foot-] high shell mounts which confirmed Hartt’s opinion and showed that tropical forests were by no means too poor or infertile to allow for preagricultural settlement It only became one because  leading 20th-century archaeologists had decided that the mounds had to be of a more recent date Because it did not fit the dominant theory of environmental determinism one reason I was able to make some great discoveries is because of how opinionated archaeologists in the mid-20th century were Mongabay: When archaeologists talk about pottery or ceramics often the term “The Formative Stage” pops up Anna Roosevelt: What archaeologists call ‘the Formative’ — not the most appealing term I admit — refers to the later stages in the cultural evolution of the New World It was the era when people generally settled down and farmed Some of the most recognizable Formative pottery [in the Amazon] is a kind of reddish pottery with smooth surfaces sand tempering and rather nice grooving and modeling I first encountered it during my research in the flood plains of the Orinico and on every dig I worked on since Anna Roosevelt with archaeologists and local miers at Curupité in 2000 Marajó Island in the mouth of the Amazon River was home to a large population and produced some of the most dramatic ceramics on the continent the dominant theory for decades was that the Marajó culture In line with the limitations of environmental determinism it was assumed that the Marajó culture had been short-lived while the mounds were thought to be only ceremonial Mongabay: You worked at Marajó Island for many years And what would you say were your most important findings Anna Roosevelt: As I was going around looking at museum collections at the time I met the then-director of the Emilio Goeldi Museum in Belém a geoscientist who had found evidence of domestic occupation at the Marajó mounds while the dominant view was that they were just ceremonial We got a grant to dig from the National Science Foundation and found that the mounds we excavated represented long-term human occupations from soon after the start of the common era until at least 1,100 or 1,200 C.E Some of the mounds at Marajó are clustered closely together in large groups and it seems that there were some 25-30 families per mound village with cultivated açaí palms all around We found the foundations of many large houses they had 6-12 stoves with room for three pots each What we also found is that the eastern Amazonian polychrome [multicolored] ceramic cultures were a lot older than the related Andean foothills cultures of the upper Amazon the latter could not have been the source of the first Instead of people and polychrome pottery coming from the Andes The particular ceramic style traveled westward along the Amazon drainage all the way to Peru but the main pattern representing the anaconda skin patterns remained In 2010, Eduardo Neves organized a meeting in Manaus for which he also invited people from the Rio Negro region and people from other polychrome cultures across the Amazon I showed them the images in my book on Marajó and all of them said where it seems there was an even more elaborate urban culture than in Marajó although we may never know the exact details we mapped some 4 square kilometers [1.5 square miles] of dark soil [terra preta] But there were big earthen platforms for ceremonial rituals but each one had a deep pit with cremated human bones and feasting remains next to it The Santarém culture was more urbanized and more populated with a more intensive flood plain agriculture than Marajó later style known as the Incise and Punctuated Horizon — sorry It is the same style to which the corn-eating people of the Orinoco belong We believe there was a huge settlement in Santarém but it will be hard to further study the site as it was bulldozered to make way for the Cargill soybean shipping terminal Roosevelt with her team at a Kayapó village in the Xingu in 2002 Mongabay: On Jan. 11, Science published the study Two thousand years of garden urbanism in the Upper Amazon which claims “a dense system of pre-Hispanic urban centers has been found in the Upano Valley of Amazonian Ecuador.” The lidar remote sensing technology revealed as well as extensive agricultural terraces and drainages it’s great that Stéphen Rostain [one of the archaeologists in charge in Ecuador] and his colleagues went back and firmed up and expanded the evidence Father Pedro Porras published a monograph that makes clear the urban garden character of the site with photos very much like the drawing in the Science article as well as pictures of the agricultural terraces The site is more than 10 km2 [3.9 mi2] and is Formative in age Both these facts are mentioned in Porros’ monograph illustrations of the artifacts and numerous radiocarbon dates of Formative age there is nothing new in the Science article except a confirmation of Porras’ research findings and a refinement of the site map It bothers me that the Science authors tend to misrepresent their own findings and not acknowledge the original findings by a South American author Mongabay: What does Amazonian archaeology have to do with Africa it shows us that people living there were broad-spectrum foragers rather than big game hunters Amazonia presents an example of a tropical forest basin in which Native people developed a long sequence of very diverse cultures This is relevant for the interpretation of human history in consensus theorists made very wrong assumptions about the history of the habitat The long-dominant theory was that our ancestors evolved by leaving the forests for the savanna This assumption now seems almost entirely wrong but the picture emerging from preliminary research in sub-Saharan Africa suggests a very different history which could have implications more important even than Amazonia’s Our image of the past and present in Africa is dominated by the savanna created during globalization after 1,500 C.E But it is adaptation to the forest that should take center stage in prehistory Anna Roosevelt with her team in Ngolio in the Central African Republic Mongabay: What is the importance of the changed archaeological and historical perspective on the Amazon for modern-day ecology Anna Roosevelt: From an ecological point of view the significance of the [archaeological] sequence is that the Amazonians have always very much managed the rainforest and rivers but on a limited scale and built raised agricultural fields on the flood plains They didn’t deforest widely but further developed and enriched the forest’s natural diversity The forest is the main source of rain and nutrients in the tropics One thing scientists have discovered is that the main source of rain in tropical rainforests is not evaporation from the oceans but from the rainforest itself The moisture is held within the body of the forest Moisture transpires from the trees and then falls as rain both there and elsewhere the forest produces much more moisture than it needs the Congo rainforest has been much reduced yet still provides a lot of the rain as far away as Ethiopia Global drought may not be such a problem if you restore and preserve the forests but that is just one of the many valuable fruits in the Amazon It’s a relatively small fruit and does not have much pulp There are thousands of moriche palm trees in the flood plains It’s a much larger and fleshier fruit and makes a wonderful jam There are many ways Amazonians can support themselves and their countries’ trade balance while improving the continental climate at the same time he spent some 20 years in the Middle East and India Based in São Paolo he mainly writes about politics and the environment His work has appeared in numerous Dutch and English language publications loves photography and in 2004 coauthored the documentary 2000 Terrorists By Rupert Read, Ed Jarvis The recent Climate Change Committee report on the UK government’s lack of preparedness for climate breakdown reveals negligence at a historic scale By Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights Our political discourse is actually far narrower than our total public discourse which makes addressing big problems such as climate change very difficult By Helena Norberg-Hodge, Henry Coleman, Local Futures we need to condemn globalization loud and clear And we need a cohesive strategy that moves us sensibly and sanely in the opposite direction Resilience is a program of Post Carbon Institute a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the world transition away from fossil fuels and build sustainable Reposting Policy | Privacy Policy “Maestro” captures not only Leonard Bernstein himself but also the time in which he lived Biopics are typically restrained by the genre’s nature: there has to be some accordance maintained with real life this results in films that appear to lack aesthetic depth — focused only on narrating the life of the person at hand — or films that drag if the person chosen ends up failing to capture the audience’s interest has shed an unbelievably artistic light on the lives of American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and his wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) creating a beautiful portrait of a tragic marriage that feels real (because it is) “Maestro” opens with Leonard filming an interview but the film quickly zooms back to a much younger version of him first meeting his future wife at a party Within roughly the first 30 minutes of the movie but the honeymoon period ends shortly thereafter and Felicia begins to forsake her own career deeply lonely and neglectful of his family constantly consumed by the effort of trying to balance his inner artistic life as a composer with his outer performative one as a conductor He seeks solace in extramarital affairs with absolutely no regard for how his actions impact Felicia Tensions in Leonard and Felicia’s relationship reach their climax on a family vacation Leonard has brought his friend Tommy (Gideon Glick) along — coming up with some nonsense excuse that he’s a potential suitor for his daughter Jamie (Maya Hawke) — and Felicia decides that she’s had enough When he announces to the family that he has just finished composing a big piece Felicia walks swiftly out of the summer house and jumps into the pool The two soon have a fight on Thanksgiving which leads to a temporary separation find that they are even unhappier without each other They reunite during the most impressive conducting scene in the entire film but this celebratory moment is soon overshadowed: Felicia is diagnosed with breast cancer this grief is the film’s version of a happy ending for it is only through Felicia’s illness and death that the Bernstein family finally seems to come back together Bradley Cooper clearly took the time to study Leonard’s conducting style theatrical movements and enraptured expression The film shifts from black and white to color features a huge cinematic score and uses different aspect ratios to capture the spirit of both old and new Hollywood The cinematography is perhaps the film’s greatest strength From an early scene shot against a window’s shadow to Felicia watching her husband conduct The result is a film that continually keeps audience members invested in both the emotional pull of Leonard and Felicia’s relationship and the superbly aesthetic experience of watching it unfold Perhaps the most tragic part of “Maestro” is not Bernstein’s marriage but the fact that Leonard His habits remain consistent as the film closes out — he still appears to be the same troubled artist who suffers internally yet can’t bear to be alone Although his life was lived far from the level of perfection he sought to achieve in his music “Maestro” asks viewers to remain attentive to its aesthetic choices in order to be moved Rya is an Arts & Culture editor from Albany She is a senior studying English and Literary Arts Carey Mulligan poses for a portrait to promote the film “Maestro” on Wednesday 2023 at The Maybourne Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills This image released by Netflix shows Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre in a scene from “Maestro.” (Jason McDonald/Netflix via AP) This image released by Netflix shows Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre and Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in a scene from “Maestro.” (Jason McDonald/Netflix via AP) Carey Mulligan and Bradley Cooper arrive at a special screening of “Maestro” on Tuesday at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles This image released by Netflix shows Scott Ellis as Harry Kraut Gideon Glick as Tommy Cothran and Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre on the set of “Maestro.” (Jason McDonald/Netflix via AP) Carey Mulligan recently realized that she’s spent much of her professional career holding back Mulligan spoke to The Associated Press about the journey to becoming Montealegre Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre in a scene from “Maestro.” (Jason McDonald/Netflix via AP) Mulligan had become used to only ever getting a few months of prep for most of her roles which was both wonderful and daunting after Cooper approached her about the role in the summer of 2018 In addition to learning everything she could about Montealegre and even giving herself over to “dream work” with Cooper she immediately got to work studying her character’s unique dialect raised in Chile in a multilingual household and educated at British school in Santiago there were long recorded interviews which Mulligan listened to over and over She also worked closely with famed dialect coach Tim Monich “She was just as you see her in the Murrow Person-to-Person interview I was a rube-ish 26-year-old and I had never met anyone as easy and elegant as she,” Monich wrote in an email and over quite a few roles we have played and altered it for different characters.” “in which we listen to the real voices and then imitate them and play with them until they are the actors’ ‘real’ voices Mulligan and Cooper would often meet and just talk as the characters so that by the time they got onto set they wouldn’t have to think about it which proved especially helpful for their epic Thanksgiving argument Felicia was a painter and Mulligan was not An earlier script included scenes of her painting on camera and Mulligan promptly signed up for a few months of classes in which she found herself quarantined in Santiago after having visited Montealegre’s extended family there paints and canvas and would spend the next 10 days copying her paintings Though the scene didn’t end up in the movie Mulligan laughed that production designer Kevin Thompson put them in the “deep I don’t know if you can see any of them though “And the one that is in the hallway is NOT me “Maestro” spans decades and would require Mulligan to play her from age 24 Hair and makeup would thus have to make Mulligan look both younger and older as well as depicting her evolving she learned that costumes that pop in that format might not actually look great in real life — but Oscar winning costume designer Mark Bridges (“The Arist”) was proficient in both was probably the dramatic blue dress she wore for the performance of “MASS.” “It was the best dress for walking away,” Mulligan said this is amazing because she just can’t bear to be there to watch him receive the accolades.” A scene from “Maestro” (Jason McDonald/Netflix via AP) It was an interesting experience seeing herself age I think this is where I feel in my soul,” she said but it sort of presents this slightly odd mortality crisis that you look at yourself go this is exactly what I will look like if I ever got incredibly sick One time it even confused a doctor who had come to set to prescribe her some antibiotics and didn’t believe that she was 12-weeks pregnant asking her “are you sure” and “how do you know?” “I was like why is this doctor being so weird Then I looked in the mirror and realized oh it’s because Sian (Grigg) and Duncan (Jarman) made me look 56 and it would have been a miracle baby,” Mulligan said “I went to makeup and said ‘a doctor has just looked at me and thought I was in my late 50s So kudos because that’s pretty good makeup.’” Mulligan and Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in a scene from “Maestro.” (Jason McDonald/Netflix via AP) a review that calls her “lovely” is just about the worst thing that a person can write She was sad to learn that that’s exactly how most critics described Montealegre’s work “She got a lot of ‘she’s lovely’ and this sort of patronizing middle of the road reviews,” Mulligan said who’s like touched by God and then get a review that’s like ‘she’s fine.’” “She was talking about the Actors Studio and she was saying she finds it just so embarrassing that these actors are throwing themselves around crying and telling all their secrets and pretending to be animals and how ridiculous.” Montealegre was just nervous to fully commit because she didn’t want to fail “Maestro” gave Mulligan the space to finally give herself over to it Download the NPS app to navigate the parks on the go Renowned conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein and actor Felicia Montealegre had a complex relationship that lasted for decades and their relationship is at the center of Bradley Cooper's new film "Maestro," which depicts Bernstein's (Cooper) struggles to balance his marriage to Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) with his bisexuality as he navigates his career So what was Bernstein and Montealegre's relationship like in real life As shown in "Maestro," Bernstein and Montealegre met at a party in 1946 The two formed a connection almost instantly the couple's engagement only lasted about a year and Bernstein and Montealegre had gone their separate ways by the latter half of 1947 After their engagement ended, Felicia and actor Richard Hart were in a romantic relationship together, according to Bernstein's website The couple reunited in 1951 after four years apart and married that same year at a temple in Boston converted to Judaism upon her marriage to Bernstein Tensions between the two regarding Bernstein's male lovers and bisexuality were so great that in late 1951 or early 1952 Montealegre wrote Bernstein a letter suggesting they take a unique approach to making their marriage work which was later included in a compendium of Bernstein's correspondence edited by Nigel Simeone without being a martyr or sacrificing myself on the L.B (I happen to love you very much—this may be a disease and if it is what better cure?) It may be difficult but no more so than the 'status quo' which exists now—at the moment you are not yourself and this produces painful barriers and tensions for both of us—let's try and see what happens if you are free to do as you like She wrote that she hoped her and Bernstein's new arrangement would allow them to live amicably as a couple together "A companionship will grow which probably no one else may be able to offer you," Montealegre told Bernstein "The feelings you have for me will be clearer and easier to express— our marriage is not based on passion but on tenderness and mutual respect Montealegre and Bernstein's unique approach to extramarital affairs is portrayed in "Maestro." As the film shows Montealegre emphasized to Bernstein that he needed to keep his romantic relationships discreet above all else Montealegre also continued working during this time and also performing in classical music concerts The couple had three children together: daughter Jamie Bernstein ultimately chose to move out and live with Cothran Montealegre and Bernstein were fully separated as shown in "Maestro," and remained focused on her care until the end of her life Montealegre died at the couple's home in Easthampton, New York, at the age of 56. Shortly before her death, she converted back to Catholicism. Bernstein was reportedly devastated by her death and felt partially to blame due to the timing of his affair with Cothran Montealegre and Bernstein are buried together at Green-Wood cemetery in Brooklyn O endereço abaixo não existe na globo.com You do not have access to www.researchgate.net The site owner may have set restrictions that prevent you from accessing the site This year’s must-see shows range from a Nordic Pavilion exploring transgender spaces to a compelling Lebanese project confronting the realities of ecocide Frieze returns to The Shed in May with more than 65 of the world’s leading contemporary art galleries and the acclaimed Focus section led by Lumi Tan the Honduras-born-Florence-based artist explores the complex relationship between the origin and translations of indigenous knowledge In ‘Nuevo Mundo’ (New World) – Honduras-born Florence-based artist José Montealegre’s current solo show at Mountains – the line between reality and fiction is so blurred that every detail merits questioning Montealegre knows precisely how to lure us into his world The first part of ‘Nuevo Mundo’ comprises an installation of seven small sculptures in the gallery window which passers-by might easily mistake for seedlings herbs and houseplants placed there to catch the sunlight It takes some time before you notice that these plants will neither grow nor wither because they are made of copper Set in plastic and terracotta pots and embedded in soil these fragile sculptures might pass for real were it not for Página 0138 (Page 0138 the red-brown hue of the water and copper deposits at the bottom of the vessel reveal the true material of the plants it’s even possible to detect traces of verdigris the natural green patina formed when copper is exposed to water over time more copper plants are dotted about the space their leaves coated in light-green paint (Página 0214) or adorned with handmade flowers (Página 0426) Empty pots and a bag of soil lie in one corner as if the gardener’s work here is not yet done I suspect that even a botanical expert would struggle to identify the many different specimens assembled in the gallery; thankfully the titles of the works offer some guidance They refer to page numbers from the 16th-century manuscripts of Spanish naturalist Francisco Hernández de Toledo which contain illustrations and descriptions of more than 3,000 Mexican plants that he came across while travelling through Central Mexico to study its botany when the country was under Spanish rule Hernández’s studies were published posthumously in 1615 as Quatro libros de la Naturaleza (Four Books on Nature) Modelled after the illustrations Hernández commissioned from local artists Montealegre’s sculptures speak to the transfer of indigenous knowledge during colonialism as well as the complex relationship between original and translation The question of authenticity is also at play in a series of wall works The Sundial: First Story is the one of three coloured-glass frames containing a torn-out book page tries to visit a museum (which turns out to be closed) and discovers the titular sundial Further excerpts in The Sundial: Story Six and The Sundial: Story Thirteen give the impression that the book from which the pages are supposedly taken truly exists but here – once again – Montealegre tricks the viewer traditionally typeset serif font and yellowing hue are not the effects of time but the work of the artist Presenting a series of works that prove we should not trust everything we see and read Montealegre compels us to confront how vulnerable we are to narrative manipulation This is further underscored by the show’s title ‘Nuevo Mundo’ – the term coined in the 16th century by European colonizers who claimed to have ‘discovered’ the Americas – which stands as testament to the fact that novelty is always a matter of perspective and history has multiple truths José Montealegre, ‘Nuevo Mundo’ Berlin. Courtesy: the artist and Mountains various dimensions. Courtesy: the artist and Mountains Carina Bukuts is associate editor of frieze From Gülbin Ünlü’s portals to alternative realities to Remi Ajani’s emotive still lifes here’s what not to miss during Various Others a group show subverts purist sculptural principles memory and tedium to inspect the hidden realities behind everyday life From Monica Bonvicini’s sculptural representations of female agency to Phung-Tien Phan’s dinosaurs that prod at consumer culture, here’s what to see this Gallery Weekend Berlin At Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen the artist tracks what safety obscures – from state violence to the silence of forgotten stories Senior Director Laura Attanasio discusses the mega gallery’s newest location a group show studies the variations and chance connections that form our worldview the artist’s unsettling sculptures are replete with religious imagery the artist’s silk canvases reimagine painting as a porous and philosophical practice the artist’s largest exhibition yet features miraculous paintings and drawings that will leave you feeling uplifted  a show of the East Village artist’s photographs and archival materials paints a picture of her queer community the artist’s sculptures challenge the ways bodies are scrutinized at nation-state borders © FRIEZE 2025 Cookie Settings | Do Not Sell My Personal Information ZAG animation studio appointed Marifely Argüello Montealegre as its new vice president of development for the U.S Reporting to EVP of global operations Julian Zag, Argüello Montealegre will drive creative strategies and product development for the company’s consumer products programs. She joins as ZAG has been building its team in Latin America with several new hires in the past year As part of the global consumer products team Argüello Montealegre will spearhead the creation and design of assets and style guides for all ZAG Heroez brands “My key role each and every day is to work with and give creative direction to designers in order to make our consumers fall in love with our brand DNA,” said Argüello Montealegre “I’ve been an admirer of ZAG and especially the Miraculous brand since Miraculous first launched and I look forward to working with Julian and the consumer products teams to deliver compelling and unique products for all the ZAG Heroez brands.” Her hire coincides with ZAG shifting its strategy to handle licensing and merchandising activities in-house, with the Latin America team — led by the region’s VP of consumer products Angela Cortez — overseeing consumer products business across most of the region directly ZAG continues to work with agencies in select regions including co-production partner Gloob in Brazil and the newly appointed Mon Licensing in Central America “Now that we have built our own in-house consumer products teams in the U.S and as we accelerate our direct to retail offerings it makes sense for ZAG to handle our consumer products business directly for most countries,” said ZAG founder and CEO Jeremy Zag “We are delighted to welcome Marifely to our growing team of stellar executives to fulfill a vital role that ensure our products are design-forward and will exceed the expectations of our current fans and invite new fans to share in the ZAG Heroez experience.” Argüello Montealegre served as senior creative manager of promotions and e-commerce/consumer products in Latin America She joined the company in 2009 and worked in various consumer products roles including her involvement in company’s transition from an agent model to the direct model throughout the region She has worked on entertainment properties including PAW Patrol Switzerland – Sucafina announced yesterday a joint venture with Cia Agropecuária Monte Alegre the soul of the best Brazilian coffees – sustainably produced across 2,300 hectares out of a total estate area of around 18,124 hectares “The partnership with Monte Alegre is the result of a successful with a long-term focus.” said David Behrends Managing Partner & Head of Trading at Sucafina SA “It is also a key step forward toward achieving Sucafina’s vision of having a fully traceable Arabica coffee supply chain and to be the leading sustainable ‘farm to roaster’ coffee company in the world Sucafina is already working with many of the leading farmers in the world and through this new agreement we will be able to directly offer our clients some of the highest quality coffee in Brazil Sucafina and Monte Alegre will work together to bring the best of their organizations to clients by combining their strengths to overcome the many farming challenges to ensure the success of Monte Alegre for generations to come Monte Alegre’s expertise in coffee production – well-known for its specialty and certified coffees sold to the most demanding customers around the world complements Sucafina’s strengths in coffee trading allowing the company to be even closer to the coffee production in Brazil General Director of Monte Alegre farm said “This union agreement is based on a mutual trusting relationship and will make both companies more powerful on the local and international markets – combining Sucafina’s global footprint with Monte Alegre’s tradition in the Specialty Coffee Production we will be able to increase our market share and to offer different trading tools to our customers.” 2017 is a special year for Sucafina and Monte Alegre as both companies are celebrating respectively their 40th and 100th anniversaries – bringing together 140 years of expertise in the coffee industry Sucafina is a leading sustainable “farm to roaster” coffee company with a family tradition in commodities that stretches back to 1905 with more than 750 employees in 23 countries the Group is a leading player in the world of green With its trading arm based in Geneva, Sucafina sources coffee, often directly from farmers, to provide its partners with sustainable value across the global supply chain. Learn more at www.sucafina.com. A traditional coffee producer since the twentieth century Cia Agropecuária Monte Alegre is located in southern Minas Gerais a region renowned for the quality of its coffees and its mineral water springs The Monte Alegre Farm belongs to the Vieira family UTZ and Rainforest Alliance certified, Monte Alegre guarantees the full traceability of its coffee production and use production methods that do not harm the environment and promote a sustainable rural economy – more than 20 countries import coffee from Monte Alegre. Visit www.montealegrecoffees.com Generations of women of the Amazon and Cerrado have split the coconuts of the babaçu tree for the oil As the forests are cleared and electric fences put up they must fight to secure rights to their beloved trees deftly smacking fist-sized brown coconuts on a blade they sit around a mound of babaçu – also called babassu – coconuts separating seed from shell by knocking the nuts on axes half-buried in the ground The chat is about their plans for the evening I’ve got to save some energy to dance this evening,” says Maria Cecília de Jesus “When the coconut is good, we break it much faster,” says Beatriz Lima, 69, a community leader in Monte Alegre, in Maranhão state, north-east Brazil where women have been doing this work for centuries The fruit and the nut-seed oil have been valued since the first inhabitants of the Amazon and later by enslaved plantation workers But the Babaçu palm trees are increasingly threatened by the cattle and soya farms that are flattening so much of the Amazonian forest the pace of destruction has escalated due to illegal deforestation A group of women from the Monte Alegre quilombo community set off in the early morning to collect babaçu coconuts Ripe coconuts on a tree; and collecting those that have fallen or been shaken to the ground who have legal recognition as a traditional community in Brazil and see themselves as the guardians of the Amazon and Cerrado biomes Most babaçu grow in common forests held by the Brazilian government – and increasingly claimed by private landowners The women collect coconuts between September and February Anthropologist Noemi Porro has spent two decades researching communities of coconut breakers in Maranhão state which has the highest concentration of babaçu trees in the country “The picking and breaking of babaçu coconut is an act of resistance and the pursuit of freedom,” Porro says “The all-female coconut-breaking circle became the special place to share a quilombo community – meaning one descended from enslaved workers – in Maranhão 10 women are gathered in the orchard of Maria de Jesus Andrade but we also chat and have a beer,” says Andrade founder of the women’s association for the municipality and a passionate coconut breaker All the women from the 20 families in Santana do Adroaldo are coconut breakers and take great pride in their work Andrade taught her three daughters to respect the trees “I do have plans to see the world outside and study more,” says Isabel “My dream is that more people recognise our value as coconut breakers.” women crack the coconuts with village children I make more money than I do at my other job,” says Barbara dos Santos “If I spend a couple of days without breaking coconuts “We don’t do it because we have no other option In 1991, as conflict over land rights grew, coconut breakers from Maranhão, Pará, Tocantins and Piauí states founded the Interstate Movement of Babaçu Coconut Breakers (MIQCB). Its agenda includes economic empowerment and the preservation of forests, and it has helped develop the Free Babaçu law which grants access to the palms on private property and prohibits felling First implemented in Lago do Junco in Maranhão in 1997 the legislation has since been passed in municipalities in Maranhão Helena Santos shakes babaçu coconuts loose from a tree “We are here to continue her legacy,” she says For women in the quilombo community of Sesmaria do Jardim things changed 20 years ago when buffalo ranching expanded inside the territory parts of our babaçu forests too,” says Gloria Belford Buying or selling quilombo land is illegal But now people from Sesmaria do Jardim have to negotiate electric fences if they want to access babaçu trees or fish in the lake Reports in regional newspapers suggest there have been injuries caused by the fences Belford knows a pregnant women who was hurt After reporting the situation to authorities Belford received death threats and is one of the three coconut breakers currently under the protection of Maranhão’s secretariat of human rights The quilombo community of Santana do Adroaldo sometimes clears palm trees to make space for useful crops such as manioc and beans Cattle graze on pasture that was once dense forest “We don’t have free access to our land and resources,” says Raimunda de Jesus “The trees already don’t give us as many fruits as they used to in the past.” the law was sanctioned by then governor Regina Sousa the first woman coconut breaker to take government office She says implementation remains challenging “Deforestation for the development of monocultures – particularly sugar cane The Free Babaçu law faces strong reactions from landowners,” says Sousa A bill to protect the palm nationally was introduced in 2007 After four years of the far-right presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, which favoured agribusiness, many hoped new president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would reopen dialogue with social movements such as MIQCB. They celebrated the reactivation of the Amazon Fund a key international source of funding shut down by Bolsonaro in 2019 Rosenilde Costa says the government must address land conflicts “If there is no political will to secure us the domain to our land where we develop a relationship with nature and people,” says Costa will Amazon and Cerrado women’s traditions remain safe The women from the Monte Alegre quilombo community set off to collect babaçu coconuts in the forest Piranhas turned up dead in a sewer in Shropshire Piranhas are not normally thought to be dangerous to humans Wed 4 Feb 2015 at 21:59A six-year-old girl has died after piranhas ate all the flesh from her legs when her grandparents’ canoe capsized during a thunderstorm in Brazil named Adrila Muniz as reported by Brazilian news channel Globo was with four other children and her grandmother in the boat during a family holiday Adverse weather caused it to turn over and the children were plunged into the water in Monte Alegre Brazilian newspaper Ariquemes Agora reports however the girl was not reached in time and a pool of blood and a shoal of piranha fish were spotted around her The grandfather and mother of the girl were also on board the canoe The girl is pictured in extremely graphic images in various Brazilian news reports with completely exposed bones from below her hips after the attack by the fish with razor-sharp teeth The girl had to be pulled from the water and dragged into the canoe before being taken to hospital on 27 January Local media report that the girl died at the scene Carnivorous breeds of piranhas have a reputation as ferocious predators and are more commonly found in bodies of water in and around the Amazon rainforest died in 2012 after being attacked by the fish Receive today's headlines directly to your inbox every morning and evening Please check your inbox to verify your details It might be assumed that "Maestro" is a traditional biopic about legendary musician, composer, and conductor Leonard Bernstein, portrayed by Bradley Cooper. However, the film is instead the story of his loving but tumultuous marriage to actress Felicia Montealegre Bernstein the two were instantly smitten with each other and would go on to share a deep bond romantically and artistically would cause a rift between them in their later years The two would later reconcile after Montealegre was diagnosed with lung cancer; Bernstein put his career on hold and cared for her up until her death in 1978 In taking a more unique approach to chronicling Bernstein's life and star following "A Star is Born" in 2018 – leaves much of Bernstein's major musical and political accomplishments out of the picture Those expecting reenactments of the creation of "West Side Story" or Bernstein's concert at the falling of the Berlin Wall will be left disappointed even in the stricter context of Bernstein and Montealegre's marriage strokes over a number of important details that help to better color their unique partnership Here is just a taste of what "Maestro" left on the cutting room floor When we are first introduced to Felicia Montealegre in "Maestro," it is quickly explained that she has arrived in the United States from Chile to become a successful actress she was actually born in Costa Rica to a native mother Born Felicia María Josefa de Jesús Cohn Montealegre she remained in Costa Rica until her father relocated their family to Santiago so he could take a leadership position at an American mining company Felicia was raised in a bilingual household "Maestro" also glances over Montealegre's journey to the United States She knew from a young age that she would immigrate to North America her parents disapproved and instead had her study under family friend and accomplished pianist Claudio Arrau (he would go on to introduce her and Leonard Bernstein which the film instead portrays as having been done by Leonard's sister Montealegre complied to appease her parents but she had no intentions of becoming a pianist She would enroll in drama school shortly after arriving in the United States and make her Broadway debut just two years afterward Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan first share the screen as Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre during a house party which reenacts how the two first met in 1946 Felicia had known of Bernstein before this first meeting — as had most of New York City According to biographer Meryle Secrest's Bernstein biography, "Leonard Bernstein: A Life," a friend of Montealegre's had suggested she marry Bernstein but the aspiring actress was far more focused on fostering her career after attending a New York City Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Bernstein she was so impressed by him that she was determined to marry him This concert was mere hours before they would meet at the aforementioned party was a featured soloist at the concert and hosted the party at his home in Queens Arrau personally introduced the two later that night and it was love at first sight Montealegre describes her experience meeting Bernstein as being "completely bowled over .. It's very rare that people see and meet someone with whom they feel they are destined to share a life." One of the daunting realities looming over "Maestro" is Leonard Bernstein's sexuality. The musician had everything from casual trysts to deeply meaningful love affairs with both men and women, however, the film only lightly engages with the messiness behind Bernstein's affairs. In a series of letters edited by Nigel Simeone much greater detail is excavated regarding Bernstein's struggle including his time spent in therapy both before and after he began his relationship with Felicia Montealegre Bernstein spoke to multiple analysts and often explained his dreams to receive psychological interpretations Bernstein's most frequent contact was psychoanalyst Marketa Morris who interpreted from his dreams a constraining duality in his sexuality that became a pattern he couldn't escape "In your dreams there is confusion," she describes in one letter "you are not able to go where you have to go .. You are seeing Felicia and the day she leaves you have to see a boy .. Bernstein's disparate sessions of analysis would not satisfy him "I can't kid myself any more," he explains in another letter "into thinking that I have a closeness with someone when it is all really wishful thinking .. I find that I'm not at all interested in seeing anybody .. I used to run and see anybody at the drop of a hat Though briefly alluded to in the first half and very quickly mentioned in the second "Maestro" does little to inform audiences of a crucial five-year period between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre's engagement Not too long after they were initially engaged in late 1946 Bernstein consistently delayed marrying Montealegre due to a busy schedule of career developments an impatient Montealegre formally canceled their wedding plans but Montealegre's career soon began to flourish and she was no longer interested in playing second fiddle to Bernstein's unbridled popularity This focus on her career led to Montealegre falling for frequent co-star Richard Hart (though he is briefly portrayed in the film by Tim Rogan they share no scenes together as a couple) Despite being both a married man and an occasionally violent drunk Montealegre fell deeply in love with Hart and had moved on from Bernstein Hart would suffer a heart attack from symptoms of his alcoholism in January 1951 and die shortly thereafter Bernstein and Montealegre reunited as a couple and If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) If there's one glaring part of Leonard Bernstein's story that is especially missing from "Maestro," it is his strong Jewish identity From the roots of his Orthodox upbringing to his staunch support of Israel later in life there's no denying Bernstein's Judaism heavily influenced his work and his relationships "Maestro" covers his decision not to change his surname from "Bernstein" to "Burns" so that he could hide his Judaism but an even greater concession is entirely omitted Though Montealegre was ethnically Jewish on her father's side the Jewish law states that a person is identified by the religion of their mother; this meant that Montealegre was considered Catholic and Montealegre was raised Catholic and was not a practicing Jew This naturally concerned Bernstein's parents who wished for him to marry a Jewish woman and raise his children Jewish which she did before the wedding (despite this upsetting her own parents) Montealegre never fully embraced Bernstein's Jewish tradition She raised their three children with a hybrid of both Jewish and secular holidays Montealegre even requested there be no rabbi at her burial (Lenny would later involve a rabbi anyway) Bernstein remained very involved in the Jewish world of classical music and maintained his Jewish identity throughout his entire life "Maestro" is largely concerned with Leonard Bernstein's homosexual affairs Not only was being an openly gay public figure controversial when Bernstein was first garnering popularity but it also often put Bernstein at odds with his traditional Jewish upbringing according to Bernstein's biographer Humphrey Burton Bernstein often had affairs with men and women both before and during his marriage to Felicia Montealegre history more distinctly recalls his close male friends Montealegre knew of Bernstein's homosexual affairs before marrying him and initially accepted him for who he was Bernstein could discreetly give into his physical desire for men without sacrificing a marriage based on a deeper connection In a now-famous letter unearthed from the Bernstein archives Montealegre revealed her progressive mindset on the topic: "You are a homosexual and may never change .. your whole nervous system depend on a certain sexual pattern what can you do let's try and see what happens if you are free to do as you like please!" These words would naturally backfire as his relationships with men would almost destroy their marriage toward the end of Montealegre's life One wouldn't know it after watching "Maestro," but Felicia Montealegre was involved in many civil rights movements throughout the 1960s She even co-founded the women's division of the ACLU's New York office The majority of her efforts gave her a reputation as an openhearted humanitarian one now infamous incident caused such a press frenzy that it put a stain on Leonard Bernstein's seemingly spotless reputation were indicted for conspiracy after it was discovered they had conspired to kill police officers and bomb multiple locations in New York City and the bail was set so high that they were forced to remain in solitary confinement Montealegre set up a dinner to raise funds in support of both the Panthers and their families the press spun the event as Bernstein showing naive support for the Black Panthers who were not only openly anti-Zionist but often deemed as domestic terrorists Several major publications wrote damning articles about the event leading crowds to picket at Bernstein's events Though Montealegre and Bernstein endured the public shaming which surely caused a rift in their relationship it is nowhere to be found in the final film One of the film's most heartbreaking moments is when Leonard Bernstein confronts his daughter about rumors she has heard about his homosexuality claiming it stems from people's pitiful jealousy Jamie is relieved to hear that her father's sexuality isn't in question but Lenny's eyes tell you there is far more to the story Jamie Bernstein's memoir, "Famous Father Girl," recounts this moment – the film recreates it with relative accuracy – but her feelings on the situation the summer home for the Boston Symphony Orchestra in which her father was a legendary figure the young Bernstein heard gossip about her father's homosexual affairs and was stunned She wrote her father a passionately disillusioned letter hoping she could speak to him about these rumors Montealegre wrote back suggesting she come home during which Leonard quelled Jamie's fears the film doesn't include what happened afterward who had also been working there at the time The two smoked a joint together and discussed what happened It turns out that Alex had also heard about the rumors while at Tanglewood and sported a similar disillusionment "Alexander and I stared helplessly at each other and were silent In the second half of "Maestro," a major new character is introduced: Tom the music director of a local radio station Though he plays a pivotal role in the film's ongoing story the extent of his relationship with Leonard Bernstein is left on the periphery The two became entangled in a multi-year affair that would almost tear Bernstein's marriage to Felicia Montealegre apart Bernstein first met Cothran while at a party in San Francisco (the film depicts them meeting in Bernstein's home) and immediately fell in love with him Bernstein valued Cothran's musical aptitude and affection so dearly that he made Cothran his right-hand man and a close friend to his family who well knew Bernstein was openly having an affair with Cothran began to feel bitter about his presence and quietly separated from Bernstein after it became too much for her to bear It began with a six-week excursion to California followed by weeks of performances across Europe They vacationed for multiple weeks across Barbados there was trouble in paradise; between getaways Bernstein and Cothran would return to New York and brace hostility from Montealegre as well as Bernstein's children and friends This naturally caused resentment between the two Bernstein officially called off the relationship and reconciled with Montealegre in 1976 days before she was diagnosed with lung cancer The final stretch of "Maestro" depicts Felicia Montealegre's battle with inoperable lung cancer between 1976 and 1978 Leonard Bernstein put many of his artistic responsibilities on hold so that he could take care of her in the final years of her life reforging the strong bond they once shared toward the beginning of their marriage after which Bernstein would never emotionally recover The film shows very little beyond Montealegre's death Audiences get a brief look at Bernstein's later years during which he continued working at Tanglewood and lived a far more open life as a queer man What audiences don't see is Bernstein's heart attack in 1990 Both Montealegre and Bernstein were habitual smokers and died due to similar complications Bernstein was buried next to Montealegre in Brooklyn's Green Wood cemetery a baton and a copy of Gustav Mahler's 5th Symphony signifying Bernstein's deep love for Mahler's work Little is made of Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre's children in "Maestro." Jamie Bernstein is a minor supporting character during the film's second half, and her other two children, Alexander and Nina they each remain outspoken members of the Bernstein clan and have each done work to maintain and preserve their family's legacy Bradley Cooper heavily consulted all three throughout the filmmaking process which likely contributed to the film's accuracy Nina currently serves as a nutrition educator for impoverished communities she too bolstered her father's legacy by helping the Library of Congress digitize his archives during the internet's infancy both Lenny and Felicia are proudly represented to this day She'd heard of Leonard Bernstein before and laughed away suggestions that they would be a perfect match When she attended a performance at New York's City Center she reportedly told her closest friends that she would She described the meeting as leaving her "completely bowled over It's very rare that people see and meet someone with whom they feel they are destined to share a life .. The incredible thing was that he felt the same way about me as soon as we were introduced."  but the relationship and marriage that unfolded over the following decades was tumultuous don't necessarily make personal lives effortless: Let's look at the true story of a complicated yet loving relationship that tragically didn't have a fairy tale ending The early days of a relationship are the most likely to be a whirlwind of romance but that wasn't necessarily the case for Felicia Montealegre and Leonard Bernstein offered her observations of the early days of their relationship in Meryle Secrest's biography "Leonard Bernstein: A Life," and said that while they were a good match on paper "There was a large part of him that was very much the small boy in those days I would have thought they were in love with what the other person was and according to friends who witnessed the start of the relationship They were immediately long-distance — which was made even more difficult by the fact that she didn't have a phone and they needed to coordinate conversations via telegram — and even from those early days friends say that she was discouraged by the instability of the relationship things seemed to get on track and friends say it seemed as though they were wrapping up 1946 on a high Montealegre was officially a professional actress and Bernstein headed out to spend a month with her at the 40-acre ranch house belonging to some friends Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre got engaged very, very quickly. In his biography, "Leonard Bernstein," Humphrey Burton writes that they had only been exclusive for about a month when they announced their intent to marry While Bernstein's father was happy for the young couple — and only requested that she convert to Judaism — his mother wasn't shy about expressing the opinion that he could do better Even as she spoke with Montealegre and reassured her with her blessing his wife will have to recognize that from the beginning." The proposed date for a wedding had come and gone and he was regularly seen in the company of the teenage Ellen Adler He had apparently talked about wedding bells with her but she was in Paris by the following year That's not to say that he had completely forgotten about Montealegre and they were occasionally seen out and about in each other's company Bernstein traveled — through Europe and Mexico — and it took until 1951 for the couple to fully reconcile and announce a second engagement Even though Felicia Montealegre made it clear from the beginning that she intended to marry Leonard Bernstein his immediate response to meeting her was less certain "Leonard Bernstein," he left New York City the day after meeting her He wrote a series of letters that referenced a man named Seymour who joined him both in San Francisco and later in Vancouver "This is a heavenly evening," he wrote in one but have remained in the room with dinner and talk and reading and writing and infinite love These days have been beautiful beyond belief." One of Bernstein's many loves — an Israeli soldier named Azariah Rapoport — visited him in New York City and was neither the first nor the last man to be associated with him has talked about his struggles in both settling down and coming to terms with his sexuality In Meryle Secrest's "Leonard Bernstein: A Life," Shirley shared that in the lead-up to the marriage either as a homosexual or a heterosexual." She said that he was fully aware of what he called his "darker impulses," and given that he also believed marriage was a lifelong commitment Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre were married about a month after announcing their second engagement Although Bernstein's public comments seemed to suggest they simply hadn't seen the point in a long engagement it was a hectic whirlwind behind the scenes — and it was one that followed a week-long bachelor party in Cuba When Bernstein and his brother returned from their trip which Burton Bernstein summed up in Humphrey Burton's biography My parents were sort of half-thrilled that she was half-Jewish Shirley [Bernstein's sister] and I realized that it was going to be a nightmare dinner." They got through it with the help of some joke-store pranks "We often thought the wedding took place merely because of that evening." not everyone was interested in getting along aristocratic family was at odds with his Ukrainian and the fact that they immediately got lost when they set off on their honeymoon was about par for the course make it to Mexico after a meandering trip that included Schenectady Bernstein wrote a letter that included the sentiment "It gets better all the time — I think we'll make it." For as quickly as Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre made the decision to get married after their second engagement it seems as though they skipped a few important conversations: Although Meryle Secrest's biography "Leonard Bernstein: A Life," recounts his assurances to a reporter Bernstein and will forget she was Miss Montealegre," she absolutely did not take the name "Bernstein." Still they were still on their year-long honeymoon when they announced she was expecting their first child — which seemed to come before a few crucial conversations made it very clear throughout the pregnancy that he was hoping for a boy and the pressure went over about as well as could be expected they had originally agreed on the name Nina reportedly vetoed the name at the last minute and insisted on naming their little girl Jamie Montealegre would get to use the name she'd wanted for their third child his parenting skills weren't without reprimand: Montealegre reportedly observed In 1967, Leonard Bernstein, Felicia Montealegre, and their three children spent the summer at their Italian villa. They were joined by John Gruen (along with his wife and daughter), and Gruen documented the long vacation in his book, "The Private World of Leonard Bernstein." It provided an unprecedented look at Bernstein's personal life and although Gruen stressed that there was no set schedule Bernstein still came equipped with goals — specifically plenty of other activities to be done in between: daily swimming long drives through the surrounding countryside Gruen says that although they were surrounded by staff they very rarely had outside intrusions into their Italian paradise: Those that were invited to dinner and parties were family and longtime friends as they not only turned down most invitations but they reportedly loathed parties and had instructed their staff to courteously yet firmly decline them Gruen painted a picture — even as she painted his portrait — of a private person struggling with private thoughts "The household word that is Leonard Bernstein almost makes her shudder," he wrote but added that there were "good times with Lenny and the children the sea and pool to compensate for some of those negative feelings." after a wildly disproportionate bail had been set she decided to do something about what she viewed as a miscarriage of justice What started out as a meeting turned into a who's-who gathering of artists and activists getting together over cocktails .. and although the press wasn't actually invited The resulting article from journalist Tom Wolfe coined the term "radical chic," and caused a massive scandal. The New York Times went as far as to run a story (via The Leonard Bernstein Office) saying "[The event] represents the story of elegant slumming that degrades patrons and patronized alike It mocked the memory of Martin Luther King Jr." It kicked off a massive campaign that started with hate mail and spiraled into FBI surveillance and in 1980 — a full 10 years after the party that had caused so many problems — Bernstein was still outraged He issued a scathing statement through The New York Times and wrote (in part) that although he claimed it hadn't had the negative impact on his career he believed some people had wanted "they did cause a good deal of bitter unpleasantness especially to my wife who was particularly vulnerable to smear tactics." Leonard Bernstein's extramarital affairs were an ongoing thing he was introduced to a man that he would fall completely and utterly in love with Tom Cothran was the musical director for a California radio station and met Bernstein during one of his trips to the West Coast In Humphrey Burton's biography "Leonard Bernstein," Harry Kraut (then of the Boston Symphony) recounted Bernstein trying to drive and tell him about his new love: "He got more and more excited about this boy he had met in San Francisco with whom he was madly in love and the car went slower and slower until it stopped moving altogether and had been married for 20 years when he met the 24-year-old Cothran Bernstein's affairs had been largely physical and not only did Bernstein enter into a deeply emotional relationship with Cothran but he introduced him to wife Felicia Montealegro and their children everyone got along to the extent that Cothran was welcomed as a part of the extended family Things came to a head at their son's 21st birthday: Montenegro gave her husband an ultimatum and told him that he needed to choose between her and his lover and his daughter learned about her parents' split from the newspaper headlines participated in Meryle Secrest's biography "Leonard Bernstein: A Life," and explained his difficulties with relationships: "He'd have this fling thinking he had found the love of his life but then he would always end up discovering this wasn't 'it.'" Felicia he had left Tom Cothran and moved back with his wife Friend Rose Styron confirmed that it was a difficult situation for both: "I think he tried awfully hard Felicia was always very discreet and loving and not bitter .. [but] I think she had heard it all once too often." It was about the same time that Montealegre developed a nagging cough that was then diagnosed as lung cancer Her death was long and painful: Multiple attempts at treatment failed and Bernstein's method of dealing with her decline was described by friends as bizarre and uncomfortable — most of all Those who saw her near the end of her life recalled her being very very ill: "She was sitting there unrecognizable .. but she was looking at Lenny with immense dislike Another recalled: "Felicia was in the hospital and Lenny proceeded to graphically describe her illness including how many organs she had lost." When it became clear that she was in her final months Bernstein moved her to a new house on Long Island Felicia Montealegre passed away on June 16 and Leonard Bernstein found himself facing the most profound struggles of his life as he tried to figure out how to go on without her He wrote (via Meryle Secrest's "Leonard Bernstein: A Life") of a grief that only the grieving can understand of "the kind of insomnia when you can't work and shared stories of a Bernstein who didn't sleep who greeted friends in restaurants then went off to eat alone His grief was so complete and so public that there were those who thought it was just for show but when some realized how all-consuming his most dangerous behaviors — chain-smoking and long nights without sleep — were getting Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre weren't alone in their relationship who has since been the most public when speaking about what it was like to grow up with her famous parents How much did they know about their tumultuous relationship When Jamie spoke with NPR around the release of her biography "Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein," she said that they had grown up hearing rumors She was a senior in high school when her father moved in with Tom Cothran it was pretty clear what was going on." Still she says that they just didn't talk about it she and her siblings found some answers in letters they left behind — specifically indicating that she accepted him for who he was "To know that her eyes were wide open about this marriage and what she was getting into that was amazing to discover," Jamie shared "It said a lot about our mother that she would write this letter to our father and say But let's do this because we love each other Let's make a family and go forward.'" Jamie is well aware that it wasn't easy: "I think she bit off more than she could chew," she said "And it makes me very sad to contemplate it."