FINALLY

Empty stages: A day after luring the Emmy Awards away from the Shrine Auditorium, the Nokia Theatre in downtown L.A. was named Wednesday as the site of the “American Idol” finale May 20-21. The Fox talent show wrap-up was previously televised from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

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Asian art chief: Jay Jie Xu, a scholar of Chinese art who heads the department of Asian and ancient art at the Art Institute of Chicago, has been appointed director of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. He will begin his new position June 15, succeeding retiring director Emily J. Sano.

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Benefit concert: The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, comprised of Arab and Israeli musicians, will perform a Wagner opera in a Nazi-era Berlin theater Aug. 23 to raise money for building a concert hall for Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the event’s organizer said Wednesday. Once the concert hall is built, conductor Daniel Barenboim said, he plans to help organize concerts there regularly.