Tenor Rolando Villazon announces comeback

Villazon to sing again

Star tenor Rolando Villazon says he will make his comeback at the Vienna State Opera in March after recovering from throat surgery.

The singer announced in April that he needed surgery to remove a cyst on his larynx and has been resting his voice in order to make a proper recovery.

Villazon said on his website Monday that he will perform the role of Nemorino in Gaetano Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” -- known in English as “The Elixir of Love” -- in the Austrian capital on March 22. It will mark his first public appearance after surgery and will be followed by more stints in a slew of other cities, including Berlin, Paris and Zurich.

-- associated press Minority groups grade networks

A coalition of minority advocacy groups on Monday gave mostly positive marks in their annual “report cards” evaluating the major networks’ efforts to increase cultural diversity in their prime-time lineups.

The conclusions by the National Latino Media Council, American Indians in Film and Television and the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition were included in their annual studies measuring strides by ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox to increase minority representation. Those networks in 1999 forged an agreement with the minority groups, and with the NAACP, to boost diversity.

The National Latino Media Council gave ABC and Fox an overall grade of B+ while awarding CBS a B and NBC a C+. The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition gave CBS and ABC a grade of B- and Fox and NBC a C+. Mark Reed of American Indians in Film and Television gave all the networks a C-.

Esteban Torres, chairman of the National Latino Media Council, said all the networks “have a long way to go” and said possible boycotts or viewer action might be planned if they don’t make diversity a higher priority.

-- Greg Braxton 9 charged in Paris art thefts

Preliminary charges have been filed against nine employees of Paris’ respected Drouot auction house after police found stolen art, including a painting by 19th century realist master Gustave Courbet, prosecutors said Monday.

An auctioneer and eight commission agents were given preliminary charges, including “organized theft,” the prosecutor’s office said.

Three others detained last week in the police raids on Drouot, its warehouses and homes of employees were released with no charges filed against them.

-- associated press Turner Prize goes to muralist

A Scotland-based painter known for destroying his large-scale wall murals after they have been exhibited won Britain’s best-known art award, the Turner Prize, on Monday.

Richard Wright said he was surprised he beat three other finalists to win the annual $40,000 prize, which was announced at London’s Tate Britain gallery. The award was presented by British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

Wright is known for painting intricate, large-scale patterns on walls or ceilings, as well as for his insistence that his work be destroyed after the exhibitions end. He said he gave up painting on canvas because those paintings were “rubbish” and didn’t represent who he was.

It was the 49-year-old Wright’s last chance to win the Turner, awarded annually to a British artist under 50. The prize, which always inspires fierce public debate about the nature of art, is named after 19th century landscape painter J.M.W. Turner and was established in 1984.

-- associated press Sundance lists shorts roster

Spike Jonze enthusiasts will get a small dose of the offbeat auteur when the Sundance Film Festival kicks off next month.

The director will bring a short to the festival titled “I’m Here,” the first time in 12 years he’ll be coming to Sundance with a film he directed. (Jonze did bring shorts to the festival in 1997 and 1998, and has come since as a producer.)

The festival will screen a total of 70 scripted and documentary shorts when it begins at the end of January. Other film-world names who will be showcasing their work-in-miniature, according to the festival’s announcement Monday, include “Married Life” director Ira Sachs (“Last Address”), “Paper Heart” director Nicholas Jasenovec (“Para Fuera”) and “He’s Just Not That Into You” author Liz Tuccillo (“Gone to the Dogs”).

The festival will also screen a documentary short from the journalist Rory Kennedy about the consequences of a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border (titled “The Fence”) as well as the James Franco-directed “Herbert White,” a film with a necrophiliac plot line that drew an, er, mixed reaction when it played a shorts event in Los Angeles this summer.

-- Steven Zeitchik