Downtown mainstays including Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright and Sean Lennon, and – straight from the Battle of Agincourt – Henry V will all be part of the 10th River to River Festival, the annual celebration of arts in lower Manhattan, its organizers said on Wednesday. The festival of free events, which runs from June 19 through July 16, will begin with the Bang on a Can Marathon at the World Financial Center Winter Garden, with performances by Mr. Glass with the Bang on a Can All-Stars. The Castle Clinton National Monument in Battery Park will host concerts featuring Vijay Ayer (on June 23); Ms. Anderson with Bill Laswell (June 30); and Ms. Smith (July 14). Rockefeller Park will be the setting of a June 22 tribute to the Bottom Line, featuring Rosanne Cash, Dar Williams and Marshall Crenshaw. Mr. Wainwright and soloists from the New York City Opera will perform excerpts from his opera “Prima Donna” at the World Financial Center Winter Garden on June 28. Mr. Lennon’s band the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger will perform at the Seaport on June 24. And New York Classical Theater will present a two-castle production of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” at Castle Clinton in Battery Park and Castle William on Governors Island (with free ferry service between the locations). A complete schedule and other information can be found at the festival’s Web site, rivertorivernyc.com.

“Grey Matter,” a feature film from the writer and director Kivu Ruhorahoza, represents the Tribeca Film Festival’s first movie from Rwanda by a Rwandan filmmaker. The film, which has its world premiere on April 21, blends fantasy and reality in its portrayal of the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda as seen through the eyes of a novice director struggling to make a film called “The Cycle of the Cockroach.” Mr. Ruhorahoza, 28, spoke recently to Arts Beat about the inspiration for the movie and its title, how Flaubert and Norman Mailer triggered his interest in storytelling, and why he chose filmmaking over practicing law. These are excerpts from that conversation.

How did “Grey Matter” come about?

I wanted to start with a short story about two siblings who are experiencing trauma. Then I wrote another story about a madman who might have been involved in the killing of the parents of those siblings. It became one really long story. It was really, really experimental and not easy to understand. I tried to raise money. It became really frustrating. It had some elements of my own life. I was suffering to tell the story. So why not write about me suffering to tell the story? I wrote the part about a filmmaker who is not able to make a film that is so dear to his heart. Read more…

LUCERNE, Switzerland — New Yorkers on a musical pilgrimage to the Lucerne Easter Festival may have missed Riccardo Muti’s concert performance of Verdi’s opera “Otello” with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at Carnegie Hall on Friday, but they could console themselves with a concert version of Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin” on Saturday evening, which may have been just as fine in a very different way.

Mariss Jansons conducted the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the concert hall of the KKL (Kultur- und Kongresszentrum), and to call this performance the climax of a week spent here hardly does it justice. In this acoustically lively hall, the performance seemed almost to explode, coming after a run of concerts dominated by decorous accounts of early music by expert but small forces. Read more…

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved controversial changes on Monday to the interior of the former Manufacturers Hanover Trust building on Fifth Avenue at 43rd Street. Preservationists had objected to revisions of the 1954 building’s interior, which was designated a landmark in February.

The vote was 8-0 in favor of the plan to reuse the space for a retail store, Joe Fresh. Three members of the commission were absent for the vote, at least one of whom, Margery Perlmutter, had questioned the developer’s proposal to change the escalators to an east-west direction from the current north-south configuration. The commission had twice asked the developer, Vornado, to revise its plans to respect the historical fabric. Vornado returned with refinements to the Fifth Avenue entrances and additional restorative work to the interior but stuck with its plan to move the escalators.

Three new productions in New York have announced weeks-long extensions. “Sleep No More,” an interactive theater piece by the British company Punchdrunk that is performed throughout three renovated warehouses on West 27th Street, has extended through June 25. Ben Brantley called the piece, in which audience members wear masks while exploring some 100 rooms and environments, “a voyeur’s delight, with all the creepy, shameful pleasures that entails.” Two well-reviewed Off Broadway shows have been extended through May 7: the Keen Company’s revival of Michael Frayn’s drama “Benefactors,” at the Clurman Theater, and Soho Rep’s production of Debbie Tucker Green’s play “Born Bad.”

The conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter has vowed to “take on the liberal mob” in her new book, “Demonic,” whose publication was announced on Tuesday. The book is scheduled for release on June 7 by Crown Forum, part of Random House. The publisher says Ms. Coulter will address topics including “the Democratic Party’s coddling of violent mobs,” the “false history of civil rights given by the media” and the “truth about the original Tea Party.” Ms. Coulter’s last book, “Guilty,” spent nine weeks on The New York Times best-seller list. According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks roughly 75 percent of retail sales, it sold 121,000 copies in hardcover and 16,000 in paperback. Crown Forum’s authors include former Senator Fred Thompson, Joe Scarborough and George F. Will.

The cast of “The Dark Knight Rises,” Christopher Nolan’s third and final entry in his series of Batman movies, is looking increasingly like the cast of his 2010 summer blockbuster “Inception,” with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard now officially on board for that superhero film. Warner Brothers Pictures said on Tuesday that Mr. Gordon-Levitt, who played one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s dream-invading accomplices in “Inception,” will play John Blake, a Gotham City beat cop, in “The Dark Knight Rises”; Ms. Cotillard, who played Mr. DiCaprio’s enigmatic wife in “Inception,” has been cast as Miranda Tate, a board member at Wayne Enterprises who is allied with Bruce Wayne. Tom Hardy, another member of the “Inception” gang, was previously announced to play the villain Bane, and Michael Caine, who had a brief role in that film (or did he? No, wait, he did) has played the butler Alfred in all of Mr. Nolan’s Bat-films.

In a statement, Mr. Nolan said: “When you collaborate with people as talented as Marion and Joe, it comes as no surprise that you would want to repeat the experience. I immediately thought of them for the roles of Miranda and Blake, and I am looking forward to working with both of them again.”

“The Dark Knight Rises,” which will also star Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and the gravel-voiced Batman and Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, is scheduled for release on July 20, 2012.

Chris Pizzello/Associated Press Demi Lovato

The Disney Channel star Demi Lovato is leaving her popular television show, “Sonny With a Chance,” the channel confirmed Tuesday.

“I don’t think going back to ‘Sonny’ would be healthy for my recovery,” Ms. Lovato told People magazine. “Being in front of a camera would make me nervous.”

Ms. Lovato, 18, withdrew from a concert tour with the Jonas Brothers last fall to enter into rehabilitation for cutting and eating disorders. “Sonny With a Chance” was placed on hiatus.

“We respect Demi’s decision to focus full time on her music and not immediately return to her acting career,” the Disney Channel said in a statement. “She is a talented young woman, and our hearts are with her as she continues to take action to improve her health and bounce back from adversity.”

In “Sonny With a Chance,” Ms. Lovato portrayed a cast member in a fictional sketch comedy show called “So Random.” With Ms. Lovato exiting, the Disney Channel is turning “So Random” into a real show. It will have its premiere in June, a channel spokeswoman said, adding that it will feature musical guest stars, including Greyson Chance, Selena Gomez and Colbie Caillat.

A 90-minute edition of “Dancing With the Stars” dominated the ratings on Monday as 19.6 million viewers tuned in to ABC from 8 to 9:30 p.m., according to Nielsen’s estimates. ABC easily led the night over all despite a diminished audience after the dancing competition for its sitcom “Cougar Town” at 9:30 (8.5 million). CBS’s “Hawaii Five-0” led at 10 p.m., drawing 10.9 million viewers and outperforming ABC’s “20/20” special (7.6 million). CBS ranked second, earning modest ratings for its comedy lineup from 8 to 10, including “How I Met Your Mother” (6.4 million), “Mad Love” (5.6 million) and “Mike & Molly” (9.7 million), while a repeat of “Two and a Half Men” attracted 7.3 million viewers at 9. Fox was third with “House” at 8 (8.6 million) and “The Chicago Code” at 9 (6.4 million). NBC struggled in fourth place with “Chuck” (4.2 million) and “The Event” (3.7 million) followed by the recently rebooted version of “Law & Order: Los Angeles” (4.9 million).

The Metropolitan Opera, after saying its tour this June to Japan was in jeopardy because of safety concerns, announced on Tuesday that it would go ahead with the trip. Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, said in a message to the company that its decision was based on a recent advisory from the State Department that “health and safety risks” outside of a 50-mile radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant “are low and do not pose significant risks.” The State Department had previously urged United States citizens to defer travel to Japan.

The decision also took into account “official and scientific reports that the areas around Tokyo and Nagoya are safe,” Mr. Gelb said. The company plans to perform in both places. The three-week tour has its first performance on June 4 and will be the first by the Met to Japan since 2006, its seventh there over all. Mr. Gelb added that the Met would continue to keep track of the situation. “If it should worsen, we will re-evaluate,” he said, adding that an expert, Dr. David Brenner, who is the director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Medical Center, would visit the Met next week to answer questions. Mr. Gelb listed other countries that have lifted travel advisories and arts groups that were moving ahead with plans to go to Japan. Read more…