Category: 5. Entertainment

Hybe Latin America has set Santos Bravos as the title of their new music project and the name of the all-male music group that emerges from the reality series.

The series will follow 16 rising Latin talents from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, Spain, and the United States as they showcase their abilities in hopes of making the cut in being part of a new Latin pop group.

Santos Bravos officially begins today with the launch of official social media platforms (@santos_bravos), where fans will be able to follow the boys’ journey from the beginning.

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Starting in August, the 16 artists will enter a creative boot camp designed to challenge and refine their musical, emotional, and performance abilities. The entire journey will be captured through an interactive, digital-first experience, as well as in long-form episodes that offer an intimate window into the process.

“Our goal is not just to create a group, but to guide young Latin artists through a real transformation — artistically and personally. Santos Bravos is about authenticity, emotion, and connection,” said Bang Si-Hyuk, Chairman of HYBE.

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Along the way, the Santos Bravos hopefuls will be mentored by an international team of creative people like High School Musical director Kenny Ortega (Creative Director). Johnny Goldstein, a producer and songwriter who has collaborated with Shakira and Daddy Yankee, will serve as Music Director. The vocal coach of the all-male cast is set to be RAab Stevenson, who’s worked with Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, and SZA.

Serving as showrunner is Jaime Escallón, whose credits include The X-Factor, Survivor, and Vix’s Wendy, Perdida pero Famosa.

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Santos Bravos is the first time Hybe brings its artist development system to Latin America. The South Korean entertainment company is behind global acts like BTS, Seventeen, and Enhypen.

Hybe also recently partnered with Telemundo’s Pase a la Fama, a reality competition dedicated to finding the next Mexican banda global sensation.

Scroll through the photo gallery below to meet all the Santos Bravos hopefuls.

Discover more Featured Stories like this in The Strad Playing Hub 

It’s not every day that a period string quartet gets to play music written by a living composer. We spend so much of our lives working with historical equipment, poring over old scores and performing editions, listening to early recordings and trying to figure out what a composer was really after. What inspired them. What sound-world they imagined. To have the composer in the room with you, to be able to ask questions and to explore the music together, is both a novelty and a privilege for us.  

We were thrilled when Oliver Leith agreed to write us a piece in our 10th anniversary year. The brief was… well, brief – something chaconne-inspired. This was in honour of our late friend, Philip Yeeles, who was a fan of chaconnes and of the Consone Quartet.

The chaconne theme is subtle, but palpable. Oliver describes the piece as ’seven endings — or different perspectives of the same end; close ups, swooping, rolling oil landscapes and glimpses.’ Of the Chaconne he says “the image started as a look at the idea of the chaconne, a ‘form’ that, over centuries has been pulled through bushes of different shapes, to become a feeling more than a codified thing… There are familiar chaconne tropes, repetitions, descending drooping laments, but those things are more about a feeling than they are form.’ The writing is atmospheric and colourful, somehow perfectly suited to the visceral timbre and blend of our gut strings.  

The writing is atmospheric and colourful, somehow perfectly suited to the visceral timbre and blend of our gut strings

This commission is just one part of our anniversary celebrations. Over the last three years we have been associate ensemble at Paxton House in the Scottish borders, and 2025 marks our final year. We have curated programmes each summer, featuring one of Schumann’s three quartets each time. With Schumann as our common denominator, we have explored his relationships with his contemporaries and also the way in which he was inspired by (and in turn provided inspiration) for other composers throughout history. It has been a treat to plan programmes with such a long scope, creating a narrative that spins through the three years of our residency. We have also enjoyed getting to know the Paxton audience better and seeing familiar faces each year in the same magical setting. 

Collaboration is a big part of what we do and so we have invited lots of our musical colleagues to come and join us in Paxton: we have explored string sextets (including a new commission by Gavin Bryars) with violist Francesca Gilbert and cellist Alexander Rolton and we have delved into the lieder world with song arrangements alongside mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston. This year we team up with Philip Higham for Schubert’s Quintet in C major and Katherine Spencer for the Brahms Clarinet Quintet.  

Aside from our Paxton collaborations, we are currently touring a programme with keyboard player Kristian Bezuidenhout. The partnership has taken us to Germany and Austria, and in the autumn we will travel to the USA and Canada. Later this year, we will be joined yet again by Francesca Gilbert and Alexander Rolton for Brahms’ B flat major sextet and Schoenberg’s iconic Verklärte Nacht. The piece is, unusually, programmatic; the writing complex, lush and highly chromatic – great fun on gut strings!  

We have been recording more than ever this year: the second volume in our Mendelssohn CD cycle with Linn Records will be out later in the autumn and we will record the third and final disc of the set in January 2026. We are excited to record a lieder programme with fellow BBC New Generation Artist, Helen Charlston, on BIS records later in the year. Bill Thorp, a great friend of Consone, has lovingly arranged songs for us by both Clara and Robert Schumann, as well as Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, and they work so well for string quartet.

The Consone Quartet performs as associate ensemble at Music at Paxton on 19 and 20 July 2025. Find out more here.

 

Publishing house Penguin has said it “undertook all the necessary due diligence” before releasing The Salt Path, after a series of claims about the book’s veracity.

A recent Observer investigation claimed English author Raynor Winn fabricated or gave misleading information about some elements of her 2018 non-fiction best-seller.

Penguin Michael Joseph said it had not received any concerns about the book’s content prior to the Observer’s story, and that it had a contract with Winn regarding factual accuracy.

Winn has described the Observer’s article as “highly misleading” and said the couple are taking legal advice, adding that the book was “the true story of our journey”.

The Salt Path, and its recent film adaptation, told the story of a couple who decide to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path after their home is repossessed.

The Observer alleged Winn had misrepresented the events that led to the couple losing their home.

Rather than losing money in a bad business deal, as the book described, the newspaper said the couple had lost their home after Winn had defrauded her employer of £64,000.

According to the Observer, the couple borrowed £100,000 to pay back the money Winn had been accused of stealing, and it was when this loan was called in that their home was repossessed.

It also said it had spoken to medical experts who were sceptical about her husband Moth having corticobasal degeneration (CBD) as she described in the book, given his long survival after diagnosis, lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them.

In a statement issued to BBC News, the publisher said: “Penguin (Michael Joseph) published the Salt Path in 2018 and, like many readers, we were moved and inspired by Raynor’s story and its message of hope.

“Penguin undertook all the necessary pre-publication due diligence, including a contract with an author warranty about factual accuracy, and a legal read, as is standard with most works of non-fiction.”

A legal read means the book would have been looked over by a lawyer before its publication.

“Prior to the Observer enquiry, we had not received any concerns about the book’s content,” the publisher added.

In her statement released earlier this week, Winn said: “[Sunday’s] Observer article is highly misleading.

“We are taking legal advice and won’t be making any further comment at this time.”

The statement continued: “The Salt Path lays bare the physical and spiritual journey Moth and I shared, an experience that transformed us completely and altered the course of our lives.

“This is the true story of our journey.”

The Salt Path has sold more than two million copies since its publication in March 2018, and a film adaptation starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs was released earlier this year.

A spokeswoman for Number 9 Films and Shadowplay Features, who made the screen adaptation, said in a statement on Monday: “There were no known claims against the book at the time of optioning it or producing and distributing the film.”

Their statement called the movie “a faithful adaptation of the book that we optioned”, adding, “we undertook all necessary due diligence before acquiring the book”.

“The allegations made in The Observer relate to the book and are a matter for the author Raynor Winn,” it concluded. “We have passed any correspondence relating to the article to Raynor and her agent.”

The film adaptation has taken around $16m (£11.7m) at the box office worldwide. The movie is yet to launch in Germany and France, while a deal is reportedly still pending in the US, according to Deadline.

After the Observer’s article was published, the charity PSPA, which supports people with CBD and has worked with Raynor and Moth Winn, said “too many questions currently remain unanswered” and that it had “made the decision to terminate our relationship with the family”.

Winn has also withdrawn from the forthcoming Saltlines tour, which would have seen her perform readings alongside folk music act Gigspanner Big Band during a string of UK dates.

A statement from Winn’s legal team said the author was “deeply sorry to let down those who were planning to attend the Saltlines tour, but while this process is ongoing, she will be unable to take part”.

South Beds News Agency

ITV

Actor Michael Madsen, who starred in Reservoir Dogs and Thelma & Louise, died from heart failure, his cardiologist has said.

The 67-year-old was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California, last Thursday and pronounced dead.

His doctor said heart disease and alcoholism will be listed as factors which contributed to the star’s death, reported NBC Los Angeles.

With no suspicious circumstances and the death listed as being from natural causes, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department considers the case closed.

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Madsen’s film credits include Free Willy, Donnie Brasco and Sin City.

He was also known for his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino, including in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

The Chicago-born actor also linked up with Tarantino when he played Mr Blonde in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs.

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His sister, Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, paid tribute to her brother in a statement to Variety.

She wrote: “My brother Michael has left the stage.

“He was thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother – etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark.”

Madsen was preparing to release a new book called Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts And Poems.

A statement by managers Susan Ferris and Smith, and publicist Liz Rodriguez, said the book by “one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors” was currently being edited.

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The Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse has announced the appointment of violinist Quentin Vogel as its new solo violin, or concertmaster.

‘Well done and welcome!’ the orchestra said on social media.

Vogel takes up the role having previously served as violinist of the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier. He has regularly performed with the National Orchestra of Belgium and the Mulhouse Symphony Orchestra.

Vogel is a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and CNSMD Lyon, and pursued further studies at the Académie Musicale Philippe Jaroussky. He is a prizewinner at numerous competitions, such as the ’Clé d’or’, Vieuxtemps, Marie Cantagrill, Arthur Grumiaux, Léopold Bellan and the ‘Triumphs of Art’ competitions.

As a chamber musician, he founded the Möbius Quartet in 2019, which toured Ukraine in July 2021 and in 2022 performed at the Vilnius Philharmonic in Lithuania with the Rostropovich Foundation.

 

US toy manufacturer Mattel, shows their new Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes. Mattel has launched its first Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes in a bid to foster a greater sense of inclusion and empathy among children, company vice-president said
| Photo Credit: AFP

From our first encounter, in her studio in central London, I noticed that Burton was in the habit of saying “off the record,” even when nothing was being recorded. We negotiated around what I took to be her nervousness. It was understandable—among other things, the years after McQueen’s death made her aware of the British press’s notorious thirst for copy—but as I traced the pattern of Burton’s expressions over time, I realized that she was most uneasy when she thought she might betray a confidence, or be seen to lean on someone else for her own advancement. Dressing someone, she explained, “is a very personal and intimate thing. For me, it’s a real privilege. And I think privacy is one of the last luxuries we have.” In this safeguarding of what others had entrusted to her, I began to see what she had built at McQueen: a fortress of intimacy.

This is what Burton has brought to Givenchy, in a move that will not only enrich the world of fashion but seems set to free her, after many years, from the orbit of emotional debt.

At the north London home she shares with her husband, David; their 12-year-old twins, Cecilia and Elizabeth; and their nine-year-old daughter, Romilly, Burton leads me upstairs to a living room with rich, Holbein-green velvet-lined walls. Above the sofa is a large gold-framed photograph by the Dutch photographer Hendrik Kerstens, and on a high shelf, protected by Perspex, is a pair of armadillo shoes from Plato’s Atlantis, the last collection McQueen finished. Burton and I sit in sunlight, and our conversation stretches out with ease throughout the afternoon.

“Family came first, I suppose,” she reflects. Burton—then Sarah Jane Heard—grew up as the second of five siblings. They lived in a small village outside Manchester, between rolling hills and wild moors, with Burton always more drawn to the latter. Her mother taught music and English, and took them to museums regularly; her father was an accountant. Their house was full of books. As a child, she drew all the time—people, nature, dresses. When the Heard clan needed to go somewhere en masse they traveled, with friends in tow, in a white van. Burton remembers that locals referred to them as “the orphanage.”

Burton knew what she wanted to do from the age of eight, and after a foundation year in Manchester she studied at Central Saint Martins in London, the famous incubator for art and fashion. “Sarah didn’t look like the other fashion students,” her tutor there, Simon Ungless, recalls. “It was so refreshing for somebody just to come in in a great pair of jeans, rather than their knickers on their head.”

It was Ungless who introduced her to his good friend Lee McQueen. “Everyone wanted to work for him,” Burton recalls. “You’d be on a mission to get into those shows or be backstage.” McQueen had graduated from Saint Martins three years before Burton got her first gig as a backstage dresser on his infamous Highland Rape show in 1995. She saw none of it: She was frantically pulling shoes off one model to make sure there were enough for the next. A year later, McQueen took her on. “I think Sarah was the only member of staff we had,” says Verkade, who ran their tiny company.

As Burton learned from McQueen—​a man she describes as a “genius”—she took on whole areas of the operation, building categories around his sketches, doing all the knitwear and all the leather. Eventually, she became the head of womenswear. “There’s a big chunk of that brand that has always been Sarah, as long as we’ve been looking at it,” says Verkade.

In her living room, Burton pulls out some sketchbooks from her early days at McQueen.

They’re beautiful—collages of photographic references and sketches with swatches of fabric—but what’s striking is how structured her drawings were then: architectural indications of the collar on a jacket, the seams on a dress, or the buttons on a cape. Decades later, Burton’s sketches have become much looser—she and her pattern-cutters know each other so well by now that she only needs to suggest a design.

Photo: Fior – Dragone / Gorunway.com

Pile on the Personality With Layered Charm Necklaces

Exaggerated proportions add dimension to a clean, preppy look—bold charm-adorned necklaces up top, flowing culottes below. Mary Janes and a wicker basket complete the look.

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Photo: Fior – Dragone / Gorunway.com

Layered Tees and Flowy Trousers Make for Easy Daytime Polish

Even basics like a ringer tee layered over another simple white one feel fresh when styled with crisp coordinating trousers and a contrasting belt.

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Elevate the Rugby Shirt With Leggings and Loafers

An oversized rugby shirt paired with slim pants and a turtleneck makes for a sharp, unexpected combination. Tucking white socks underneath the pants creates a more refined, streamlined silhouette.

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Anchor Your Look Around Classic Summer Accessories

Accessories are the easiest way into the look—extra-large market totes and slim Keds-like slippers add instant impact.

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Add Flair to a Cropped Kick Pant With a Pendant Necklace

Pendant necklaces remain a key statement, styled here with a slouchy knit and subtle kick flares.

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Photo: Fior – Dragone / Gorunway.com

Reimagine How You Tie a Silk Scarf

Rider introduced silk scarf styling throughout, nodding to the Philo-era. Try it with a rich brown suit and a tailored button-down.

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Photo: Fior – Dragone / Gorunway.com

Layer a Simple Sweatshirt Over a Cheery Polo

A simple gray sweatshirt can be refreshingly elevated when layered over a red polo and worn with fluid, wide-leg trousers. Echoes of Phoebe Philo resonate strongly here.

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Who says you can’t go Home Box Office again?

Warner Bros. Discovery renamed its streaming service HBO Max on Wednesday, formally reversing its decision from two years ago to dump the prestigious HBO brand in a bid to make the service more appealing to a mainstream, meat-and-potatoes crowd.

The gambit to chase Netflix with a service called Max didn’t work. Warner Bros. Discovery’s leaders eventually recognized the tremendous value in the HBO name, and sheepishly brought it back for an encore.

The company announced the switch in May.

“The good news is I have a drawer full of stationary from the last time around,” HBO Chairman Casey Bloys said in May, making light of Warner Bros. Discovery’s about-face during the company’s annual programming upfront presentation to advertisers at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The move marks the fifth name for the service in 15 years.

HBO’s first digital offering, introduced in 2010, was called HBO Go. Eventually the company added an HBO Now app. Then, in 2020, when the company launched its comprehensive streaming service with Warner Bros. movies and television shows, executives decided the HBO Max name would play to the company’s strengths while beckoning customers with a souped-up product and moniker to match.

That lasted until Chief Executive David Zaslav stepped in. The company truncated the name to Max because Zaslav and other executives felt the need to create some distance from HBO’s signature shows to make room for the nonscripted fare of Discovery’s channels, including HGTV and Food Network.

Now it’s back to HBO Max.

The company has said the shift was a response to audiences’ desire for quality over quantity.

“No consumer today is saying they want more content, but most consumers are saying they want better content,” the company said in May.

The change also represents a recognition that Warner Bros. Discovery, a medium-sized media company with a huge debt burden, couldn’t compete with Netflix, which tries to offer something for everyone.

And while some of the Max-branded shows, including “The Pitt,” are critically acclaimed, it was the HBO fare, including “The White Lotus,” that has been the most consistent draw for subscribers.

HBO built its legacy as a premium cable channel that required an additional fee on the monthly cable bill. Such groundbreaking series as “The Sopranos,” “Game of Thrones” and “Sex and the City” put the channel at the vanguard of prestige programming.

Most subscribers who currently have Max won’t need to download a new app, company insiders said.

An app update will eventually change the blue Max logo to a black HBO Max one.

Staff writer Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.