Wednesday's Art Notes

_Pakistani artist Mohammad Zaman shows his skills while performing with Dhol (drums) during the inauguration ceremony for the Punjab International Trade Expo in Amritsar, India on December 8, 2010. Photo by Narinder Nanu/ AFP/ Getty Images_ * Wednesday marks the 30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, who was murdered in front of his apartment building in Manhattan. Later on Art Beat, we'll have a slide show of images from Lennon's life, plus a conversation with music critic Greil Marcus about the indelible impact the late musician had on pop music in the 1960s. * Police fired tear gas at protestors outside of Milan's opera house on Tuesday, where a new season was opening with a performance of Wagner's _Valkyrie_, via "AFP":http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jaD-Nvk-G0B1huE4TwXVVNnYcWDw?docId=CNG.527cfa684a917af663876a34efe86017.341. Conductor Daniel Barenboim prefaced the performance by warning the audience that European culture was being threatened by cuts in arts programs, including in Italy. * An art museum in Columbia, SC has installed solar panels to help reduce energy costs, via "WisTV":http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13633320. * The oldest opera singer in the world, as well as the oldest to ever sing at the Metropolitan Opera, Swiss tenor Hugues Cuenod died Monday in Switzerland at the age of 108, via "The New York Times":http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/arts/music/08cuenod.html.