"Like a Virgin," a dance tune that helped propel Madonna to stardom as risqué pop ingénue in the 1980s, was performed as a mournful cabaret with violin accompaniment. At one point, the singer was trussed up and hoisted into the air by four male dancers, then lowered onto a platform as though into a volcano - a virgin sacrifice.

For "Gang Bang," Madonna wrestled with armed intruders whom she then dispatched with a pistol - their "blood" spattering across an enormous video backdrop. In a routine for "Revolver", she wielded a Kalashnikov rifle, used by many modern-day insurgents, while one of her dancers favored an Israeli Uzi.

The exertions never sapped her confident singing, though she did become somewhat breathless during remarks to the audience at Ramat Gan stadium on Tel Aviv's outskirts.

"I chose to start my world tour in Israel for a very specific and important reason. As you know, the Middle East and all the conflicts that have been occurring here for thousands of years - they have to stop," she said to cheers.

A devotee of Jewish mysticism, Madonna had dubbed the first leg of her 28-country "MDNA" tour the "Peace Concert" and distributed free tickets to some of the Palestinians who attended from the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Among them was a woman named Yasmine, who declined to give her last name in light of Palestinian calls to boycott the Madonna concert and other cultural events in Israel. She offered a mixed assessment of the show.

Pianist Li Yundi will serve as deputy director of a newly founded Piano Research Institute with Sichuan Conservatory of Music, his alma mater.

It is reported that on May 25, Li will go to Chengdu to accept the post.

The director will be Dan Zhaoyi, his teacher. Li will be one of the three vice-directors.

Li will also be enrolled as a visiting associate professor of the college on the same day.

Officials from the college said the institute would look into the history of piano music in Sichuan province and Li would set up his studio so that piano students could learn from him face to face.

As the youngest and first Chinese winner in the history of the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, Li enjoys great fame both home and abroad. He used to deliver lectures on the piano and Chinese culture at world famous universities, such as the University of Cambridge and Royal College of Music in London.

I consider Kenny G romantic because he's happy and free onstage. His performances are unconstrained, and feature free movements and a great deal of improvisation. His cheerfulness is infectious, indeed.

The ability to translate any pop song into smooth sax jazz is what has made Kenny G the world's best-selling instrumentalist.

I hadn't been excited when I saw Moonlight Represents My Heart and My Heart Will Go On on the concert's set list. But these otherwise tired classics were given new vitality by Kenny G's adlibs.

That ability to reinterpret pop into sax jazz has popularized the instrument and holds potential for winning younger Kenny G fans.

Kuang Renji, 11, has been studying sax for a year.

He danced for joy after Kenny G gave the boy an autograph at the album signing following the Guangzhou show.

Kuang had been growing bored with the tedious basic exercises but rekindled his passion after Kenny G's live performance of My Heart Will Go On.

"Kenny G charms different generations," the boy's father, Kuang Weiwen, says.

He has been a fan since he attended Kenny G's concert in the US 24 years ago.

Soap opera "General Hospital" scored the highest number of daytime Emmy nominations on Wednesday, including a nod for best drama, with long-running children's program Sesame Street coming in tied for second place.

"General Hospital" on ABC gained 23 nominations, including best lead actor in a drama series for both Maurice Bernard and Anthony Geary and best lead actress for Laura Wright. Fellow soap opera stalwarts "The Young and the Restless" and "Days of Our Lives," followed with 16 and 15 nominations respectively.

"Sesame Street" gained 16 nominations and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," received 12.

Among TV talk shows, NBC's "Today" show brought home six, including one for its coverage of the British royal wedding last year, against one nod for its ABC rival "Good Morning America", which last month knocked "Today" off its No.1 morning spot for the first time in 16 years.

Among networks however, ABC ruled the roost with a leading 56 nominations thanks mostly to its daytime soaps and programs like female chat show "The View".

PBS was second with 51, mostly due to its strong children's programming, CBS had 32 and NBC got 24 nods.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper also did well, scoring three nominations in the first year of his new syndicated daytime talk show "Anderson".

Jazz Fest has helped carry the New Orleans brand far and wide, Kappus said. Major music events around the world routinely include Louisiana bands in their lineups, and younger musicians are finding the kind of fame that once accrued only to long-established groups such as the Neville Brothers.

"Five years ago, Trombone Shorty had barely played outside of New Orleans, and recently, he's played on five continents in two months," Kappus said.

Along with showcasing the city's musical and culinary assets, Jazz Fest also shines a light on its visual artists and artisans, many of whom reflect New Orleans' diverse cultural roots.

In a large heritage exhibit area, mixed-media artist and New Orleans native Epaul Julien on Friday showed off elegant, framed montages of his photographs and drawings. He said his work "is all about New Orleans," but it also flows from his Haitian and Senegalese heritage.

"My great-great grandfather came here after fleeing the Haitian Revolution in 1802," he said.

Like local musicians and food vendors, Julien's art also is finding a wider audience. Next month he will show his work at an exhibit in Milan, Italy.

Displays by such local artists deepen the cultural experience of a visit to Jazz Fest, but many would probably still say the biggest draw is fun.

"I have a friend who's been coming to this festival for 20 years, and he used to tell me I was an idiot for not coming," New Yorker Steven Rolnik said Friday as he finished off a plate of Cajun boudin. "Well, this is my second time at the festival, and you know what? My friend was right."

Ousted "American Idol" singer Elise Testone said on Friday she was proud of her song choices and performances on the show, even though they may not have connected with the voting public.

But bluesy rock singer Testone, the oldest of the contest's Top 10 at 28, said she had hoped to stay on and fight another day.

"I was a little bit surprised because in my heart I didn't feel it was time for me to go. But it wasn't a total shock because being in the bottom three that many times it was inevitable it would happen sometime. But I guess I just felt like a fighter and that I was going to push through," Testone told reporters the day after her exit.

Testone finished in 6th place in the TV competition after her rendition this week of Queen's "I Want it All" and the Jimi Hendrix number "Bold as Love" - songs that reflected her rocker style - were criticized by the judges.

The songs put the vocal coach from South Carolina in the bottom three yet again.

"I think the majority of voting comes from middle America so if I can't win them over it's not going to happen. I felt if I was honest and sung from my heart and my passion, that was the best I could do," Testone said.

"Those were the best choices for me," she said of her performances this week, "but probably the majority of people at home want to be able to sing along."

Eason Chan becomes 1st Chinese artist at O2 Arena

Hong Kong superstar Eason Chan has become the first Chinese artist to perform at London's O2 Arena.

The singer sold out the arena within 20 minutes of tickets going on sale and crashed the venues servers.

Before the show Chan said he was surprised by the high demand in London but promised a show full of energy.

The performance was part of his popular "Duo Eason Chan" tour which kicked off in his hometown of Hong Kong on March 20.

The tour will take him to 35 cities in nine countries.

The 37-year-old has released more than 30 solo albums and is one of the best-selling Mandarin and Cantonese pop artists.

This was his second appearance on a London stage after performing at the Royal Albert Hall back in 2010.

Ancient music rings

Le Poeme Harmonique ensemble will perform at the 2012 Croisements Festival.

Three established orchestras are coming to Beijing for the 2012 Croisements Festival.

On May 5, conductor Jordi Svall, who is considered one of the most important figures in the revival of ancient music, will team up with the ensemble Hesperion XXI.

On May 19, Le Concert Spirituel will present the essence of French baroque music using antique instruments. With 12 male soloists and seven instruments, the group promises a memorable night.

On June 9, Le Poeme Harmonique, a musical ensemble founded in 1998 by Vincent Dumestre to recreate and promote early music, will awe the audience with their talents.

Bee Gee Robin Gibb came close to death: doctors

Paying tribute to his "iron will", Gibb's medical team said the singer had defied the odds to regain consciousness more than a week after he went into a coma.

However, the outlook for the 62-year-old musician remains uncertain as he receives more treatment for advanced bowel cancer, pneumonia and liver failure.

"Only three days ago, I warned Robin's wife, Dwina, son, Robin John, and brother, Barry, that I feared the worst," Dr Andrew Thillainayagam, of Imperial College Healthcare, said in a statement released by Gibb's spokesman.

"We felt it was very likely that Robin would succumb to what seemed to be insurmountable obstacles to any form of meaningful recovery. As a team, we were all concerned that we might be approaching the realms of futility.

"It is testament to Robin's extraordinary courage, iron will and deep reserves of physical strength that he has overcome quite incredible odds to get where he is now."

While Gibb remains weak and needs an oxygen mask to help him breath, doctors hope that if his condition improves they might be able to move him out of the intensive care unit.

His family has been at his bedside every day, talking and playing him his favorite music, Thillainayagam added.

Minaj ousts Madonna from Billboard chart

Rapper Nicki Minaj shot straight to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday with her sophomore album "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," usurping the crown from Madonna, who suffered the biggest second week sales drop in chart history.

Sales for Madonna's 12th studio album "MDNA" fell a staggering 86.7 percent to just 48,000 copies sold this week, dropping from No. 1 to No. 8 on the chart.

The percentage drop in "MDNA" sales trumps Lady Gaga's 2011 album "Born This Way," which fell from 1.1 million copies in its opening week to 174,000 in week two, an 84 percent decline.

"Roman Reloaded" is Minaj's second album to top the chart, selling 253,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan, despite receiving poor reviews from critics.

Madonna recently teamed up with Minaj on her Superbowl song "Give Me All Your Luvin'" and another track on the "MDNA" album, and Minaj has openly revealed her admiration for the Queen of Pop, calling Madonna one of her inspirations.

Festival has something for everyone

The Forbidden City Concert Hall's summer festival Opening Door of the Arts that starts on Friday has a lot on its plate.

There are no big stars, no renowned orchestras, but the month-long festival offers basic programs from Baroque to modern pieces, from recital to chamber and chorus, and from tango to Chinese folk music.

"It seems a trend for festivals or venues to present the world's top orchestras or great conductors to play Beethoven or Tchaikovsky's big symphonies," says Zhang Yingying, principal cello of China National Symphony Orchestra, who will give a recital on July 10.

"It's good but I believe regular concert-goers who really understand the music are just a small part. We need simple educational programs for beginners and we need variety."

That's why she has repeatedly given recitals or small chamber concerts at Peking University since 2009 and that's why she has joined this year's Opening Door of the Arts.

She usually gives a pre-concert talk about the program, the cello, or answers any interesting questions about classical music raised by audiences.

BEIJING - Police have confirmed that a man who was stabbed to death in downtown Beijing on Wednesday afternoon was from the United States.

The 62-year-old victim, named Howard Thomas Mills, was killed at 3:20 pm at the entrance to Qudeng Alley in Xicheng district, according to a written statement issued by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on Wednesday night.

Mills arrived in China on July 3 with an ordinary passport, said the statement.

The suspect, An Libo, was apprehended by police officers who were on patrol near the scene of the attack.

An, 35, is a native of Zhaozhou county in the city of Daqing, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. He arrived in Beijing on Wednesday morning by train from his hometown.

Believed to suffer from a mental disorder, An was found to have attacked and robbed people using a knife in Shanghai in January and then sent back to his hometown, said the statement.

Further investigation is underway.

With gasoline and diesel-fuel prices falling for a third time since May on Wednesday, pressure on policymakers to revise the fuel-pricing mechanism has eased, as has the country's pressure from inflation, said analysts.

China cut gasoline prices by 420 yuan ($66) per metric ton and diesel by 400 yuan starting from Wednesday. The retail gasoline price drops to lower than 7 yuan per liter in most cities after the latest round of cutting.

This is the third consecutive cut since May, but a fourth one is unlikely unless the international market tumbles sharply, said Niu Li, a senior economist with the State Information Center, a government think tank.

China's gasoline and diesel prices are set by the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation's top economic planning agency, under a mechanism that tracks the 22-day moving average of a basket of crudes comprising Brent, Dubai and Cinta.

The NDRC has earlier implied it would reform the fuel-pricing mechanism by shortening the pricing time and increasing transparency. Industry insiders said a reform proposal has been submitted to the State Council, but has yet to be approved.

However, with global prices falling, analysts and officials have lowered expectations of short-term reform.

"The existing formula will be strictly followed at this stage," said a NDRC official, who declined to be named.

"The existing pricing mechanism will continue to work as the declining global crude oil price has reduced the urgency of shortening the pricing time," said Niu.

Zhou Wangjun, deputy director of the NDRC's price department, said the existing mechanism works "relatively successfully", but it needs to be improved in reducing pricing time and range.

The nation is waiting for an "appropriate time" to revise its fuel-pricing mechanism when international oil prices reach a relatively reasonable level, Zhou said.