“Denmark’s state broadcaster DR announced yesterday that budget cuts would see its chamber orchestra close in January. DR’s Danish National Chamber Orchestra or ‘Underholdningsorkestret’ – previously known as the Danish Radio Sinfonietta – will cease playing in January though it would appear DR’s symphony orchestra will remain unaffected.”
Kevin Kline Has Issues With Authority (And That Includes Maggie Smith)
Just for instance, when he played Hamlet for Liviu Ciulei, he recounts, “The first day’s rehearsal, I picked up a chair and moved it a few feet, and he said, ‘No, no, Hamlet would never do that, he’d never move a chair himself, because he’s a prince.’ I said, ‘I’m the prince, I can do whatever I want.'” The next time he played Hamlet, he directed himself.
On Repeat: Why People Watch Movies And Shows Over And Over
“Pop culture is a relentless machine of newness and manufactured surprise. We queue around the block for new comic-book-movie installments and crash HBO Go to watch season finales. … Why do we spend so much time with stories whose endings we already know?” Derek Thompson lays out four reasons.
The Notorious Million-Word Novel Is Now Finished
“Comics legend Alan Moore has finished the first draft of his second novel, Jerusalem – and it runs to more than 1m words. His daughter, Leah Moore, made the announcement on Facebook on Tuesday, adding with a wink that ‘now there’s just the small matter of copy editing’.”
27 Writers On Whether Or Not To Get Your MFA
“It’s [a conversation] that we should be having, considering the explosion of the MFA in the past 40 years: from a mere 79 programs in 1979 to 854 today.”
“Commercial” Is Not A Dirty Word For This New Generation Of Theatre Producers
Says one, Vicky Graham, “Talking to a potential investor is a good way of seeing whether the idea you have has a chance of success. If they’re not interested, maybe an audience won’t be either.”
TV Is Increasingly Being Made For Old(er) People. Rejoice!
“Television is getting better, especially cable, and using a Sherlockian level of analysis, I’d conclude TV is better because it isn’t always catering to the young, many of whom are known flibbertigibbets.”
No, Musicians, College Will *Not* Kill Your Creativity
“Over the years, many of my friends and colleagues across the U.S. who are freelance musicians and specialize in contemporary music have told me that they dislike schools of any sort and they want nothing to do with them.”
A Conductor, Prepping To Lead The Boston Symphony
“This is not a situation that rewards arrogance. A certain humility, even a touch of subservience, is in order, a lesson that Mr. Nelsons has evidently taken to heart and that has served him well.”
Treasure Troves Of Black History In The U.S. Often Lie Hidden, In People’s Homes
“The relics and heirlooms of African-American families, the Smithsonian says, can help tell the story of America — and should be preserved. To that end, the museum is educating people about how to take care of their own history, making ordinary people collectors of the nation’s heritage.”
Can A Community Have A ‘Soul’?
Yes, and that can be created: “A community’s ‘soul’ is not just some ineffable or magical quality. Urban planning and local laws actually affect it.”
The Magic Building Where Creative Writing Majors Make Money After College …
Doesn’t exist. “When is the right time to tell people about their job prospects? In graduate school? Before they even apply to graduate school? Or sooner than that even—in their first creative writing class? Never? Let them Google it because it’s just too depressing otherwise?”
How Should Theatre Deal With Works In Translation?
“Good surtitles are a real art. One issue with surtitles is positioning. Poorly sited surtitles are like trying to hold a conversation in a room where a TV is on. However much you try not to look at them, your eye is constantly drawn towards them, even if you speak the language.”
If You’re A Music Hoarder, The News About The Original iPod Is Not Good At All
“Less of this stuff is on Spotify than its boosters would have me believe, and there’s only so much I’m willing to spend on a ‘cloud.'”
Going After Websites That Infringe Copyright Is Like “Whacking Moles”: Advocate
The head of the Australian consumer advocacy group Choice told a forum in Sydney, “The fundamental test if we are going to do something is we need to be confident it will work. If you look at site blocking it is like whacking moles. People who run websites move much faster than courts.”
“Wolf Hall / Bring Up The Bodies” Plays Headed To Broadway
Broadway and London producers are in talks about a New York run of the hit British play Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring Up the Bodies, based on the historical novels by Hilary Mantel about Henry VIII and his adviser Thomas Cromwell … Both plays are running in repertory in London’s West End, where they have enjoyed critical acclaim and record-breaking ticket sales.”
Why Ira Glass Moved Into Modern Dance
“Glass has experimented with visual forms before: television, live shows, movies. Until he encountered Monica Bill Barnes & Company, dance was the exception. … But when he first saw Monica Bill Barnes, something clicked. There was confetti, goofiness, turtlenecks, pop music. ‘I really loved it,’ he said. … “It felt so much like the work I tried to do on the radio, and what was surprising about that is that you can’t get further from radio than dance.”
Maya Angelou’s Final Work Will Be A Hip-Hop Album
“In a new album titled Caged Bird Songs – you can guess which book inspired this – Shawn Rivera and Roccstar will sample Maya Angelou‘s voice. The producers initiated the project before Angelou knew about it, but she agreed to share recordings of her voice and even opened her home to the producers.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.10.14
More Dueling On the Corcoran Gallery
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-09-11
Artists should not retain copyright in publicly commissioned art
AJBlog: For What it’s Worth | Published 2014-09-11
James Ellroy, The Big Picture
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-09-10
Opera in a Small House
AJBlog: OperaSleuth | Published 2014-09-10
Brooklyn Museum in Transition: The Arnold Lehman Years
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-09-10
The Visible Hand
AJBlog: Engaging Matters | Published 2014-09-10
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Why Did U2 Give Away Its New Album At The Apple Unveiling? (A Comment On The State Of The Music Business)
“U2 surprise-release of their new album – for free – last night for iTunes’ 500 million customers globally could be read as a band was no longer certain of their place in the paid music market and so chose to hide behind a marketing gimmick of faux benevolence. But, more realistically, it could also mark the last gasp of a major act using iTunes downloads as the main way to get their music to a mass audience.”
Music Director Departures: Welser-Möst and Han-Na Chang Quit Their Posts (Because…)
“The most cursory glance at the fates that have befallen Vienna’s Generalmusikdirektors reveals how many starry previous incumbents walked out or were pushed, from Karajan to Abbado, from Karl Böhm to Lorin Maazel – as well as Gustav Mahler.”
Report Criticizes Countries For Failing On Restitution Of Wartime Looted Art
“In a report published Wednesday, Italy is identified as one of the countries doing the least to research or identify items that may been looted from Jews during World War II.”
Columbus Symphony Names New Music Director: Rossen Milanov
The 49-year-old Bulgarian native, currently music director of New Jersey’s Princeton Symphony and Camden-based Symphony in C and a former associate conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, begins his initial four-year term next fall. He replaces Jean-Marie Zeitouni, “whose contract was not renewed last year by mutual agreement.”
The Kennedy Center Honors Go Pop
Alex Ross: “As in previous years, the [2014] selection demonstrates the degree to which the awards have diverged from their original mission – to pay tribute to luminaries of theatre, dance, classical music, and show business – and instead become one more temple of celebrity culture, magnifying the fame of already familiar faces. … The logic that has taken hold of the Honors is one of pop triumphalism: it’s not enough for pop culture to dominate the mainstream; it must colonize the spaces occupied by older genres and effectively drive them from the field.”