O-VER-RATE-ED!! (clap-clap-clapclapclap) "Ever felt you're missing the point with some of our biggest cultural heroes? Admit it - everyone can name at least one hip, wildly praised band, album, film, TV show or author that they've never really rated." Critics have their own lists of overrated stars, too: could James Brown's legendary performances be nothing more than "brass-driven aerobics workouts, over which he barks claims of his own magnificence"? Is Neil Young's famously distinctive voice really "the exact timbre of a continental dial tone"? Is U2 an overrated trio of self-important rockers whose greatest talent is in the thieving of other bands' ideas? (Okay, that last one isn't exactly a secret.) The Guardian (UK) 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 9:56 am
Famous Just Because Western society is overwhelmed with celebrities these days, and the obsession with fame has given rise to an odd sub-category of celebs: people who are famous more for just being famous than for any actual accomplishment. But this celebrity for its own sake isn't really a new concept. In fact, one of history's greatest painters may have originated the concept. The Guardian (UK) 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 9:36 am
Click here for more Ideas stories...
Reviving A City, The Boring Way When Ed Rendell became mayor of Philadelphia in the early 1990s, the city was at a civic and cultural low point, having seen its national reputation plummet in the previous two decades. Over his two terms as mayor, Rendell spearheaded a relentless drive to revive his city, and championed arts initiatives and building projects which he saw as essential to Philadelphia's future. But while the city's comeback has been remarkable, the buildings used to accomplish the feat are somewhat disappointing from an architectural standpoint. "Given a once-in-a-generation chance to distinguish itself with design, Philadelphia instead showed a preference for the prosaic." Philadelphia Inquirer 12/05/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 11:52 am
The One-Man Museum Leonard Lauder runs the Whitney Museum. No, that's not strong enough: Leonard Lauder is the Whitney Museum. "As chairman of the Whitney for the last 14 years, he has run the museum like a family business, deploying his considerable resources and connections on its behalf, regularly scribbling suggestions to staffers on his blue personal stationery. It is a hands-on approach that makes it hard to tell where he ends and the museum begins." But that warm-and-fuzzy one-man management is making things difficult for the Whitney at a time when other New York museums are grabbing the spotlight and the dollars that come with it. Questions abound, not the least of which is whether the Whitney can survive Lauder's eventual departure. The New York Times 12/05/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 11:27 am
National Archives Robbed Many Times Over "Hundreds of letters and photographs are missing from the National Archives and its regional offices, including one presidential library. Many are suspected stolen. The extent of the losses is detailed in a series of reports from the organization's investigative office, but the value of the items is difficult to determine because that is largely measured by historic importance and rarity." Washington Post 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 10:20 am
Art Theft: Not Just For Big Museums Anymore Last week, a receptionist at a small New York gallery unlocked the front door for two men she thought were telephone repairmen. Minutes later, the men walked out of the gallery with a valuable painting by the 19th-century artist Théodore Chassériau hidden under a jacket. It's not exactly a common occurrence, but the city's gallery owners say the thieves' modus operandi is familiar, and very hard to combat. The New York Times 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 8:57 am
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
History As A Selling Point The New York Philharmonic is obsessed with its own history, to the extent that it keeps a running count of all the concerts it has ever performed in its program book. The continual focus on the ensemble's venerable status has a purpose, though: in a city as culturally rich as the Big Apple, it takes a lot to impress the populace, and the Phil counts on its status as an American original to bolster its modern reputation as one of the country's top orchestras. The New York Times 12/05/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 11:16 am
The Vigilante Violist When Min Jong Shon's $46,000 viola was stolen from her practice room at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, she didn't sit back and wait for the police to recover it. Instead, she banded together with some friends, and used a network of phones and e-mail communications to try to prevent the thief from fencing the instrument. Shon tracked the thief's movements to various instrument dealers, and eventually recovered the instrument and fingered the culprit on her own. Police were stunned and thrilled, and expect to have the suspect in custody shortly. Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (LA Times) 12/05/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 10:50 am
Europe's Operatic Trinity Jossi Wieler, Sergio Morabito and Anna Viebrock are not household names, even among opera fanatics. But inside the European industry, they are known as "the trinity," a team of directors driven by a passion for the operatic form and a willingness to collaborate to achieve greater results. "Together, the three have made a trademark of obsessively researched direction in rigorously conceived modern translations. Their symbiosis extends to a kind of collective innocence, an intense, shared excitement about the task in hand." Financial Times (UK) 12/03/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 9:31 am
More Red Ink In Minnesota, But Less Of It The bad news for the Minnesota Orchestra is that it ran a $1.5 million deficit for the 2003-04 season. The good news is that the orchestra shaved a million dollars off the previous year's deficit, increased ticket sales, reached agreement on a cost-saving contract with its musicians, and launched a major new organizational strategic plan designed to eliminate the red ink within three years, all without looting the endowment. The orchestra's leadership says that this year's deficit could have been eliminated completely through extra endowment draws and accounting tricks, but they are trying to send a signal to potential donors that they intend to operate completely above board in turning their organization around. Minneapolis Star Tribune 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 9:04 am
- Vänskä Picks Up Conducting Award Minnesota Orchestra music director Osmo Vänskä has been named Conductor of the Year by Musical America, which annually honors those in the classical music industry. Other winners this year include Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, composer Arvo Pärt, contemporary percussion ensemble Bang On A Can, Juilliard president Joseph Polisi, and violinist Christian Tetzlaff. Minneapolis Star Tribune 12/05/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 9:00 am
New York, London, Milan, and... Buenos Aires? "[Argentina's] Teatro Colón is grand opera all by itself... Despite a crushing international debt, economic near-chaos and an ugly political history, this city is a place of staggering energy, from the traffic that races up and down some of the widest boulevards in the world to the successive managements of this opera house since 1908, whose attention to Latin American composers and embrace of the new and exciting from the rest of the world have made it something we in New York might envy." The house is currently putting on a production of Britten's "Death in Venice," and while Teatro Colón may not have the budget of extravagant companies in the U.S. and Europe, it is every inch a major company, both musically and theatrically. The New York Times 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 8:46 am
Click here for more Music stories...
The Lighter Side of Contract Negotiations Lots of arts organizations negotiated new contracts with their musicians, dancers, and stagehands this year, and while the resulting documents usually make for fairly dull reading, there are a few notable contractual oddities scattered across the vast union landscape. The San Francisco Symphony notes that "the music of Ludwig van Beethoven need not be performed at Beethoven festivals." Cleveland Orchestra musicians taller than 6'4" are entitled to exit-row or bulkhead seating on tour flights. And dancers at the Houston Ballet Theater get a $47 bonus if they are required to simulate diving into a lake. The New York Times 12/05/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 11:08 am
Finally, Some Good News From Florida It's been a rough few years for the arts in South Florida, but recent trends seem to be signaling that better times are ahead. The state legislature has begun "rebuilding arts appropriations stripped during last year's cultural cleansing. Private and corporate philanthropy increased significantly this year... [and] the Miami-Dade County populace voted on Nov. 2 to spend nearly $553 million for arts and culture." South Florida Sun-Sentinel 12/05/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 11:00 am
Cheating The Arts In KC? Plans for Kansas City's huge new performing arts complex stalled recently after the city manager proposed moving the center's parking garage one block east. The center's backers claim that the new location, which is down a steep hill from the entrance, will be a major inconvenience for patrons, and several outside experts are now claiming that the move wouldn't actually save the city any money, either. "Some arts leaders are feeling like the poor cousins of downtown development: Making the garage more convenient to sports and entertainment and less convenient to the arts, they say, points to the city's relative lack of interest in the role of the arts in downtown's resurrection." Kansas City Star 12/05/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 10:35 am
Stern Family Battling Over Estate The former executor of the estate of violinist Isaac Stern paid himself outlandish fees, sold off assets without authorization, and effectively cut the Stern family out of the estate, according to a $2.25 million lawsuit filed by the late performer's children. The suit further claims that the executor worked in collaboration with Stern's third wife to deprive the family of their rightful inheritance. "The court documents open a window into the troubled affairs of a man known largely for his musical achievements." Newsweek 12/13/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 10:25 am
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
The Scout Leila Getz is that rarest of classical concert promoters - a true lover of music whose practiced eye for spotting developing talent frequently trumps the conventional wisdom that audiences only want big names. Audiences in Getz's home city of Vancouver have learned to trust her judgment over the years, so when she replaces a cancelled star with a 12-year-old prodigy, very few ticketholders come looking for refunds. Toronto Star 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 10:15 am
Fame And Fortune Down, One Big Ring To Go Antonio Pappano has always been viewed as something of a wunderkind among conductors, but lately, as music director of London's premiere opera company, the challenges have been coming fast and furious. So far, Pappano has passed every test, impressing musicians and critics alike with his "striking candour and clarity about his comments", but the greatest challenge of his career may be just around the corner, as Covent Garden prepares for its upcoming Ring cycle. The Guardian (UK) 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 9:43 am
Dancer Of A Generation, Icon Of An Art Form "Lilian Alicia Marks, who died on December 1 on the night after her 94th birthday, made her debut as a dancer at the age of 10... Markova was one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. She had a delicate physique, a tungsten technique masked by a gentle appearance, and a flawless musical understanding. Everything she did had to appear effortless, which she achieved by an implacable will and total concentration." Financial Times (UK) 12/03/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 9:26 am
Click here for more People stories...
Leading By A $10 Million Example The chairman of Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center has donated $10 million to the arts complex, with all the money to be earmarked for theatre programming. Stephen Schwarzman's gift, which was intended partly to spur other contributions, is the largest the Kennedy Center has receieved 2004. Washington Post 12/05/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 12:08 pm
Bringing Black Theatre Into The Mainstream Lately, it's become fashionable to say that there is a "renaissance of black theatre" underway in the UK. Certainly, black playwrights are having an easier time getting their work produced, thanks in part to the renewed emphasis placed on diversity by the UK Arts Council. But one good year may not a renaissance make, and there is still a palpable sense within the industry that minority works represent a risk for companies choosing to produce them. The Telegraph (UK) 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 10:05 am
Click here for more Theatre stories...
"Booknotes" Retires; Its Creator Doesn't C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb has always been a strong proponent of literature in an age in which television is dominant in the lives of most Americans, and he has regularly used his family of networks to promote books and authors. But this weekend, Lamb's self-hosted and much-admired series "Booknotes" comes to an end on C-SPAN's air. The decision to end the series was Lamb's own, but he has no intention of leaving behind his passion for reading, or his efforts to call attention to deserving authors. The New York Times 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 8:35 am
Click here for more Publishing stories...
A Blessing In Disguise When Boston Ballet saw its annual "Nutcracker" production forced out of its longtime home in the city's Wang Theatre, many observers wondered if the company could survive in a new, smaller home. But artistically, at least, "Wang inadvertently [did] Boston Ballet and its audience a favor. As impressive as its technical wizardry and, of course, always terrific dancing were, the company's Wang-sized "Nutcracker" had, over the years, started to look more and more remote... But for the [new, scaled-back] production, artistic director Mikko Nissinen has prepared the kind of fresh, coherent staging and (mostly) new choreography Boston Ballet's "Nutcracker" has needed for a long time." Boston Herald 12/04/04
Posted: 12/05/2004 9:18 am
Click here for more Dance stories...
