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Thursday, January 6




 

Visual Arts

French Art Thief Faces Another Trial "A French thief already convicted in Switzerland for stealing dozens of valuable artworks has gone on trial in Strasbourg, eastern France. Stephane Breitwieser, 33, has admitted stealing 239 artworks - including priceless masterpieces - in seven European countries in 1995-2001. He claims a love of art motivated him. He was given a four-year jail sentence in Switzerland in February 2003. He was extradited last year to face charges for 20 works stolen in France." BBC 01/06/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 6:16 am

The New Art Buyers - Going Contemporary The taste of art buyers is changing in London. Where formerly Old Masters and Impressionists were most highly coveted, now the young and wealthy are buying contemporary. "Most people buying contemporary art in London are still foreign, but the enthusiasm has proved contagious. A new breed of rich British collectors and investors now chase work by both established and emerging artists - things that their friends can admire - rather than a Regency dining room table and chairs." The Telegraph (UK) 01/05/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 8:54 pm

Iraq's Heritage Still At Risk Iraq's cultural heritage continues to be at risk, though some progress has been made. "The challenges facing archaeological and other historic sites are even more complex, given their remote and dispersed locations. Most of these sites are not safe to visit and have no guardians. Looting, now often carried out by bands of armed professionals, has caused irreparable damage to many archaeological sites and has scattered objects not seen in centuries among smugglers and collectors around the world." OpinionJournal 01/05/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 6:48 pm

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Music

Takacs Quartet Steals SF Violist The Takacs Quartet has named a replacement for departing violist Roger Tapping, and the San Francisco Symphony can't have been terribly happy to hear about it. The SFS's beloved principal violist, Geraldine Walther, was tapped by the Takacs, and will leave the Bay Area later this year. Walther is widely considered to be one of the top orchestral and solo violists in the U.S., and will be joining a quartet which has had a great run of success in recent years. San Francisco Chronicle 01/04/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 5:58 am

Playing To The Crowd Chicago's Lyric Opera is tightening its belt a bit this season, and is going to extraordinary lengths to keep its subscribers and donors happy. Part of that effort can be seen in the company's choice of programs for next season: plenty of old warhorses, not a single American opera in the bunch, and a new staging of "Rigoletto" to replace the last new staging of "Rigoletto" Lyric mounted in 2000, which prompted dozens of furious letters from subscribers due to its, um, "frank sexuality." Chicago Sun-Times 01/06/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 5:20 am

SLSO Concerts Canceled With no end to the musician work stoppage in sight, the St. Louis Symphony has canceled this weekend's concerts with music director-designate David Robertson. Meanwhile, the musicians have issued a call to other orchestras for financial assistance, and spent yesterday walking a picket line in front of Powell Symphony Hall. St. Louis Post-Dispatch 01/06/04
Posted: 01/06/2005 5:07 am

  • Anatomy of a Work Stoppage At the heart of the dispute between the St. Louis Symphony's managers and musicians are the dueling issues of fiscal sanity and competent oversight. The SLSO flirted with bankruptcy in 2000, a financial crisis brought on by years of dipping into its endowment and mismanaging the money on hand. In the years since that low point, the organization has raised $130 million, bolstered its endowment, and paid off a lot of debt. The musicians, who accepted major salary cuts to allow the SLSO to get back on its feet, now believe that they've earned the right to get back some of what they lost. The management insists that it isn't yet financially stable enough to take that step. St. Louis Post-Dispatch 01/06/05
    Posted: 01/06/2005 5:05 am

Zeffirelli: La Scala Season A Disgrace Franco Zeffirelli has attacked La Scala's comeback season. Zeffirelli accused the opera house of inviting second-rate conductors to perform. Writing to a journalist on the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, who had written approvingly of the programme, he said the situation "risks becoming utterly absurd and developing into a scandal of truly international proportions because La Scala belongs to the whole world". The Guardian (UK) 01/06/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 9:33 pm

BBC Will Air Springer Opera Despite Christian Protest "The BBC yesterday promised to press ahead with plans to transmit the award-winning West End show Jerry Springer - the Opera this Saturday in the face of concerted complaints by outraged Christians led by the Bishop of Manchester." The Guardian (UK) 01/06/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 9:29 pm

You've Been Warned: Put Not Your Trust In Fiddles Two recent violin speculation scandals (Isaac Stern's estate and the New Jersey Axelrod sale) have Norman Lebrecht wondering if there might be lessons to be learned. Sure. It's this: "put not your faith in fiddles. Musical instruments are made for playing, not for speculation. They inflict pain, as much as gain. Handle with care." La Scena Musicale 01/05/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 7:32 pm

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Arts Issues

Olympic-Caliber Art Wanted "Depending on which way the arts community chooses to look at it, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games offer either a bonanza of riches or a bureaucratic nightmare. ArtsNow, an independent, non-profit society initiated by the British Columbia government, is now accepting applications for its $12-million cultural development fund, which must be dispersed by 2006... The goal, of course, is to leverage the Olympics into meaningful artistic legacies that will continue to flourish long after the event is over. But... the success of these initiatives will hinge heavily on how well various arts groups, communities and planning committees take advantage of the hard lessons learned from previous host cities." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/06/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 6:33 am

Is It Time To Get Rid Of The FCC? The question isn't as preposterous as it might sound. "Because the FCC has become so politicized and beholden to big business, it has ceased to be protector of the airwaves, which are supposed to belong to the citizens of this country (but most believe they belong to big business)... [Furthermore], there is simply no reason for the FCC to regulate broadcast content. By doing so, it is acting as a censor board. If it were really interested in protecting the public, the FCC would take on the issue of violence on TV, which it doesn't consider indecent, instead of getting worked up over a tit and profanity." Wired 01/06/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 6:21 am

How The Rockettes Stole Christmas This was the first year in Boston for the touring Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and now that the holiday dust has cleared, local arts groups are reporting that everyone's fears about the touring Rockettes were entirely justified. "Business was down at the Boston Pops, Handel and Haydn Society, Revels, and Boston Ballet... The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the corporate entity that oversees the Pops, canceled three Holiday Pops concerts because of slow ticket sales," and the ballet, which was booted from its traditional home to make way for Radio City, reported disappointing ticket sales for its revamped and Nutcracker. Meanwhile, the Rockettes sold 200,000 in less than a month. Boston Globe 01/06/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 5:30 am

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People

Critic At Large Lee Siegel's picked up another critic job - he's signed on as books critic for The Nation. But he's also holding on to his TV critic's job at The New Republic. And he's going to be twice-a-month art critic for Slate. "He’s doing something very brave," New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier said, on the phone while traveling in Chicago. "He’s trying to earn a living as a freelance intellectual." New York Observer 01/05/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 7:57 pm

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Theatre

Broadway's Record Year Broadway had a record year of revenue and attendance. Still, "Broadway continues to be a very high-risk investment and continues to be challenged by enormous cost pressures. Many shows have enjoyed strong grosses; many shows have not. Those grosses don't invariably mean profits. Historically, one out of every five shows breaks even, and an even lower percentage make money. That trend continues. There's no change in that." Back Stage 01/05/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 9:19 pm

  • Previously: Broadway's Boffo 2004 Box Office Broadway had a healthy year at the box office in 2004. Productions took $748.9 million, up from $725.4 million the previous year. One of the big reasons: "Overseas tourists are now back at the same numbers as they were prior to September 11. Overseas visitors accounted for 12% of ticket sales, double that of last year. BBC 12/29/04

An Unusual Rescue Plan For Tacoma Theatre Tacoma Actors Guild, which suddenly shut down last month, has bought a little time. A suburban Seattle theatre will take over the theatre's building for the next 2 1/2 years while TAG tries to regroup. Bellevue Civic Theatre, a semiprofessional compared to TAG’s fully professional status, will "hire actors and crew on a show-by-show basis. TAG’s staff might get occasional work, but will not be rehired." Tacoma News-Tribune 01/05/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 6:38 pm

  • Previously: The Sad Story Of Tacoma Actors Guild Last month, after 26 years in business, Tacoma Actors Guild suddenly closed its doors. "By December, TAG had only $30,000 in the bank, enough to cover a single two-week payroll. But when the bank heard about the indefinite closure and layoffs in the newspaper, it froze the $30,000 against the $165,000 note. Staffers refused to work without pay, and the Christmas play ended abruptly, its set left standing onstage." Tacoma News-Tribune 01/04/05

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Publishing

Levy Wins Whitbread Fiction Prize; Book of the Year On Deck Novelist Andrea Levy has won the 2004 Whitbread award for Novel of the Year for her latest work, Small Island. The award makes Levy the immediate frontrunner for the overall Whitbread Prize, which comes with a £25,000 award. The overall winner will be announced January 25. BBC 01/06/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 6:12 am

Now Montana: Because, Ya Know, Poets Don't Need To Be Paid... Montana becomes thelatest US state to want to name a poet laureate. "Under the bill, the Montana Arts Council would supply the governor with the names of three qualified Montana poets. The governor would then appoint a poet from the list to hold the honorary post for two years. The poet laureate would receive no compensation but would promote the arts throughout Montana." Billings Gazette 01/05/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 8:08 pm

Reviving Publishers Weekly In an attempt to revive itself, Publishers Weekly hired a new top editor. "After decades of enjoying a near monopoly on coverage of the book publishing business, Publishers Weekly in recent years has often lagged in competition with Internet sites, e-mail newsletters and daily newspapers. The consolidation of the publishing business and the demise of many independent booksellers has eaten into the magazine's pool of potential subscribers. Its paid circulation of 25,000 is down about 3,000 from the peak in recent years. Perhaps worst of all for a publication focused on a single industry, even subscribers are not certain about where the magazine is aiming." The New York Times 01/05/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 7:19 pm

California In Verse (If Anyone Wants The Job) "California is in the market for a new poet laureate. With an official state dirt, a state fossil and a state tartan, we need a state bard. And as a blue state, it's our obligation to demonstrate that airport bookstore thrillers and bodice-rippers are not the alpha and omega of literature and that just because poetry usually comes in slim volumes with even slimmer royalty checks doesn't mean it don't kick heinie." Los Angeles Times 01/05/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 5:15 pm

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Media

Public Access, Or Public Nuisance? Public-access television - those stations tucked away in a corner of your cable box which are supposed to give the general public a crack at the airwaves, but which more often feature text announcements, low-quality handheld video of elementary school plays, and political rants from marginal-looking individuals with lots of spare time - is struggling to survive in the 500-channel universe. "Today's access stations are run by small staffs that work primarily to keep programming on these stations," and in many cities, officials are wondering why they should even bother keeping such channels on the air. Denver Post 01/06/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 6:29 am

So What Was All That Whining About? Despite all the music industry's moaning about the coming apocalypse of illegal downloading, CD sales in the U.S. rose by 2.3% in 2004, and continue to dominate the music-buying marketplace, accounting for 98% of all music sales. UK sales were up 3%, and set an all-time record for albums sold. Legal downloading from sites such as Apple's iTunes, meanwhile, also skyrocketed in 2004, ending the year with an average of 6.7 million tracks downloaded each week, up from 300,000 per week in 2003. BBC 01/06/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 6:05 am

Fox Reality: A Dismal Year Fox TV, which has stacked its future heavily on reality shows, is having a terrible year. "The network has lost about 8 percent of its viewers from a year ago (8.5 million, down from 9.2 million), but Fox, like NBC and ABC, cares most about viewers between ages 18 and 49 because advertisers pay a premium to reach that group. There, Fox is off even more: 11 percent, dropping to a 3.3 rating from 3.7. A rating point in the 18-to-49 category is worth about 1.3 million viewers. In reality (and that word cuts several ways in Fox's case), the picture is considerably worse." The New York Times 01/06/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 6:14 pm

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Dance

More Pay Cuts Loom in Pittsburgh The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is seeking a pay cut from its pit musicians for the third time in three years, in a desperate effort to balance a budget which has been swimming in red ink in recent years. The situation was exacerbated by disappointing ticket sales for the company's 2004 Nutcracker performances, after which PBT asked the musicians to reopen their contract, which officially expires in summer 2005. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 01/06/05
Posted: 01/06/2005 5:37 am

Dance: Ready For A New Boom? Has dance lost its steam, ready to settle into being a "lesser" art? Anna Kisselgoff says not: "The dance boom that exploded at the end of the 60's and lasted until the 90's has shrunk into a holding pattern of recycled aesthetics. But even this consolidation of the familiar hints at potential fresh directions. True, no one has recently or radically changed how we look at dance, as Merce Cunningham, Graham and Balanchine once did. Still, dance remains a highly creative art form. Choreographers are searching for new movement, and there is a slow-motion swing from pure-dance pieces to storytelling, no matter how indirect." The New York Times 01/06/05
Posted: 01/05/2005 10:20 pm

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