MoMA - Back From The Spa The remade Museum of Modern Art is the return of an old friend, writes Mark Wigley. "While savoring the return of this wonderful collection and expressing our appreciation to the museum, this is not a moment to celebrate architecture for its capacity to maintain subservient yet elegant good manners. Like the best art, the best buildings make us hesitate, disturbing our routines so that we see, think, and feel in ways we simply could not have imagined before. Architecture itself should be an education. To complain that the resultant building is attractive but tame, that the architecture has been domesticated, neutralized, just as the artworks it houses have had their social and intellectual edge removed to be enlisted for a singular global mission, is as pointless as accusing a church of preaching. MoMA is devoted to a particular form of education and does not pretend otherwise." Artforum 02//05
Posted: 02/11/2005 6:00 am
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Super Trouper - Vanska Bringing ABBA Into The Concert Hall Osmo Vänskä, artistic director of the Minnesota Orchestra, will conduct his musicians playing his own arrangements of music by the 1970s Swedish pop supergroup ABBA as part of the 2005-06 season, announced today. While classical purists might view this as "Waterloo," Vänskä says that expanding musical horizons is "The name of the game." The Star-Tribune (Mpls) 02/11/05
Posted: 02/11/2005 6:37 am
Thoroughly Modern Fiddles More top violinists are playing modern instruments. "The great violinists from 1800 onwards always went back to the instruments by Stradivarius or Guarneri. For the 19th-century makers, there was never the thrill of building for the best violinists, so they didn't have the incentive. They were more like repairmen. They would build instruments, but they would build for the lesser player. There were quite a few good Italian instruments, but some of them have really died and are not playable any more. Now all of a sudden there is a demand. And so we go to the makers and say, sorry, we need a great instrument. We don't need something in between."
The Telegraph (UK) 02/11/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 10:28 pm
Lebrecht: Frank Talk About The State Of Classical Music There is much to be gloomy about for the state of classical music, writes Norman Lebrecht. "Why the world has gone off classical concerts is a conundrum in which almost every reasonable assertion is disputable. Take the attention-span thesis. Many in the concert world believe that its decline stems from the public’s flickering tolerance for prolonged concentration. If politicians speak in soundbites, how can we expect voters to sit through a Bruckner symphony? It is a persuasive argument but one that I have come to find both fatuous and patronising." La Scena Musicale 02/10/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 10:14 pm
The ENO's Quest For A New Conductor The English National Orchestra has had a rough few years. Now it's looking for a new conductor - but it'll be a tough job walking through the door. "There's a chance that a new chief conductor with a really solid knowledge of opera repertory and casting, and a commitment to the company's principles, could just turn the place around. The ENO orchestra is sounding much stronger now than it has been for a while." The Guardian (UK) 02/11/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 9:10 pm
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Entertainment Unions Protest Illegal Downloads "Five labor organizations representing America's actors, writers, directors, and musicians have complained of the injury caused by illegal Internet downloads in a 21-page "friend of the court" brief filed in support of film and music companies led by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios." The companies are suing download services for copyright infringement... Backstage 02/10/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 5:28 pm
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Arthur Miller Ailing Playwright Arthur Miller, 89, is battling cancer, pneumonia and a heart condition and is in hospital. Miller, a fiery moralist whose plays include "Death of a Salesman," "The Crucible" and "A View from the Bridge," had been in hospice care at Copeland's New York apartment since his release several weeks ago from Memorial Sloan-Kettering. New York Post 02/11/05
Posted: 02/11/2005 5:49 am
Moog: The Art Of Designing Instruments Robert Moog has been designing instruments for 50 years. His most famous instrument, of course, is the Moog synthesizer. "Oh, gosh, it freaked people out. One of the many things you could do was imitate vocal sounds - make it go 'Weeoooooww'. That really upset. The reaction was a bit like that of primitive cultures believing cameras could catch your soul." The Guardian (UK) 02/11/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 9:21 pm
Prince Tops Entertainer Earnings List Prince was the top-selling commercial artist in 2004, earning $65.45 million from $91.63 million in concerts and CD sales last year. Madonna was second on the list, earning $56 million. Big News 02/10/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 5:16 pm
Jimmy Smith, 79 Pioneering jazz organist Jimmy Smith has died in Arizona. He "irreversibly placed the Hammond B-3 in the spotlight. Doubly blessed with a quicksilver technique and an unusually advanced harmonic imagination, he invented a brilliant new way of addressing the organ. Emerging as a musical force in the mid-1950s, Mr. Smith brought unprecedented virtuosity to the instrument, inviting comparisons to such bebop piano giants as Bud Powell and Art Tatum." Chicago Tribune 02/10/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 5:11 pm
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Stratford Festival Director Retiring Canada's most successful theatrical artistic director, Richard Monette, announced yesterday that he'll be retiring as the head of the Stratford Festival of Canada, but staying on ''at least until the end of 2007, or until such time as a successor is in place.'' The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/11/05
Posted: 02/11/2005 6:30 am
Vegas Gets The Theatre Bug (And Builds Big) Fantastic new-generation theatres in Las Vegas eclipse anything Broadway can produce. "Freed of the constraints of space that are a struggle in jam-packed Manhattan, and armed with shocking amounts of money from wealthy casino conglomerates, show producers can dream far bigger and bolder than in New York. The theater at a Vegas resort is a piece of a much larger business model in which the patrons are also diners, shoppers, hotel guests, and casino players, making it worthwhile for Caesars Palace to plunge $95 million into a showroom for pop star Céline Dion, even though the hotel shares the ticket revenue with Dion and her production company." Christian Science Monitor 02/11/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 6:36 pm
Broadway Courts Kids Broadway producers worried about developing a next generation of theatre fans are concentrating on more programs for kids. "Family fare has taken off on Broadway (think "The Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast"), and a survey from the League of American Theaters and Producers shows that the number of kids filling seats is up slightly. In the 2003-2004 season, the league reports that nearly 1.3 million kids under 18 attended shows, the second highest turnout in more than 20 years (the highest was in 2000-01 season)." Christian Science Monitor 02/11/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 6:33 pm
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Wilson Was UK Libraries' Most-Borrowed Author Children's book author Jacqueline Wilson had the most books borrowed last year from British libraries. Danielle Steel was runner-up, with Josephine Cox in third place, both for the second year in a row. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the most borrowed book. Wilson's books were borrowed more than two million times, according to the Public Lending Right (PLR) organisation." BBC 02/11/05
Posted: 02/11/2005 5:52 am
Salon Profitable, Founder Leaving Along with announcing its first profitable quarter ever, Salon.com, the pioneering internet magazine, says David Talbot, who founded Salon magazine in 1995, will step down as the magazine's editor in chief, chief executive and "relentless cheerleader." He will be replaced as editorby Joan Walsh, his longtime deputy. The New York Times 02/10/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 5:08 pm
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Canada's TV, A 2004 Snapshot "Spending on Canadian programming rose by 5.8 per cent to $575.5 million in 2004. But the portion spent on comedy and drama — perennially a sensitive issue within the industry — fell by 13.2 per cent to $86.5 million." But "compared to 2000 spending, the payout for dramatic and comedy programming is still up by $8 million, or 10.1 per cent, for an average annual increase over the period of 2.4 per cent. Overall spending increased for reality, musical/variety and news programming. In 2004, nearly 8,000 people were employed in the industry, accounting for more than $553 million in salaries." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/11/05
Posted: 02/11/2005 6:33 am
Ryan: Speed Up Oscars But Don't Trim Speeches So organizers want the Oscars to zip along faster? Fine, writes Maureen Ryan. Just don't cut the acceptance speeches. "There are so many other things that could be trimmed instead. How about taking out any and all musical numbers? That's 20 minutes gone, easily. Lose the lifetime achievement awards, or make those presentations three minutes long, at most. As for the long montage of actors who've died, why not put that on Oscar.com? And do we need to see the accountants who tabulate the votes, listen to forced, unfunny "banter" from presenters or hear a speech from the head of the academy? No, no and no. But we do need to see actresses cry while wearing couture gowns." Chicago Tribune 02/11/05
Posted: 02/11/2005 6:24 am
DC Loses A Classical Music Station Washington DC classical music station WTEA is changing formats, dropping most of its music and airing news and public affairs. "By an overwhelming majority, the board approved a resolution to focus on news and public-affairs programming. A new lineup, with round-the-clock news, analysis and interview programs, will debut Feb. 28. Only the weekly broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera and "Traditions With Mary Cliff," a folk music program, will remain for music lovers. Washington Post 02/11/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 9:57 pm
Regulators Reject Broadcasters Digital Request US regulators Thursday "rejected a request by broadcasters to require cable and satellite operators to carry multiple digital channel offerings from local television stations. Cable operators have voluntarily agreed to carry multiple digital channels in some cities, but broadcasters say making it a requirement would benefit the public by giving them more programming choices. They contend that cable companies are afraid of the competition that more free, local "over-the-air" channels would give popular cable-only movie and sports networks." Yahoo! (AP) 02/10/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 5:36 pm
US Congress Considers Huge Indecency Fine Increase "Indecency" fines for US broadcasters could go up 15-fold under a bill wending its way through Congress. "A select committee in the House of Representatives has voted in favour of a bill to increase individual fines to a maximum of $500,000. Stations could also face losing their licence if they violate indecency laws more than three times. Under the bill, individual performers could also face a fine." BBC 02/10/05
Posted: 02/10/2005 4:20 pm
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