The Artist And The Critic Can one really be both critic and artist, and do the skills of one inform or undermine the other? Matthew Collings is both, and the one bumps into the other... The Times (UK) 06/13/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 9:22 pm
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The Measure Of A (Very Rich) Man One of Canada's most prominent art collectors died this week, and some are saying that the loss of Kenneth Thomson will leave a gaping void in the country's art market. "Even while helping to buttress the high end of the market for the rarest major Canadian works, observers say Thomson indirectly broadened the interest for lesser known and contemporary Canadian art." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:45 am
Unesco: Stonehenge Off the List? Unesco is considering removing Stonehenge from the World Heritage list. Why? The site has "poor traffic management". The Guardian (UK) 06/13/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 6:00 pm
Christie's Withdraws Artifact Christie's has removed an ancient Egyptian vessel from sale over concerns about how it was taken out of Egypt. "Upon receiving information which led us to believe that the object had possibly been improperly taken out of Egypt, we contacted the appropriate U.S. authorities and withdrew the item from the sale," Yahoo! (AP) 06/12/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 5:37 pm
ArtBasel Brings Out The Buyers Collectors have been on a buying spree as ArtBasel begins. "The quality this year is very high and so are the prices. People always say great material is hard to find, but we’re seeing it here–because right now, this week in Basel, is an excellent time to sell." The Art Newspaper 06/13/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 5:27 pm
- ArtBasel's Irrational Exuberance "With 55,000 visitors to 300 stands, the world's biggest modern- and contemporary-art fair is part of a $1.5 billion spring sale cycle, from New York's May auctions to London's this month. Early reports from dealers indicate buyers aren't yet deterred by stock-market jitters from the U.S. to Russia." Bloomberg.com 06/13/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 4:44 pm
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Dallas In The Black "The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is ending the 2005-06 season with a balanced budget and an uptick in overall attendance and ticket revenues. But the news isn't all good. Attendance at classical concerts declined 6 percent, and the annual fund fell 6 percent short of its $8,025,000 goal." Dallas Morning News 06/13/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:43 am
Red Ink In Houston Houston Grand Opera is expected to report a $2.5 million deficit at summer's end. The red ink is a result of slumping ticket sales and donations, and comes despite cuts the company has made in education and outreach programs in recent years. A major capital campaign is planned for next year to help the opera stabilize its finances. Houston Chronicle 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 5:46 am
Please Hold Your Opinions The Canadian Opera Company is thrilled with their new home at Toronto's just-opening Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, but the company is also trying to temper expectations of the acoustic before audiences get their first listen later this week. "After decades of pushing out enough sound to fill the unresponsive Hummingbird Centre, he said, the musicians of the COC's resident orchestra are going to need time to discover how much is enough in the new building, which hosts its first public concert tonight... When it comes to the acoustics of music theatres, it seems, nothing is easy." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 5:40 am
Artist management Company Closes After A Decade Janice L. Mayer is closing her classical music artists management agency after a decade. "Friends and associates said fatigue, a need for change, tough times in the business and a dispute with one of her singers might all have contributed to the decision." The New York Times 06/14/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 7:30 pm
Teachout: Stravinsky Bio Is A Modern Classic Terry Teachout has strong words for Stephen Wash's new biography of Igor Stravinsky. "The Second Exile, like its predecessor, is an inspiring piece of work, at once comprehensive and beguilingly well written. After two careful readings, I feel safe in ranking it—alongside David Cairns’s Berlioz, Lewis Lockwood’s Beethoven: The Music and the Life, and Anthony Tommasini’s Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle—as one of the finest biographies of a classical composer to be published in the modern age of musical scholarship." Commentary 06/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 7:16 pm
UK Sound Artists Lead the Way Britain's experimental musicians are now what the YBAs were for visual art in the 90s. "While pop seems to have run out of new ideas, preferring to find witty ways to reinvent the sounds of decades past, these artists are pushing the boundaries of what music can do, and melding it with technology, art, architecture, film and even comedy. 'Sound art' is finding a home in galleries and venues that have identified an appetite among the listening public for music that gives the brain, as well as the ears, something to work on." The Observer (UK) 06/11/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 6:12 pm
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Milwaukee Fund Flush With Cash Milwaukee's United Performing Arts Fund, which raises money for 17 area arts groups, set an in-house record with its annual campaign, collecting $10.26 million for the year. "More than 6,000 people donated to UPAF for the first time during the campaign, which ran from March 2 to Tuesday, and one in four existing donors increased his or her support." Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 5:50 am
Getty's Munitz Made Deal For $300,000 Book Deal With Former Board Chair Former Getty president "Barry Munitz agreed to pay retired Getty board Chairman David Gardner nearly $300,000 to write a coffee-table book after Gardner left the foundation's board in 2004. Plans for the book, which was to commemorate the Getty's 25th anniversary, were canceled in March, a month after Munitz resigned amid turmoil at the nonprofit foundation — but not before Gardner had collected $178,000 over 19 months for little work." Los Angeles Times 06/13/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 7:40 pm
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SF Chorus Leader Stepping Down The San Francisco Symphony Chorus is one of the world's best, and for the last 23 years, it has been helmed by one man. "[Vance] George is recognized as one of the nation's premier choral conductors for his ability to shape the Chorus' sound in a range of musical styles." George is retiring this summer at the age of 72. San Francisco Chronicle 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 7:00 am
Hiroyuki Iwaki, 73 "Japanese conductor Hiroyuki Iwaki, who led the Melbourne Symphony for over three decades, died [Tuesday] at 73... In Europe Iwaki conducted the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra." A legend in Japan, Iwaki also held a lifetime appointment as chief conductor of Tokyo's NHK Symphony. PlaybillArts (NY) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:11 am
Bernstein On The Bay? Classical music aficionados have long bemoaned the lack of a modern version of Leonard Bernstein, a musical ambassador capable of producing top-quality concerts that are also attractive to mass audiences. But the truth is, San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas has been laying claim to the Bernstein legacy for years. His latest brainchild - a 5-year, $23 million multimedia project designed to bring symphonic music back into the forefront of the public mind - is already rolling, and MTT is taking a very hands-on role to ensure its success. St. Paul Pioneer Press (AP) 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:00 am
Journalist Fallaci On Trial In Italy Journalist Oriana Fallaci is on trial in Italy for things she wrote in her recent book. "She has been charged with violating a law that forbids defamatory statements about a religion acknowledged by the Italian state. The offence is punishable with a fine of up to €6,000 (£4,100)." The Guardian (UK) 06/13/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 6:22 pm
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RSC Unveils Big Plans "The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has revealed outline plans to redesign its theatre complex at Stratford-upon-Avon. Plans include a 'thrust' stage for the main Royal Shakespeare Theatre, a 33m (108ft) tower marking a new entrance, a public square and a riverside walkway. Work is due to start in spring 2007 costing £100m, with £85m now raised." BBC 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:16 am
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Hall To Be Named US Poet Laureate The Librarian of Congress will name Donald Hall as the US' 14th Poet Laureate. "Mr. Hall, a poet in the distinctive American tradition of Robert Frost, has also been a harsh critic of the religious right's influence on government arts policy. And as a member of the advisory council of the National Endowment for the Arts during the administration of George H. W. Bush, he referred to those he thought were interfering with arts grants as bullies and art bashers." The New York Times 06/14/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 9:31 pm
Colm Toibin Wins IMPAC Dublin Literary Award His book "The Master" explored the tortured soul of the 19th century American novelist Henry James — received the $125,000 prize and a Waterford crystal trophy during a ceremony in Dublin City Hall. The 11-year-old prize is one of the world's most lucrative for fiction writers." Yahoo! (AP) 06/13/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 5:56 pm
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Whatever Happened To Diversity? "Once upon a time, when television operated in a more stable environment, executives yapped endlessly about diversity. But has a litany of more pressing concerns today — multi-platform delivery, audience fragmentation, online competition — pushed the issue of representation into the shadows?" Toronto Star 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 7:04 am
Can Filmmakers Help The Arab World Evolve? Two controversial new Arab films are stirring discussion in Egypt and Morocco about the values and policies of governments and religious leaders in the region. "With internal and external pressure on the Arab world to liberalize, movies are becoming a key outlet of free expression and a format for examining evolving mores. Like activists, journalists, and bloggers who have been testing the boundaries, movie directors are also pushing the limits of openness and influence." The Christian Science Monitor 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:37 am
In Restructuring Move, PBS Hires KQED Exec PBS has hired the chief content officer at San Francisco public broadcaster KQED to fill a newly created position at the network. "[John] Boland, who starts in September, will oversee television programming, new media, education and promotion. As part of a restructuring, PBS will close its small Los Angeles office... Boland's appointment is one of the first strategic moves by Paula A. Kerger, who took over as PBS's president and chief executive officer in March." The New York Times 06/14/06
Posted: 06/14/2006 6:29 am
UK's Radio Of The Future "Radio listening in this country remains high. Nine out of every 10 people listen, mostly through radios but, increasingly, through satellite television, computers, phones. You may have stumped up £100 to buy a digital radio three years ago, but a decade from now, that radio is going to be an antique. Programmes will still be coming out of it and you will still look fondly on its familiar face but, as today's digital dawn becomes tomorrow's digital day, be prepared for climate change." The Telegraph (UK) 06/13/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 7:24 pm
Why Critics Matter What's with all this chatter about whether critics matter? "The notion that a critic's job begins and ends with our power to help films become hits is a specious one nurtured by marketing executives, and I'm always astonished when critics themselves buy into it. Consider the comparable situation with, say, political pundits. Should an editorial columnist who was stauchly against the Iraq war, and had no discernible influence on either the Congress or political opinion at large, be considered 'irrelevant'? Was the war itself 'columnist-proof'?" Entertainment Weekly 06/13/06
Posted: 06/13/2006 5:21 pm
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