Why Techonology Is Perfect For Chamber Music "Although we might first think of rigidity and mechanization when we discuss technology, its real power comes from its very openness and flexibility. Technology gives us the ability to dream, to imagine new forms of music and performance, and to invent ideal relationships between composer and performer, performer and listener, composer and listener. In careful and creative hands, technology can expand the expressive power of virtuosi, build gorgeous hybrids of natural and artificial sounds, and allow amateurs to again fully participate, helping to re-establish a much healthier 'creative ecology' than now exists." Chamber Music Magazine (pdf) 09/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 7:24 pm
Buildings That Change In The Wind (Or Rain) A new breed of architect is looking at buildings that respond to their environment and adapt. They're called "responsive structures that observe their internal and external environment and change form to suit any situation. A building that mimics a living system would be able to sense and respond appropriately to exterior conditions like varying winds, temperature swings or changing sunlight. Inside, the building might change to accommodate crowd flow or better circulate warm air." Wired 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 7:49 am
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Neighbors Try To Block Whitney Expansion Some neighbors of the Whitney Museum in New York have filed suit trying to block the museum's expansion. "The plaintiffs — two associations of residents and the owners of the Carlyle Hotel — claim that the Board of Standards and Appeals erred in granting the museum variances to zoning regulations, in order to allow the Whitney to go forward with its expansion, which includes a 178-foot stainless-steel-clad tower designed by the award-winning architect Renzo Piano." New York Sun 09/01/06
Posted: 09/01/2006 7:41 am
Wildenstein Being Sued For Gauguin Appraisal Wildenstein, the art dealership, is being sued by a company claiming Mr. Wildenstein appraised a painting - Gauguin’s Paysage aux Trois Arbres, 1892 - at "millions of dollars above its value without revealing he had an 'ownership interest' in the piece." The Art Newspaper 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 7:16 pm
The Louvre In Abu Dhabi? The Louvre is talking with the government of the United Arab Emirates about operating a museum in Abu Dhabi. "The talks followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding in July between the government of Abu Dhabi and the New York-based Guggenheim Foundation which sets out the terms for the establishment of a Guggenheim branch in Abu Dhabi." The Art Newspaper 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 7:13 pm
How Do You Get Young People Into The Museum? Hire Musicians Tate Modern "may be the most popular in Europe but it remains concerned about its appeal to young people and those communities where gallery-going is not a frequent pastime. The gallery has asked artists as diverse as the hip hop singer Estelle, former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon and east end rap collective Roll Deep each to select a work in the museum and compose a piece in response." The Guardian (UK) 09/01/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:16 pm
Police Recover The Scream Two Edvard Munch masterpieces stolen from a Norwegian museum two years ago have been recovered by police. "The Scream and Madonna were found in a police operation. "We are 100% certain they are the originals. The damage was much less than feared," police said. They had been missing since two armed men ripped them from the wall and threatened staff at the Munch Museum in the Norwegian capital in August 2004." BBC 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 11:59 am
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Boston Symphony's New Musicians Contract (And A Freelancer Pay Cut) "BSO players' salaries will rise from a weekly minimum of $2,170 last season to $2,270 this year, a 4.61 percent increase, and more in later years." Meanwhile, freelancers for some of the orchestra's pops concerts will be getting a reduction. "Those freelancers, who earned $434 per concert in 2005-06, will earn $378 for dozens of Pops concerts in the upcoming season." Boston Globe 09/01/06
Posted: 09/01/2006 7:23 am
The Top Concert Tours Of Summer '06 "Overall, sales are up over last summer — despite fewer shows. Total reported grosses were $695.9 million for 2,887 shows, compared with $648.5 million for 3,817 during the same time in 2005, according to the Billboard data." Madonna scores the most - $80 million for 32 shows. USAToday 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:43 pm
Why Are We Crazy For Guitars? "The basic design of the electric guitar (in essence a plank of wood with a pick-up and some strings) has barely been altered and arguably not at all improved on since the 1960s. Yet, putting sales of such relatively modern instruments as synthesisers, samplers and DJ turntables in the shade, it would appear that, halfway through the first decade of the 21st century and more than 50 years after the birth of rock and roll, this relatively primitive six-stringed instrument remains the pre-eminent tool of pop culture, the ultimate musical object of desire." The Telegraph (UK) 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:37 pm
The UK's Top 10 Orchestras - A List Richard Morrison makes a list, ranking Britain's major orchestras. At the top? Halle... The Times (UK) 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:33 pm
An Opera About Gaddafi? Are You Nuts? No question the subjects for contemporary opera have expanded in recent years. But why an opera about Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi? And why is English National Opera taking it on? The Guardian (UK) 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:10 pm
Two Bach Manuscripts Discovered The earliest-known manuscripts to be written by JS Bach have been discovered in a fire-damaged library. "The two manuscripts date from around 1700 and contain copies Bach made of organ music composed by Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Adam Reinken. Researchers found the documents in the archives of the Duchess Anna Amalia library in Weimar, where a previously unknown aria by Bach was discovered last year." Yahoo! (AP) 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:04 pm
Can The World Get Excited About A Haydn Birthday? The world has been awash in Mozart this year. Three years from now it's a major Haydn birthday. "While just about everyone alive has been exposed to Mozart if only on a ring-tone or a lonely bus station, you could play Haydn seek all day long on Oxford Street without finding a single shopper who can name one of his works or whistle a theme. In the Classic FM Hall of Fame, that rough guide to middlebrow taste, Haydn does not rank at all in the top 100 and even at the BBC Proms he gets just three nods in eight long weeks. How, demand the marketing men, do we sell something so resolutely obscure?" La Scena Musicale 08/30/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 5:55 pm
Why Seattle's Musicians Are Leaving "Over the past couple of years, significant members of Seattle's music community have been drifting south, drawn by Portland's inexpensive cost of living and vibrant creative community. Scott McCaughey, Michael Maker, Chris Walla, Tucker Martine, and Laura Veirs are my neighbors. That you might not have noticed can be partially attributed to our somewhat nomadic lifestyles, but it also speaks volumes about how disconnected the once-cohesive Seattle music scene has felt lately. In a lot of respects, Portland has become Seattle's hot new neighborhood." The Stranger 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 5:44 pm
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Village Voice Kills Its Arts Staff Included in the firing are pop music critic icon Robert Christgau, dance editor Elizabeth Zimmer, book editor Ed Park, theatre editor Jorge Morales. "Since New Times Media took over the paper, Voice staff members have feared that the new management intended to centralize arts coverage and use writers and editors from various Voice Media papers to fill the local pages." The New York Times 09/01/06
Posted: 09/01/2006 10:47 am
Rise Of Raves A Pushback Against Corporate Music Why are raves making a comeback in the UK? The corporatization of pop music doesn't give outlet to teenage rebellion. "It is hard to pretend you're posing a threat to anything other than your own will to live when you're surrounded by corporate logos at an event broadcast on the BBC and attended by ex-Big Brother housemates and the cast of Hollyoaks. What self-respecting teenager wouldn't instead opt for an illegal rave, with its sense of outlaw cool and danger - offering not just drug-fuelled hedonism, but an attendant palaver involving the chance to run across motorways, trespass on private property and the occasional spot of light rioting?" The Guardian (UK) 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:27 pm
The Brainiest City In America? That would be Seattle, which has the highest percentage of residents with university degress. "Seattle's also been ranked as the most literate city in the United States by Central Connecticut State University, beating out Minneapolis, Washington and Atlanta. That rating was based on such things as the number of booksellers, libraries and newspaper circulation - as well as educational attainment." CNN 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 5:31 pm
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Last Of The Ziegfeld Girls Doris Eaton Travis is 102 and still dancing. "It's really odd because day to day you forget she's a celebrity. You don't think of it until you see her in a setting…. When she steps onto that stage to a sold-out house and people are on their feet screaming and applauding, then you realize it. That's when it's breathtaking. She's an American treasure." Los Angeles Times 09/01/06
Posted: 09/01/2006 7:51 am
Remembering Composer James Tenney "Tenney was as close to experimental music royalty as a modern composer could get, having studied or worked with a host of famed American mavericks, including Harry Partch, Edgard Varese, Carl Ruggles and John Cage. He was in on the seminal musical developments of the 1960s: the founding of computer music and Minimalism, the revivals of Charles Ives' music and of ragtime. He participated in the Cage-inspired art movement Fluxus." Los Angeles Times 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:01 pm
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Seattle's Theatre Fanatic Joe Boling likes theatre. And he goes. "In 2002, Boling attended 427 theatrical productions, 8.2 per week. He routinely sees four shows on Saturdays. "You can do five, actually," he said, counting on his fingers. "A touring children's show at noon, a two o'clock matinee, a show at the Children's Theater at 5:30, a regular production at eight, then a late-night show." He writes reviews about almost everything he sees, posting them on the TPS website. Boling calls his theater writing "commentary," not criticism. The Stranger 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 5:42 pm
Hamburger Out At Dallas Theatre Center After 15 years as artistic director of the Dallas Theater Center, Richard Hamburger is calling it quits. "I've been running theaters for 20 years. It has been an incredible gift, but it's 24/7. Coming to the end of a contract, it was time to assess moving on. I feel like I need some breathing room." Dallas Morning News 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 8:27 am
Chicago Theatre Versus The Critic, Round 3 More letters of complaint and a spirited defense by Chicago Sun-Times critic Hedy Weiss' negative reviews of a workshop project: "Reviewing of this showcase has been standard practice for a number of years; the proof is in the archives. In addition, I heard not a peep from the Stages staff after publication of my review of last year's showcase. Perhaps that was because the 'mixed to positive' reviews were more acceptable to them. In fact, I would bet that a copy of my review was submitted as supporting evidence for many grants, etc., that the Musical Theatre Writers' Workshop made to funding organizations this season. You simply cannot have it both ways." Chicago Sun-Times 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 7:22 am
- Chicago Critic Defends Workshop Reviews Chicago Sun-Times theatre critic Hedy Weiss is defending herself against criticisms from the Dramatists Guild over reviews of workshop performances she wrote. "Ms. Weiss said that she had reviewed the festival in the past without objection and no one had told her she could not review it this time. She also said the festival was a public event, with an advertising campaign and tickets. (A ticket to one performance cost $15.) 'If you are given a press kit and if you are given pictures, what are you supposed to do with them'?" The New York Times 08/31/06
Posted: 08/30/2006 11:32 pm
- Previously: Dramatists Speak Out Against Theatre Critic The Dramatists Guild of America is protesting theatre critic Hedy Weiss' reviews of eight projects in the Chicago Sun-Times a few weeks ago. "These musicals were presented in workshop. Every musical in workshop is understood to be a work in progress. Workshopping a new musical provides an opportunity for writers to evaluate their work as it evolves, protected from the consequences of critical appraisal. This security allows writers to take chances, to be bold, maybe even to embarrass themselves—in short, to do their work." Dramatists Guild 08/28/06
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Vatican: Harry's With The Devil! The Vatican's chief exorcist has condemned Harry Potter. "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil," says Father Gabriele Amorth, the Pope's 'caster-out of demons'." Sydney Morning Herald 09/01/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:47 pm
The New Publishers "Technology is rewriting the book on publishing. A number of companies help writers publish books, either on paper or online. Once upon a time, that approach was considered 'publishing with training wheels'. But the new customers for print on demand are often savvy marketers who understand what it takes to write and sell a book and are doing it using technology whose price is falling fast." Yahoo! (Investor's Business Daily) 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 5:48 pm
Google Offers Free Books Google plans to let surfers download complete texts of public domain books. "Using Google's Book Search service, Web surfers hunting titles like Dante's 'Inferno' and Aesop's 'Fables' will be able to download PDF files of the books for later reading, to run keyword searches or to print them on paper. Up to now, the service only allowed people to read the out-of-copyright books online." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (AP) 08/31/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 8:40 am
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Last Of The Animators As late as the 1990s, major movie studios employed as many as 2000-3000 animators. Now almost all of that work has gone to computers and there are only a few hundred working. That doesn't mean 2D animation is going away, though... Los Angeles Times 09/01/06
Posted: 09/01/2006 7:54 am
Netflix Becomes A Movie Player Netflix isn't just about renting DVDs any more. "Ironically, the little Los Gatos Internet upstart that relies on the first-class postage stamp to deliver its discs has become the player to beat. It now finances films. It scours independent festivals to procure movies that the studios miss. It's even begun exploring video on demand." Christian Science Monitor 09/01/06
Posted: 08/31/2006 6:59 pm
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