A (Wildly Successful) Product Of His Era "The career curve that is traced [in a new London exhibition] takes Rodin from the youthful emulation of classical figures to a position of extra-ordinary eminence from whose heights he 'heralded the modern age'... But this avid appetite for contemporary relevance is distracting: the more important point about Rodin is that he was not very modern at all, either in style or subject matter. In fact he was the 19th-century artist writ large, the product of an era when the capture of mainstream art by capital, and by the state, was a recent phenomenon, and when successful artists became not only powerful celebrities but also full participants in the social and economic establishment." Financial Times (UK) 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 9:20 am
The Most Underrated Famous Architects In The World "It takes a certain chutzpah to argue that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is underrated. The firm is, after all, a colossus of world architecture with well over 10,000 projects to its credit, including several of the most iconic modernist buildings of the 20th century... But none of this quite dispels the sense that when the story of American architecture's development is told, SOM, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, gets short shrift." Chicago Sun-Times 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 9:11 am
Recycled Safety Trumps Original Design Nashville's new Schermerhorn Symphony Center has received plenty of raves since opening two weeks ago. But not everyone loves the design: "The symphony's leaders could have chosen to make a bold statement about the present and future of classical music in their city, as orchestras in Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia have done in recent years by commissioning Frank Gehry, Cesar Pelli and Rafael Vinoly, respectively. Instead they turned to David Schwarz, a capable architect but hardly a visionary, who has delivered exactly what was ordered: a custom-made amalgam of recycled architectural elements from the past, most connected only tenuously to Nashville." Chicago Sun-Times 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 8:38 am
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Inconsistent? Yes. Enigmatic? Sure. Worth The Trouble? Absolutely. Christoph Eschenbach has come in for no small amount of criticism since taking the reins of the Philadelphia Orchestra. But David Patrick Stearns says that there's no question that the maestro has earned an extension of his tenure. "He has made Philadelphia an island of European musical life in the best possible way... On good nights, Eschenbach isn't just exciting - he goes to the heart of every phrase with a conviction and specificity that few others match." Philadelphia Inquirer 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 8:42 am
- A Failed Experiment Peter Dobrin respects Eschenbach's musical skills, but says that the partnership with a notoriously difficult orchestra in Philadelphia just isn't working out. "Eschenbach may have done wonders for the orchestra's endowment, but he's not creating a new sound for the ensemble, or even successfully layering his erratic interpretive thoughts on the orchestra's vaunted plushness. No, what counts as success these days is Eschenbach and the orchestra reaching the last measure of a piece without getting lost along the way." Philadelphia Inquirer 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 8:40 am
As It Turns Out, It Is Possible To Ignore America Now that Toronto finally has a proper opera house, William Littler says that it's about time the city's opera company expanded its repertoire to include American works. "Although Canada's largest opera company already boasts the country's broadest operatic repertoire, one important part of the literature remains almost completely ignored — that emanating from south of the border." Toronto Star 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 8:05 am
Paris Opens A New (Old) Concert Hall "This month, [Paris's] Salle Pleyel reopened after its most radical renovation to date, a $36 million makeover that involved gutting and redesigning its main auditorium. And along with the infamous echo, all traces of its past, except for its finely restored Art Deco foyer, have vanished. Put simply, 79 years after its inauguration, the Salle Pleyel is once again a new concert hall." The New York Times 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 7:47 am
The Friendly Neighborhood Met? New York's Metropolitan Opera has a well-earned reputation as a tradition-bound, buttoned-up organization. So for the Met to throw open its doors to allow the public to spend an afternoon behind the scenes qualifies as legitimate news. "The event was part of a carefully calibrated buildup of publicity set in motion by Peter Gelb, the new general manager, in the days leading up to Monday’s opening night." The New York Times 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 7:44 am
The Conductor As All-Purpose Ambassador For most orchestras, finding staff conductors who can both conduct at a high level and successfully engage a wide range of audiences, from children to the elderly, is a nearly impossible task. But the San Antonio Symphony thinks it has found one. "[David] Cho has made fans for his engaging, often boyish, interplay with audiences. He donned a red clown nose for a show last year, and often jokes with the crowd about his work and the music. It's like VH1's 'Pop-Up Video' for classical music. And Cho's work with community and children's groups has brought in new audiences." San Antonio Express-News 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 7:37 am
Is Syracuse Headed For A Strike? Sunday night, the musicians of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra will vote on a contract offer mere hours before their first scheduled rehearsal of the season, and no one seems to know what the outcome will be. "The current negotiations echo a last-minute crisis in 1998. That year, the musicians began a strike on the first day of rehearsal - four days before the first scheduled concert." Syracuse Post-Standard 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 7:34 am
How To Work The Downloading System Out of the mess that is the music industry's battle against online piracy have emerged two basic legitimate business models for downloading music: the per-song or per-album charge, and the rent-a-music-library-by-the-month system. So which is better, and how do you get the best value for your music dollar? The answer may be surprising. "With a few well-placed strategies, you can leverage the subscription model to make your days and nights more musical -- at home, at the office, or on the road." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 6:53 am
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A Revolution Vindicated Composer Steve Reich turns 70 next month, and he has never been more in demand as a musical figurehead. "Reich may be an acclaimed cultural figure now, but at the beginning he was a revolutionary... He happily reclaimed the harmonies that the Western world had found sufficient for centuries; indeed, he looked back further to medieval music, as well as to Hebrew chant, and Balinese and African percussion traditions... And this was so controversial that, during the first 10 years of his ensemble, most of the performances of Reich's music were in art galleries and museums, not concert halls." The Independent (UK) 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 8:20 am
Worthy Of Respect, But Always An Enigma "Born in St. Petersburg a century ago tomorrow, Shostakovich remains a subject of fascination and respect 31 years after his death in Moscow. He continues to speak to us, sometimes in the clearest and most direct of voices, sometimes through a veil that leaves us wondering exactly what might be behind the notes... Although Shostakovich could write pieces full of light and wit and charm, the overriding quality in his creative output is a deep seriousness. This is a composer of conviction. And truth." Baltimore Sun 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 8:11 am
Beating The Kids At Their Own Game "[Ronald] Harwood, 71, has reached an age when even the most successful screenwriters are usually relegated to living off royalties and rehashing their past triumphs over long lunches at the Grill... Producers and executives are well aware of his age yet have included him in a small but highly valued group of senior players — like the 79-year-old Spider-Man writer Alvin Sargent, or the prolific 81-year-old writer-director Robert Altman — who have defied the film industry’s frank preference for youth." The New York Times 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 7:51 am
Interpersonal Skills Are Overrated, Anyway There are plenty of superstar conductors in the classical music world, but you won't see orchestra musicians bowing at the altar of too many of them. That makes the success of Valery Gergiev all the more remarkable. "Many say he is a tough, even merciless, taskmaster." But somehow, at the end of the day, the musicians Gergiev leads look past his terse style and praise his artistry. Oakland Tribune 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 7:29 am
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Rocky Mountain Revival "The Denver Center Theatre Company opens its 28th season Thursday continuing a strong rebound that began with the hiring of second-year artistic director Kent Thompson. As of Thursday, advance sales were $140,000 ahead of the same date last season." Denver Post 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 9:18 am
Looking For Space In Chicago Chicago is unquestionably a great theatre town. But is America's Second City suffering from an undersupply of good downtown venues? "With Friday's announcement that the Broadway hit Jersey Boys is arriving in Chicago a year from now -- with no particular need or inclination to leave -- this is hardly the stuff of fantasy. It's more the stuff of an impending logjam." Chicago Tribune 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 9:14 am
Better Shakespeare Through Arguing Shakespeare productions in recent decades have tended to draw attention to their staging, their avant-garde settings, even their unconventional costuming. But a new book attempts to delve deeper into what has always made Shakespeare great: his use of language. The author's aim is to "bring to the reader a lot of what I find to be incredibly exciting controversies over how to speak Shakespeare, how to play Shakespeare, how to listen to Shakespeare, how to watch Shakespeare. Controversies that have scholars at each other's throats, that have directors and actors pounding the table." Boston Globe 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 9:07 am
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Author Accused of Lying May Have The Last Word Kathy O'Beirne stunned the Irish literary world when her memoir of "a life of child rape, abuse and violence that implicates nuns in the Catholic clergy as well as her late father" was released. But since publication, O'Beirne has been repeatedly accused of making the whole story up, and several of her own relatives have called the book a fraud. Now, O'Beirne believes she has the evidence to prove that her horrific story is true. The Observer (UK) 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 9:27 am
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Forget The Kids, Bring On The Good Stuff! Animation is serious business in most countries, and while America has no shortage of talented animators, the genre is being held hostage by Hollywood's insatiable desire to market anything animated to children, says Ty Burr. "Aside from the stray burst of maverick inspiration -- Tim Burton's stop-motion Corpse Bride or Richard Linklater's rotoscoped A Scanner Darkly -- most alternative animation comes from overseas, where grown-up audiences have always been less uptight about the form." Boston Globe 09/24/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 9:04 am
The Multiplex As All-Purpose Entertainment Center There was a time when all a movie theater had to do to make money was to run a few ads and show a few movies. But those days are long gone, and increasingly, cinema owners are turning to unconventional events to put butts in the seats. "The future of movie theatres, in fact, seems to have less and less to do with movies as new technology allows cinemas to telecast everything from hockey, wrestling, opera and HBO comedy specials to hosting children's birthday parties, church services and interactive video games." Toronto Star 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 7:58 am
The Christians, The Talking Vegetables, And Madonna Accusations of censorship have a long and mostly undistinguished history in the world of television, and two recent controversies have placed religious conservative activists in an odd situation. "The disputes, over [NBC's] proposed broadcast of a Madonna concert that includes a crucifixion scene and over its cutting religious references from the animated children’s show 'VeggieTales,' have some critics charging that NBC maintains a double standard toward Christianity." The New York Times 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 7:48 am
Fighting Obesity With... Um... TV? As a rule, television is not known for its role in nurturing healthy, active children. So when a long-running PBS children's show announced that it intended to do just that, a bit of skepticism was understandable. "Though TV has long been the whipping boy for society's ills, skyrocketing childhood obesity rates have spurred many children's shows to include - with varying degrees of success - healthy-living messages in their programs." New York Daily News 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 7:41 am
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Dance On Paper Creating a historical record of dance is one of the greatest challenges in the arts world, but a few dedicated souls are stepping up to the task. "Dance archives are not just a librarian's or a historian's resource. Dance companies and choreographers rely on a lot of these materials to reconstruct dances of the past. Traditionally, ballet has always been passed on anecdotally, from dancer to dancer. Modern dance has only recently been documented." Toronto Star 09/23/06
Posted: 09/24/2006 8:00 am
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