Is Boston Ready To Embrace The New? Bostonians have never been known for their cutting-edge taste when it comes to art. "But the new Institute of Contemporary Art is growing up into a museum that has the potential to be a player on the world stage. Boston's aesthetic can grow up with it."
Boston Globe 12/07/06 Posted: 12/07/2006 6:14 am
Tate Seeking £5m To Keep Turner In UK "The Tate launches a major campaign today to purchase one of Turner's late masterpieces, The Blue Rigi, a heartstopping view of Mount Rigi seen from Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, in which he captured the elusive moment when night fades into the pale light of dawn. The work is, according to the Tate, one of the finest watercolours painted. It needs to be, for Tate Britain must raise £4.95m to prevent it leaving the country. This would be the biggest sum it has ever paid for a single work of art."
The Guardian (UK) 12/07/06 Posted: 12/06/2006 9:23 pm
German Critic Slams Turner Honoree In the hours since German-born artist Tomma Abts was named the recipient of this year's Turner Prize, British art critics have been lining up to praise the selection. But Germany's leading critic begs to differ, saying in a blistering article that Abts's paintings look like East German wallpaper samples.
The Guardian (UK) 12/07/06 Posted: 12/06/2006 9:19 pm
You Might Even Argue That A Normal Building Is Out of Place There "A proposed residential tower designed by Foster and Partners for New York’s Upper East Side has sparked conflict between neighbors, pitting preservationists against the local artists, designers, and gallery owners who hope to see the building constructed... Foster argued that such ambitious architecture isn’t out of place in the neighborhood, and pointed to the Carlyle, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum as examples."
Business Week 12/07/06 Posted: 12/06/2006 8:35 pm
ICA Looking Good On Boston's Harborfront "Costing $41 million and three months late, the Institute of Contemporary Art is Boston's first new art museum in almost a century," and James Russell says that it looks like it will live up to the hype. "The 65,000-square-foot building's generous, light-filled lobby sweeps you around to a handsome glass elevator the size of a panel truck... The interior has architectural presence without getting in art's way. The outside pugnaciously asserts this old upstart's new place on the harbor -- and in the city."
Bloomberg 12/05/06 Posted: 12/06/2006 8:16 pm
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Another Ontario Orchestra Generating Drama Ontario's Orchestra London is on the verge of a possible musicians' strike over low pay and lack of benefits. "Most of the 29 full-time musicians (there are also 17 part-time musicians) are paid $23,223 for working a 36-week season... They receive no dental, drug, disability or health benefits. But the musicians are even more incensed by the fact that at a time when the symphony's operating revenue is at an all-time high, tickets sales are healthy and wages in other sectors of the organization have increased... base pay for musicians has inched up only 1.5 per cent per year since 2000." London Free Press (Ontario) 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 5:35 am
Domingo Roundly Booed At Met A performance of Puccini's La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera went awry this week to the extent that conductor Placido Domingo found himself getting lustily booed before the beginning of the third act. Domingo's offense was apparently to not have followed star soprano Anna Netrebko closely enough during her big arias in the first two acts. "In order to fully realize her artistic vision, she allowed each phrase to develop organically, unhurriedly, employing tasteful rubato and holding high notes expertly and impressively. But Mr. Domingo trudged along inattentively at metronomic speed, running noticeably ahead of his diva." New York Sun 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 5:31 am
The Complaining Choir Everybody loves to complain, but no one likes to listen to other people's complaints. If only bitching and moaning could somehow be made more aesthetically enjoyable, like maybe by having a 100-voice choir sing your personal kvetches in four-part harmony... The Guardian (UK) 12/06/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 9:29 pm
Cycling Towards Exhaustion, And For What? Wagner's Ring cycle is a daunting thing to stage under any circumstances, but to do it in four days with a traveling company that sets up shop in a new city whenever it feels like it? That's approaching insanity, and yet, it's what Valery Gergiev and his Mariinsky Theatre have been doing lately. Andrew Clarke is impressed with the dedication and effort of all involved, but says that the end result is less than stellar. "Much of the performance looked poorly rehearsed. Singers didn’t react to each other, preferring to follow a basic sequence of moves... With one or two exceptions, the standard of German was lamentable: why doesn’t Gergiev employ a language coach? As for the singing, there was not much of international standard." Financial Times (UK) 12/05/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 9:06 pm
Well-Timed Windfall In Tampa Bay The Florida Orchestra managed to raise 20% of the money it needs for day-to-day operations in 2007 in only a few minutes this week, when a prominent Tampa family foundation kicked in a cool million. The hefty donation comes at an important moment for the orchestra, which recently announced a $677,000 deficit. Tampa Tribune 12/07/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 8:23 pm
The Finn Factor Finland is a nation of just 5 million people that gained its independence less than a century ago, and yet its impact on the world of classical music has been growing exponentially in the last few decades. "It didn't happen by accident, of course. The country has earned its international reputation for music by seriously investing in it. Total spending by the ministry of culture last year amounted to €364 million ($615 million)." The Australian 12/07/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 7:47 pm
Delfs To Depart Milwaukee Andreas Delfs has announced that he will depart his post as music director of the Milwaukee Symphony when his newly extended contract expires in 2009. Delfs has led the MSO since 1998, and was also music director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra for several years earlier this decade. His final season in Milwaukee will also be the orchestra's 50th anniversary year. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 12/05/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 7:42 pm
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News Flash: Some Critics Not Popular With Those They Critique In New York, a play, concert series, or art exhibit can be made or broken on the say-so of a handful of extremely influential critics. So how do the artists who submit their work for the approval of such tastemakers feel about the job the critics do? Time Out New York found out, and the results were, well, predictable. Time Out New York 12/07/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 7:56 pm
- Thanks For The Kudos, But... AJ blogger Apollinaire Scherr, who also serves as dance critic for Newsday, was one of the critics put to the test in Time Out's survey, and she came out of the fire unscathed. But she also feels that the process used to conduct the survey was seriously flawed, from the selection of critics discussed to the inclusion of publicists on the judging panel. Foot In Mouth (AJ Blogs) 12/06/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 7:55 pm
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An Award? Me? Um, Okay, Sure, I Guess. The first woman to win the Turner Prize seems singularly unimpressed by that fact. In fact, Tomma Abts seems to regard her entire underexposed career as something of a personal experiment in success and failure. "Abts has never had formal training in fine art and hasn't taken a painting lesson in her life... She has always painted for herself, on the side, and the fact that it has ended in glory is something she finds quite amazing." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 9:13 pm
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Struggling Spring "It's got a cast of hot young things, plenty of sex, strong word-of- mouth, and the best score Broadway's heard in years. Not since Rent has a rock musical had as much going for it as Spring Awakening does. What's missing, however, is box office. Spring Awakening will open Sunday night at the O'Neill Theatre with well under $1 million in advance sales, a gulp-inducing sum for a major Broadway musical." New York Post 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 6:31 am
Broadway Veteran Accused Of Sexual Misconduct A prominent Broadway actor has been arrested and charged with having sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl who came backstage to meet him in 2001. James Barbour, who starred in Beauty & The Beast and Jane Eyre on Broadway, has admitted to kissing the girl, but insists that it stopped there. "There was allegedly another incident with the same girl during a dinner at an Eighth Avenue restaurant, and a third in Barbour's Upper West Side apartment, authorities said." The Globe & Mail (AP) 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 6:24 am
Your Kids & Broadway: A Ridiculously Expensive Gamble You're a good parent. You take every opportunity to expose your children to all the widely varied cultural events your city offers up, and that new musical version of Mary Poppins seems like just the holiday treat your kids could really sink their teeth into. One problem: you live in New York, where Broadway tickets can run $250 a pop. Furthermore, your kids are, well, kids, which means that they're unpredictable, and a $2 tantrum could well wind up ruining your thousand-dollar evening out. So answer me this: you feeling lucky, punk? The New York Times 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 5:45 am
Why Not More Gay Comedy In London? It's Simple Supply & Demand. "So Michael Billington wonders why British playwrights aren't writing more gay farces, when the gay comedy of manners is proving so successful on Broadway. There are two answers to this. One, because British theatres aren't commissioning them, and most writers have a hard enough time making ends meet without writing work just for the hell of it. And two, if gay writers write gay stories, we're told we're 'ghetto-ising' ourselves; if straight writers write about gay themes, they're told they don't know what they're talking about." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 9:40 pm
- Previously: Gay Themes, Boulevard Forms: Where New York Bests Britain "Whatever its faults, New York theatre has virtually patented a new form: the gay comedy of manners. Its origins lie in Mart Crowley's 1968 play The Boys in the Band, dealing with a surprise hetero visitor to a gay birthday bash. Crowley's work launched a series of plays that combined a gay agenda with mass audience appeal. In Britain, leaving aside Joe Orton's taboo-breaking farces, the only real equivalent is Kevin Elyot's My Night With Reg (1994). When will our own writers wake up to the fact that there is now a big market for gay boulevard comedy?" The Guardian (UK) 12/05/06
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McEwen's List Of Supporters Grows Much of the literary world is lining up behind novelist Ian McEwen as he defends himself from allegations of plagiarism. At the heart of the solidarity seems to be the idea that the international game of gotcha that has ensnared so many authors in the past few years has finally gone too far, sullying the reputation of a much-admired author who was merely using another author's work as inspiration, and who gave credit to that author besides. The New York Times 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 5:41 am
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Let The Parade Of Self-Congratulation Begin! "Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language film Letters from Iwo Jima has won the first major prize of the film award season. The film topped the US National Board of Review (NBR) list for best film. Helen Mirren was named best actress for The Queen, while Forest Whitaker won best actor for his portrayal of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland." BBC 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 6:49 am
The Retro Christmas Craze Television doesn't often go in for retro. Everything in the TV business seems to be contractually required to scream "new and different," even when the program in question is a pale imitation of dozens of others. So it's notable that, every Christmas season, TV is suddenly awash in ultra-low tech, decidedly old-school holiday specials. It's even more notable that viewers can't seem to get enough of them. "It's about the shared experience, the childhood memories that powerfully linger and the new memories adults are so desperate to create with their kids... Make no mistake, it's the parents driving this train." Washington Post 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 6:38 am
Treading Carefully On Sacred (But Funny) Ground Despite the tendency of comedians to embrace the topical, you don't see a lot of Islamic-based comedy in Western countries, in part because of how easy it has been to inflame Muslim sensibilities to deadly effect of late. But a new Canadian sitcom is meeting the issue head-on. "Its creators admit to uneasiness as to whether Canadians and Americans can laugh about the daily travails of those who many consider a looming menace... The strongest insurance against outrage from the faithful is that [the show was created by] a Canadian Muslim of Pakistani origin whose own assimilation, particularly after she left Toronto for Regina, Saskatchewan, 10 years ago, provides much of the comic fodder." The New York Times 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 5:53 am
Oscar Dabbles In A Bit Of The Ol' Ultraviolence "The fight for the Oscar is often a bloody one, filled with subplots, capers, and strategic stabs to the back, metaphorically speaking. But this year an unusual amount of mayhem is showing up in the movies themselves. Academy members in the thick of screenings for the Oscars could be forgiven for wishing they had donned surgical scrubs for what has become a very bloody year." The New York Times 12/07/06
Posted: 12/07/2006 5:50 am
Why Hollywood Keeps Its Closet Door Locked Hollywood's public promotion of gay rights stands in stark contrast to its desperate cling to the inside of the closet door, writes Andrew Gumbel. "Playing gay and admitting to being gay are two completely different things. When it comes to the latter, Hollywood still adheres to the mentality that American audiences look to their on-screen idols as outlets for their own romantic fantasies and thus need to think of them as strictly heterosexual. The mentality is not necessarily wrong - homophobia is certainly widespread in the American heartland, as evidenced by the slew of recent state ballot initiatives condemning gay marriage. But it does suggest a certain failure of the imagination." The Independent (UK) 12/06/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 9:46 pm
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Sugar Plum Conundrum What is it about the Sugar Plum Fairy that sets so many ballerinas' hearts atwitter? Hers is not a leading role, not even close, and compared to some of the leaping, cavorting characters in The Nutcracker, she's not even that interesting from a dance point of view. "Sugar Plum is always in danger of being little more than a pink and pretty vacuum - which is why a succession of producers have attempted to invent extra substance for her." The Guardian (UK) 12/06/06
Posted: 12/06/2006 9:34 pm
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