While straight plays may be endangered species on the Great White Way, Off Broadway has no shortage of stars. New York Times
Month: November 1999
DIGITAL BIENNIAL
For the first time, the Whitney Museum plans to include digital artists in its Biennial, scheduled for next year. New York Times
BOUGHTA-BOTICELLI
They were getting the packing crates ready to ship £15 million Boticelli from the UK to Fort Worth’s Kimbell Museum. At the last minute the director of the Scottish National Gallery managed to put the money together and… The Guardian
SCAFFOLDING AND GREY PLASTIC SHEETING EVERYWHERE
Italy is cleaning up its architecture and monuments for the millennium. Too bad someone can’t stop the cars and industrial pollution that got them dirty in the first place. ARTnewspaper.com
HALLELUJAH
Frank McNamara has rewritten Handel’s “Messiah.” New version stars Gladys Knight (without the Pips), Chaka Khan and Roger Daltry. “I just thought it would be great to do a pop version,” says McNamara. “There are great tunes in it. At the end of the day, music is entertainment. I don’t think it should be challenging.” – Irish Times
FROM ICON TO DIRTY WORD (AND BACK?)
Norman Rockwell is hot again. New show tours blue-chip museums. And now a generous TV documentary reappraisal of Rockwell’s stature — Abstract Expressionism be damned. San Francisco Chronicle
- And: Bad taste returns. Artnet.com 11/22/99
Atlanta Symphony signs –
– new contract with its musicians after three years of acrimonious negotiations. – Atlanta Journal-Constitution
REOPENING OF COVENT GARDEN –
– begins with a closure. Ligeti opera canceled. – BBC
BRITAIN LOST AN ORCHESTRA LAST WEEK
Bournemouth Sinfonietta goes out of business due to money problems. Did anyone notice? – London Telegraph
THE “IDEAL PERFORMANCE IN YOUR HEAD”
Mahler performance with Boston orchestra is good, but… a review. – Boston Globe
- Previously: WALTER MITTY NEVER HAD IT GO GOOD: Millionaire businessman Gilbert Kaplan has a thing for Mahler’s Second Symphony – though not a conductor, he decided he must conduct it, hired an orchestra and performed it, performed it again with major orchestras around the world, made a recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, created a foundation for Mahler scholarship and performance, and amassed a collection of every Mahler photograph, which he published in his book, ”The Mahler Album.” – Boston Globe 11/19/99