The beleaguered Calgary Philharmonic, which very nearly became part of the list of defunct North American orchestras last year, is back in business, with a tough new CEO at the helm and a professed commitment to financial responsibility above all. In addition to hiring retired oil executive Mike Bregazzi to run the organization, the CPO is dramatically restructuring the role of its board, increasing its regional visibility, and introducing a flexible ticket-pricing plan which it hopes will draw new audience.
Month: August 2003
Bringing Some Clout To The Art Repatriation Fight
“A British peer is in Vienna to try to persuade Austrian authorities to return a £10m painting stolen from a British family by the Nazis.” Lord Janner of Braunstone’s trip to Vienna is the latest salvo in his crusade to shame the Austrians into returning the Egon Schiele painting to its pre-WWII owners, who fled the country in 1938. Austrian law compels the government to turn over all such artworks which are publicly held, but Lord Janner claims that the government is using “cheating, fraudulent, disgraceful” tactics to sidestep the law.
Shaw Fest – Where Did The Audience Go?
Southern Ontario’s Shaw Festival was in reinventing mode this summer. But “a host of factors ranging from SARS to the Iraq war has scared away a big part of its audience and made it impossible for new artistic director Jackie Maxwell to determine if her vision will succeed.”
What’s Happened To Contemporary Art?
“There is a cynicism in the heart of much that passes for art today, which sits oddly with its claim to be art. After all, art has to be positive, even when it deals with the most depressing aspects of experience, because if it isn’t what is the point of making it? But far from seeking a positive response to its work, the establishment art of today actually stimulates a negative reaction…”
The Sex Problem
Why do American movies have such a difficult time dealing with sex? “Is there a fear of dealing with grown-up sexuality in movies? Absolutely. Movies are intentionally sexy without being sexual, because puerile teasing is a kind of salesmanship. The sad corollary is the preponderance of violence in American films. A foreigner judging the United States by its films would think Americans spend more time running from exploding fireballs than having sex. The reluctance to depict explicit sexuality in mainstream films might be attributed to the times, but major directors quietly acknowledge their interest in making films about sex and its consequences.”
Recreating The Infamous Rite
The Kirov Ballet recreates Nijinsky’s infamous “Rite of Spring” in the original version which caused scandals in Paris in 1913. “Millicent Hodson, a ballet archaeologist has, with her husband Kenneth Archer, has spent the last 10 years recreating every step of the original, in which a young girl is chosen by her peers to dance herself to death, as a sacrifice to ensure the return of the Spring.”
Failed Rite
Ismene Brown writes that trying to recreate a ballet whose steps were forgotten seven years after they were first seen is a fraud. “It is a travesty and it makes you believe that Nijinksy was a fraud, who parachuted on greater talents to create the work that sealed his reputation. The Kirov’s acquisition of this contaminated object is a cardinal mistake, and they must dump it like a stone.”
Robert McFerrin At 82
Robert McFerrin (father of singer Bobby McFerrin) is 82. “In 1955, McFerrin became the first black man to be signed to New York’s Metropolitan Opera. He also performed the songs for a lip-synching Sidney Poitier in the 1959 MGM classic ‘Porgy and Bess’. He was honored June 18 in St. Louis with a lifetime achievement award from Opera America.”
More Terror Than Comedy
The self-styled “Comedy Terrorist” gained notoriety in the UK after casrhing Prince William’s birthday party. Now he’s at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He’s dreadful – a “talent-free zone.” “Throughout its tortuous, one-hour length, the show radiated this sort of laziness. The gags, most of which revolved around the conflicts in the Middle East, were too pathetic to repeat; the props smacked of a primary-school play. And then there was the delivery. Oh lordy, the delivery…”
Warhol At 75
Andy Warhol would have been 75 this week. “He might be taken aback by his status as a household name, and by the fact that his personal museum has become a cultural cornerstone of his hometown. Or maybe he’d be taken aback just for a little while and then revel in his fame, given his fascination with the concept…”