Month: December 2003

Of Thee I Sing (Won’t Anybody Listen?)

Why is choral music such an outsider in the larger music world? Indeed, choral music has almost as much trouble gaining acceptance as new music. “Could it be that the choral world has too strong a hold on its citizenship? Are the immigration policies too stringent to allow “non-choral composers” inside, and likewise, to allow “choral composers” opportunities to sell their wares to the outside world? Certainly composers such as Arvo Pärt are becoming known in the choral world almost to the point of being appropriated into that ‘community,’ albeit willingly. On the other hand, many composers find it difficult to break into, but not for lack of desire.”

DC Gov Gets Into The Arts Biz

Historically, Washington DC government has not funded the arts in much of a significant way. But DC recently approved $20 million towards a new downtown home for the Shakespeare Theatre. The city’s mayor wants to dramatically increase cultural funding – “despite the city’s general fiscal troubles – by pitching theaters and galleries as economic development projects and arguing that they should be funded through sources that do not directly compete with routine city services.”

Why “Angels” Is So Powerful

“Angels in America is, like any good funeral, more for the living than for the dead. That’s where “life beyond hope” comes in. Even if an AIDS cure were announced tomorrow, survivors and caretakers couldn’t simply block out the last quarter-century and groove on the latest Rufus Wainwright disc. You’ve seen the purple leg – in the flesh – and there’s no going back.”

Goodspeed – Embarrasment Of Riches

Connecticut’s Goodspeed Musicals has been offered a sweetheart deal to leave the town it’s called home for 127 years. Maybe the theatre could operate in two venues? “While it would be great to support two theatres, I don’t think it’s possible. We have to choose between the two towns. The clock is ticking: We want to finally get this theatre built so we’re not going to drag our feet in making a decision.”

Kennedy Center Honors

Comedienne Carol Burnett, country music star Loretta Lynn, soul legend James Brown, film and stage director Mike Nichols and violinist Itzhak Perlman get their Kennedy Center Honors. “In time-honored style, each was enveloped in adulation, encomiums supplied by a parade of fellow celebs.”

Why “Angels” Don’t Fly On TV

The TV version of “Angels in America” has been well-hyped. Jan Herman watched and came away disappointed. “The common complaint that big films come off poorly on the tube applies doubly in this case to big plays. It’s hard to imagine how Nichols spent $60 million when the production looks like a routine TV drama, despite the special effects. Actually, in contrast to the play, which largely dispensed with realistic scenery and left most of the design to the imagination, Sunday night’s “big event” often looked so set-bound and old-fashioned in the way it was shot that routine TV dramas have more edge.”

SF Opera Posts $3.8 Million Deficit

“The San Francisco Opera will close the books on the 2003 fiscal year with an operating deficit of $3.8 million, General Director Pamela Rosenberg said Friday. That deficit on an operating budget of approximately $60 million is a sizable amount, but far less than the previous year’s loss of $7.6 million — not to mention the $9.2 million shortfall that company officials had originally predicted.”

Barenboim – An Artist’s Dilemma

“The question of when an artist must engage in politics remains a painful, personal dilemma. It is an issue that preoccupies Daniel Barenboim, Israel’s most celebrated musician and its most vociferous critic. Barenboim has taken his opposition to Israeli policy to the front line, forming a youth orchestra from both sides of the conflict and teaching twice a year at a conservatory in Ramallah whose 800 students, he admits, are imbued with a hatred of Israel. He has been abused by Israeli politicians and pelted with vegetables in a Jerusalem restaurant. But the more he criticises Israel, the deeper his commitment grows.”

Former NYPhil Trustee Jumps To Lincoln Center

A major trustee of the New York Philharmonic, who left the board last month after opposing the orchestra’s proposed merger with Carnegie Hall, has joined the board of Lincoln Center. “While Rita Hauser has made donations to Lincoln Center and has served on its board as a representative of the Philharmonic, most of her financial support — millions of dollars — has gone to the orchestra during her 25 years on its board. She said yesterday that she might continue to support the Philharmonic but ‘not at the same level’.”