A National Music Museum in Washington DC has been talked about for 11 years. Now, the group working on the project pledges to open it in five years. “The group has already helped raise $5 million and is now committed to raising $100 million to fund the $200 million project.”
Month: December 2003
Robbins: Dissent=Patriotism
Actor Tim Robbins has a new play opening in Los Angeles. He says that “being lambasted as un-American” for his outspoken views on the Iraq war has been “tough to swallow. Despite his radical rep, he actually sees his penchant for democratically sanctioned dissent as every bit as all-American as his love of baseball. He says his moral compass has always guided him toward saying and doing what he thinks is right, to speaking the truth when he sees hypocrisy in the world, and he has trouble understanding why so many people take issue with the simple logic of his frankness.”
In Dallas – The Litton Years
Critic Scott Cantrell assesses Andrew Litton’s tenure as director of the Dallas Symphony, and ponders what the orchestra might look for in his successor: “Mr. Litton certainly energized the DSO and raised its profile in the community. He took the orchestra on three European tours and conducted it in four concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall. In an era when union contracts largely priced American orchestras out of the recording market, he and the DSO turned out an amazing 23 CDs. As time wore on, musicians, local cognoscenti and critics grumbled about a lack of depth.”
Sandow: Let’s Tell The Truth – Litton’s Not A Good Conductor
Greg Sandow wonders why the announcement of Andrew Litton’s departure from the Dallas Symphony wasn’t rougher on his accomplishments: “So here’s the truth. Litton’s not thought of as a good conductor. He can make a splashy effect; that’s about it. Musicians who’ve played for him are damning. Administrators at orchestras where he’s guest-conducted are equally damning. If Litton were a pop musician, everything I’ve written here would have been in the press long ago. Everybody would have known it. Dallas would have been abuzz. Which leads me back to something I’ve said here before. In classical music, there’s very little accountability. We have to stop treating classical music as if it were something sacred – or something that needs to be protected – and start describing things the way they really are.”
Saddled By The Vietnam Memorial Cliche
The Vietnam Memorial was a revolution in thinking about memorials. “Twenty-one years later, the wall of names has become a visual cliche and memorial designers are straining to reach the profound synthesis of form and meaning that the Vietnam memorial so eloquently achieved. The finalists in the World Trade Center memorial competition have many of the superficial attributes of the Vietnam Memorial — the stark materials, the abstract vocabulary, the striving for elemental simplicity. Yet at this point, they are simply Maya Lin wannabes, not the real thing.”
Bidding War For Goodspeed Opera
The Goosdspeed Opera House has reliably prospered for 127 years in its present Connecticut home. “But now the theater is considering building a new stage in nearby Middletown, a re-energized small industrial city that has offered the Goodspeed the moon in exchange for a share of its star power. The Goodspeed’s leaders were surprised and impressed by the town’s offer, which includes a $5 million grant, expedited permitting and free land downtown.”
Perry Wins Turner Prize
Pottery artist Grayson Perry has won this year’s Turner Prize. “Perry accepted the award in a dress, as his female alter-ego Claire, thanked his wife and said he was ‘stunned’. A popular choice among the public, he beat off competition from the favourites, the Chapman brothers.”
Australian National Gallery Courtyard Attacked
A courtyard at Australia’s National Museum in Canberra has come under attack. “The public is overwhelmingly hostile towards the courtyard. They don’t like it and something has to be done,” says the chairman of a council set up to review the work. “Conservatives, led by former Howard speechwriter and council member Christopher Pearson have decried the museum’s futuristic design and complex architectural symbols since it opened in March 2001.”
The Museum Shopping Experience
More and more museums are opening stores – often in malls and shopping centers far away from their homes. “Totaling more than 1,800 nationwide, such stores generally offer a range of products tied to their museums’ missions. You typically don’t need to pay admission to shop, and purchases help provide vital financial support, up to as much as a third of some museums’ operating budgets.”
Overlooking Dali’s Fascism?
The 100th anniversary of Salvatore Dali’s birth is coming. Vincente Navarro writes that: “The Spanish establishment, with the assistance of the Catalan establishment, wants to mobilize international support for their painter, Dali, portraying him as a “rebel,” an “anti-establishment figure” who stood up to the dominant forces of art. They compare Dali with Picasso. A minor literary figure in Catalonia, Baltasar Porcel (chairman of the Dali year commission), has even said that if Picasso, “who was a Stalinist” (Porcel’s term), can receive international acclaim, then Dali, who admittedly supported fascism in Spain, should receive his own homage.”