Month: December 2003

California’s ‘Arts City’ Is A Suburb?

“Located 25 miles southeast of Los Angeles and 15 minutes from Newport Beach, Costa Mesa has been dubbed the City of the Arts. It’s a magical, art-filled cultural and even shopping mecca – from its Orange County Performing Arts Center and South Coast Repertory theater complex to many outdoor sculptures and its world-class ‘anti-mall.'” And while L.A. may have Disney Hall, it is this Orange County suburb which has come to embody the spirit of the arts as ingrained in a community’s soul. Oh, and it’s not bad for tourism, either.

Nashville Breaks Ground On New Hall

If ever there were a sign that the current North American orchestral “crisis” does not signal the inevitable demise of the form, the Nashville Symphony is it. As other mid-sized orchestras around the country file for bankruptcy, issue general panic alerts, and beg the public for short-term emergency cash infusions, Nashville has quietly and competently gone about raising $100 million of the $120 million it needs to build a new concert hall in the city’s vibrant downtown. Construction begins this week, and the hall, which will seat 1,900 and be owned by the orchestra, is expected to be completed by the beginning of the 2006-07 season.

Looking For A Vision

A longtime Seattle newspaper editor is issuing a call for a newly invigorated vision for the city’s arts scene. Noting that the city’s Bookfest is held at a substandard facility, and that it was forced to charge an attendance fee for the first time this year to make up a deficit, Lou Guzzo thinks that the city needs to make the arts a far greater priority, even if it means using tax dollars to match private contributions. “Taxpaying citizens have an equal share in all the cultural organizations that provide not only a wealth of great programming for the public but also the teachers of their children in every phase of music, drama, ballet and all the rest of the arts.”

What Is It About Texans And Iraq?

Since the end of major combat in Iraq, the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra has gotten a fair amount of press coverage for its dedication and commitment to continuing to perform, even as the country struggles for the bare essentials of life. Still, while the INSO may be a hard-working bunch, they lack many of the basic necessities of a professional orchestra: most notably, a readable collection of written parts for the players. Hearing of the problem, the orchestral librarians of Dallas and Fort Worth have spent the last few months leading a nationwide movement to supply the Iraqis with sheet music. So far, hundreds of works have been donated, and the librarians aren’t done yet.

Is Cold Weather The Strad Secret?

A mini-ice age that gripped Europe from the 15th to the 19th century may just hold the secret to the spectacular sound of the Stradivarius violin. According to a theory being advanced by two American researchers, the cold weather yielded an unusually dense grade of spruce, which serves as a near-perfect sounding board for the instruments crafted by Italian master Antonio Stradivari.

For Want Of A Theatre

There is a big shortage of mid-size dance theatres in New York. “The Joyce seeks to place dance at the front and center of the debate over how to redevelop Lower Manhattan, and central issue is space; that New York’s dance card is full this year only underscores the demand for it. What is needed, dance producers and company directors say, is a midsize-to-large dance theater (1,000 to 2,200 seats) with stages big enough to accommodate large companies with productions — classics like “Swan Lake,” for example — that require more scenery than a backdrop and a few props.”

Bolshoi Dancer No “Fourth Swan”

Reinstated Bolshoi ballerina Anastasia Volochkova says she won’t accept lesser roles now that she’s been rehired by the Bolshoi Ballet. “She has objected to comments by the Russian culture minister that she should take any ‘fourth swan’ role she is given after winning back her job. She said: ‘I have played the leading role in nearly every classical ballet’.”

When Harry And Sally Went To the West End

A musical stage version of the movie “When Harry Met Sally” is headed for London’s West End. It’s the latest in a string of theatre projects to be made based on movies. “The play is set to open in February for an initial limited run of 16 weeks. The role of Sally – Meg Ryan in the film – was likely to go to an American actress, producer James Tod said.”

Heppner – Back In Form

After stumbling in recital in Toronto last week, Ben Heppner recovers in Vancouver, writes William Littler. “Whether he is correct in his vocal diagnosis — that he has been suffering from sheer fatigue, rather than something more serious — remains to be determined through the course of future performances. In the meantime, Canada’s most important voice on the world’s operatic stage appears to be on the mend and the relaxed way in which Ben Heppner bantered with his Vancouver listeners and signed post-concert autographs for a lobby full of them, suggests that its owner, at least, isn’t greatly worried.”