The Cleveland Orchestra has declined an invitation to perform at the BBC Proms because its concerts would be webcast on a BBC website with no additional payment to the Cleveland musicians. Norman Lebrecht cannot believe his ears: “Open access is what makes the Proms a magnet for the world’s great orchestras who, after the formalities of their overlong seasons, feast upon its effervescent atmosphere like nomads at an oasis. The trade-off is that everyone does it on the cheap… We are not talking here of the poor and downtrodden of the musical earth. The basic wage in the Cleveland Orchestra is $97,090 per annum, twice the going rate for London musicians and for less than half the work.”
Month: April 2004
Wage Gap Between Soloists And Orchestra Players Causes Discord
The gap between what orchestra musicians earn and what star soloists and conductors earn is wide. And causing some unhappiness in the ranks. “A typically eminent conductor earns, per concert, about a quarter as much as the typical full-time player earns all year. Given that most freelance orchestral contractors can expect as little as £75 per concert, the fees lavished on top conductors and soloists can rankle.”
San Diego Museum Names New Director
“Derrick R. Cartwright, director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, has been named the executive director of the San Diego Museum of Art.”
The Confusions Of Multiculturalism
“We live in a multicultural society now, right? Well, I think we deserve a lot better from it. On the other hand, maybe Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, is right when he says we should abandon multiculturalism completely. Encourage everyone, immigrants and asylum seekers included, to embrace English culture and history as their own. Perhaps that will help to remove stereotypes for ever. But that brings up a new set of problems. What form of English culture do we all adopt? In fact, what is English culture? I do not know what that is.”
Atlantic Theatre Festival Cancels Season
Nova Scotia’s Atlantic Theatre Festival has canceled its 2004 season. “Not enough money put our organization into a tailspin of not being sure where we stood. We didn’t have funds to pay staff, to pay the artistic community, and putting it all together — morally and from a fiscally responsible point of view — we could not proceed.”
BBC To Up Culture Programming
The BBC says it will dramatically increase its arts anc culture programming. “A new arts programme called The Culture Show will air on BBC Two along with a media analysis show on BBC Four. BBC Radio 2 will relaunch its weekly arts strand and increase the number of hours it dedicates to the arts to more than 100 hours per year.”
Rattle Attacked By German Critic
Is Simon Rattle’s honeymoon as director of the Berlin Philharmonic over? He’s been attacked by a leading critic. “The article, entitled “Simon von Rattle” compared the conductor to the dictatorial Herbert von Karajan, the Berlin Phil’s last director but one, and described Sir Simon’s music-making with the orchestra as “uninspiring”, “insubstantial” and “transparent”.”
Wolbers Wins Beck’s Futures
“Saskia Olde Wolbers has won the £24,000 Beck’s Futures art prize. The 33-year-old was handed the cheque by Yoko Ono last night at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.”
Last Days Of Scottish Opera?
“The odds are that the new production of La Bohème, which opens tonight at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, will be the last time that Scottish Opera performs as a full-scale, year-round national organisation. The crisis has a long, bitter history. Nobody has ever doubted that Scottish Opera has been pitifully under-funded for the job it is required to do, but all attempts to rationalise its operations have foundered.”
London’s Giant Pickle
Norman Foster’s new skyscraper has “slipped so easily into the London skyline that it comes as a shock to discover that it officially opened only yesterday. That is the trouble with a very, very tall building. It takes so long to go up that, by the time it is finished, you feel you’ve known it for ever.”