The New York Philharmonic and New York radio station WQXR have expanded the orchestra’s national radio series from to 52 weeks (up from 39,) making it one of a very small number of American orchestras to have a year-round radio home for live concerts, and the only American ensemble with a 52-week national series. The New York Philharmonic This Week is currently heard on 250 stations across the U.S.
Month: March 2006
Sawallisch Retires
Conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch, who led the Philadelphia Orchestra for much of the 1990s and is known in Europe as one of the finest operatic conductors of his generation, is reported to have officially retired from the podium. “The 82-year-old Sawallisch has canceled a series of appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and other groups this season because of an unspecified illness… He has suffered from orthostatic hypotension, a blood pressure problem, in the past.”
The Year Of The Bard
The Royal Shakespeare Company is preparing to mount every play the Bard ever wrote, all within a single calendar year. “A new 1,000-seat Stratford venue, the thrust-staged Courtyard, opens in July and will be used alongside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the Swan. Not that matters are confined to conventional spaces; Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried, will host the politics and pageantry of Henry VIII.”
Museums In The Wrong Hands
“I have yet to see a performing arts museum that fires the theatregoer’s imagination. Vienna’s House of Music and London’s Handel House Museum are thin stuff for a rainy day and St Petersburg’s Museum of Performing Arts is positively soporific. Digital interaction might help but the only way to put on a show about the performing arts to involve a showman.”
UK Tops Arts Spending
Citizens of the UK lead all nations in per capita spending on arts and culture. “In the UK, the average household spending on recreation and culture as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) is 7.9%. This figure, which has risen from 6.5% in 1991, puts the UK at the top of the table of OECD countries, ahead of countries such as France and Germany, who spend 5.2% per household and 5% respectively, and above even the leisure-loving Australians, who come in second at 7.2%.”
NBC-On-Demand
Comcast had made a deal with NBC to make NBC’s programming available on demand. “The deal makes available top prime-time and late night programs from the NBC broadcast network, as well as popular shows from NBC Universal’s USA, Bravo and Sci-Fi cable channels.”
Blockbuster Art In Seattle’s Music Museum
Billionaire Paul Allen shows off a bit of his (reputedly terrific) art collection in a show at his Experience Music Project in Seattle. “Allen’s $250 million museum could use the sales boost. Since opening in 2000, annual visits have dropped from a peak of 531,000 to 378,000 last year. Advance ticket sales for the $8 art show have been “brisk”. Entrance to the entire museum is $33.”
Maastricht Gives Lie To Shortage Claim
Conventional wisdom has it that the supply of Old Masters for sale is drying up. Don’t tell that to the participants of the Maastricht Fair. “Once again, exhibitors proved they are still able to find amazing works of top quality across a range of fields. Where else can you see, under one (admittedly vast) roof, two major Rembrandts, a Fra Angelico fresh from a show at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, a Clouet, a whole kunstkammer of amber including a piece from the lost Amber Room at Tsarskoye Selo, an elephant folio of Audubon’s Birds of America, and a throne from the Royal Palace of Warsaw?”
Congress To Smithsonian: Make Your Own Money
Officials from the Smithsonian Institution were on Capitol Hill yesterday to testify to the deteriorating condition of the landmark D.C. museum complex, and to beg Congress for more money to make repairs. In response, at least one Democratic Congressman is strongly urging the Smithsonian to scrap its free-admission policy in order to raise the money on its own.
CBC Gets A New Arts Chief
Hollywood veteran Fred Fuchs, who served as head of Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope studio, has been hired as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s new executive director of arts and entertainment programming. He arrives at the CBC as pressure is mounting on Canadian broadcasters to focus more on homegrown content and less on American imports.