James Levine has withdrawn from a national tour of the Boston Symphony after taking a fall last week. “The tour, with stops in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, and Washington, D.C., is the orchestra’s first major American tour in several years and is designed to show other important musical centers the excitement Levine has generated with the orchestra.”
Month: March 2006
The Whitney’s Collaborative Biennial
This year’s Whitney Biennial opens. Michael Kimmelman: “Conservatives will no doubt dismiss the whole exhibition as another political show like the 1993 biennial. But this show’s not like that one, which went out of its way to thumb its nose at many people.”
Levine Falls
James Levine has taken a serious fall. “The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s music director took a tumble at the end of last night’s concert. He was exiting the stage to a standing ovation when he fell. He was able to get back to his feet on his own.”
Levine Cancels Concert After Fall
After falling as he was coming offstage Wednesday, conductor James Levine canceled a Thursday concert appearance. “A consultation with his doctors, and X-rays, have confirmed that there are no broken bones, although there is the understandable soreness and discomfort that typically result from a fall of this type.”
DC’s New TV Ratings System Charts Precipitous Drop In Viewers
Washington DC’s TV stations are now using Nielsen’s Local People Meter to measure viewership. The system is said to be much more accurate than the old system. But the LPM has measured some alarming audience declines. “Some of the steepest declines were in the early-morning period, when four local stations air competing two-hour newscasts at 5 a.m. — a time slot that reflected growing viewership prior to LPM ratings.”
Lobbying For A Women’s History Museum
The US Congress is being lobbyied to create a National Women’s History Museum. “The founders and a coalition of women’s professional groups said the museum would provide a solid understanding of the roles women have played in the nation’s history and correct an oversight in the lineup of Washington museums.”
Writing By Hand In An Age Of Email
Who writes letters anymore in the age of email? Except, maybe email makes us appreciate the written note more. “E-mail may have revolutionized our communication, making it faster, easier, more practical. But that doesn’t mean the handwritten note is dead. Instead, the act of putting pen to paper seems to have gained in currency. Now it’s what you do to say something special, or heartfelt, or really important.”
This Year’s Whitney – Best In Show
Jerry Saltz calls this latest edition of the Whitney Biennial “the liveliest, brainiest, most self-conscious Whitney Biennial I have ever seen. In some ways it isn’t a biennial at all. Curators Chrissie Iles and Philippe Vergne have cleverly re-branded the biennial, presenting a thesis not a snap-shot, a proposition about art in a time when modernism is history and postmodernist rhetoric feels played out.”
Reality, Oscar Style
Who are these Oscar voters, anyway? “It’s become something of an annual sport to deride them for being too conservative or simply too enamoured of spectacle for spectacle’s sake to recognise the more understated, more subversive sides of cinematic endeavour. And yet, the Academy’s choices often end up saying a surprising amount about the times we live in.”
The Paris “Rite” – Engineered Outrage?
The uproar that greeted the first performance of Rite of Spring in Paris almost 100 years ago kicked off the avant garde of a new century. But was the extreme reaction of the crowds staged?