“I love writing and I’m very serious about it, but when it’s over, it’s over. It’s not for the ages. I can’t visualize anybody doing my pieces 50 years from now. I’m just glad if they do them Wednesday.”
Month: October 2015
How Did Canada Suddenly Spawn A Burst of New Musicals?
“Look around the country this theatre season and you see activity from coast to coast – with intensive new musical development in Toronto, a resurgent Charlottetown Festival flexing its muscle, and the Vancouver scene absolutely exploding with musical-theatre activity.”
Artists Talk About Politicians. Why Don’t Politicians Talk About The Arts?
With federal funding so key to arts and culture in Canada, it seems odd that this importance is not reflected in an election campaign. It almost makes you pine for 2008 and that nonsensical Stephen Harper quip about galas for rich, whining artists. (Okay, maybe not.)
Omaha Loses A 123-Year-Old Concert Series
“Founded in 1892, one year after Carnegie Hall opened and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed its first concert, the series has overcome economic ups and downs and the vicissitudes of public taste to become one of the oldest and most storied classical institutions in the country. But after 123 years, declining ticket sales and a lack of fresh leadership have forced Tuesday Musical to shut down.”
The Most Ambitious Effort To Boost Canadian Music
The $168-million complex represents one of the most ambitious showings ever of public support for music in Canada. “This is the largest effort ever to celebrate our music,” says Andrew Mosker, CEO of the NMC. Of the $168-million budget, about $125 million has been raised so far, including $95 million from three levels of government.
Why Creative People Tend To Be Lonely
it’s not that creative people are simply hopeless at relationships — or at least it’s not only that. “When you read the big headlines about creativity, it’s touted as the golden key to success for businesses, whether it’s small entrepreneurial ventures or the big behemoths. But there’s a cost, and the cost is that because you’re so infatuated by the limitless potential or ideas at the beginning of development . . . you’ve chewed up a lot of brain space.”
Research: Here’s The Music Americans Hate (Uh, Oh)
“While in 1993, a college-educated person between the ages of 25 and 29 had an 8 percent chance of disliking classical (music), in 2012, a respondent in that same age-education group had a 15 percent chance (of doing so),” the researchers write.
Death Of A Legendary Literary Agent Puts Agency In Turmoil
“For many observers, this Catch-22 is the fittingly complex legacy of a woman nicknamed La Mamá Grande for her ferocious protection of her authors — she used to set up some of her most promising authors in Barcelona apartments, paying them salaries so they could write full-time — and her sometimes grandiose, “après moi, le déluge” style. Her agency was as much a cult of personality as an institution.”
William Forsythe: I Am Not A ‘Natural Heir To George Balanchine’
“Balanchine is unique unto himself. I think the real heirs to Balanchine are [Alexei] Ratmansky and the upcoming Justin Peck actually. I think these people possess an extraordinary skill set that is far more aligned with Balanchine’s way of organizing. I was trying to work on another thing because I didn’t think Balanchine was very imitable. You can’t imitate Balanchine.”
The Bald Norwegians Who Actually Create The Songs That Top The Charts
“The biggest pop star in America today is a man named Karl Martin Sandberg. The lead singer of an obscure ’80s glam-metal band, Sandberg grew up in a remote suburb of Stockholm and is now 44. Sandberg is the George Lucas, the LeBron James, the Serena Williams of American pop. He is responsible for more hits than Phil Spector, Michael Jackson, or the Beatles.”