The US’s new visa controls are keeping many international artists from appearing in the country. “The long-term effects of the visa delays already are being felt. In addition to fewer U.S. concerts featuring artists from countries on the State Department’s terrorism watch list (which includes Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Algeria, Morocco and Sudan), fewer albums from those artists will be released in the United States because record companies can’t count on performances to publicize the artists’ new songs. “The impact of this crisis will show up two to three years from now. This crisis will have a long- term impact on the music world and cultural exchange marketplace.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
New York’s Growing Arts Development
A study of the arts in New York says activity is expanding rapidly, and not just in traditional arts districts. “With an astonishing 52% growth rate over the past nine years, New York’s cultural industry is responsible for more than 150,000 jobs. While analysts foresee continued slow or flat employment growth for financial services, they predict the creative economy will continue growing, almost across the board.”
Hawaii – Returning Art To The Classroom
In the 1980s, Hawaii, like most American states, saw its school curriculum stripped of arts education. But recently a series of new initiatives has found the teaching of creativity returning to the classroom.
Contemporary Art – The New Impressionists?
This fall’s auction season has confirmed one big shift in the art collecting world. “Whether new fortunes, changing fashion or opportunity are offered as an explanation, Post-War and Contemporary art has become as or even more valuable a profit center for the three houses as Impressionist and Modern art, the traditional motor of their business.”
The New Americans
From where do you get your art history? If you’re a student, probably from a textbook. “Until recent years, few choices existed for textbooks of American art history, still a relatively young field in academia.” But the field has exploded with new choices. “Scholars applying the ‘new art history’ have expanded all boundaries of ‘American’ art in their studies—including media, people, and methods—creating a yearning in the field for new teaching tools that reflect these changes.”
De Larrocha’s Last Public Concert
Pianist Alicia de Larrocha, plays her final public concert at Carnegie Hall, and retires. “As departures go, Ms. de Larrocha’s appearance was unusually low-key. Not much had been made of it publicly, although her retirement at 79 was not entirely unexpected. Like any musician who has enjoyed a long career, Ms. de Larrocha has seen performance style, and the tastes that drive it, move through cycles of change and reconsideration. In the Spanish works in her repertory she has remained peerless, but in Mozart, the expansion of the early-music world and the expectations it has created have been challenges for her.”
Sophie – A Surprise Choice
Nicholas Maw’s new opera Sophie’s Choice has a star cast: “Sir Trevor Nunn to direct. Sir Simon Rattle to conduct. The dazzling Austrian mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager making her long-awaited London opera debut in the title role. Oh, and tickets so massively subsidised that the best seats in the house cost only £50.” Still, no one expected Sophie to be a hit, so it’s only playing five nights. And it’s become one of the season’s hottest tickets.
Watts Will Make Full Recovery
Pianist Andre Watts has been released from the hospital after suffering a subdural hematoma just before a Nov. 14 concert in California. He’s expected to recover fully and resume performing. “Hemorrhages like these are fatal in 50-60 percent of people. He was in the very fortunate 40 percent of people who make it through the event. The bleeding was on the anterior part of the brain, away from the fine motor area.” Doctors describe Watts as “personable” and “Zen-like” during his hospital stay.
Watts Will Make Full Recovery
Pianist Andre Watts has been released from the hospital after suffering a subdural hematoma just before a Nov. 14 concert in California. He’s expected to recover fully and resume performing. “Hemorrhages like these are fatal in 50-60 percent of people. He was in the very fortunate 40 percent of people who make it through the event. The bleeding was on the anterior part of the brain, away from the fine motor area.” Doctors describe Watts as “personable” and “Zen-like” during his hospital stay.
Spano Bows Out In Brooklyn
Saying that “the energy and time the Brooklyn Philharmonic deserves are beyond my capacities anymore,” conductor Robert Spano steps down as music director of the orchestra after seven years. Spano has recently renewed his contract leading the Atlanta Symphony and becomes director of the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood next year. “As a highly regarded interpreter of new music in particular, he has been mentioned as a candidate for the podiums of leading world orchestras.”