Author: Douglas McLennan

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE WRONG MAN (MEN) WINS?

This past weekend conductors converged on London for a conducting competition. The winner seemed obvious to the audience and at least one critic. “But after a backstage debate of some 40 minutes”, the “five-strong team of conductors, composers and assorted musicians split the prize between two other finalists.” The jury chairman described the result as “interesting”. “Batty would be nearer the mark.” – The Times (UK)

CHICAGO IN BALANCE

For the 14th season in 15 years, the Chicago Symphony has balanced its budget, posting a modest surplus on a $55 million annual budget. “Attendance at CSO concerts was up 2.3 percent overall, from 257,336 to 263,376. Ticket revenue rose to $15.6 million from $14.7 million.” – Chicago Sun-Times

THE BEETHOVEN MYSTERY

People are fascinated to speculate that Beethoven may have died of lead poisoning. But why? Does it make any difference to how we listen to his music? “Indeed, such is our culture’s fascination with the great composers that we cannot resist putting them on the psychiatrist’s couch. Not content with enjoying, respecting and honoring their music for its intrinsic artistic value, we poke and prod their brains and bodies in the hope we might fathom that ultimately unfathomable mystery, the source of their creative genius.” – Chicago Tribune

CHOPIN COMPETITION WINNER

It’s piano competition season. The Chopin International Competition in Warsaw decided to award a prize this year (the last two competitions ended without a winner). “This year’s 23-member jury awarded the first prize to 18-year-old Yundi Li from China, who also shared the prize for the best performance of a polonaise with another Chinese player, Sa Chen, who was placed fourth.” – Irish Times

STEPPENWOLF TURNS 25

Twenty-five years after its first Chicago performances in a church basement, Steppenwolf Theatre Company is one of the most revered actors’ troupes in the world. “No important American theater ensemble has survived for even close to 25 years with the same core of performers. The troupe has expanded from its original 9 members to 33, but every one of the original members is still active. There is no such thing as a former member.” – New York Times

THE MIGHTY PR MACHINE

Massive public relations campaigns drive the visual arts industry in much the same way they do politics and advertising, so it might be worth asking just what the word “public” means in the art world today. “Broadly speaking, artists and curators have typically thought of the public (if at all) as an anonymous mass, ill-equipped and naive, that needs to be “educated,” while the public has tended to see artists as arrogant, self-regarding and even downright silly. There is some truth, I think, in both views.” – The Age (Melbourne) 10/25/00

THE NAME GAME

UCLA has agreed to restore the name of its concert hall to Arnold Schoenberg Hall, in honor of the great composer who taught on campus in the ‘30s and ‘40s. When the university announced a new dedicatee last month, record industry exec Mo Ostin, a slew of public protests ensued. “The Schoenberg renaming is not the first of its kind. I am told that the cinema at UCLA’s film school was de-plaqued, dumping a pioneering faculty member for a recent donor. Evidence from other US campuses suggests that the practice is widespread. Not since Stalin revised the great Soviet encyclopedia have famous persons been erased with such zeal.” – The Telegraph (UK) 10/25/00