Chief curator of the National Gallery of Canada to take chief curator job at New York’s Frick. – CBC
Author: Douglas McLennan
THE VIRTUAL GUGGENHEIM
About the new online Guggenheim, currently under development: “Why not, in fact, (create) an entirely new experience given this content that’s already emerging and try to push the content further?” – Wired
SOTHEBY’S MOVES TO WEB
Sotheby’s has decided to move its regular February auction to the web, given how successful the online operation has been. – New York Times
BUILDING PRACTICES
The Pritzker is often described as the Nobel Prize of architecture. But does it celebrate and boost the field of architecture, or pander to the “worst celebrity aspects of architectural practice?” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
QUAKE-PROOF
- San Francisco’s de Young Museum was damaged in the 1989 earthquake. Plans are well along to rebuild. But “if local community activists have their way, the design for the ambitious $135 million project will soon be subjected to a process that many observers believe could doom it. And although the proposed building, by acclaimed Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron Architekten AG, has been hailed by those culturally-in-the-know as a masterpiece of contemporary Modernism, it has come in for some blistering criticism from an unexpected quarter: other architects.” – Metropolis
GROVE’S TO GO ONLINE
It’s a natural – when the new improved edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music (the music world’s reference bible) comes out next fall, it’ll also be available online, complete with sound clip music examples. – The Scotsman
MOZART AMENDS
Some Boston Pops players complained that conductor Keith Lockhart planned to cut three minutes from a Mozart concerto for time considerations. “Tamper with Mozart? Horrors!” Yesterday afternoon, though, Lockhart reportedly backed off the plan and “decided to perform the Mozart without cuts simply because at this point it is in the best artistic interest of the Boston Pops to limit the unwarranted controversy.” – Boston Herald
LICENSE TO PLAY
BMG recording label settles copyright infringement suit with MP3.com, then turns around and licenses its music to another web start-up. The legit music download era begins. – Wired
BAYREUTH DELAYS
The Bayreuth Festival decides to postpone a decision on who will take over leadership of the Wagner festival after controversy dogs the process. – BBC Music Magazine
KENT NAGANO —
— named principal conductor of the Los Angeles Opera Company. – Los Angeles Times