“At his age, Holmes would logically seem to have entered the public domain. But not only is the character still under copyright in the United States, for nearly 80 years he has also been caught in a web of ownership issues so tangled that Professor Moriarty wouldn’t have wished them upon him.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
George Jellinek, Host Of The Vocal Scene, Dies At 90
“Jellinek created The Vocal Scene program in 1969, a year after he became WQXR’s music director. The weekly, one-hour show was devoted to opera and great opera singers. The show continued for 36 years, and was syndicated on classical stations around the country.”
Cleveland Orchestra Strike A Symptom Of Field’s Troubles
“Current economic hardships, of course, are partly to blame. But industry experts point out that in the flush years of the 1990s, orchestras went on spending sprees without building up their endowments for a rainy decade. Now the crunch is on.” And that’s not the only problem facing the nation’s orchestras.
Annie Baker, Julia Cho Among Blackburn Prize Finalists
Ten shortlisted female playwrights are vying for the $20,000 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, which will be announced in March.
And The Award For Best Video Game Score Goes To …
“The Ivor Novello awards, won by luminaries including Sir Paul McCartney and Sir John Tavener, will introduce a new category this year — best original video game score. … The Novello committee has concluded that the compositional skills required for an effective games soundtrack are equivalent to those for an original film or television score.”
What Legacy Will Vancouver’s Cultural Olympiad Leave?
“For three years, the arts festival has funded a wide range of performances and exhibitions, with the third and final instalment, an eight-week program, officially beginning on Friday. … But will eight weeks of extreme culture have any lasting impact? Does $20-million buy any sort of legacy?”
Philip Gross Captures TS Eliot Poetry Prize
Well established as a poet “but far from being a household name,” Gross, a creative writing professor, “won the prize for The Water Table – a themed collection that is metaphysical and political and religious, but has at its heart the subject of water.”
What Happens When A City Can’t Afford Its Orchestra?
“Or, more realistically (since the Cleveland Orchestra is not actually likely to pack up, like a baseball franchise, and move to another city), how many modifications can an orchestra make before it loses its identity?”
The Connection Between Fame And Hypochondria
“Today we appear to have excelled the hypochondriac cultures of the past by elevating the morbidly self-involved to the level of paragon. Hollywood has long been the land of fixed teeth and busts, blurred hairlines and effaced waistlines. But fame increasingly consists in a state of almost constant near-collapse.”
S.F. Architecture Smackdown: De Young Vs. Academy
Architecture “must be judged by how it functions … not merely by how it looks or sounds or feels. And that’s why I’m not totally seduced by the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park – at least not in comparison to the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum across the way.”