“Michael MacLeod is the epitome of the new broom that sweeps clean. His first season as both general and artistic director of Glimmerglass Opera has created a giant buzz in the music world. The four new opera productions and one concert opera are all based on the theme of Orpheus, and there is not one warhorse in the bunch.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Books Into Film: A Case Of Irreconcilable Differences
Ken Russell, pondering the imminent release of the film version of Ian McEwan’s “Atonement” and looking back on the books he’s turned into movies, writes: “There’s no formula and no guarantee. There are a million more ways an adaptation can go wrong than right. … At heart, the two forms, movie and book, are irreconcilable.”
Let’s Not Burn Gustavo Dudamel Out
“Gustavo Dudamel is a musician of precious and precocious talents.” He’s also Esa-Pekka Salonen’s designated successor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and caution is in order. “The crucial thing is for Dudamel to be given time to mature naturally. … We as music-lovers must respect the fact that, however excited we might be by his infectious bonhomie on stage and his undoubted rapport with orchestras, he has not attained his full heights at the age of 26.”
In North Sea Village, Art Mingles With Coastal Defense
“The former coal-mining village of Newbiggin-by-the Sea has been watching its prime asset ebbing away over the past few years. The village’s beach has been rapidly eroding…. Now, the village is putting itself back on track by erecting a mighty, 5m tall bronze couple 350m out at sea, to create Britain’s first piece of off-shore public art.”
Fans To Choose Gramophone’s Artist Of The Year
“A shake-up to this year’s prestigious Gramophone Awards will see music fans in 13 countries take part in a global vote to find the artist of the year. Sixteen classical radio stations and more than 10 million listeners are expected to take part in the vote, alongside Gramophone magazine readers.”
British Theatre Gets Touchy-Feely — Literally
“The success of shows from companies such as Punchdrunk, Oily Cart and Dreamthinkspeak have not just changed our relationship with spaces and theatres, but also with the actors. Just as we like to press the red button on our remote control, so we like shows that are interactive. Here in Edinburgh, touching is all the rage.”
Attacked Bangladeshi Writer To Be Indicted
“Legal proceedings have been launched from all sides as the case of the Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, attacked last week at the launch of her book in southern India, takes on a political dimension. The author herself faces up to two years in jail if found guilty on a charge of inciting religious tensions, launched by local police at the weekend.”
Sylvia Plath, Visual Artist: Juvenilia To Be Published
“Paintings and drawings by Sylvia Plath, many of which have never been seen before, are to be published in October to mark the 75th anniversary of the birth of the American poet and novelist. … The works were all completed by the time Plath was 20, at which point she decided to concentrate on her writing.”
Portable Architecture Comes Into Its Own
“Ever since Le Corbusier and the Italian futurists salivated over biplanes, steam trains, ocean liners and automobiles in the early 20th century, architecture has been in awe of moving machines. But, as much as the modernist pioneers eulogised these dynamic inventions, they never dared disobey the sacred rule that says buildings stay where they’re built. Architecture is architecture. Unleash it from its static condition and you’re in some hazy no- man’s-land…. Yet this nebulous zone is becoming an intriguing place to visit.”
HarperCollins Goes After iPhone Audience
“The publishing world is linking up to the iPhone. HarperCollins announced Wednesday that it had set up a special link, http://mobile.harpercollins.com, that will allow browsers to view excerpts from more than a dozen new releases, including Michael C. White’s ‘Soul Catcher’ and Michael Korda’s ‘Ike,’ a biography of President Eisenhower.”