Things weren’t pretty on the classical music scene in Cowtown this past season. The Fort Worth Symphony went through an ugly strike; Fort Worth Opera’s board fired the company’s very successful general director without warning; the Symphony’s venue, Bass Performance Hall, threw out the music director because he was carrying his kid’s violin, for crying out loud. Peter Simek surveys the damage, talks to the orchestra’s CEO (who’s now quitting and leaving the music business), and finds out that the Opera’s director was fired basically because he’d been so good at his job.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Fort Worth Symphony President Who Led Management Through Strike Resigns
Amy Adkins, whose six-year tenure included a bitter 3½-month labor dispute at the beginning of this season, departs in July to head a hospital foundation.
Basquiat Painting Sells For A ‘Mind-Blowing’ $110.5 Million
Gasps escaped from the crowd as the final bid came in for the 1982 untitled depiction of a skull. The price is the highest ever paid at auction for a work by an American artist; indeed, it’s the sixth-highest price paid for any artwork at auction. As Jeffrey Deitch said, Basquiat is “now in the same league as Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso.”
How Did Jean-Michel Basquiat Go From Some Haitian Graffiti Guy To An Artist Whose Paintings Command Picasso-Like Prices?
As Robin Pogrebin and Scott Reyburn report, “the answer to this remarkable trajectory … lies in the art market’s unpredictable but powerful alchemy: a combination of raw talent, compelling biography and limited supply.”
What The Philadelphia Orchestra Will And Won’t Be Doing In Mongolia
Until about three weeks ago, the entire ensemble had been expecting to give the first concerts ever by an American orchestra in the country as part of this year’s East Asia tour. But Mongolia’s suffering through a severe economic crisis, and all that could be salvaged is a three-day visit by 18 of the Philadelphians. David Patrick Stearns (who’ll be with them) gives a preview of what’ll be happening – and explains why the Mongolians only gave three weeks’ notice that the whole orchestra couldn’t come.
Ian Buruma Named Editor Of New York Review Of Books
“He steps into the role two months after the death of editor Robert B. Silvers, who, with Barbara Epstein, founded the publication in 1963. … This makes Buruma just the third editor in NYRB‘s history, and gives him reign [sic] over a publication that has existed throughout its entire history in the image of its creators.”
Documenta Arrives In Athens, And Athenians Are Not Pleased
There’s been some talk lately of the Greek capital becoming the next Berlin – a large-and-low-priced city where artists can afford to settle and work. The arrival this year of Documenta – the first time the super-hot art shindig has left its German hometown – was expected to legitimize Athens’s standing as a contemporary art center. But the locals aren’t having it.
Kids (And Mammas) Throng Elena Ferrante Casting Call In Naples
“HBO and the Italian state broadcaster RAI caught the Ferrante Fever and are producing an eight-episode mini-series inspired by [My Brilliant Friend] … In a throwback effort at authenticity, producers are looking for amateur child actors – two sets of girls in 8- and 15-year-old iterations, and then a large Annie-esque supporting cast of hard-knock lifers. The result is an open casting call that has already drawn 5,000 children, the vast majority of whom have never heard of Elena Ferrante, and injected a mix of hysteria and hope into parts of Naples that are poor in resources but rich in real characters.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 05.18.17
Some Home Thoughts about Angels from Abroad
Paul Levy on Tony Kushner’s Angels in America at the National Theatre in London. … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2017-05-18
That Feast of St. Roch? It’s A Milestone in Contemporary Art
Tipped off by none other than Philippe de Montebello, who read my review of Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe, I learned a fascinating fact about one of the pictures in the exhibition: Canaletto’s The Procession on the Feast Day of Saint Roch is a milestone for contemporary art. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-05-18
$110.5-Million Man: Yusaku Maezawa Buys Basquiat, Setting Auction Record for Any American Artist
Sotheby’s Contemporary auction tonight was a mostly workmanlike affair, with one shining exception: Basquiat’s vibrantly scary 1982 “Untitled” skull, the undisputed star in this week of major auctions in New York, … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-05-18
Remembering Dave Pell’s Devotion To His Hero
Saxophonist and bandleader Dave Pell, a prominent figure in the west coast jazz of the 1950s and ’60s, died on May 8. He was 92. Pell recorded extensively with his octet and … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-05-18
The Delusion Of Competence (How Dunning And Kruger Discovered Their Effect)
Recognize the name but can’t quite place it? The Dunning-Kruger Effect is the cognitive phenomenon wherein many people (especially on the lower end) overestimate their abilities, such as 80% of drivers rating themselves above average. (We’ve been seeing the effect in action quite a lot lately.) The incident that inspired psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger to investigate the phenomenon was a doozy.