“Museums are increasingly using the popular market research tool to gather input from the public and refine exhibitions and programmes. … [Yet] some feel that the use of focus groups to develop exhibitions – a practice pioneered by science and history museums – encourages institutions to act more like for-profit businesses than mission-driven entities.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Dancer Convicted Of Acid Attack, Now Out Of Jail, Wants To Return To Bolshoi
“Pavel V. Dmitrichenko, the dancer released from prison after being convicted of engineering an acid attack that exposed the hidden intrigues of the Bolshoi Ballet, asked to meet outside the theater where he had so spectacularly fallen from grace, and where he already envisions his return. With the famous facade glowing pink in the soft light of a summer evening, Mr. Dmitrichenko looked around and pronounced himself entirely at home.”
If You Want To Come To My Show, You’re Gonna Lock Your Phone In This Pouch, Say Artists
“The pouch might not look like the latest techno-bling out of Silicon Valley, but it’s become the go-to tool for a slew of artists - including Dave Chappelle, the Lumineers and Louis C.K. - trying to reclaim their live performances without going all Adele on their fans. … ‘Because people still feel they still have their baby in their arm, it’s a little bit clunky but it’s better than telling them to leave their phones in their cars or forbidding it.'”
Can Locking Our Phones In Pouches At Shows Really Save Us From Ourselves?
Tom Moon: “This is about artists setting the terms of engagement for a performance. Which is their right. We probably don’t think of it that way, in part because the Internet and smartphone technology has fundamentally altered the dynamic between artist and audience. Not just in terms of copyright abuses, which remain a huge problem, but also in terms of attention abuses. Which are more insidious, more accepted as part of the new digital lifestyle, and thus harder to control.”
How The Dallas Symphony Came To Pay Jaap Van Zweden $5.1 Million In One Year
“Mr. van Zweden, a Dutch-born maestro with a growing reputation, received more that year than any other orchestra conductor in America, including Gustavo Dudamel at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and his total pay was more than twice that of the nearest runner-up, Riccardo Muti at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.” Michael Cooper explains how this came to pass.
Without Audra, ‘Shuffle Along’ Won’t Be Shuffling At All
“Shuffle Along, one of the most ambitious and anticipated musicals of the theater season just ended, will close next month, abruptly and unexpectedly … [The show] was apparently facing a sharp drop-off in ticket sales this summer, after its leading actress, Audra McDonald, is scheduled to begin a maternity leave.”
Ralph Stanley, Bluegrass Master Known For ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’, Dead At 89
“Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead once called him ‘the most perfect singer alive.’ It was a plaintive, nimble and haunting voice that blended elements of Primitive Baptist church choirs and the Grand Ole Opry, music on which Mr. Stanley was weaned in far southwestern Virginia.”
‘For The Long Haul’: Dallas Opera Extends Institute For Women Conductors For 15 More Years
“As female conductors aim their batons at cracking classical music’s glass ceiling, the Dallas Opera has invested in fueling their battle. The organization has committed to running the Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors for 20 years, 15 more than initially promised, general director and CEO Keith Cerny said Tuesday.”
Baryshnikov Plays Nijinsky, With Robert Wilson Directing
Joan Acocella: “What a trick! To get the foremost male ballet dancer of the late twentieth century to portray the foremost male ballet dancer of the early twentieth century. In fact, a drama about Nijinsky’s madness would not require a great classical virtuoso. What it would need is an actor-dancer of extreme subtlety, which is what Baryshnikov, in his late-sixties, had become.”
Mariinsky Theater’s Ballet School, World’s Second Oldest, To Open Campus 4,000 Miles Away
The Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, a school whose history goes back to 1738, has announced that it will open a branch in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East – in part to train dancers for the Mariinsky’s Vladivostok outpost, which was established at the beginning of this year.