“Many of the community’s original tenants remain, and with rents for a live-work studio in the building maxing at about $1,200 per month — $1,900 less than the median rent for a studio in the neighborhood, according to StreetEasy — who could blame them? But residents of Westbeth have found more than cut-rate rents among the 383 lofts designed by a young Richard Meier. Their Hudson River-facing community is a stronghold of creative output and unyielding spirit in a neighborhood that’s now at odds, at least financially, with the reality of being a working artist in New York.” – New York Post
Author: Matthew Westphal
John Macurdy, Who Sang 1,001 Performances At Met Opera, Dead At 91
“While he did take star turns, his many ‘comprimario’ roles, as opera’s supporting roles are known, increased his performance total to sixth among basses in Met history. He sang 62 roles with the company.” He also performed in six major world premieres at various houses, including Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in 1966. – Yahoo! (AP)
AI Is Already Changing How Big Movies Are Made
Here’s how studios are currently using artificial intelligence to manage operations and workflow, editing, analysis of finances and moviegoer preferences, and “digital humans.” What’s more, predicts a senior researcher at Google, “Decades from now, an AI algorithm will make your movie simply from the text of the script.” – The Hollywood Reporter
AT&T’s $4 Billion Gamble On HBO Max
“The investment is the biggest bet to date made by AT&T to realize the promise of its $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner. … The hope is that HBO Max is built up over the next few years to be a multipurpose platform for the global distribution of WarnerMedia content as well as an engine for bundling subscriptions to AT&T’s wireless and data services. The fear is that an underwhelming HBO Max would tarnish or, worse, be a financial strain on HBO proper.” – Variety
First Guidelines For How Full Orchestras Can Perform Under Social Distancing Rules
“Scientists at the Charité in Berlin have issued a 13-page paper, at the request of seven Berlin orchestras [including the Philharmonic and the Staatskapelle], advising the distances to be observed in rehearsal and performance for the foreseeable future, and suggesting that orchestras might be able to meet again under the following conditions.” – The Strad
MoMA Gets Involved In Effort To Save Oslo’s Picasso Murals
Two concrete murals, designed by Picasso and sandblasted onto the walls by a Norwegian colleague, are part of a government building that was damaged by Anders Breivik‘s car bomb in 2011. For several years there’s been controversy over the government’s plan to demolish that building and relocate the murals — a controversy that two of the Museum of Modern Art’s chief curators have now stepped into. – The Art Newspaper
L.A. Phil Cancels Hollywood Bowl Season, Furloughs And Layoffs Follow
“The summer closure — the first in Bowl history — following the spring closure of Walt Disney Concert Hall has triggered the furloughing of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (65 musicians and staff) and 25% of the [Los Angeles Philharmonic’s] full-time, non-union workforce (about 50 people) through September. A total of 226 seasonal employees at the Hollywood Bowl have been laid off.” – Los Angeles Times
Opening Of Berlin’s Humboldt Forum Postponed For The Umpteenth Time
As if the cost overruns, scheduling snafus and controversy over its holdings weren’t enough (not to mention last month’s tar fire), the opening of the city’s $700 million ethnographic museum has now been put off from September to an undetermined date because the coronavirus epidemic has stopped foreign construction workers from returning to finish the building. (The restaurant and gift shop might open sometime this year, though.) – Artnet
Santa Claus, Musical Patriotism, And The New York Philharmonic: The Great Critical Kerfuffle Of 1853-54
America’s oldest orchestra had the development and promotion of American music as part of its founding mission. Yet, in its first 11 seasons, it played two American works, both composed by its own concertmaster. Then, in 1853, a British orchestra and a French conductor went on a months-long tour of the U.S., commissioning and performing American music the entire time (including William Henry Fry’s Santa Claus Symphony). Musicologist Doug Shadle recounts the ruckus that ensued. – The New York Times
What Comes Next? II
Economic recovery from coronavirus will be far slower for the bottom 90% than for the top 10%. This is a deeply perilous prospect for the nonprofit arts industry. In the minds of many, we are closely associated with the economic and social “elite.” – Doug Borwick