“Carnegie Hall made the announcement on Thursday afternoon, saying that the labor dispute had not been settled, and that talks with the union were continuing. As for future performances, a statement from the hall said that ‘all other performances remain on the schedule pending further updates’.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Women Conductors Are “Counter To Nature”, Says (Another) Russian Maestro
Yuri Temirkanov: “As Marx said, in response to the question ‘What’s your favorite virtue in a woman?’ – ‘Weakness.’ And this is correct. The important thing is, a woman should be beautiful, likable, attractive. Musicians will look at her and be distracted from the music! … The essence of the conductor’s profession is strength. The essence of a woman is weakness.”
Magritte’s Missing Nudes Found (In An Unlikely Place)
“The Enchanted Pose – which depicted two identical female nudes standing side by side – disappeared without trace having received critical acclaim in 1927 … Now it has emerged that the artist himself cut up the canvas and painted over the pieces.”
George Steel On Trying To Save NY City Opera: “It Almost Worked!”
“When I arrived in 2009, the … $30 million budget included $16 million of income that just wasn’t there. There really wasn’t enough money to do five operas at Lincoln Center. So we had two options: Close, or do something radical to save the company. And it almost worked! It gave us two more full seasons and two balanced budgets. Our first season away from Lincoln Center we sold every ticket to every show.”
How Broke Was New York City Opera?
According to papers filed in bankruptcy court, “the troupe, which balanced its budget over the last two years, still had an accumulated deficit of $44 million as of last year … Its endowment, which was once $55 million, had dwindled to around $4.5 million.”
Want To Convince Someone You’re Telling The Truth? Don’t Look Her In The Eye
Recent studies “indicate that not only does looking someone in the eye not convince them, it may actually harm your case. Eye contact, especially if someone is predisposed to disagree with you and you’re pushing them to look you back, is not persuasive at all. (This might be helpful to understand as we navigate out of the government shutdown …)”
San Francisco Ballet Reaches Agreement With Dancers’ Union
“On Wednesday, the dancers voted ‘significantly’ in favor of accepting the Ballet’s offer, said Alan Gordon, the executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists. The company’s planned New York tour, which includes performances at Lincoln Center, will go ahead as planned, he and Ballet officials said.”
English National Ballet Names Former BBC Exec As Executive Director
Caroline Thomson “has been acting as interim executive director since May, when ENB’s chief executive Karen Napier resigned after three months in the job. Thomson, who was deputy director-general of the BBC until September 2012, begins in her new permanent role with immediate effect.”
Scotland’s Arts Funding Agency Restructures
“Job titles and roles [at Creative Scotland] will be tightened up in the eight-strong senior leadership team reporting to new chief executive Janet Archer and they will be augmented with a new director of strategy for an initial year-long appointment.”
Iran Bans Another Filmmaker From Collecting European Award
“Iranian authorities have confiscated director Mohammad Rasoulof’s passport on the eve of a trip to the Nuremburg International Human Rights Film Festival (NIHRFF) in Germany where he was due to accept a lifetime achievement award and present his latest film Manuscripts Don’t Burn.”