“Louisville Orchestra Inc. will begin hiring musicians this month to replace those who have been enmeshed in contentious negotiations with the organization for nearly a year, orchestra CEO Robert Birman said Thursday.” On Tuesday, the orchestra’s board rejected the musicians’ proposal for binding arbitration.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Commercial Broadcasters To CBC Radio: Don’t You Dare Start Selling Ads!
“Canada’s largest private radio broadcaster has come out swinging against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s move to start selling advertising on its CBC Radio 2 and Espace Musique stations.”
Belfast Festival’s Director Resigns After Six Months
“Mark Prescott’s shock departure as the director of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s comes as the event celebrates its 50th year. … It’s not clear why he has left what is seen as a plum post in the arts world, but some sources indicated that Mr Prescott may have had plans to expand festival events outside Belfast, and that could have created some friction.”
Alberta Ballet’s Next Pop-Music Piece Will Be To KD Lang
“After creating pop ballets featuring the music of Joni Mitchell, Elton John and Sarah McLachlan, Alberta Ballet artistic director Jean Grand-Maître is teaming up with a native of the province for his latest contemporary collaboration. Balletlujah!, set to the music of k.d. lang, will have its world premiere in May, 2013.”
Exploding Onto The Art Scene: Fireworks Artist Cai Guo-Qiang
“For Cai Guo-Qiang, every time feels like the first time. His nerves still tingle, his mind still races – during that climactic, split-second moment before he lights the fuse and the gunpowder goes boom. It’s an intensity that time hasn’t dimmed, not even after 30 years. That’s how long Cai’s been making art with explosions.”
A Theatrical ‘Hacking’ In Montreal – Or Was It More Like Rape?
Olivier Choinière is known for his déambulatoires théâtrals, in which audience members wander a streetscape while listening to a prepared podcast. But last October, one of his MP3 pieces led audiences members into the balcony for another theatre company’s show – which his podcast proceeded to mock and criticise during the performance.
Hunkentenor Jonas Kaufmann Worries About His Fans
“People are getting confused about what is reality and what is opera … They say [in fan letters] things like: ‘I was the girl in the fifth row with the glasses and you were only singing for me, and what are we going to do now?’ It’s amazing and sometimes frightening that you have the power and potential to manipulate people in such a way.”
Opera Company Of Philadelphia Is Reinventing Itself
“In a recently approved plan covering 2012 to 2015, the company aims for more performances in varied sites, bigger names on stage, international coproductions with other companies, and a deeper reach into the city and its neighborhoods.” Says general director David Devan, “Going forward, we’re thinking about product lines rather than single operas.”
Lightbox, Toronto Film Fest’s New HQ, Does Disappointing Box Office
“‘This is probably naiveté on my part,’ Piers Handling confessed the other day. But ‘there was a kind of feeling of ‘you build it, they will come.” Especially after 10 years of raising almost $200-million and especially with the brand of the Toronto International Film Festival … People have come. But not, it seems, in the numbers TIFF CEO and director Handling … might have been hoping.”
For An Online Synagogue, An Online Passover Seder
Cincinnati-based Rabbi Laura Baum’s seder “will be conducted in cyberspace, as her guests – from New York to New Zealand – join in at OurJewishCommunity.org, the online congregation she co-leads. … So far, the guest list is up to about 400 – although she need not worry about any last-minute crashers. ‘It is not as if we will run out of gefilte fish,’ she says.”