“The Lexus Broadway series is going to add some spice to the grandeur of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts’ new Winspear Opera House in its inaugural season [beginning this fall].” The series will include two-week runs of South Pacific, August: Osage County, Spring Awakening and Avenue Q.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Charles Mackerras Takes Top Honors At BBC Music Mag Awards
The 83-year-old conductor’s recording of Mozart’s last four symphonies with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra was named best orchestral recording and Disc of the Year. Said the maestro, “I am absolutely delighted … I’ve spent my whole life trying to get these four symphonies right!”
Atlanta Ballet Names Interim Executive Director
Virginia Hepner, who has led several boards of directors in metro Atlanta, steps into the job on May 1. She replaces Barry Hughson, who is taking over the much-larger Boston Ballet.
USC’s Music School Expands Space And Programs
“The USC Thornton School of Music announced today that it is expanding its physical presence by 50% with the acquisition of three buildings on the university’s main campus… [to be] used as classrooms and rehearsal and performance spaces.” In addition, Thornton “will offer [new] Bachelor of Arts degrees in popular music performance, choral music, vocal jazz and performing and visual arts studies.”
Have We Read The Last Of Garcia Marquez?
The 82-year-old titan of Latin American magical realism has published almost nothing since his 2004 novel, Memories of My Melancholy Whores, and he has said that he wrote not a single line in all of 2005. Now his agent and his biographer say they think Gabo has wrapped up his career.
Phoenix Symphony Considers Reducing Season
“Phoenix Symphony musicians could become part-time workers under a proposal to help balance the 60-year-old organization’s budget, a labor union says. […] The change would shorten the orchestra’s 40-week season, which features 200 performances.”
California’s Mondavi Center Cuts Total Perfs But Ups Classical
“The 8-year-old Mondavi Center at UC Davis will offer seven fewer performances next season than it did in 2008-09 … [with an] increase in the center’s tried-and-true classical music offerings and a decrease in riskier dance and jazz programming.”
The Concept Of ‘Passive Drinking’
Today we accept the idea of damage from “passive smoking” – breathing the smoke of other peoples’ cigarettes. Now some public health advocates are applying that idea to the harm that problem drinking causes for bystanders – “vandalising property, urinating and vomiting in the street, attacking people including members of our own family, and causing death and injury by driving under the influence.”
American Dance Festival Offers Reduced 2009 Season
“Rumor confirmed: the 2009 season will be one week shorter than usual, covering five and a half weeks from June 18-July 25. The festival has also cut the number of marquee main-stage presentations this year from 13 to 10, a reduction of almost 25 percent.”
County Short Of Cash For Orlando Arts Center
“Orange County’s resort-tax collections plunged nearly 29 percent in February, prompting the comptroller to say she doesn’t see ‘any way’ the county can make its next payment for Orlando’s new performing-arts center.” The Philips Center is scheduled to open in 2012, though Orlando’s mayor has said that the funding difficulties could cause a delay.