San Francisco Ballet is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a whopping ten world premieres in three nights. “Since the choreographers include Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Christopher Wheeldon, James Kudelka, Jorma Elo, Stanton Welch and Yuri Possokhov, the season is automatically of national and international significance.”
Author: sbergman
Burroughs Gets Serious
“At 42 Augusten Burroughs is the first to admit he has written ‘more memoirs than anyone my age should be entitled to write.'” But he’s got another coming out, about his father this time, and “gone are the sharp one-liners, the exaggerated portraits and the wacky antics. In their place is a chilling and terrifying depiction of a soulless sociopath who can barely contain a murderous rage.”
Spoleto Reunification In The Works
“The Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and its long-lost partner in Italy, the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Umbria, have announced that they will renew an association that ended 15 years ago. The two arts festivals say they are discussing at least one joint opera production for the summer of 2009.”
Met On A Musical Roll, But Deeply In Debt
Peter Gelb’s reinvention of the Metropolitan Opera as a thoroughly 21st century company on the cutting edge of both music and technology has garnered rave reviews and increased sales revenues. “All of the things he has done have also been quite costly. The Met’s budget has grown more than 21% in two years, to a projected $268.3 million… Its deficit — despite energetic fund raising — is likely to widen to somewhere between $6 million and $10 million.”
Berlin Phil Musicians May Kick Rattle To The Curb
“Sir Simon Rattle’s future as conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic could be in doubt because of his own musicians. They are reportedly going to vote on whether to keep him in the next few days.” If Rattle leaves Berlin, he would likely be pursued by several major orchestras, Chicago and Philadelphia among them.
CBC: We’re Not Killing Classical!
The program director at CBC Radio has heard about enough of accusations that the network is “abandoning” classical music. “Classical music will remain the predominant genre on Radio 2, available seven days a week at various times throughout the day. New Canadian compositions will be heard virtually every night on The Signal.”
Chicago’s Art Fair Behemoth
Chicago’s Merchandise Mart gathers five art fairs under a single umbrella. “The centerpiece is Art Chicago, a stricken show the Mart took over in 2006 and defibrillated back to life. Last year’s Art Chicago drew more than 42,000 attendees. The 2008 version will have more galleries, art and space. Whether it is as successful for dealers as 2007’s may hinge on the mood for art in a dour world economy.”
LA Arts Funding To Go Up, And Down
“Los Angeles County would increase arts and cultural spending 3.8% under a proposed $22-billion budget released this week, but the city of L.A.’s arts agency could be headed for a 6.1% cut.” It’s all part of the endless see-saw of arts funding in America’s second-largest city…
Are Comic Books Now A Sure Path To Filmdom?
“If recent studio acquisitions are any evidence, then the fastest way to get a movie deal these days may just be to turn your next Big Idea into a graphic novel. In a faddish frenzy, no fewer than 22 film projects born of graphic novels or comics have been announced in the last six weeks.”
Carnegie Int’l Discovers Marketing
This year’s Carnegie International art show in Pittsburgh has a bit of a different feel from previous incarnations. “The Carnegie decided on four marketing firsts — giving the contemporary art show a title; advertising it in The New York Times; buying substantial Internet ads and launching an interactive Web site.”