“Jeffrey Tate will become the new principal conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, replacing Andrey Boreyko, who quit unexpectedly for reasons unclear,” according to German media sources. “The English-born Tate is likely to assume the position next spring. His management will probably confirm the appointment no earlier than January.” Boreyko’s departure, while mysterious, is not entirely surprising – the conductor had garnered mixed reviews for his occasionally radical departures from symphonic norms.
Author: sbergman
Euro Film Awards Shortlist Released
The nominations are out for the European Film Awards, with the Oscar-winning biopic, The Queen topping the list. “The Queen faces stiff competition in the best film category from Romanian drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Other films shortlisted in this category include The Last King of Scotland and La Vie en Rose, also known as La Mome.” The awards will be handed out December 1 in Berlin.
The Original Art Xerox
It’s largely a lost art these days, but woodcutting was one of the most respected artistic trades in earlier times. “The baroque woodcut industry didn’t just produce pictures for the walls. It also made frontispieces for books, pages for Bibles, sacred images for home altars and technical illustrations for academic texts.” Most important, it made the wide distribution of great works of art possible centuries before modern duplication technology had been conceived.
Surprise Pick To Head CBC
The Canadian government has appointed “Hubert T. Lacroix, a Montreal corporate lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions who has a background acquiring radio stations and other media assets,” to run the CBC, replacing Robert Rabinovitch. “Some observers are surprised that neither Richard Stursberg, the head of CBC English television, nor his French counterpart, Sylvain Lafrance, got the job, and it’s unclear whether they were even in the running.”
Salander Files Bankruptcy, Delays Lawsuits
“Lawrence B. Salander, the embattled Manhattan art dealer whose gallery was ordered locked by a State Supreme Court justice last month, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday. Mr. Salander and his Salander-O’Reilly Galleries — which operated from a town house on East 71st Street, around the corner from the Frick Collection — had been facing a barrage of lawsuits alleging that customers or business partners had been defrauded.” The bankruptcy will effectively delay those suits.
Viewers Won’t Feel Strike Effects Immediately
One of the tricky parts of the Hollywood writers’ strike is that many of the prime time TV shows that are being struck will be able to continue airing for as long as a couple of months, thanks to a backlog of episodes already filmed. “If a strike extends into January, however, viewers should expect some shake-ups in prime-time line-ups.” That would likely mean a lot more dreaded (but popular) reality TV shows.
Scattershot Approach To Rebuilding In New Orleans
New Orleans “has always been known for its eclectic housing styles — Greek Revival, Italianate, Creole. Now emerging is what could be called a posthurricane vernacular, wide-ranging architectural responses to what everyone here refers to simply as the Storm… The result is precisely the hasty, haphazard aesthetic that some planners warned would emerge unless officials seized on Katrina as an opportunity to rethink the Crescent City in a more systematic fashion.”
Rescuing The Music That Sounds Like Music
Samuel Barber’s lush, beautiful opera, Vanessa, was a hit with critics when it first opened in 1958, but it was quickly blasted by the modernists who ruled the musical/intellectual roost at the time. Now, it’s being restaged by New York City Opera, and Anthony Tommassini says that “it’s hard to imagine today what anyone found so objectionable in the opera.”
Gehry Sued By MIT
“The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has filed a negligence suit against world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, charging that flaws in his design of the $300 million Stata Center in Cambridge, one of the most celebrated works of architecture unveiled in years, caused leaks to spring, masonry to crack, mold to grow, and drainage to back up… The suit says it cost MIT more than $1.5 million to hire another company to rebuild the amphitheater, with new bricks, seats, and a new drainage system.”
Classical Star? Don’t Bet On It…
The BBC has been trying to blend high culture with reality television talent competitions with its new show, Classical Star. But some observers are horrified by the show’s deceptions. “The goal itself is fatuous; these children are being sold a false prospectus of glittering prizes that can only be available to a true genius… It is an obscene pantomime that plays games with the feelings of young, talented and vulnerable people.”