In 1997, Gil Rose founded the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) in the hope that America’s most aristocratic music scene might be ready for a different type of ensemble that embraced new music and placed more value on innovation than virtuosity. “Ten years and 42 world premieres later, BMOP is emerging as the national leader among orchestras of its ilk… Its performances draw the city’s youngest concert crowds by far, with their combination of Rose’s savvy programming, the orchestra’s incisive and stylish playing, and a general vibe that somehow weds a breezy coolness with a healthy dose of chaos.”
Author: sbergman
The Splinter Century
New Yorker music critic Alex Ross’s new book is getting plenty of attention for its accessible style and innovative ideas about the state of classical music. He also delves into what happened to concert music in the 20th century: “Ultimately, all music acts on its audience through the same physics of sound, shaking the air and arousing curious sensations. In the 20th century, however, musical life disintegrated into a teeming mass of cultures and subcultures, each with its own canon and jargon.”
Critic Midgette Hired By WaPost
“Anne Midgette, free-lance classical music critic, feature writer and reporter for The New York Times, is to step in for Tim Page as chief classical music critic at The Washington Post, starting in January. Page is taking a leave of absence to be a visiting professor at the University of Southern California.”
Would NY Phil’s North Korea Trip Support Tyranny?
Terry Teachout finds it unconscionable that the New York Philharmonic would even consider playing a concert in North Korea. “What would you have thought if Franklin Roosevelt had encouraged the Philharmonic to accept an official invitation to play in Berlin in the spring of 1939? Do you think such a concert would have softened the hearts of the Nazis, any more than Jesse Owens’s victories in the 1936 Olympics changed their minds about racial equality? Or inspired the German people to rise up and revolt against Adolf Hilter? Or saved a single Jewish life?”
Real Culture On TV? The Hell You Say!
Those in the arts love to bemoan profit-obsessed America’s ignorance of culture, and to imagine what could be if only some big corporate TV network would trumpet the cause of serious art, music, and literature to the unwashed masses. Well, guess what? They are, says Peter Dobrin, at least on the Discovery Channel, and the culturati might want to take notice.
Goldin Photo Officially Cleared Of Kiddie Porn Charge
“A photograph owned by Sir Elton John and seized from an exhibition as part of a child pornography inquiry has been judged not to be indecent… The image, by the US photographer Nan Goldin, is entitled Klara and Edda Belly-Dancing 1998 and features two young girls, one of whom was sitting down with her legs wide apart.”
Pavarotti’s Widow Lashes Out At The Press
Much has been written about the private and financial affairs of Luciano Pavarotti in the weeks since the legendary tenor’s death, and his widow is hitting back. “She denied being left in debt or that she was squabbling with his three adult daughters over his will… It has been reported in the Italian media that she was left £12.6m in debt and that their marriage had been on the rocks before he died.”
The Secret World Of Stagers
In the world of high-end ballet, “the stager — the person who has taught the dancers the steps, timing, architecture and intention of a ballet but is not the choreographer — is, from a public point of view, the ghost in the machine… The largely unsung stagers make it possible for ballets to be reproduced all over the world.”
The New Face Of The Wooster Group
“Since its first shows in the mid-1970s the Wooster Group has been a famously tight-knit troupe of collaborative artists overseen by Ms. LeCompte. But as the lineup of actors has changed, so has the artistic center of gravity, moving at points to Spalding Gray, Willem Dafoe, Ron Vawter or Kate Valk. Over the past several years [Scott Shepherd] has emerged as the new main man, a counterpoint to the dynamic presence of Ms. Valk.”
The Strange And Wonderful Pull Of Berlin
“Berlin continues to exert a glittering if, to some, reptilian fascination. It will always be haunted by Hitler’s ultimate evil. But it still breathes the giddy air of the 1920s — campy, wicked and darkly fun — and has become a new world center of youth culture and la vie de bohème. Today it is also a power center for the new Europe and an ever more ambitious building site for architecture rebuilt or eagerly modern. The latest testimony to that fascination is Berlin in Lights, a 17-day festival in New York.”