Author: sbergman

Another Concert Hall Plan For Atlanta

Atlanta’s Woodruff Arts Center is negotiating with the city’s transit commission for the purchase of a 6-acre plot of land which could become the new home of the Atlanta Symphony. The transit commission wants $40m for the parcel, but “whether parts of the original plan for the concert hall could be accommodated by the new site are part of the master planning that both sides are conducting.”

New Strategy For Miami PAC

“Leaders of [Miami’s] Carnival Center for the Performing Arts approved a pay increase for the chief executive and adopted a new business plan Tuesday to raise more private funds, add parking and improve programming.” The center wrapped up its first season $2.5m in the red, “primarily due to flagging ticket sales for Carnival Center-sponsored performances and touring Broadway shows.”

TV Networks Suffering Sticker Shock

A large factor in the reality TV boom that hit the tube earlier this decade was the relatively low cost of producing such programs. Viewers tired quickly of the endlessly imitative shows, however, and the major networks are now once again producing original dramatic fare. But are the production costs of the new shows spinning out of control?

Enough With The “Next Jackie” Nonsense

“Natalie Clein is a long-haired, good-looking English cellist with wide-open eyes and a winning smile.” And yes, she knows what you’re thinking, and she appreciates the comparison and all, but she’s really not trying to be the new Jacqueline duPre. Norman Lebrecht says that it’s time to stop such silly attempts to recapture the magical moments of the past, and embrace new young artists on their own merits.

Let Opera Be Opera

“Opera forever struggles to be cool, and will as long as its stars struggle with their weight. But Washington National Opera’s season-opening La Bohème, a new production that will be simulcast to educational institutions is such a fashion slave that it borders on apologizing for the art form… This production is so uncharacteristic of American opera, it’s a case of bait and switch. Operatic appreciation is fostered through opera. To love it is to accept its quirks – and chins.”

Edmonton Bows To Hindu Objections To Public Art

“Four statues of Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu deity revered as the remover of obstacles, are to be removed in the next few days from outside Edmonton’s Shaw Conference Centre after adamant objections from Alberta Hindus… Ryan McCourt’s sculptures, which have been on display for 10 months, were placed at the centre under Edmonton’s Art and Design in Public Places Program, a corporate-municipal-non-profit partnership seeking to show large-scale sculptures produced by many artists in the region.”

Creating Book Buzz In The Internet Age

“The task of unveiling a big book– especially one with great news interest or enormous popular demand — has changed dramatically in recent years as players in an increasingly competitive news media seek to be the first to unveil content, and the Internet makes it more difficult to keep books under wraps. At the same time the delicate publicity dance has taken on a heightened importance as books, like movies, must now explode out of the gates or quickly recede.”

What We Didn’t Say About Pavarotti

When Luciano Pavarotti died last month, eulogists and obituary writers the world over wrote of his singularly incomparable voice, and of his superstar status in an age when classical musicians are relegated to general obscurity. “And yet … and yet … This most beautiful tenor voice in living memory seemed gradually to lose its bearings… Before his death, he said repeatedly that he wanted to be remembered as an opera singer, but that was the profession he seemed to have betrayed.”