The Philadelphia Museum of Art, long forced to squeeze too much art into too small a space, is opening a newly expanded building across the street from its stately main digs this week. “The renovated building is the first phase of an ambitious plan to expand and update the Philadelphia Museum.”
Author: sbergman
Apple, Starbucks Unveil Major Partnership
“Over the next couple of years, nearly 6,000 Starbucks coffee shops will be turned into digital entertainment centers selling music and movies on Apple’s behalf — the perfect complement to Apple’s wildly successful chain of retail stores. If the rollout proceeds as planned, the deal could be a paradigm shift, a big nail in the coffin for the CD, and for brick-and-mortar music stores.”
Madison PAC Closes (No, Not That One)
“With an expired lease and inability to handle rent arrears and an increase, the Madison Center for Creative and Cultural Arts has announced it has closed. The grass-roots arts center… stands virtually in the shadow of the [much larger] Overture Center,” a new performing arts center that opened two years ago to much acclaim.
New Kimmel CEO Settles In
Anne Ewers has her work cut out for her as the new CEO of the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, a city well-known for being awfully stingy about funding the arts. “She’s spent her first two months on the job soaking up the details of Philly’s arts scene. That means schmoozing with politicians, foundations and the influential money players, most of the heads of the Kimmel’s resident companies, and meeting one-on-one with its 35 board members.”
Talks Restart In Detroit; Strike Possibility Looms
“Talks between musicians and management of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra continued past 10 p.m. Wednesday as the two sides tried to hammer out a new musicians contract that would prevent the players from going on strike for the first time since 1987… The parties, joined for the first time by a state mediator, had not spoken since talks broke off a month ago. The previous contract expired Monday.”
Guerrero To Nashville
38-year-old Giancarlo Guerrero has been named the next music director of the Nashville Symphony. Guerrero, whose star has been rising in recent years, has served as music director in Eugene, Oregon, and was a staff conductor with the Minnesota Orchestra. Nashville has been without a chief conductor since the death of Kenneth Schermerhorn in April 2005.
Luciano Pavarotti Dead At 71
The superstar tenor had been battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year. He was last seen in public in July 2006. “Like Enrico Caruso and Jenny Lind before him, Mr. Pavarotti extended his presence far beyond the limits of Italian opera. He became a titan of pop culture.”
PBS Offering Stations Profanity-Free Burns
In a sign of how fearful TV execs have become in the face of an FCC crackdown on foul language, PBS has announced that it will distribute two versions of Ken Burns’s upcoming documentary on World War II. Stations will have the option of airing either the original version of the film, or an edited version in which four words of profanity (in a 14-1/2 hour documentary) have been “bleeped.”
Hollywood’s Hot Summer
The movie industry had a great summer of ’07, despite critical complaints about the quality of many blockbusters. “By parsing out high-profile movies every week, including through most of August – a throwaway month in past years – the overall box office soared to a record $4 billion… Another record was broken when four movies hauled in more than $300 million apiece. A fifth is close to crossing that threshold by the end of Labor Day weekend.”
Little Mermaid Drowning In Denver
Disney’s latest effort to recreate the theatrical success of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast is getting downright dismal reviews in its out-of-town tryout. The Little Mermaid, playing in Denver prior to a November leap to Broadway, was slammed by Variety’s chief critic, and some observers are wondering how much longer Disney will be willing to spend millions of dollars “throwing its cartoons at Broadway stages” if Mermaid goes to a watery grave in New York.