“Police have found two paintings and a drawing by Pablo Picasso stolen from his granddaughter’s apartment in Paris in February… Three people were arrested in Paris and are awaiting charges over the theft.” The combined value of the recovered works is nearly $69m.
Author: sbergman
US Revokes UK Pop Singer’s Visa
“Pop star Lily Allen has had her US work visa cancelled after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport… She was held at the airport for five hours in connection with an arrest for an alleged assault in London in June.” Allen will need to apply for a new work visa before returning to the US for scheduled concerts in early September.
Arkansas Symphony Official Guilty of Embezzlement
“The former finance director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra admitted to stealing $160,000 from the group Monday, in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence and paying $24,000 in restitution… Lee, a 14-year symphony employee who had earned $42,500 a year, stole the money from July 2001 through September 2005.”
Phil Orch In No Hurry
Orchestras in New York and L.A. may have made big splashes in recent weeks with music director announcements, but the Philadelphia Orchestra won’t be rushing to find a replacement for the soon-to-depart Christoph Eschenbach. “A search committee will be in place by the time of the orchestra’s annual meeting in September. The committee, whose work may take several years,” will canvas the entire orchestra as they work, and those in charge insist that the process will not be truncated to insure a quick succession.
Chicago’s Card Drawing Solid Reviews
You won’t often find musicians and management types on the same page at a major symphony orchestra, but Chicago Symphony CEO Deborah Card seems to be on quite a favorable roll, even as her orchestra struggles to find a new music director and adapt to a rapidly changing business model.
Smithsonian Fires Business Chief
“The Smithsonian Institution yesterday replaced Gary M. Beer as chief executive of the museum complex’s embattled business unit after an inspector general’s report found he had abused his institution-issued credit card and billed thousands of dollars in expenditures that were unauthorized or lacked evidence of a business purpose.” Beer has been told to reimburse the Smithsonian for $30,000 worth of charges.
Canada Approves $75 Tax On MP3 Players
“The Copyright Board of Canada has given the green light to a controversial extra fee on the sale price of MP3 players including iPods, two years after the Federal Court of Appeal struck down a similar levy. The fight centres on an oft-misunderstood piece of copyright legislation that permits people to make personal copies of music recordings they have purchased.”
Will Getty Settlement Be A Win-Win Situation?
Christopher Knight says that the Getty’s deal with the Italian government could actually benefit the museum in the long run. As part of the settlement under which the Getty agreed to return 40 works of art to Italy, “Italy announced it would loan important works of ancient art to the beautifully refurbished Getty Villa, overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the edge of Malibu. Collection sharing among art museums is an idea whose appeal has been growing. Agreements like this will only accelerate the interest.”
Everyone Loves The Outsiders
It’s been 40 years since author S.E. Hinton’s landmark novel of teen rebellion, The Outsiders, was first published. It wasn’t an immediate bestseller, “yet the book has now sold more than 13.4 million copies, is requisite reading in schools worldwide and Hinton receives far more fan mail than she can respond to. Truth be told, she doesn’t always feel deserving of it.”
Do The Ends Justify The Filmmaking?
A new documentary about Arctic wildlife is aiming to bring the important message of climate change to kids, but critics are raising questions about some of the filmmakers’ tactics. For their part, the film’s backers “are unapologetic about the fact that the occasional anthropomorphism is there to make the global-warming message as commercially accessible as possible.”