The arts are a hot ticket in Madison, Wisconsin, where the local opera company is about to hike some of its tickets past $100 for the first time, and other local arts groups which have begun selling tickets for next season “are reporting brisk subscription sales that rival or surpass last year’s by substantial percentages… [providing] more proof that the growing and increasingly competitive arts scene in Madison is still not showing any sign of a shakedown or contraction from being overextended.”
Author: sbergman
Teresa Stich-Randall, 79
“Teresa Stich-Randall, 79, a U.S.-born operatic soprano once praised by Arturo Toscanini as ‘the find of the century,’ died July 17 in Vienna, Austria, where she had spent most of her professional career… Acclaimed for her interpretations of Mozart’s greatest works, Ms. Stich-Randall traveled between the United States and Europe, singing in the world’s greatest opera houses.”
Detroit Taking A Liking To Slatkin
Could Leonard Slatkin be on the short list of candidates to succeed Neeme Järvi as music director of the Detroit Symphony? Despite some bad luck in past engagements there, Slatkin has lately developed a promising rapport with the DSO…
YouTube Dominance May Not Serve Viewers Well
Does YouTube, that much-ballyhooed showcase for amateur video, actually stifle creativity? “Web video isn’t an oligarchy, it’s a dictatorship. You’re either on YouTube or nobody’s watching. This dominance has a downside: The popular misapprehension that YouTube and Web video are synonymous has limited our sense of what online video can be.”
Attempt To Zero Out Public Broadcasting Fails Again
The U.S. House of Representatives soundly defeated a proposal by President Bush to eliminate the $420 million annual subsidy for public broadcasting this week. “The 357-72 vote demonstrated the enduring political strength of public broadcasting. The outcome was never in doubt, unlike a fight two years ago when Republicans tried but failed to slash public broadcasting subsidies.”
Will Harry’s Power Extend Beyond His Own World?
“Did Harry Potter really change the world? …Plenty of claims have been made. Among them: Harry got kids to read, especially boys, and he revitalized the sleepy universe of children’s publishing. Talk to informed observers of that universe, however, and you’ll find that nearly every claim made for Harry is open to interpretation, if not dispute.”
Guthrie’s WorldStage Series Struggling
Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater is considering suspending a series devoted to diverse productions from around the world, if it cannot find a dedicated funding source for the presentations. “Since moving into [its] new three-stage complex last year, the theater has presented only one event under the program,” and the director of the series has just been moved out of his full time position and into a consultant role.
Sopranos Dominates Emmy Nominations
The Primetime Emmy nominations were announced this morning in Hollywood, and as expected, HBO’s just-wrapped mob drama The Sopranos led the pack, with 15 noms, including best drama, best actor, and best actress. Other prominent nominees include the Fox medical drama, House, NBC’s Heroes, and workplace comedies The Office and Ugly Betty.
Lyric Opera To Stick With Radio
Lyric Opera of Chicago will remain a national on-air presence after raising enough money to keep its new radio series on the air through the 2011-12 season. “After a four-year hiatus, Lyric returned to the air Oct. 21 as a result of a new contract with its principal unions and a $2 million grant [which] required an equal amount be raised from others. The Lyric now says that it has completed the match.”
A Dark And Uncertain Harry
You won’t be able to buy the new Harry Potter book until tomorrow at midnight, but you can read the first professional review now. (Don’t worry – the review contains no spoilers.) “While Ms. Rowling’s astonishingly limber voice still moves effortlessly between Ron’s adolescent sarcasm and Harry’s growing solemnity, from youthful exuberance to more philosophical gravity, ‘Deathly Hallows’ is, for the most part, a somber book that marks Harry’s final initiation into the complexities and sadnesses of adulthood… No wonder then that Harry often seems overwhelmed with disillusionment and doubt in the final installment of this seven-volume bildungsroman.”