Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario is doing awfully well for itself these days, but even as it rakes in cash from private donors, reports are surfacing that the federal government has reneged on a pledge to come up with CAN$49 million for the museum’s major renovation and expansion project, and that the budget knife was wielded by the highest authority. “At the last minute, just before the final budget documents were sent off to be printed and translated, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stepped in and wiped out the $49 million.”
Author: sbergman
The Humana Problem
Louisville’s Humana Festival, which spotlights new plays and emerging playwrights, is underway, and theatrical agents and producers are swarming about, looking for the Next Big Thing. But are they looking in the wrong place? “The best of such work invariably takes place among ensemble artists who live and work together in the same city, not among casts imported for an individual production in a high-stakes festival.”
Ballerina Belinda Wright, 78
“Belinda Wright, a British ballerina who toured the world and excelled in the 19th-century Romantic and classical repertory, died on Sunday in Zurich, Switzerland. She was 78.”
Posthumous Fame Achieved, Sixty Years Later
Since being published in French in 2004, Irène Némirovsky’s “Suite Française” has sold more than a million copies and been reprinted in more than 30 languages. Némirovsky, a largely forgotten writer who died in the Holocaust, has become one of Europe’s most celebrated authors. “Now another previously undiscovered Némirovsky novel has been unearthed.”
UK Drama Pulled Over Fear Of Inflaming Iran
The tension surrounding the capture of 15 British soldiers by Iran has caused one of the UK’s leading TV channels to postpone a fictionalized drama about the Iraq war. “The Mark of Cain, which was due to be broadcast on Thursday, shows British troops abusing Iraqi detainees. Families of the captured crew and senior military figures had expressed concerns about the timing of the show.”
Chinese Musicians Go West
“With stunning swiftness China’s surging ranks of classical musicians have found a home in Western concert halls, conservatories and opera houses, jolting a musical tradition born in the courts and churches of Europe… The phenomenon, which has been building for at least a decade, has gathered steam in the last few years, injecting new vitality into the American classical music scene.”
Longtime Orlando Opera Director Resigns Abruptly
“Robert Swedberg, general director of the Orlando Opera for the past 17 years, announced his resignation Monday.” The move appears to have been made by the company’s new CEO, who says that the “position of general director probably will be phased out.” Swedberg says that he has agreed not to talk to the media about his departure.
Defying UK Theatre’s Glass Ceiling
“In 1984, a survey found that only 12% of artistic directors in British theatres were women. Last year, 22 years on, another survey found this figure had risen – but only to 19%.” But perhaps more important than numbers is the fact that women are becoming far more visible at the helms of the companies they head.
Colorado MD Sidelined
Diagnosed with “severe hypertension,” Colorado Symphony music director Jeffrey Kahane has canceled two months worth of appearances with the orchestra. “Severe or malignant hypertension provokes symptoms beyond those associated with typical high blood pressure. These can include confusion, headaches and vision irregularities. And if left untreated, it can lead to heart failure, kidney failure or stroke.”
Robbing The Arts To Pay For The Olympics
The UK’s Arts Council is having its funding slashed a whopping 35% in order to help pay for the 2012 Olympics, and Lyn Gardner says that it’s time for the arts groups who stand to be devastated by the cuts to begin screaming from the rooftops. “Those who warned when lottery funding of the arts began that the arts should not be dazzled by the apparent cash bonanza but realise that the history of lotteries in other countries suggested that sales do decline, have been proved right in their predictions.”