The Olympics are a hugely costly event to host, as London is finding out as it prepares for the 2012 Games. “With the bill for the Olympics predicted to rise by as much as four times to an astonishing £9bn, the arts world is worried. It is worried that in salvaging a single magnificent sporting event, the government could squander 10 years of cultural investment.”
Author: sbergman
Everyone’s Favorite Shakespearean Punching Bag
Stratford, England’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre is preparing to shut its doors for three long years of renovation. And “although the building is a Shakespearean mecca, it is one that has been vilified and attacked for most of its 75-year history.”
Is City Ballet Losing Its Luster?
A disappointing performance of George Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations has Robert Gottlieb worrying about the condition of New York City Ballet. Part of the problem can be chalked up to simple exhaustion – after all, Nutcracker season only just ended. But still, it’s worth asking: “Are we witnessing the continuing erosion of the company’s classical style?”
UK Court Returns Paintings To US Collector
“A US art collector who had paintings valued at £20m stolen from his home in Massachusetts has won a legal battle in London to have them returned to him. Michael Bakwin asked the High Court to award him ownership rights on four canvasses, which were taken in 1978 and ended up with Sotheby’s auction house.”
Levine Cuts Back Met Apperances
Conductor James Levine is sharply trimming his schedule with the Metropolitan Opera for the 2007-08 season, but insists that the cutback will be a one-time anomaly. “Other than 2005-6, when he tore a rotator cuff and missed the latter part of the season, next season will be Levine’s lightest Met workload since 1975-76.”
Baltimore Sym To Offer Deep Ticket Discounts
The Baltimore Symphony is rolling out an unprecedented ticket discount to promote Marin Alsop’s upcoming first season as music director. “Thanks to a $1 million underwriting grant from the PNC Foundation, current and new subscribers will be offered $25 seats for all classical and pops performances — any seat in the house, including the usually pricey boxes.”
Embracing New Music As A Career Move
Making a living as a solo violinist can be an awfully tough road in a music world obsessed with youth and crossover celebrity. So when the celebrated young violinist Jennifer Koh saw the odds against her, she decided to carve out a career niche that would set her apart from the crowd, “working with composers living and dead, getting into their heads and hearts through their scores, and developing personal relationships with those who are still alive, notably [Jennifer] Higdon and [John] Zorn.”
Penumbra Cuts Season Short
The St. Paul-based Penumbra Theatre Company is cutting a play from its current season in an effort to keep its finances in balance. “Penumbra, considered one of the foremost African-American theater companies in the nation, has been laboring to keep its fiscal house in order.” Ambitious plans are still underway to present August Wilson’s history cycle beginning in the 2007-08 season.
A Musical Tribute To Overseas Troops
A local orchestra in Minnesota found a unique way to show its support for members of the state’s National Guard serving in Iraq this week, performing a tribute concert which was relayed live on a two-way video transmission to Baghdad, as troops and family members watched on two continents.
More Violin Drama In Cleveland
Ellen dePasquale, an associate concertmaster with the Cleveland Orchestra for the past eight years, has resigned her position in protest of music director Franz Welser-Möst’s decision to create a new titled chair which would outrank her. “The musician who wins the [newly created] post will be first in line to substitute for concertmaster [William] Preucil,” a privilege that had formerly been reserved for dePasquale.