“Three of the largest publishers have created imprints – semi-independent publishing companies – to deal specifically with conservative titles. Like their counterparts on the left, few of these books seem intended to convince much of anyone of much of anything. Authors have been preaching to the choir or, more accurately, throwing to the carnivorous choir chunks of bloody red meat.”
Blog
Assessing Baltimore’s Temirkanov Years
“Yuri Temirkanov’s time with the Baltimore Symphony was relatively brief, just 6 1/2 years, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes on the glow of legend as time passes. He inherited what had long been a solid orchestra of the not-quite-top tier and proceeded to elicit, in concert after concert, nuances, tendernesses and reserves of feeling from the players that were often extraordinarily affecting. The best analogy I can come up with is that moment in “The Wizard of Oz” when the scene changes from black and white to full color and we are in a different world.”
Dancer Sues Over Firing because Her Body Changed
A performer in “Movin’ Out” is fired, because, she alleges, her breasts got too big. “The dance world doesn’t necessarily view such firing decisions as hypocritical; they are merely business as usual. The Body Police enforce specifications that have nothing to do with the ability to perform. Some women have resorted to breast reduction to conform with the slim standards of ballet.
ArtBasel Director To Leave
The opening of this year’s ArtBasel has been marred by the resignation of the organization’s charismatic director Sam Keller. “Keller will leave ArtBasel in 2008 to take up the helm at the Beyeler Foundation, replacing current director Christoph Vitali. The foundation, established in 1982 by the collector Ernst Beyeler on the outskirts of Basel, houses a permanent collection of modern art in a building designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano.”
Toronto Gets A New Opera House
The $120-million building will be home to the Canadian Opera Company and the national Ballet. “Opening day was full of oohs and aahs from more than 600 politicians and dignitaries who floated up and down the facility’s illuminated glass staircase and lingered in the five-storey transparent atrium that puts the city — and opera-goers — on display.”
Banff World TV Festival Begins
“Now in its 27th year, this is where ideas meet reality, where creators meet gatekeepers, where the amorphous notion of ‘content’ is scrutinized, dissected, analyzed, forecast, debated and ultimately celebrated in an atmosphere that is at once relaxed and charged.”
The Critic As Museum Director
Before Ralph Rugoff was a curator and museum director, he was a critic. “For more than 15 years, the new director of the Hayward Gallery in London has shaken up art audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, inspiring them to engage with the kind of puzzling, cerebral work that tends to put off all but the most dedicated of contemporary art aficionados.”
Lincoln Center To Get A New Entrance
Lincoln Center’s plaza is to get a makeover, even if the changes seem more like tweaks than a redo. “In addition to a slightly modified fountain, the designs call for a new grand staircase stretching over an underground drop-off point for cars. Currently people heading to a Lincoln Center performance from the east side of Broadway must cross 11 lanes of traffic just to reach the sidewalk, then ascend a short staircase and traverse two lanes of cars dropping people off. Taxis must stop for crossing pedestrians, creating a line of cars and congestion at curtain time.”
The New New London
London is to be transformed by large buildings. “Power and money are what have made it both ugly and voraciously successful. It’s a largely unplanned city, with buildings that come and go. Little or nothing stays still in London. The drive for money makes it a restless creature, forever biting off its own limbs and watching them grow back in new, bigger and shinier forms.”
Oh My Ojai
“Ojai used to be the music world’s best-kept secret. Now it is in danger of becoming too successful for its own good. Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez and Peter Maxwell Davies are among the composers who have succumbed to its simple charms. Michael Tilson Thomas and Kent Nagano are two of the performers it recognised before they reached the limelight. Ojai is synonymous with musical adventure and yet the festival takes place in a small town 90 minutes’ drive north of Los Angeles, the last place you would expect to find an iconic festival experience.”