Following in the footsteps of other American orchestras which have recently begun to embrace new technologies, the Boston Symphony is launching a free series of video podcasts as part of its two-year focus on the music of Beethoven and Schönberg. “The videos, which range in length from one to five minutes, discuss important works by the two composers, illustrated with still photographs, paintings, images of scores, video, and musical examples. They originated on the orchestra’s ambitious web site as part of its three-year-old Online Conservatory project, but are now available through Apple’s iTunes music store.”
Blog
Is Manhattan Still King?
Within New York’s famously provincial cultural scene, the world has always begun and ended with Manhattan. Good things could happen in the other four boroughs, of course, but until you’d made it in Manhattan, you weren’t really going to be taken seriously. So can it really be possible that Manhattan has suddenly become, well… uncool? “Is hipness a zero-sum solution? If Heath Ledger digs Boerum Hill and the Bronx is busy with poetry readings, does that mean Manhattan is becoming the plodding parent to these boisterous boroughs?”
Suing The Arts
Alfred G. Rava and Steven Surrey are becoming the hottest behind-the-scenes names in Southern California’s arts world, but not in a good way. “Rava and Surrey’s connection with the arts stems mainly from lawsuits, or the threat of lawsuits, they have filed against performing arts organizations and for-profit businesses here over the past few years.” Most of the lawsuits stem from what the litigious pair claim is gender or age discrimination on the part of arts organizations which offer ticket discounts to women or young people.
Revenue-to-Expense Is An Ugly Ratio in Baltimore
The Baltimore Symphony is the latest ensemble to be facing down a series of crippling deficits, and eyebrow-raising endowment raids aside, there don’t appear to be any easy solutions. “The symphony’s operating expenses have been more than twice its operating revenue… Paring debt will help expenses only marginally, saving maybe a million or two in annual interest, assuming whomever covered the deficits charged interest. What really matter are demand for the symphony’s product and the cost to produce it, and in these categories symphonic orchestras are working at a disadvantage in the 21st century.”
Overexuberance May Be Hazardous To Your Strad
The music world abounds with stories of soloist mishaps, usually involving a broken string or something equally innocuous. But violinist/heartthrob Joshua Bell added an unusual chapter of his own last week in Chicago: caught up in the passion of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, Bell took too large a swipe with his bow, and with a mighty thwack, knocked over the delicate bridge that holds up his strings. (Yes, the famous Strad Bell plays on is fine.)
Young at Heart
In many cities, the concept of children’s theatre is a relatively new one. But in Toronto, where the Young People’s Theatre has been going strong for 40 years. “Today, it is Toronto’s oldest non-profit professional theatre and the largest in Canada dedicated to programming for young audiences, reaching about 80,000 young people annually… The alumni who’ve graced its stage are a veritable Who’s Who of Canadian talent,” and while the theatre had a rough time in its first few years, it is now one of Canada’s enduring cultural institutions.
Could ENO Actually Have A Hit On Its Hands?
After years of absorbing seemingly endless criticism of its mission, its management, and its music, English National Opera may finally have scored a win with London’s famously combative critics. A new staging of Monteverdi’s Orfeo is “a magical mix of East and West which in no way impinges on the earthy drama of the score in all its filigree detail. The interaction of dance and music is, if anything, enhanced by their hieratic gestures, mirrored by the principals in more than usually convincing style.”
Turn Off TV? Why Would We Want To Do That?
It’s TV Turn-Off Week again, that time of year when the culture police beg us all to reconnect our brains and find something, anything, to do other than watching the tube. “Consider, however, before you reach for the remote, the holes you’d have in your education if you’d never watched television. From geo-politics to physics, through romance and relationship advice, to grand philosophical ideas and simple, helpful, practical hints, it’s all there when you turn on your television.”
D.C. Yawns At Modern Swans
The Matthew Bourne reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” has hit a wall of indifference in Washington, D.C. after successful runs in London, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Organizers have canceled the entire planned D.C. run of the show, which was slated to begin this week, due to sluggish ticket sales.
Rebirth of the RSC
“Three years ago the Royal Shakespeare Company was in trouble. For all the aura surrounding its name, the company was in debt, its plan to replace its 1930’s theater faced stiff opposition, it was without a London home, and its shows were often unexciting. Further, its long-time artistic director, Adrian Noble, stepped down amid a storm of criticism. It was hardly an auspicious moment for Michael Boyd to take over. Yet, in a surprisingly short time, Mr. Boyd has turned things around. And as a measure of the company’s revived self-confidence, it is preparing to start its biggest project ever: a yearlong festival of Shakespeare’s complete works, staged by its own directors and actors as well as by guest troupes from as far afield as India and Brazil.”