The Dutch government is deciding whether to return a major art collection to the descendants of a Jewish art dealer whose holdings were taken by the Nazis…
Blog
Morrison: Opera As One Of Many
Toni Morrison found working on the opera Margaret Garner frustrating experience. Would she do another opera? No. “Although Morrison has collaborated previously with composers Danielpour and André Previn on some well-received song cycles, novelists aren’t used to generating just one of many elements – and not the dominant one – of a creative production.”
Wanted: A Music Director To Conduct Us In Chapter 7?
The Louisville Orchestra’s current crisis will put the organization in bankruptcy, says the orchestra’s board. But that isn’t stopping Louisville from looking for a new music director. “Though a Chapter 7 filing would put the orchestra out of business for an indefinite period, orchestra manager Scott Provancher said it’s still worth pursuing the music-director search in the meantime. The orchestra is seeking a successor to Uriel Segal; his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2003-04 season, with the board saying it wanted a music director with more of a community presence.”
In Louisville – A Musician’s Take On An Orchestra’s Labor Crisis
In frustration with her orchestra’s current labor impass, Louisville Orchestra musician Tamara Meinecke writes to the Courier-Journal: “I find it somewhat embarrassing and certainly distressing to have to defend the orchestra from its own board chairman…”
What Happened To Figure Skating?
Sport yes, but once there was also artistry. “The word “sport” is the giveaway. With its pancaked athletes in garish clothes grinding out desperate spins and neck-breaking jumps in neon-lit arenas, in front of politically-motivated judges with protégés of their own among the competitors, ice-skating can be as offputting to watch as it seems dubious. Even the ice-dancing can be underwhelming, straining to mimic ballet or musical theatre.”
What Good Is Art?
“We know why science exists — to find a cure for cancer, fly us to the Moon or invent those weird bars of metal soap that claim to get the smell of chopped onions off your fingers and which, amazingly, actually work. But what about art? Determining the function and quantifying the success of a painting or a piece of music is almost impossible. Or is it?”
What’s Happened To The Prompters?
It’s a disappearing art. “In the old days you had to prompt, you really had to follow with your finger and mouth it with them. You marked up your script very precisely. You helped them through it. But what became of the prompt? Is it now an extinct species?”
Another Musical Of The Movie
A musical based on the movie “The Wedding Singer” debuts in Seattle. “It’s notable as the most recent in an accelerating wave of commercial Broadway tuners devised by writers and composers who came of age in the ’80s. This new breed is giving American musical comedy its own slant, and inspiring backers to stake millions on fresh shows — especially those, like ‘Wedding Singer,’ with a hit movie title on the marquee.”
Next-Gen Video Model?
The video rental business has been on the decline. “Blockbuster will certainly not survive and it will certainly not be missed. It has been a precipitous fall. But pegging the habits of the video consumer has always been difficult.” What will be the preferred way to get videos?
A Dance Of Man And Machine
Dancers of the Australian Dance Theatre have teamed up with robots, “towering, ambulatory, geometric structures that cross art deco with Lego, or smaller, silvery creatures that swarm across the stage with bunched spidery legs. They perform as equal partners with the ADT at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in March, separately or strapped to the dancers’ bodies like mutated insect prosthetics.”