Covent Garden has abandoned a long-established practice of black-face portrayals on stage. “The Royal Opera has been forced into a last-minute U-turn over the casting of a white mezzo-soprano in the role of a black woman. Stephanie Blythe was blacked up during rehearsals of Un Ballo in Maschera (The Masked Ball), but when the production opened at Covent Garden last Thursday her skin colour was its natural white. The company said it made the change because of the need to be ‘sensitive to issues such as racism’. In doing so it overruled the production’s director, Italian film-maker Mario Martone, who was informed just hours before the curtain went up – and did not agree with the decision.”
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MacMillan: Populism Is Killing Serious Music
Is classical music dying a quiet death in Scotland? Composer James MacMillan fears it may be so, and the evidence goes far beyond the dismal state of the temporarily shuttered Scottish Opera. “The de-sacralisation of our world, so enthusiastically cultivated by the new ruling elites, stands at a polar opposite from the potential for transcendence claimed by classical music. In that sense, the battles for serious music are part of a wider culture war apparent at various levels of modern Scotland. What is it about serious music that offends the triumphalistic trendies basking in the apparent victories of a demystified popular culture?”
Dumbing Down Music Ed
Is James MacMillan overstating the impact of pop culture on classical music? A glance at the latest standards for music education in Scotland would seem to suggest he is not. “The new Higher music syllabus… misses out key components that are essential for preparing pupils for serious careers in music. In the new curriculum, musical literacy is optional while listening papers have changed from deep analytical essays of musical scores to multiple-choice exercises.”
Living The Hard-Knock Life Of A Rockette
Think being a Rockette looks like fun? Suppose it’s a life full of glamor and adulation for those unbelievably athletic high-steppers who have come to symbolize the entire Radio City Christmas Spectacular? Well, maybe it is, particularly if you consider blown knees, ice-water baths, and sweat-stained leotards to be glamorous.
Mackerras at 80: What’s Left To Do?
Sir Charles Mackerras turned 80 while standing on the podium of the Royal Opera House this weekend, and while he is by no means alone in the ranks of living octogenarian conductors, there is little question that the career he has built in his six decades in the music business is the envy of the orchestral world. What makes Mackerras almost unique among conductors is his diversity of interests: “[perhaps no] other conductor has acquired quite so many specialties or put them into practice with so many ensembles.”
Looking Up From Rock Bottom
“The Colorado Ballet has a tough challenge ahead as it tries to a climb out of a financial hole and regain the splintered trust of contributors and audiences. The company, which marks its 45th anniversary this season, suffered a 2004-05 deficit of $341,000 and accumulated debt totaling $700,000. As of Wednesday, it owed $439,000 alone to the city of Denver for rental fees and other production expenses. Perhaps even more damaging has been a steady stream of negative publicity, [which] reached a climax in October, when the company fired 19-year artistic director Martin Fredmann… So far, at least the company’s artistry has not suffered during the current crisis, but can that stability continue?”
Now That’s A Cool Boss
The chief conductor of Iran’s Tehran Symphony Orchestra has resigned from his position and left the country in protest of what he says is the unconscionably low pay afforded to the orchestra’s musicians. TSO musicians earn approximately $90 a month. Conductor Ali Rahbari announced his decision to leave the orchestra to the audience at last week’s concert, less than six months after he was appointed to the post.
Cooperative Architecture
Benjamin Forgey says that Renzo Piano’s expansion of Atlanta’s High Museum of Art is a resounding architectural success largely because Piano resisted the urge to make the project all about him. Instead, Piano’s expansion built methodically on what the High’s original architect, Richard Meier, had done, and the result was “the complex equivalent of a friendly handshake — not awfully exciting, but satisfying in myriad ways. A sensible, sensitive, low-key sort of triumph, then.”
de Young Taps Portland’s Buchanan
San Francisco’s M.H. de Young Fine Arts Museum has plucked the director of the Portland Art Museum to be its next director. John E. Buchanan, Jr. is credited with increasing attendance in Portland, and with expanding the museum’s collection of modern art. He also led a $125 million campaign in Portland. He will replace de Young’s longtime director, Harry Parker, who retires in December.
Using Art To Fan The Flames Of Bigotry
Two new and surprisingly popular graphic novels released in Japan are causing observers to worry about a startling rise in Japanese animosity towards the country’s Asian neighbors. The long-form comics, sporting the titles Hating The Korean Wave and Introduction to China, openly mock what some Japanese see as inferior societies, and even advocate open confrontation with China and South Korea. Worse, the visual depictions of the various nationalities reveals an ugly racism that has permeated Japanese society for more than a century.