Canadians are voracious readers, spending $1.1 billion on books last year. “In fact, money spent on books is the third-highest category of cultural spending in the country, just after newspapers ($1.22-billion) and visits to movie theatres ($1.18-billion). Significantly more dollars are shelled out for books than are spent on live performing-arts events ($824-million) and more than double the amount spent on live sports events ($451-million).”
Blog
Ring-Heads: Roaming The World For Wagner
What is it about Wagner’s Ring cycle that provokes such passionate fans? “Not surprisingly, hard-core classical music addicts who travel the world in search of their next Ring fix have dubbed themselves Ringheads. Think Deadheads, the devotees of the Grateful Dead — minus the preshow, herb-laden party in the parking lot.”
Gender-Casting – Fighting The “Lady-Harpist”
“Historically, until recently the harpist might well have been the only woman in a symphony orchestra. Orchestras had been an all-male preserve except for one, lone instrument – the harp. Played by the lady harpist. From the days when Marie Antoinette and her kind sat around in salons and plucked in a gracious, ladylike way, the harp has usually been seen as a feminine instrument. Which is limiting.”
Protesting Tibetan Treasures Show
“For the first time, treasures from Lhasa’s Potala Palace, the 300-year-old Vatican of Tibetan Buddhism, from the Norbulinka Summer Palace and the six-year-old Tibet Museum are being seen outside Tibet. Everywhere, the exhibition has been greeted with protests and demonstrations. On this third leg of the tour, an alliance of the Students for a Free Tibet, the Tibetan Women’s Association and the Tibetan Youth Congress has denounced the exhibits as stolen “art from Chinese-occupied Tibet”.”
A Dictionary That Changed The World (It’s 250 Years Old)
Samuel Johnson was a failed teacher, who, in 1746 began work on his monumental Dictionary of the English Language. It was a labor designed to rehabilitate his reputation and redefine use of the English language. It took him nine years. April 15 marks the 250th anniversary of its publication.
LA County Museum Director’s Resignation A Surprise.
Longtime director Andrea Rich’s announcement was unexpected. “Her resignation comes just weeks after the museum announced that $156 million had been raised for an ambitious expansion and renovation, enough for construction to begin by year’s end on the first round of architect Renzo Piano’s plans for the Wilshire Boulevard facilities. That announcement marked a major turning point for the museum, which had to abandon an earlier, more sweeping plan for the museum complex after failing to raise enough money.”
Why Does Opera Get A Pass For Bad Taste?
How does the English National Opera get away with portraying Brünnhilde as a suicide bomber? “We confuse medium and message. In other words, more bluntly, if something – be it a person or an art form – is posh, it can play with as much fire as it likes, and if it isn’t, it can’t even play with matches. As Twilight of the Gods shows, this scheme obtains regardless of the gravitas the subject is actually accorded. If you’d seen a suicide bomber used this flippantly on Holby City, there’d have been resignations by now.”
LA County Museum Director To Retire
Andrea L. Rich, president and director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for nearly 10 years, will retire in November. “During her decade at the museum, Ms. Rich has beefed up the institution’s public programming and more than doubled its endowment, to more than $100 million from $49 million. She has also added to the museum’s collections.”
Stucky Wins Pulitzer
Composer Steven Stucky has won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for music. “Born in 1949, Stucky has long been associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he currently serves as Consulting Composer for New Music. He also sits on the faculty of Cornell University. He is published by Theodore Presser. As a conductor, Stucky appears frequently with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group and with Ensemble X, a contemporary music group he founded in 1997.”
Much Ado About Nothing? (Well, What’s The Something?)
Jérôme Bel’s new show is a hot ticket. But while Tobi Tobias is “intermittently” charmed, she wonders what all the fuss is about. “The stage is quite bright now. Still no one there. A third song starts. I guess the idea is that if you look at nothing for a very long time, you’ll be fascinated by anything that finally shows up. There’s some truth in this, but you’re less likely to perceive wonders in vacancy when you know some director type is using the sensory-deprivation strategy as a gimmick.”