Since the collapse of the Florida Philharmonic, an interesting thing has happened in South Florida: a proliferation of small music groups. New ensembles are forming everywhere. “But with the upturn comes irony: There’s now a player shortage. It’s common for a musician to perform in several groups, creating a scheduling headache for the organizations. Conductors complain that they aren’t sure who’ll be playing, say, second violin from concert to concert.”
Blog
Calatrava Wins AIA Gold Medal
Architect Santiago Calatrava, 53, wins the American Institute of Architects’ highest honor, the Gold Medal. “Even at his age, Calatrava still deserves to be called a phenom. After all, at 53 most architects with strong personal visions are just beginning to make their presence felt. But Calatrava has accomplished so much in so short a period of time it is hard to comprehend. He has designed opera houses, museums, stadiums, civic centers, train stations, airports and other types of buildings throughout Europe and in the United States. And bridges. With Calatrava, you cannot forget bridges.”
Gopnik: Christo Gates “Unusually Slight”
Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Central Park Gates “are charming bits of civic ornament,” writes Blake Gopnik. “They’re drawing New Yorkers out in crowds to stroll among and under them, and should continue to do so for the two weeks that they’re up. But as a work of outdoor art, in competition with the best of Bernini or even Henry Moore — and especially compared with some of the couple’s earlier projects — they’re unusually slight. It’s amazing how small the artistic return can be on a piece that fills 850 acres in the middle of one of the world’s great cities and looks set to cost $21 million before it’s done.”
Classical Music As Bug Spray?
Why are some cities using classical music to ward off hoodlums? “There’s something very poignant about the idea of classical music as bug spray, as pest control. This is one of those many stories about what happens to classical music after it’s ‘classical.’ Even as public understanding of the style has hit an all-time low, the music retains some residual prestige, whether it’s played to children in the womb or hoodlums in the park. They’re choosing it because the music is still in some ways exalted. It’s now ‘magical’: We’ll spray it around like some kind of incense.”
Is PBS In Decline?
Critics are accusing PBS of becoming more politically driven and timid about what it programs. “We’re standing on the edge of a chasm. We are leaving what we have been and staring at a very different digital future. No one knows what that future is. We are trying to put the pieces of a strategy together that we believe will lead to the rebirth of public television in the U.S.”
Iran Guard Reaffirms Rushdie Death Threat
Sixteen years after Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill writer Salman Rushdie, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard reaffirmed the death call. “The day will come when they will punish the apostate Rushdie for his scandalous acts and insults against the Koran and the Prophet. The imam’s historic fatwa, issued in the days when the infidel leaders who champion liberal democracy and Zionism devoted all their energies to fighting Islam, is testament to Muslim greatness and the revolutionary dynamism of Koranic and Islamic thought.”
Where Is The Canadian Literary Sex?
Where is the sex in Canadian literature? Even when there is sex, it “is rarely a pleasurable event. Instead, it is often used as a metaphor for politics, identity, globalization, consumerism – almost everything but sex itself.”
Is Tampa Museum Up To A New Building?
The Tampa Museum wants to build a signature $54 million building downtown to house its collections. But is the museum director described as “nice” up to the job of getting it done?
A Wednesday Museum Strike
Staff at three leading UK museums are planning to strike Wednesday. “Curators and other workers at the Science Museum in London will take part in the protest over a below-inflation wage offer and cost-cutting measures. The National Railway Museum in York and the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford will also be hit by the action.”
What’s Wrong With Orchestras
What’s wrong with modern-day symphony orchestras? How about “icompetence, naivety, venality, snobbishness, dishonesty and amateurishness”? (and those are just the mean things they say about themselves)