So La Scala is reopening. Many will talk about the restored building and the state of its acoustics. But there is one topic they don’t bring up: “There is no getting away from the fact that, like every other aspect of the Italian operatic pyramid which it commands, La Scala is in decline. No Italian opera of importance has been written since the death of Puccini 80 years ago. There is no obvious successor to Muti. And the standards of Italian singing are declining by the year.”
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Musicians: What We Think About File-Sharing
A first-ever study of attitudes towards file-sharing records what musicians think about the issue: “Among the findings: artists are divided but on the whole not deeply concerned about online file-sharing. Only about half thought that sharing unauthorized copies of music and movies online should be illegal, for instance. And makers of file-sharing software like Kazaa and Grokster may be unnerved to learn that nearly two-thirds said such services should be held responsible for illegal file-swapping; only 15 percent held individual users responsible.”
Kennedy Center Honors, Celebrity Style
“It’s the magic, though, of the annual Kennedy Center Honors that a two-hour tribute to a handful of spectacularly gifted performing artists always draws a marvelous cross-section of talent from all walks of (super-famous) life. And so it was that the opera diva and he of the explicit lyrics and self-created bad-boy persona both took their turns onstage at the Kennedy Center Opera House last night.”
Allure Of The New
“More and more top-tier classical soloists who are not new-music specialists seem to be playing the work of living composers. ‘There is something magic about having in your hands this whole piece that nobody has heard. It’s challenging when you have never played a piece by a composer to learn how it fits under your fingers. I think it would be the same if we suddenly had a new Beethoven sonata because we would not be used to it’.”
Caryl Churchill – Plays That Speak For Themselves
“In a world where serious playwrights constantly sit on panels, hold forth at academic conferences and appear on behalf of institutions like the British Council, Caryl Churchill remains a rare thing, a hugely successful playwright who lets her work speak entirely for itself.”
When Museum Trustees Collect Art
For trustees of museums, “a reward of investing time and money is gaining proximity to art and artists. Critics say that can translate into financial advantage when the art is contemporary – if, for example, insiders buy pieces before they gain museum cachet, thus becoming more valuable.”
The Mortier Era Begins In Paris
“All of Paris had turned out to see the debut offering of the Paris Opera’s new director, Gérard Mortier, and their curiosity was not entirely friendly. Operagoers are a conservative bunch, and the Belgian-born Mortier, who was appointed just a few months before, is widely regarded as a high-modernist provocateur. In an astonishingly short time, he had assembled his own repertory.”
Five Years After The Millennium Dome
London’s Millennium Dome was one big spectacular failure. Five years later, the fortunes of those who were associated with the project are mixed. And the Dome itself is getting new life. It’s being redeveloped into a “26,000- capacity venue that it promises will ‘provide international acts and sports teams with arena facilities of a standard currently unseen in Europe’ by 2007. The arena is also part of London’s official bid for the Olympics in 2012.
Canadian Opera Balances Budget
Thanks to the large sums the Canadian Opera Company has been raising for its new home, the company has managed to balance its budget. “In general, the COC had a highly successful year, taking in significantly more money from private and public fundraising (including a 41-per-cent increase from the Ontario Arts Council), and 13 per cent more at the box office. Average attendance rose to 95 per cent, from 86 per cent the previous year.”
Why Cambridge Is Getting Out Of The Architecture Business
Cambridge is trying to close its architecture program. It’s one of the top three in Britain, so the idea’s perverse. And yet, changing requirements for how university schools must behave puts it in danger. “Architects have spent the best part of a century trying to be taken seriously and now the subject is being pushed into the second- or even the third-tier universities, as if it was catering or windsurfing. That is bad for architecture, bad for education and terrible for the quality of Britain’s cities.”