“The Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a move that comes as a shock to the orchestra’s music director.”
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Box G – Eau D’Opera
Robert mailer Anderson is a 35-year-old San Francisco novelist who reserves Box G at the San Francisco Opera every season for himself and eight of his closest buddies. “Last Christmas, Anderson bought his crew tuxedos to wear on their nights at the Opera House, but he still felt they were missing a certain je ne sais quoi.” So he had a parfumier mix a special scent for the occasion. “To top it all off, the San Francisco Opera gift shop decided to sell the scent (for $120), named, appropriately enough, Box G.”
Classical Downloads – Not Just For Pop Anymore
“The normal share of business for classical music in the US is about 2.5% of the overall music market so, in terms of turnover, it’s relatively small. But on iTunes we represent between 6-8% of sales in any given week, so we have orders of magnitude more of the market online than offline. Yet a quick tour of current classical websites is disappointing.”
His Post-Pulitzer World
At 53, Edward Jones had his first novel published. It was greated with acclaim and won a Pulitzer Prize. But though the book has been optioned for a movie and, as Time magazine says he is “on top of the world,” Jones lives a minimalist lifestyle.
Ballet School Hopes For An 8-Figure Donation
“Wallace McCain, billionaire frozen-food tycoon from New Brunswick, could join an exclusive club this morning when the National Ballet School announces major funding for its $90 million new home… The most intriguing question: Will McCain add his name to the very short list of philanthropists who have given $10 million or more to one of Toronto’s cultural projects?” The National Ballet School has long been one of Canada’s most important (and underfunded) dance institutions, and it is struggling to raise $50 million in private money to go with $40 million of government financing for its new facility.
Philly Museum Splits Curatorial Duties
“The Philadelphia Museum of Art has divided the leadership of its department of modern and contemporary art between two senior curators, an action that director Anne d’Harnoncourt said enhances the museum’s ability to manage a growing collection of art made from 1900 to the present. Michael R. Taylor, acting head of the department since November, has been named Muriel and Philip Berman curator of modern art. He will oversee collections and exhibitions of works from the first half of the 20th century. The museum is seeking an equivalent curator of contemporary art, whose purview will be from the mid-20th century to the present.”
FCC Crackdown Has Public Broadcasters Running Scared
The FCC’s recent crackdown on “obscenity” isn’t likely to change much of what commercial broadcasters choose to put on the air. After all, with most TV networks and radio stations now owned by a few multi-billion dollar corporations, the potential $500,000 fines are a slap on the wrist. But for public broadcasting, where every dollar of programming money has to be begged and cajoled from either viewers or the government, the fines have the potential to be crippling. Accordingly, PBS, public radio, and some individual public stations are working overtime to get rid of anything that sounds even remotely controversial, even when it’s just a single word from an innocuous British sitcom or a sound byte embedded in an award-winning documentary series.
Troubled Times For Seattle Museums
Regina Hackett trains a tough eye on Seattle-area museums and finds a troubled landscape. The Bellevue Art Museum is still hoping to reopen this fall. The Henry Gallery is struggling with a reduced budget. The Seattle Art Museum, planning a major expansion of its home and hoping to open a large sculpture park, plans to close for a year during construction…
Who Needs Friends When You’ve Got Tony Back?
In a mildly surprising twist on the usual Hollywood bluster, today’s announcement of the nominations for the 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards did not include a nod to the just-concluded NBC blockbuster, “Friends.” The sitcom probably didn’t deserve to be nominated, but that rarely has anything to do with it when a hit show is leaving the air. Instead, the nominated comedies are “Sex & the City,” “Arrested Development,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Will & Grace.” On the drama side, HBO’s mob hit “The Sopranos” once again leads the pack after being ineligible last year.
Another Score For Potemkin
Sergei Eisenstein’s silent film masterpiece, Battleship Potemkin, has twice inspired composers to pen complete scores to accompany it, and now a third soundtrack is in the works. But whereas the first two musical accompaniments were created by the eminent composers Edmund Meisel and Dmitri Shostakovich, the latest version is to be recorded by pop group The Pet Shop Boys. The score will be mainly instrumental, but will include a few new songs.