As more and more consumers get used to the idea of paying for music online, a new array of download sites has popped up on the internet. But there’s a problem – many of them do not own the music they’re selling. Consumers pay the sites for downloading, then discover that the music they’ve “purchased” hasn’t been licensed.
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A Business Approach To Italy’s Museums
Ten years ago, Italy’s museums were run haphazardly and were difficult to navigate. Then someone got the idea that m useums should be run more like businesses. “When I got here the idea was that money is dirty, art is sacred and the two things should not be mixed. It took a while, but that attitude has changed.”
The Art Of Literary Personals
“Just over five years ago, the London Review of Books began running personal advertisements, in the hope they would provide a platform for like-minded people to find love, or sex, or at least a suitable reading group. One might have expected the advertisements to be more literary and erudite than the norm, but no one was quite prepared for the first ad… Today, the back page of this learned journal is a compulsive read, a bizarre and often hilarious competition in wit and intellect and flat-out perversity.”
Cabaret To Close
The Broadway revival of Cabaret, which is still playing to full houses, is closing this week to make way for Stephen Sondheim’s edgy musical, Assassins. “The second longest-running revival in the history of Broadway musicals ends its storied run — in this its third incarnation — after 2,378 performances and nearly six years.” The show was a favorite with New York critics, with the current revival described as “much darker, deeper and far sexier than either of its predecessors.”
Yevgeny Kissin, Adult Pianist
Yevgeny Kissin was all of 12 years old when he was propelled into the international spotlight, and anointed The Next Great Pianist. That’s a lot of pressure for a pre-teen, and Kissin now admits that he had very little idea of how to handle it. “I’ve eventually learned how to behave properly when approached by musical fans, but I have to admit that just 10 years ago I was absurdly anti-social in this respect.” Still, Kissin has long since reached that difficult moment in the career of any former child prodigy, when he is expected to somehow morph into a mature interpreter of art, without losing any of the youthful vigor that made him famous.
Sotheby’s Rules The Canadian Auction Roost
“Sotheby’s Canada returned to the top of the heap in 2003 as the country’s premiere live auctioneer of fine Canadian art, grossing a total of almost $11-million from sales it held in May and November in Toronto. In recent years the company, which has run a Canadian operation for more than 30 years, has ceded its pre-eminence to the other two big players in the fine-art resale market, Toronto’s Joyner Waddington’s Auctioneers and Appraisers and Vancouver-based Heffel Fine Art… Sotheby’s return to form flows out of the decision by its New York parent in early 2001 to bring two high-powered Canadians into its Toronto office.”
Understudy Heaven
Broadway’s current troubles may be bad news for the moneymen bankrolling the lavish productions, but it’s turning out to be great news for understudies, the unsung actors who stand at the ready, should the stars of the show be suddenly stricken and unable to perform. Broadway is, of course, crawling with big-name Hollywood talent at the moment, but it turns out that big-name Hollywood talent is tough to keep around when the box office is suffering, and more than a few understudies have been unexpectedly catapulted into leading roles.
The Timelessness of Balanchine
Perhaps more than any other art form, dance is subject to the constantly changing tastes of the public, and a choreographer celebrated as a forward-thinking genius in one decade can see his work become dated and clichèd only a few years later. So the fact that the works of George Balanchine can still inspire the same visceral reactions today as they did nearly a century ago is a remarkable thing. Balanchine’s centennial is coming up this month, and New York’s dance community will be showcasing his work all year.
Critics Are Not Cheerleaders
“If patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels, boosterism is the first refuge of the second-rate.” So says Cleveland arts critic John Kappes, who is getting more than a little sick of his city’s provincial fear of responsible critical writing. Most of the letters he gets sing the same tune: “There isn’t enough criticism. No, we mean there’s too much criticism. And besides, we’re sure they’d like it in New York.” Real cities with a truly distinctive cultural scene do not give a flip what New York likes, says Kappes, unless the city is New York, and furthermore, they understand that critics are playing a role in the artistic process, and that their role should not require the use of pom-poms and human pyramids.
May Auld Mismanagement Be Forgot…
The San Antonio Symphony hasn’t performed in eight months, and despite plans to regroup in fall 2004, some observers aren’t sure that it will ever perform again. But if the SAS doesn’t make it back from the brink, it clearly won’t be for lack of effort: on New Year’s Eve, the orchestra’s musicians, music director, and audience reunited for a special benefit concert designed to provide some financial relief for the musicians, who won’t be paid again until September. The concert was a success, but more than 20 SAS musicians have moved on to other cities and other jobs since the shutdown, which doesn’t bode well for the future.