The National Medals of Arts, the U.S. government’s highest honor for artists, is leaning heavily towards the music industry this year, with conductor Leonard Slatkin, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, country star George Strait, and bluesman Buddy Guy being selected to receive the award. Among other NMA recipients are director Ron Howard, and PBS’s live music showcase, Austin City Limits.
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Perhaps A Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down System Would Help?
With Chip McGrath stepping down from his position as editor of the venerable New York Times Sunday Book Review, there is an opportunity for the new editor to finally make some much-needed changes to the section, writes Alex Beam. “Books are fun and interesting to read, but the Sunday Book Review is neither… Too often the reviews read like book reports, cooked up using a predictable formula: summarizing the book, inserting some praise, perhaps ending with a guarded reservation or two, carefully phrased so as not to offend… [Furthermore,] the review hardly ever helps you answer the key question: Should I spend $26 on this book?”
More Swiss Misses Needed
A new report from Switzerland’s national arts council has concluded that there are not nearly enough women with prominent roles in the country’s cultural scene. “Women artists have not yet caught up completely. Numerically speaking, in fields such as literature where they are well represented, they account for one-third, while the proportion of women orchestra musicians is no more than about one-fifth.” However, the authors of the study say that the tide is already turning for female artists, and suggest that the problem will likely take care of itself in time.
Baltimore Symphony Prez To Step Down
John Gidwitz, president of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 1984, has announced that he will step down from the position at the end of the current season. During his tenure with the BSO, Gidwitz (along with music director David Zinman,) was credited with building the orchestra’s reputation from that of a small, regional ensemble to one of America’s top orchestras.
New Composers’ Prize Created In Evanston
Suburban Chicago-based Northwestern University has established a new $100,000 prize for composers, instantly making it one of the most lucrative awards in the industry. “The winner of the biennial Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Musical Composition, one of the world’s largest awards for composers, will also be given a four-week residency at the School of Music and a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in addition to the cash prize.”
Zorba The Anti-Semite?
Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, best known for writing the film score for Zorba the Greek, is being taken to task by politicians and activists in Greece and Israel after saying at a public ceremony that Jews “are the root of evil.”
ABT’s Sponsor-Loss – Disaster Or No Big Deal?
ABT watchers were buzzing Wednesday over long-time angel sponsor Movado pulling out of its support of the company. Major corporate sponsorships aren’t exactly easy to come by these days. “Movado has been a principal sponsor of Ballet Theater, one of New York’s premier troupes, for almost 20 years, giving what the watch company estimated was more than $400,000 annually. But Ballet Theater trustees said that Movado’s withdrawal would be only a dent in the company’s $35 million annual budget and that a substitute would not be difficult to find.”
Billington: Don’t Trifle With Classics
Michael Billington is distubed by a “disturbing European trend that Britain has largely escaped: one where the director is an unassailable monarch and classic texts are pieces of clay to be shaped to his often infantile needs.”
UK Theatre: What About The Littlest Among Us?
Regional theatre in the UK is having a great year. But (and isn’t there always a but?) “What about Britain’s smallest theatres – those that have to balance their books on seating capacities of 300 or less, those that receive little or no core funding, never see a national reviewer and are still waiting for some of the Arts Council’s £25m injection of cash?”
TV’s Eye-dea Of Good Apartment Taste
Why is it that all those “fix-up” shows (Queer Eye… et al) make the apartments they redo look more or less the same? “Almost anywhere can be improved with a bit of judicious gardening, a slap of paint and some maintenance. No argument there. But the overarching pretension of some of these programs makes them vastly amusing. They aren’t just fixing up a place, they act as though they are saving the world.”