“In the dance world, Danish-born Johan Kobborg has quietly amassed a major international following. Technically, he is a dancer of great elegance and finish, but what draws audiences to his performances is their intense dramatic colour. Like Nureyev, he turned to ballet late (at 16). He had already toured Europe as a schoolboy singer and proved himself a highly promising violinist when he was accepted for ballet training at the RDB school. By 21 he was a principal dancer in the company.”
Blog
Music & Politics – Not An Obvious Connection
Music and politics don’t mix, do they? So why have music and politics found themselves so frequently intertwined? Jay Nordlinger enumerates political influences, then decrees that there’s nothing inherently political about music: “Music dwells in its own realm, unless it is freighted with words that constitute political baggage.”
Madonna Launches Book (Without The Book)
Madonna’s new children’s book launched over the weekend – a product of hype already makes it a best-seller. “The English Roses has already found its way into publishing history as the widest, simultaneous multi-language release, with a target of more than 100 countries in 30 languages. The US print run alone is 400,000. The massive hype of Madonna’s simple fable perplexed the publishing world yesterday as she hosted an elaborate Kensington tea-party launch without a single copy of the book.”
Royal Conservatory Branches Out Beyond Classical
Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music has long set the standards for music instruction, helping educate generatations of young classical musicians. Now the RCM is widening its focus, offering world music as part of its curriculum. “The Conservatory is supposed to be the institution of Canadian national music, and we’ve caught up to the reality that there are huge numbers of people living in this country who were not raised in the Western classical-music tradition. We have to reflect the diversity.”
Where Is All The New Choral Music?
“Why is there so little new choral music? The choral tradition is more traditional, even more popularly oriented than orchestral, chamber music, solo and operatic traditions. Plenty of vernacular, indigenous, folk, and gospel music has become standard fare. In a piano or chamber music recital, the performance of homely vernacular music would not be accepted or even tolerated, yet it has become a common practice in choral performances.”
Colonial Willimaburg Lays Off Staff, Cuts Programs
Colonial Williamsburg, the “museum” that tries to recreate American colonial times, is suffering. “With declining attendance and a $35 million budget deficit, the nation’s largest living history museum is laying off nearly 400 of its 3,500 employees and cutting programs. Officials at the private, nonprofit foundation that operates Colonial Williamsburg blame the weak economy, lingering fears of terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, less focus on Colonial history in schools and rainy weather this year. And they note that other such ‘heritage’ sites also have falling or flat attendance.”
Berlin’s Louvre Plan
“Germany now is in the process of transforming the five neoclassical museums that are clustered on an island in the Spree River in Berlin into a cultural center to rival Paris’ Louvre and London’s British Museum. The complex eventually will unite collections of Greek and Roman antiquities, Egyptian artifacts, 19th century paintings, Byzantine art and Near Eastern antiquities long scattered by last century’s wars and political divisions. While construction has been underway for five years, Berlin’s financial woes have discouraged anyone from predicting completion.”
Iraqi Artists Get Back To Work
Iraq’s artists are feeling energized. “In the theaters, at least, young actors have embraced a measure of new freedom. The dozens of young actors and directors at the National Theater scrambling to ready plays for a festival next month have seized with enthusiasm an artistic freedom unknown for 25 years in Iraq. Their palpable energy is echoed elsewhere in the fine arts, where a cadre of younger Iraqi painters and sculptors have emerged from the shadows of a generation of state-funded artists who lived comfortably under the old regime – so long as they hewed to a narrow and apolitical path. For the artists discovering a new space in post-Hussein Iraq, liberation from a totalitarian government has wrought a cultural revolution.”
Tracking Down Iraq Art
About 3,400 artifacts stolen from the Iraq National Museum have been recovered. But about 10,000 are still missing. “The majority of the work remaining, that of tracking down the missing pieces, will likely take years. It will require the cooperative efforts of all nations. Already 750 stolen objects have been recovered in Great Britain, Italy, Jordan and the United States.”
Is US Weak And Culturally Bankrupt or Merely Asleep?
“Over the last two years, many commentators have accepted the premise that Al Qaeda attacked the United States because it believed the country was weak. Where they disagree is over the accuracy of the terrorists’ presumed perception. Was the United States, as the president implied, merely a sleeping giant which, once roused, would demonstrate a fearsome power? Or was the United States in fact tired, decadent, adrift – its military might only a hollow shell, inside of which its vaunted economy, culture, and political system were rotting? Even during the booming `90s, doubts about America’s future were widespread.”