It’s long and it’s expensive, but the new Harry Potter book, due to be released in a few weeks, has racked up bigger advance sales than any book in history.
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Belafonte: An Artist’s Obligation
Should artists speak out on political issues? Harry Belafonte has always been an activist. “It’s a peculiarly modern idea that artists shouldn’t express a point of view on issues. But often the cultural and intellectual communities are the first to be attacked, because we’re first to protest the social order.”
Pittsburgh Symphony – The Big Search
The Pittsburgh Symphony is searching for a new music director to replace Mariss Jansosn. What is the orchestra looking for? “Whereas maestros Andre Previn, Lorin Maazel and Jansons were picked because they could be marketed, the next music director will have to do the marketing. At least, that’s the case in mid-sized markets such as Pittsburgh. A large part of the perception of the orchestra and its marketing ability flow through the podium. Previously, the maestro’s reputation leaked into marketing in an indirect way; now, he or she will be on the front lines of fund raising and ticket selling.”
Pittsburgh – Buy American
What should Pittsburgh be looking for in a new music director? “An established star would garner respect and bring the orchestra to Europe, but he’d be expensive and unlikely to show up at chicken dinners to raise money. An energetic young American would come with a smaller price tag and the understanding of what it takes to market an orchestra, but he’d lack connections to soloists and venues as well as the name value to sit comfortably with the likes of Reiner, Steinberg, Previn, Maazel and Jansons.”
A Pittsburgh Wishlist
Andrew Druckenbrod runs down a dream list of candidates for the next director of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Dohnanyi? Slatkin? Dutoit? Tilson Thomas?…
The Barnes – Saving It Might Also Kill It
Edward Sozanski considers the Barnes Collection’s desire to move to downtown Philadelphia. The move might improve the art collection’s financial condition, but the Barnes unique character would be destroyed. “The collection might survive the eight-mile trip from Merion to the Parkway intact, but the ineffable spirit of the Barnes, the quality that makes it a special place, will not. That would be a tragedy, pure and simple.”
New Jersey Symphony – A Job Too Big For One?
The New Jersey Symphony hs been looking for a new music director since 2000. Now the orchestra “is considering whether the job of music director has grown larger than one person. ‘Life has changed; we need to get more people involved in artistic programming, and we also need to come to the realization that no one person can fulfill all the things needed of artistic leadership. We have evolved.”
As The Barnes Turns
The drama over the Barnes Foundation’s future is about to get publicly nasty again. “A potentially explosive internal investigative audit of the Barnes’s finances in the 1990’s, long withheld by the foundation, was turned over late Friday to a judge, who may decide to make it public. And a new book, “Art Held Hostage,” published today by W. W. Norton, casts an unflattering light on machinations at the Barnes and its estranged partner, Lincoln University, that are drawing comparisons to the litigious mire of Dickens’s ‘Bleak House’.”
My Day As Saddam
Stephen Moss answers the audition call for Saddam lookalikes for a new play. You think an audition is difficult? Try walking through London dressed like an Iraqi dictator… “When I first try on the beret, it feels more Frank Spencer than Saddam Hussein, and several members of my immediate family remark on the campness of my appearance. Naturally, I have them butchered. I am also aware of the greyness of my hair. Saddam was not, it seems, prepared to die, but he was always willing to dye.”
Is It By Rossini Or Anon?
A debut performance of an elaborate wedding cantata billed as being composed by Rossini 171 years ago has angered some Rossini experts who dispute its authenticity. “The performance will take place in his name despite calls from some Rossini experts – who doubt the work’s authenticity – for the piece to be billed as by Anon, writing in the style of the composer best known for The Barber of Seville.”