Media giant Bertelsmann is locked in a power struggle among owners and management. “The new generation took Bertelsmann into television and the internet and promised that before long the privately owned and secretive organisation would be transformed into a transparent, publicly traded multinational with stock market listings in the US and Europe by 2005. Yet the modernisation process has been an uneasy one, compounded by the deepest advertising recession in 30 years and a number of questionable acquisitions.”
Blog
The Distance Between Speaking And Singing
For some time now, theatre has bridged the gap between speaking and singing. But “as the recent reviews of ‘Moulin Rouge’ and ‘Chicago’ have made clear, it has become commonplace wisdom that today’s film musicals cannot work if songs arise naturally and directly out of dialogue. Critic after critic deems film too naturalistic a medium for such an inherently unreal device; characters singing on screen, they insist, must acknowledge the artifice in some way in order for audiences to accept it.”
The Inevitability Of Arts Education Cuts
California is facing big budget cuts, and San Francisco alongside it. So state and city governments are making cuts wherever they can. And what’s likely to get cut? In the schools – arts education. Why? because it’s easier than cutting general teachers. “The cuts will come with apologies and heart-wrenching statements from City officials, SFUSD leaders, and school site decision makers. They will give the arts their verbal support and let us all know how much they love the arts and how important arts are to the education of our youth, but then will say, ‘What choice do we have’?”
Rethinking Opera In San Francisco
A few weeks ago San Francisco Opera made some big cuts in its budget and schedule. SFO director Pamela Rosenberg says the cuts are an indication of the company’s deire to rethink how it does opera. “The road to long-term vitality is not an easy one, but it provides a necessary opportunity to re-examine many aspects of how we do business, including how we might proceed more effectively and more efficiently.”
Why Orchestras?
Philippe Herreweghe is a leader of the period instrument movement. But the conductor wonders about the use of tradional symphony orchesras. “Must we go on with these traditional orchestras? The ancient music movement is very strong. First they played Baroque music, and the attitude of the traditional orchestras was to say ‘OK, it’s not serious music. Let them do it, but they are not good enough to play real music.’ But later, we played Mozart and Beethoven. We play Brahms, Schumann and Bruckner, and we noticed that there was an interest from the public and the press. And now, when there is a concert of Schubert symphonies on gut strings here in Antwerp, it attracts a full audience with young people, but when some local orchestras play the same symphonies of Schubert or Haydn in a traditional way the hall is half empty.”
Blocked By Indulgence
What’s up with writers with writer’s block? “You have to be able to afford to be blocked because, if you are a writer, not writing is a very expensive business – and it becomes more so by the hour. Therefore, it tends not to happen on Grub Street. I myself have written three novels and averaged 2,000 words of journalism a week for 15 years without ever experiencing the kind of bank balances where a block becomes a serious possibility.”
The Secret Behind Van Dyck
The Van Dyck painting that hung in Scotland’s National Gallery for more than 100 years, was keeping a secret. “After a year of restoration and investigation, staff at the Edinburgh gallery have been able to shed light on a work Van Dyck wanted no one to see. Underneath the canvas of St Sebastian Bound for Martyrdom is a previous work, also of St Sebastian and almost an exact copy of a Van Dyck that hangs in the Louvre.”
Getting To Know You: Art Meets Science
Scientists think like scientists. And artists – well, they think like artists. For scientists looking to think about their work from a different perspective, artists might be a great resource. So take some artists and let them play with the machines of science and see what they come up with. That’s the premise behind a year-long project in Los Angeles. “Artists see things with different eyes and allow us to take a step back and reflect on what we do. Scientific research is supposed to be about everything, but even at universities we are pushed to be quite narrow. We lose sight of the big picture, so this is a good thing for us.”
Music Man
Raymond Gubbay is the kind of populist promoter who draws contempt from more traditional arts managers. “His success is based on providing what he has accepted is middle-brow populist material.” But his shows consistently sell, and he prides himself on finding entertaining ways to present music and opera.
Daniel Gioia: Poet/Businessman
Who is Daniel Gioia? He’s just taken over as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts after a career as a poet and businessman. “Gioia has successfully straddled the worlds of art and business. He has published poetry and criticism in top literary journals while rising to the position of vice president of marketing for General Foods, where he was responsible for determining how best to market Jell-O.”