The Chicago Symphony is looking for a new Chief Executive. “Desirable as it would be to land the top administrative post at one of the world’s great orchestras, the playing field of available candidates is surprisingly narrow. If you look at other major organizations like ours around the world, there just aren’t many people who really have the qualifications, experience and leadership abilities to do something like this.”
Blog
Picasso In Dispute Heir Claims Looted Painting
“Last month, Thomas C. Bennigson, heir of the Holocaust survivor who lost control of a Picasso painting during World War II, sued Marilynn Alsdorf for $10 million, after negotiations between the parties broke down. The case has sparked claims and counterclaims regarding the painting’s history, the nature of property law and the moral obligation of art collectors and dealers. And it has pitted Alsdorf against one of the most prominent art recovery organizations in the world, the London-based Art Loss Register, which first reported that the Picasso had been looted.”
In Boston – So Many Theatres, Too Few Plays
Boston has plenty of small theatres. But fewer tenants to fill them in a down economy. “The economics of producing plays means theater companies have to be creative, not only in their choice of work, but in their venues and the way they attract an audience. How this ripples down to the works audiences will see in the future remains to be seen.”
Pop Art And Broadway
The big names on Broadway this season aren’t Stephen Sondheim and Neil Simon, but Baz Luhrmann and Billy Joel and Russell Simmons. Musicals and dramas are out; poperas, dance-icals, and poetrash are in. This is neither nothing new nor the end of Western civilization.” It is “a grand convergence of pop art and high art. After all, even in the best of Broadway times, when was the last time the Great White Way played host to poetry, opera, and ballet simultaneously? For that matter, when was the last time the Great White Way was so welcoming to other skin and hair colors? Such concerns, though, are more archeological than critical.”
Colorado Springs Orchestra Refuses Conductor’s Resignation
When the Colorado Springs Symphony filed for bankruptcy last week, Lawrence Leighton-Smith, the group’s music director, quit, as he had said he would. But the orchestra says it won’t accept his resignation, and that he is obligated to stay on by terms of his contract. Meanwhile, the orchestra has refused to distribute parts to its players for next weekend’s concerts while musicians have refused to sign a cost-cutting agreement. Kind of difficult to have a concert without music scores.
Movie Music – Keeping Score
“While it’s true that many a perfectly serviceable film score goes largely unnoticed, the best take their movies and their audiences to new heights, underscoring – but never overemphasizing, and certainly not obfuscating – the emotion of the film. Music is a poor substitute for cinematic artistry, but it works great as a sort of Hi-Liter.”
TV – Medium Of Unfulfilled Promise
Ah, television had such promise when it first came on. But years later, that promise is largely unfulfilled. “The main problem with television is its continual belief that what’s next is better, not what’s happening now. Look at any programming on any network and the number of trailers, promotions and other self-justifying shreds and patches dominate the shows they surround. It’s rather like watching nothing but opening and closing credits.”
Music Companies Need To Reinvent
So far, recording companies’ main strategy to fight digital copying is to sue file trading companies and try to develop copy protection. But this is the wrong track. “In the past they have sold a physical product, like a CD. In the shift to an electronic, globalised world, why spend money putting digital information on a CD when almost everybody has access to these digital bits through broadband networks? The goal should not be to sell one million CDs but have one billion people download and pay one cent every time they listen.
What they would be better off doing is enticing the customer to become a loyal evangelist of their product rather than p—ing them off by cutting off their free product.”
What Books Sold In 2002
There were some changes in the types of books that made the bestseller lists in 2002. Of 120,000 books published last year, 421 books made the bestseller lists, “down a bit from the record set in 2001, when 433 books made a first landing. The previous high was 385 books, back in 2000. The only weekly list that had more players in 2002 was hardcover nonfiction, where a record 90 books made an appearance, breaking the record of 83 books set in 2001. There were 126 hardcover fiction first appearances last year, down just one from the record 127 in 2001.”
Even Literary Books Have To Make Money Now
Why is Random House cutting up one of its most-praised divisions? The literary world is apalled. “Despite the many core strengths of the Random House Trade Group, they have been the only Random House, Inc. publishing division to consistently fall short of their profit targets. To ensure its publishing continuity, it has become imperative to improve the Random House Trade Group’s financial success.”