Blog

Random House Purge – End Of An Era

“The decision by Random House Inc., a division of Bertelsmann and the largest consumer book publisher in the world, to merge the Random House Trade Group with its sister unit, Ballantine Books, startled the literary world. The Random House Trade Group, along with its internal rival, Knopf, was one of the few publishers that combined literary prestige, financial resources and marketing power.”

Fugard Hones In On Writing

South African playwright Athol Fugard has been involved in all aspects of theater – as director, as actor, and most important as prlaywright. He used to insist on directing the first production of his new plays. But “starting in June this year, when I turned 70, I made a resolution to stop directing. And a few years ago I decided to stop acting. There’s so much I still want to write, so many stories to tell if I’m going to climb into my box at the end – or into my urn, I guess, since I’ll be ashes.”

High Hopes For New Toronto Symphony Leader

Peter Oundjian, the Toronto Symphony’s new music director, “is the first Canadian-born conductor to lead the TSO since Sir Ernest MacMillan stepped down 47 years ago. But Oundjian left Toronto for England when he was 5, and has the accent, sporting manner and loyalties of a real public-school Old Boy. The TSO hopes Oundjian’s collegial approach, genial manner and musical acuity will restore the orchestra’s morale, which is still bruised by the 15-per-cent wage cut inflicted on it a year ago.”

High On The Schmooze Factor

“Oundjian, who has conducted the TSO three times since 1998, beat out 100 other candidates for the post. Though he’s an established musician – he played first violinist in the famed Tokyo String Quartet for 14 years – Oundjian is a relative newcomer to conducting, having taken it up seven years ago when a repetitive strain injury forced him to abandon the violin.”

New Baton In Town

“It was a skeptical crowd of journalists and members of this city’s cultural community — a tough audience — who turned out to scrutinize Toronto’s new music man. But Oundjian earned highly favourable reviews for his performance — without so much as waving his baton. During his brief appearance Oundjian managed to come across as charismatic, savvy, frank and full of confidence.”

Formerly Illegal Theatre Takes The International Stage

“Back in 1987, when Evgeny Kozlov founded his experimental Do-Theatre, the company was illegal and ran around Soviet Leningrad performing clandestine, movement-based theatre wherever they could, which was mainly outdoors. Now the internationally celebrated troupe is running around the globe presenting shows with two separate touring companies.”

Some Hope For The Calgary Philharmonic

The bankrupt Calgary Philharmonic has received pledges from the city and the Province of Alberta contingent on the Canadian government kicking in some money as well. “The orchestra has been under bankruptcy protection since Oct. 15 and did not perform for 45 days last fall. In December, it released a business plan that includes pay cuts for musicians and fewer concerts this year.”

French Government Plan To Encourage Arts Sponsorship

The French government is putting together a plan to encourage arts sponsorship and the creation of foundations. The government released figures showing that “France has few private donors and a pitiful number of foundations (only about 1,000, compared with 2,000 in Germany, 3,000 in England and 12,000 in the USA).” France spent $1.3 billion in 2001, or 0.09 per cent of GDP, compared with $230 billion (£142 billion) on the other side of the Atlantic, i.e. more than 2% of GDP.

Why We’re Buying Less Music

So CD sales are down. A good deal of the decline has to be from consumers burning their own discs. But there are other reasons too: “We have brilliant new video game platforms, brilliant surround sound and brilliant wide-screen TVs all emerging in the last two to three years at very affordable price points. Music has come up with absolutely zero as a compelling alternative to those new technologies.”