Blog

Duke Versus Gallery

London’s National Gallery and the Duke of Northumberland are disputing a Raphael painting the Duke’s family loaned the museum and now wants to sell. “The Madonna of the Pinks has been on loan to the National Gallery for 10 years, and the gallery said it had a deal with the previous duke that would have given it first option on the painting. But the duke said neither side has evidence of such an agreement. He was also angered by stories saying proceeds of the sale would go towards a garden renovation, and that the painting had been hanging forgotten in a dusty corridor until a National Gallery expert spotted it.”

A Movie Critic’s Lament

“These are rotten times to be a movie critic. In a bad economy, an independent voice delivering judgments on a multibillion-dollar industry that represents a tremendously lucrative source of ad revenue is likely to be perceived as a detriment. It has become increasingly common for critics to be pressured by their editors (who themselves may be under pressure from the sales department) to change their opinions. Pressure that no paper would think to bring to bear on their Op-Ed writers is routinely applied to movie critics. This has nothing to do with the quality of a critic’s writing but solely with the content of their opinions, the area where a critic is supposed to be given free rein.”

Heppner Returns

When last we heard from Ben Heppner, he was walking offstage in the middle of a program complaining of vocal problems. Now he’s back, singing a program in Boston. Richard Dyer reports: “The Canadian tenor has emerged from 18 difficult months of vocal problems and cancellations. He has taken charge of his life; he must have dropped 50 pounds since the last time we saw him, and he looks terrific. And it is a relief and a joy to report that the mighty voice is back in full flood. This listener heard only one insecurely supported tone in the program, and it was quiet and in the middle register.”

Why Women In The Vienna Phil Matter

The Vienna Philharmonic has admitted its first woman musician as a member. American musicologist explains why it’s important to protest the orchestra until its policies about admitting women improve. “There has never been a more important time for all people to realize that chauvinism is a bottomless pit of hatred, violence and death. Every time we protest violence against human dignity, whether physical or cultural, we help make the world a better and more peaceful place for everyone.”

Thoroughly Modern Jazz?

Is jazz “modern”? “There has been no systematic discussion of jazz as a branch of artistic modernism, and jazz’s own ‘modernity’ has for all intents and purposes been taken for granted.” A new book tries out definitions of modern jazz. Alfred Appel “believes that if modernism itself is to survive as an idiom of continuing interest, it will only be through the work of those artists who sought to be ‘accessible’ and ‘tonic’ rather than inaccessibly abstruse and hermetic, who drew their inspiration from vernacular culture, and who endeavored to speak not merely to the ‘insular, marginalized’ world of ‘enthusiastic fans’ but to a popular audience.”

Disney Breaks Ground On New Hong Kong Theme Park

Disney initially expects the 310-acre park – the company’s fifth – to draw at least 5.6 million visitors a year, one-third of them from the Chinese mainland. Attendance is expected to eventually reach 10 million annually. Disney head Michael Eisner: “This historic day brings with it the dawn of a new era in tourism for Hong Kong, and also marks a symbolic milestone in the partnership between Disney and China.”

Bringing The University Into the Dance Studio

Dancers are often so busy working on their careers, they don’t get to university. After they retire, then what? A new program at Pacific Northwest Ballet brings the university in to dancers. The goal is to introduce dancers to college courses and help them slowly build university credit, be it a quarter at a time, for free. “What the class is designed to do is to give the students sort of a bridge between their life as dancers and their life as university students. They’re just protecting themselves in case they get hurt, or when they’re fortunate to retire. That’s a lot of life, after they retire.”

Sundance Festival Opens This Week

With the economy down, maybe it’s not such a good time for a film festival? Actually, hard times often make for great personal films, and that’s what the Sundance Festival is counting on when it opens this week. “Independent filmmaking is tough out there, and most of these films are works of creative passion, and are works that take a great deal of tenacity and, essentially, determination to get made. You see a lot of work that has a kind of idiosyncratic creativeness to it. That’s something that drives these works into existence, rather than saying they’re driven by commercial considerations.”

Why Is There So Little “American” Dance?

In the 40s, “Rodeo” took the dance world by storm. So what’s happened to dance with “American” themes? Some “observers might be puzzled that ballet repertories today do not have more works on American themes at a time when American companies and dancers are respected all over the world. Could it be that some dancers and dancegoers still secretly regard ballet as essentially foreign? For them, Americana may seem uncouth…”