Russian Orthodox extremists have demonstrated, made death threats, and even committed arson to protest Matilda, a romantic period film about a ballerina with whom the young Nicholas II had an affair before he married. (The last tsar, now considered a saint and martyr, would of course never have done such a thing.) So director Alexei Uchitel announced that he’s expanding it into a four-part miniseries.
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‘Toxic’ Office Culture Leads To Massive Staff Turnover At Queensland Symphony: Report
“Twenty-seven full-time and part-time staff have left [the Australian] orchestra in just 21 months, an unusually high turnover rate for the company which currently lists 26 people on its staff. … Orchestra insiders claim that morale at the QSO is ‘toxic’ and an external consultant has been contracted to improve morale and company cohesiveness. Former staff describe scenes of ‘backstabbing, gossip and shouting matches’ among administrative staff and management.” At fault, allege current and former staffers, are music director Alondra de la Parra and CEO David Pratt.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.15.17
Another classical music critic is sent into the night … and this time it’s me.
Life in the newspaper world these days can’t help but feel like Russian Roulette. With every wave of layoffs, my position has seemed that much closer to its end. And I’m surprised that I lasted as long as I did. … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2017-11-15
Soft power and the arts (2/3)
The British Council and the University of Edinburgh have teamed up to prepare an empirical analysis of the actual effects of soft power (my introduction on soft power and the arts is here). How does … read more
AJBlog: For What it’s Worth Published 2017-11-15
“Ballsy Bidding”: My Storify on Leonardo’s (& Christie’s) $450-Million Jesus Superstar
That surely wasn’t the Getty or any other public (as opposed to single-collector) museum who plunked down a jaw-dropping $450 million after a dramatic 19-minute bidding war, the likes of which I’ve never seen, … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-11-15
Why The Sound Of A Voice Is A Multi-Sensory Experience
“The phenomenon of multisensory perception can help us to understand why we assign metaphorical properties of softness, roughness or depth to voice. Think of a politician whose voice is flat. Flatness is a multisensory concept because it is both tactile and visual. We can recognise flat surfaces by either touching or seeing them. These sensory impressions inform us about the acoustic characteristics of voice, implying that it does not have variation in tone. Notably, flatness can also convey lack of sympathy and emotion on the part of the speaker.”
What’s The Place Of Live Theatre In A More Virtual World?
“I believe the future is less about what ‘live theatre’ is or isn’t, and more about the further blurring of lines of categorization. People will be less clear about the difference between “theatre” and “live performance” and “immersive” and “public art” and “interactive”, especially once ‘reality’ based technologies like AR/MR/VR invade the live sphere with faster and smaller real-time processing.”
Has The History Of Books Been Kidnapped By Ponderous Academics?
“Bibliographical analysis, involving patient collation and comparison of printed texts, and the identification of the distinctive ornaments with which printers enlivened otherwise blank spaces, flourish. They remain the bedrock on which, over the last thirty years or more, a ponderous superstructure of interpretation has been erected. Local and national pride have sustained enquiries: a specific town or state is shown to have been in the vanguard of printing and book production; their products exhibit superlative skills in the quality of paper and type-faces, layout, design and binding; the titles are marked by intellectual precociousness or boldness.”
Distraction Has Gotten A Bad Rap. Let’s Reconsider
Distraction need not simply be another name for attention shifted (“I was looking at this, then I looked at that”). Attention is a form of “tension,” but the relaxation here — both that which creates the condition for the new perception and that which follows from it — is primarily conceived as passive (objects fall “upon the eye, are “carried to the heart”).
How The Art World Structure Enables Abuse
“The art world’s most important business goes on in private and is hardly subject to public scrutiny. The art world is a largely unregulated industry in which the rich and powerful that dominate see themselves as being above the law. It’s a business that requires endless socializing, where deals are sealed over drinks, in expensive restaurants, swanky clubs and high-end hotels. Artists who want commercial success are supposed to humor and indulge their collectors — and that can include sitting in their laps when asked.”
What A Musician Needs To Survive Today
“You have to know how you’re going to make a living. You have to know how to write a grant proposal, you have to know how to talk to an audience, you have to know how to produce a concert, you have to know how to develop a professional network. This is what it is to be an artist today.”
Building Broadway Audiences With $10 Tickets At A Time
“We knew if we were going to get extremely reduced ticket prices for the kids, then it would require a lot of bridge-building to all of the producers. After all, you’re asking for them to make an investment in their future, and, when they’re not sure they’re going to be open next month, it is really hard to think about the future.”