Category: today’s top story

“Hey there!” Jason Robert Brown wrote to each of 400-odd people offering his sheet music free online. “Can I get you to stop trading my stuff? It’s totally not cool with me. Write me if you have any questions, I’m happy to talk to you about this.” And he included his e-mail address. Most quickly complied, but one teen worshiper of the composer was a case study in intransigence.

“It’s official: The Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s baton will be passed to a 36-year-old French maestro, Ludovic Morlot, when Gerard Schwarz steps down from the music directorship a year from now.”

“If theater is being treated as a rejuvenating sabbatical away from the deadening effects of Hollywood, it’s hard not to see adult moviemaking (films made for, by, and about grown-ups — although not called ‘Grown Ups,’ please) as chopped liver. Worse, actually: the greasy deli wrapping some chopped liver comes in.”

“A pension shakeup aims to stop [people] who manage their own retirement savings from investing in art and order them to sell their collections within a decade. Artists, exhibitors and buyers in Australia predict the change will cause job losses, gallery closures and a slump in prices.”

Journalist Steve North recounts the story of how he got Anthony Perkins, toward the end of a long interview, to reveal a big surprise about the shooting of the shower scene.

“A group calling itself Good Crude Britannia, made up of artists, poets, writers and filmmakers, will picket Tate Britain’s summer party next Monday which is billed by the gallery as celebrating 20 years of BP’s sponsorship. … The planned demonstration follows protests this week by a group of artists calling themselves the Greenwash Guerrillas….”

Last year, Charity Tillemann-Dick, a promising 24-year-old soprano who had been working in Europe and the US, had to have both of her lungs replaced. She has since re-learned to sing, and last month she performed Puccini and Gershwin for her caregivers at the Cleveland Clinic to thank them for their work.

“Assistance from FEMA, along with $10 million in flood insurance, will cover a substantial portion of the cost,” including “the replacement of two Steinway concert grand pianos and the console of the Martin Foundation Concert Organ. … But insurance isn’t enough. [The organization’s CEO] estimates the symphony is $3 million to $10 million short.”

In the wake of an immediate 0.5% reduction in current-year funding announced by Arts Council England late last week – a cut considered relatively light, under current circumstances – the first budget of Britain’s new coalition government envisions a drop of up to 25% over the next four years in monies for the Dept. of Culture, Media and Sport.

Violinist Lisa Batiashvili, one of the Caucasian republic’s most famous musicians, “asked the orchestra if it would be interested in visiting. It said yes. A week later she called the president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and in minutes, the deal was done.”