When an orchestra is searching for a new music director or executive director, it can be difficult to maintain a cohesive sound and/or business strategy, since such searches take months to years, and generally involve a general reimagining of the whole organization. So imagine the current stress level at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where they are searching for a new managing director, a new board president, a new music director, a new resident conductor and a new vice president of development. Oh, and don’t forget about that pesky deficit, either.
Tag: 01.01.03
Crystal Ball gazing On Broadway
Which hit show will fold this year without returning its investment? Who’s the next big star on Broadway? Michael Riedel makes his predictions about the bright lights of Broadway…
Practice Makes Perfect? (Or Is It A Myth?)
How long does it take to produce good work in the theatre? “Cash-strapped Canadian theatres have often complained that they can’t afford enough time to do their best work, but this long-held grievance got a particularly vigorous airing in 2002 as directors hotly debated whether they were facing a crisis – or a myth.”
Movie Musicals That Never Went Away
Many are touting the movie “Chicago” as a return to movie musicals. But in truth, the movie musical never really went away, it adapted. “Though Broadway adaptations have largely fallen on their dancing feet since ‘Grease’ became a $378 million hit in 1978, the spirit of the musical is alive and well on film, from ‘Moulin Rogue’ to ‘Billy Eliot’.”
Trapnell Quits As Guthrie Managing Director
Susan Trapnell, who came to Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theatre a year ago as managing director, has quit the theatre, citing personal reasons. “By the time the announcement was made Tuesday, Trapnell already had returned to Seattle, where she was executive director of the Seattle Arts Commission and managing director of the nonprofit playhouse A Contemporary Theatre.”
Life After The Moscow Conservatory Fire
The fire that damaged the venerable Moscow Conservatory has crippled one of the city’s great cultural institutions. “As aspiring performers and composers took final exams last week, there was no electricity, limited telephone service and a trickle of heat from an emergency system. A week after the Dec. 17 blaze, 16 precious concert grand pianos sat damaged or destroyed. Bundles of canvas hoses still dangled from the stairwells, and the air stank of soot.”
WTC Glare – Too Much Publicity?
The glare of publicity focused on choosing a building plan for the World Trade Center site is probably greater than on any other project in recent memory. But not all the architects involved are happy about it. “Many have privately expressed reservations about the designs’ details, the handling of the competition and even the spotlight in which the contestants now stand.”
Peripheral Matters – Art Of Frames
Many artists spend a lot of time agonizing over how their work will be framed. But frames get no respect. “The market in images has no room for frames. Magazines, newspapers, exhibition catalogues and art books act as if they don’t exist, cropping them out of reproductions even when the painters saw them as integral parts of their work.”
A “20 Best” List To Watch For Given Its Track Record
Granta is naming its “20 Best of Young British Novelists,” an exercise it indulges in every ten years. So what’s the Grant track record? “When you look at the names on the original 1983 and follow-up 1993 lists, the hit-rate was impressive: Amis, Barker, Barnes, Boyd, McEwan, Rushdie, Swift, Tremain on the former; Banks, de Bernières, AL Kennedy, Kureishi, Phillips, Self and Winterson on the latter; with Ishiguro and Mars-Jones, by virtue of their early-flowering promise, on both.”
V&A Attendance Up 111% In 2002 – Free Admission Has UK Museum Visits Soaring
In the first year since admission charges at major British museums were dropped, attendance has soared. “The most dramatic increase has been at the V&A, which has seen a 111% increase, helped by the opening of its beautiful £31m British galleries. The effect at the other museums in South Kensington, west London, where a family visit would have cost around £30 in charging days, has been almost as spectacular. Numbers at the Science Museum and Natural History Museum have gone up 100% and 83% respectively.”