John Gilhooly, director of London’s Wigmore Hall: “We could have ditched a musical vision for the future, put on a few lecture recitals and comedy gigs and accepted decline was inevitable. But we didn’t do that – and instead we’ve raised ticket sales from 120,000 to 180,000 a year, and our radio broadcasts and the new Wigmore Live CD label attract listeners around the world.”
Tag: 01.06.11
In Some Places, Theatre Can Still Scare Governments
In the past month, governments in at least three countries – Belarus, Hungary and Iraq – have made active efforts to censor or suppress performances and companies. At least “there is something faintly optimistic in the idea there are still places that actually find theatre dangerous and subversive enough to think it’s worth banning.”
Quantum Spirituality: Can Physics Become Metaphysics?
“The notion that physics might have metaphysical meaning for human beings is as old as physics itself. … And the new physics of the 20th century has certainly sparked a welter of speculation as to whether the meaning of life is written in the stars.” Does all this speculation, as it were, add up?
Are Humans Doomed to Fighting and Killing?
Do humans have an innate “killing instinct,” a natural propensity to violence that comes with being a higher primate? Not necessarily, says biologist Ursula Goodenough, and we’ve inherited a couple other tendencies from our social primate ancestors that more than balance things out.
Stephen Hough on Sex and the Catholic Church
Says the MacArthur-winning pianist/composer/essayist/poet and gay Catholic convert: “I think actually the Church has a lot to teach everyone about the beauty of human sexuality. If you think about it, the idea of sex as a sacramental thing is wildly exciting. It would enliven the bedrooms of the Western world if they actually took it on board.”
Britain’s Circus of Horrors Busted for Onstage Smoking
“Fire-eating is fine. As is walking barefoot up a ladder of swords and swallowing a revolving electric drill. … But a contorted performer smoking a cigarette while firing a bow and arrow with her feet is causing something of a headache for a touring circus company.”
Stephen Colbert Cuts to the Real Issue With Huck Finn
Colbert (the character) thinks that merely replacing the n-word isn’t enough: “Who knows what other words it contains that are O.K. now that someday might be offensive?”
The Next Big Thing In Music – Controllerism?
“Controllerism embodies a lot of important trends in art generally and, as music controllers become easier to use and cheaper, they will start to be considered musical instruments in their own right – instruments that only play other instruments.”
London Council To Quit Its Arts Funding
London Councils’ new list of strategic priorities will result in the majority of the cultural services it supports losing all of their funding by the end of June 2011.
UK CD Sales Down Again In 2010, Downloads Up, But Don’t Make Up The Gap
“Combined digital and physical sales, chiefly CDs, dropped by 7% overall to 119.9m units. Digital album sales were up by 30.6% on last year – from a little over 16m to 21m – but the CD market continued to slump, falling 12.4% to 98.5m. The singles market has transformed in recent years, with digital tracks representing 98% of overall singles sales. CD singles now account for only 1.9m sales.”