“In conjunction with its 30th anniversary, San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra is not just issuing a new release, it is starting an entire new record label, Philharmonia Baroque Productions. The first release, scheduled for March 8, will showcase the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in a live 1995 recording of Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été.”
Tag: 01.19.11
Why Breakfast at Tiffany’s Still Matters After 50 Years
“[It] is not a great film. Its compromises are too loud and its emotions too garish. But it had a sense of style that will always linger … [and] a certain wistfulness that is unforgettable. It makes the audience think of its own golden periods of freedom and think about the passing of time.”
Is the Mysterious ‘Poe Toaster’ Gone Forevermore?
“Maybe the time for nevermore is finally here. For the second year in a row, the mysterious Poe Toaster failed to show up at his the writer’s Baltimore grave Wednesday morning”, Poe’s birthday. “Last year’s no-show was the first since at least 1949.”
American States Look To Cut Back Film Subsidies
“Government subsidies for film and television productions proliferated in flush times as more than 40 states competed for entertainment work. Those subsidies face an uncertain future as new governors and lawmakers, many of them fiscal conservatives, join incumbents like Mr. Christie in trying to balance budgets without losing jobs.”
Dayton Ballet Director Retires After 18 Years
“Dermot Burke has stepped down as director of the Dayton Ballet after 18 years in the dual capacity of chief executive and artistic director.”
Canadians Pick Up 2.7 Million Books a Week
“The count offers a snapshot of a typical week of reading by Canadians – including physical books and digital downloads, purchased or on loan from the library.” (Canada’s population is roughly 34 million.)
BBC Chief Warns of End of Broadcast TV
BBC Director General Mark Thompson: “[The] danger is quite simply that free-to-air broadcasting will become obsolescent and get squeezed out, and the future will belong to closed systems.”
The Sylvia Plath Effect: How an Artist’s Suicide Changes the Work Left Behind
“[When a] young artist (or writer or actor) is a suicide, the quality of the material [he or she made] is often overlooked because it is immediately more valuable. The lurching randomness of existence suddenly has a steady meaning. Everything done or said by the deceased seems to be a clue that will explain why someone would choose to die rather than live.”
Troubled Brooklyn Phil Tries New Direction With New Director
“The ailing Brooklyn Philharmonic is hanging in there. Having halted most of its orchestra concerts over the last two seasons and cut staff because of money problems, it … [has] hired a new artistic director, Alan Pierson, and promised a ‘new era’.” Pierson, director of the ensemble Alarm Will Sound, is a star of New York’s contemporary music scene.
Firecracker – Nutcracker, Hong Kong-Style
“Elements in The Nutcracker may be unrecognisable in Firecracker but they are, assuredly, idiosyncratically Hong Kong. The ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ scene, for instance, has the flashy, legendary ‘Seven Princesses’ in Hong Kong’s silver screen dancing side by side with some puppet-like royal family.”