Researcher (author of the “Mozart Effect” study) predicts a revolution in teaching – why learning music increases other skills he’s not quite sure, but he says he can demonstrate it does with new studies underway in Los Angeles schools. – Orange County Register
Tag: 01.26.00
FAR FROM PERFECT
It’s official – the redo of Covent Garden is a disaster. Technical failures, cancellations, disgruntled unions and artists. Even the audiences have begun to boo. Much was riding on a smooth reopening, but a growing chorus of discontent threatens to become deafening. – London Telegraph
- And: GET A BETTER SOCIAL MIX: Senior management at the Covent Garden opera house in London have been told to reduce their ticket prices and “get a better social mix, particularly in the stalls, so it doesn’t feel so snooty”. Meanwhile, latest cancellation due to technical difficulties is jeered by audience. – Sydney Morning Herald 01/26/00
- Previously: CALL TO CLOSE COVENT GARDEN: Musicians’ and technicians’ unions call for temporary closure of troubled Covent Garden to deal with technical problems. Rebuilt opera house has been plagued with technical equipment failures since reopening last month. – The Independent 01/24/00
- And: Don’t blame Opera House staff, blame those in charge. – The Observer 01/24/00
RELIC OF A PAST REGIME
South Africa’s National Symphony closes after running out of money. The orchestra had been lavishly supported by the former white government, but had fallen on hard times in recent years. Corporate support just couldn’t make up the budget. South Africa’s other orchestras are also suffering. – South Africa Daily Mail & Guardian
BETWEEN PRODUCT AND CONTENT
Trying to understand the future of the recorded music business in the age of Dotcoms. – New York Times
A LONG-TERM PROPOSITION
Paavo Jarvi calls his new orchestra “one of the best-kept secrets in America. “We should make it less of a secret,” he says. Cincinnati Orchestra faces dwindling audiences. – New York Times
- Previously: NEW BATON FOR CINCINNATI: After a year-long search, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra hires Estonian-born American conductor Paavo Jarvi, 37, as its new music director. The CSO’s $28 million budget is the seventh-largest in the country. – Cincinnati Enquirer 01/25/00
- Jarvi was rumored to have been considered by two other orchestras. – Cincinnati Enquirer 01/25/00
NEW EUROPEAN CLASSICAL MUSIC NETWORKS
Franco Zeffirelli and David Frost will launch a new cable network – the Opera Channel – in July, to broadcast music. – MediaCentral
STOKED WITH INNOVATION – BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Eight years ago Ireland’s Arthouse multimedia center was set up to be “one of the gleaming flagships of artistic innovation” in Ireland. But lack of funding, confusion over what it should be and a revolving door of leadership – three directors already – have pretty much everyone confused about what multimedia means. – Irish Times
BETTING ON TECHNOLOGY
Youngstown, Ohio’s Beecher Center, long a friend to American painting, takes a plunge on technology with a new wing to celebrate the digital artistic side. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HEANEY OVER HARRY
Irish poet Seamus Heaney beats out Harry Potter and wins his second Whitbread for Beowulf translation. – The Telegraph (UK)
OPTING OUT OF INTELLECT
David Laskin’s new book, “Partisans: Marriage, Politics and Betrayal Among the New York Intellectuals” is “stiflingly” long. But then, just what is more fitting? Just what, exactly have the NYI’s given the world, anyway? – New York Press