Struggling to solve its financial situation, San Francisco Opera has cut $5.2 million from its budget. Six jobs were cut, and production cutbacks were made. “In addition to the $2.8 million in savings projected from the staff cuts, SF Opera director Pamela Rosenberg has approved $1.8 million in savings in production expenses, including travel, material and construction costs.”
Tag: 03.22.03
On The War – Hollywood’s Divided House?
There is an impression that much of Hollywood opposes George Bush’s war on Iraq. But it’s more divided than that. “Producers, directors, writers and executives report heated disputes on sets, a sudden uptick in the use of the term ‘blacklist,’ an industrywide sense of confusion and a huge number of people changing their minds daily. There are not many conservative voices in Hollywood, certainly among the stars. But if you’re backstage, you hear a lot of sound people, makeup people and grips who are mostly supportive of President Bush. Even if they’re making $100,000 a week, actors like to think of themselves as rebels.”
Uncovering Vermeer
Jan Vermeer is one of the great enigmas of the art world, and the dearth of real information about his life has only increased the popularity of his work in recent years. A new documentary attempts to tie together the scraps of biographical interest which have been unearthed over the years, and creates a more complete portrait of the Dutch master than any seen before. And while Vermeer’s work tends to reflect quiet contentment, the filmmaker “argues that the artist imagined on canvas a vision of tranquility which eluded him in life.”
Why Wait For The Sky To Fall?
Some striking Houston Symphony musicians have apparently abandoned all hope that their orchestra will continue to be a viable employment option. The HSO strike is now more than two weeks old, and there are no signs that a settlement is near. Four musicians have already won jobs elsewhere, and many more are taking every audition that comes along. A few are retiring, and some are leaving the area to become freelance musicians in friendlier artistic climes. The departing musicians have good things to say about their years in the HSO, but nothing but hopeless resignation regarding the current dispute.
Madness And The Arts
“Charles Dickens fought recurrent bouts of depression with hyperactivity. Hemingway, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf took their own lives. Dylan Thomas drank himself into an early grave. Percy Bysshe Shelley suffered from recurring nightmares and hallucination and died at 30. William Blake heard voices. All artistic geniuses, definitely. All more or less mad.” A new Toronto festival examines the connection between madness and artistic genius, from both clinical and cultural perspectives.