Why can’t classical musicians hold on to their priceless instruments? “In January, violinist Gidon Kremer left his $3-million Guarneri del Gesu violin on an Amtrak train. In 1999, New York police helped Yo-Yo Ma recover his $2.5-million Stradivarius cello after he left it in a New York taxi. And two years later, cellist Lynn Harrell also left his $4-million Stradivarius in a taxi, when he got out at his New York apartment.” Throw in the recent theft of L.A. Phil cellist Peter Stumpf’s $3.5 million cello, which he left overnight on his front doorstep, and the question has to be asked: are we really supposed to feel sympathy for such forgetful musicians?
Tag: 05.13.04
It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane! It’s… a musical landscape?
A fleet of hot air balloons hovering over the UK city of Birmingham awakened residents this week with a specially designed “musical landscape… Although the music devised by sleep psychologists was designed to stimulate sweet dreams, balloon pilots watched residents run out into the street to observe the fleet hovering just a few hundred feet above them. The early morning stunt marked the launch of Birmingham’s bid for a share in a £15 million Arts Council fund for promoting cultural events, backed by Fierce!, an international festival of live art.”
When Things Look Dark, Innovate
How real is the threat to orchestral music that critics and pundits are always writing about? Real but not dire, says Henry Fogel, former Chicago Symphony chief and current head of the American Symphony Orchestra League. Fogel points out that, of the various art forms used as popular entertainment, only concert music has remained unchanged in its presentation since the days of Brahms and Beethoven. That’s a problem, since modern audiences have come to expect innovative presentation in theaters and museums, and orchestras are perceived as stodgy and boring as a result. Fogel also cites the lack of music education in schools as a factor in the form’s decline, calling the current system of American arts education “a disaster.”
Orchestra Prez: We’re Fine, Thanks For Not Asking
The president of the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra is upset with a local critic who has been speculating in print that the CSO is “reportedly on the verge of collapse.” Ted Halkyard would like to know who, exactly, is reporting such a rumor to the critic, since the critic himself never contacted the orchestra to inquire into its financial situation. Halkyard insists that the CSO is regaining its financial footing after a cash crisis in the summer of 2003 threatened its future.
A Book Without Verbs (Critic: It Didn’t Move Me)
“First, there was the novel written without using the letter “e”. Now a French author has produced what he claims is the first book with no verbs. Perhaps inevitably, critics have commented unfavourably on the lack of action.”
Fake Intellectuals Running Amok In U.S. Gov’t!
“At least 28 high-ranking government officials, including three managers responsible for emergency operations at nuclear facilities, have fake degrees from so-called diploma mills, according to a government report issued Tuesday… The investigation, which was prompted by a request from Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), found that these schools — which charge a flat fee for a degree — received at least $170,000 in government tuition-reimbursement funds. The GAO noted that although it was able to identify 28 high-level employees from eight different agencies who had degree-mill diplomas, ‘this number is believed to be an understatement.'”
Why The NYT Is Changing Culture Editors?
Why is Steve Erlanger moving out of the job as culture editor at the New York Times? “Most see the change as a sign that Times brass was not happy with the way Erlanger handled movie critic Elvis Mitchell. Mitchell had been sharing the lead movie critic job at the Times with A.O. Scott when Scott was suddenly elevated to the job of chief movie critic.”
So Restricting It To A Single Street Isn’t Exclusionary?
Tony organizers are angrily rejecting claims by New York Times editor Daniel Okrent that the awards are exclusionary and “artistically meaningless.” The Tonys are designed to reward the best performances on Broadway, they say, and the fact that Okrent seems to believe that Broadway itself is exclusionary doesn’t have anything to do with the awards.
Moore, Miramax Cut A Deal
Filmmaker Michael Moore, who claimed recently that Disney CEO Michael Eisner had canceled a deal for Disney-owned Miramax to distribute Moore’s latest documentary, Fahrenheit 911, has struck a distribution deal with Miramax chiefs Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Under the terms of the agreement, the Weinsteins, who have already sunk $6 million into Fahrenheit 911, will distribute the film through a third party. The deal is similar to one the Weinsteins struck with Disney in releasing director Kevin Smith’s religious satire, Dogma, in 1999.
A West End Crisis
Is London’s West End in decline? Last year 100,000 fewer people attended the theatre. “Cameron Mackintosh’s profits fell by nearly 30% to £6.4m last year. The theatre impresario’s empire also saw sales fall by 10% during the 2002-03 financial year as foreign visitors stayed away and the company’s money-spinning musicals, Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera, began to show their age.”