The Orange County Performing Arts Center’s “Gala Dance Spectacular” tomorrow night is “centered on the world premiere of ‘Fallen Angel,’ a new work by Boris Eifman,” but the starry evening isn’t intended as a fundraiser. “The idea behind this program … is to make an investment in OCPAC’s reputation as a presenter of international dance and center for the development of new work.”
Tag: 05.20.09
Guggenheim’s ‘Scent Opera’ To Be An Olfactory Cavalcade
“Christophe Laudamiel, … a French fragrance designer who has created perfumes for Clinique, Estée Lauder, Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors, is collaborating on a ‘scent opera,’ a new performance art that pairs music with a carefully orchestrated sequence of smells, some pleasant and some real stinkers. … In a darkened theater, audiences will be bombarded with smells, blasted in six-second sequences by a scent ‘microphone’ attached to each seat.”
For Soil Installation, In Dia Space Since 1980, Traffic Is Up
“The scent of soil arrested my nostrils as I stepped into ‘The New York Earth Room’ in Manhattan’s trendy SoHo district. Before me: a fortune in indoor floor space tied up with nothing more than 280,000 pounds of loamy dirt. … Perhaps that is how [Walter] De Maria seeks to change the world: by clearing out unexpected spaces where our imagination might grow.”
Twitter Opera Winner Gives His Prize To DC Music Teacher
“Canadian music writer invents contest; Oregon-based Brit wins it; Washington music teacher gets prize, ball gown, Cinderella night. This one isn’t an opera plot. This is a true story. … The magic of opera, indeed.”
Spain’s Asturias Arts Prize Goes To Norman Foster
“British architect Norman Foster, famous for his glass and steel designs, was Wednesday awarded one of Spain’s highest honours, the Prince of Asturias prize for arts, the jury announced.”
JVC Jazz Festival Cancelled
“[F]or the first time in 37 years, there will be no major summer jazz festival in New York. Nor will there be related series in Miami or Chicago, as the concert company behind them is suffering a financial crisis.” Is it the fault of JVC for withdrawing sponsorship, or of a new impresario who expanded too fast?
Composer Nicholas Maw, 73
He was “best known for a sumptuous Violin Concerto he composed for Joshua Bell and a powerfully emotional opera based on William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice … [as well as] his 96-minute, single-movement Odyssey (1987), widely regarded as his magnum opus – and said to be the longest piece of continuous symphonic music ever written.”