Christopher and David Alden are opera directors. “They are that most unusual phenomenon – twins who have pursued the same career, as opera directors, and reached a comparable eminence. Next week, when David’s revival of Handel’s Ariodante joins Christopher’s well-received new production of Janacek’s The Makropulos Case in repertory at English National Opera, their work will be running in tandem. The Guinness Book of Records has been alerted.”
Tag: 05.26.05
Shock – Wigmore Hall Director Quits
“In a move that has shocked the British music world, Paul Kildea, artistic director of the Wigmore Hall – regarded as one of the plum jobs in the arts – has resigned after just two years in the post.”
America’s Cultural Obsession With Religion
“In the wake of the creationist “Scopes monkey trial” in 1925, the evangelicals (though technically victorious) realised they had lost the PR battle, and retreated from American public life. Now they are popping up all over the place, from the bestseller lists to pop music. In the wake of Scopes, the Bible Belt (H. L. Mencken’s tag) was seen as a home of hicks. Now evangelism is the religion of the upwardly mobile, of McMansions and office parks, with evangelicals almost drawing level with (traditionally upper-crust) Episcopalians in terms of wealth and education.”
All About Niches
It’s all about niche publishing these days. “Even the niches have niches. Chick lit breaks down into Latina chick lit, African-American chick lit, older woman chick lit, dick lit—which may be written by men, but is still geared towards women—and now fat-girl chick lit. If you have weight issues, get ready for books to regurgitate your dieting struggles, because the weight loss memoir, all of them written by young women, is very hot right now. It’s also a good time to be a knitter, with books on how to knit, how to form knitting groups, chick lit about friends who knit, even a spiritual guide with knitting metaphors. Any day now, the book about knitting for women who are overweight will hit the market. I’m sure of it.”
Less Hollywood, More High-Tech
Hundreds of British movie theaters have been awarded government grants to install digital projection equipment, in exchange for which they have agreed to cut down on the number of big-budget Hollywood films they show, and to feature more homegrown flicks and arthouse fare. “The digital projectors will do away with the need for film reels – making it cheaper for distributors to get independent films seen.”
The Fall of Hyperion?
A while back, UK record label Hyperion released a CD of music by a French composer whose work had long been in the public domain. But then, a musicologist contacted the label, claiming that he had assembled the works on the disc from original manuscripts over hundreds of hours, and asking for a few thousand pounds for his trouble. Rebuffed, the musicologist sued, and won. “Hyperion took the case to appeal but lost again last week, leaving them facing legal bills of up to £1 million – a crippling sum for a small independent label. At first sight, the result seems a tragedy for the classical music profession, as Hyperion has produced some of the finest – and certainly most interesting – recordings made in Britain over the past quarter century.”
Art Across The Green Line
“When the Berlin wall came down, the Greek Cypriots relabelled Nicosia the ‘last divided city in Europe’. The Green Line, marking the point at which Turkish troops stopped their advance after the 1974 invasion, cuts the capital neatly in half as it zigzags from west to east across the island… Although Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 and Green Line checkpoints have been open for the past two years, the lack of a formal peace settlement means that the ‘dead zone’ is still a heavily charged feature of the island’s landscape. Leaps of Faith, an international art exhibition in public spaces on and around the Green Line, is an ambitious attempt to challenge political clichés about the division of Cyprus and at the same time reinforce the newfound relationships between the Greek and Turkish communities.”
UK Arts Prize In A Big Hole
“A disused Welsh coal mine which reopened as a working museum has won a prestigious UK arts award. Big Pit, in Blaenavon, south Wales, beat three other shortlisted attractions to scoop the £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize. The museum, also known as the National Mining Museum of Wales, opened in 1983 – three years after closing as a working coal mine. Ex-miners work as guides, taking visitors on tours underground. Big Pit was nominated for the Gulbenkian Prize following a £7.1m refurbishment programme, completed in February 2004.”
Leadership Vacuum In Honolulu
Internal politics and bitter rivalries are roiling the Honolulu Symphony, which has seen its CEO, its president and several key board members resign in recent months. At the heart of the chaos appears to be a dispute over who should fill the post of president of the organization, and the infighting has spilled out into public, with the orchestra’s board chair now offering to be the next one to step down. The symphony has been plagued by budget problems in recent years, and its musicians reopened their contract and accepted major salary cuts last season. Meanwhile, former Pittsburgh Symphony CEO Gideon Toeplitz has agreed to become the HSO’s interim president, and will be in place within a few weeks.
Is Nielsen Undercounting Minority Viewers?
The Nielsen ratings company wants to roll out its new automated “people meters” in the Washington, D.C. market as soon as possible, replacing the decidedly outmoded info-gathering method of having select viewers keep a written diary of their viewing habits. But five of D.C.’s major TV stations have filed objections to the switch, saying that the meters undercount minority viewers and young viewers.