New Star Wars Soundtrack Hits Top 10

The new Star Wars movie sound track has cracked the Billboard Top 10 albums. And the music? It’s epic, writes Richard Dyer. “What Lucas does not say is that the music often tells the story more clearly and in greater depth than the filmmaking does; the music’s emotional resonances reach further than the dialogue and the acting do.”

Fogel: Orchestras Must Change

American Symphony Orchestra League president Henry Fogel says orchestras will have to change to survive. “Complex program notes, musicians in white ties and tails and dowagers who hiss if one claps at the wrong time all keep newcomers out of the concert hall, he noted. After recently seeing a conductor wag his finger at concertgoers who applauded too soon, he wondered ‘how many more times those people will actually pay money for tickets so they can be humiliated’?”

Checking Out The Source Of The Gift

Focus on the possible misdeeds of philanthropist Alberto Vilar has got arts organizations and colleges thinking about how they accept gifts. “Nationwide, gifts tarnished by scandal represent a tiny share of campus philanthropy, but the dollar total is rising. In 2003, The Chronicle of Higher Education estimated that campuses had received more than $100 million from firms or individuals investigated, accused or convicted of white-collar swindling.”

Taking A Closer Look At Benefactors

“In an era when megamillionaires are made faster than ever, fund-raising experts have grown more cautious about whom they anoint as board members and about ensuring that pledges are in hand before money is spent. Yet at the same time, arts groups say, there is no sure-fire way to predict or guard against a reversal of fortune. And as corporate and government aid declines, cultural institutions need to take what they can get.”

What Is A Carnegie Hall Concert?

“Many casual ticket buyers assume, logically enough, that all classical concerts at Carnegie Hall are in fact Carnegie Hall classical concerts. Not so simple. In fact, two completely different species of events take place inside the same building, even though, as in nature, one species sometimes mimics the other to gain advantage in a competitive cultural ecosystem.”