The most important verdict: Acoustics in the new hall are “excellent.” “Though the seating capacity declined only to 2,890 from 3,017, the hall seems much more intimate. The side walls were narrowed, the balconies were extended and the proscenium was made higher. In a visually striking innovation, the side sections of orchestra seats slope upward so they connect with the first balcony.”
Tag: 08.05.03
Why No Art At Edinburgh Festival?
As a major Monet show opens in Edinburgh, visual arts enthusiasts protest the exclusion of visual art from the popular Edinburgh Festival. “The medium has served a 12-year exile from the cultural extravaganza and many leading Scottish gallery figures believe a change is long overdue given the success of festivals in other genres such as books and films.”
Perlman, Brown, Burnett Win Kennedy Honors
This year’s Kennedy Center Honors are announced. Violinist Itzhak Perman is joined by fellow musician James Brown, comedienne Carol Burnett, country icon Loretta Lynn, film and theater director Mike Nichols. “The Honors is an annual ritual, now 26 years old, where illustrious stars and powerful politicians salute five ground-breakers in the performing arts for a lifetime of distinguished work.”
A Monet Show To Die For
Is the new exhibition of Monet opening in Edinburgh this week – after years of “wining, dining and bamboozling some of the world’s richest collectors” – really “the most intense Monet exhibition there has ever been”? It’s certainly the largest Monet show in the UK ever outside of London “It is two canvasses short of the 79 shown at the Royal Academy in London in 1999, when 813,000 paid to see Monet’s water lilies.”
Questions About Van Gogh Film
“The Van Gogh film will be shown in his native village of Zundert next Saturday as part of celebrations marking the 150th year of his birth, even though the record of Van Gogh’s work and the lack of other evidence cast doubt on the claim that a grainy passer-by in the film was the painter.”
Experts: Van Gogh Movie A Fake
A film purported to be footage of artist Vincent Van Gogh is a fake, says experts. After investigations, the festival organisation in the Netherlands that planned to show the movie – Autour de Vincent, “confirmed the footage was a hoax designed to gain publicity for the weekend event. The Brabant provincial government was aware of the stunt and had partially funded it.”
Why Andy Matters
Andy Warhol wasn’t an artist, writes Terry Teachout. He was “a preternaturally shrewd operator who transformed Marcel Duchamp’s anti-art into glossy gewgaws suitable for mail-order merchandising. He silk-screened money. Why should those who do care about art bother to take note of the 75th birthday of an anti-artist whose works were purposefully forgettable? Because Warhol did as much as anyone to shape the culture of pure, accomplishment-free celebrity in which we now live. He envisioned it far more clearly than most of his contemporaries, and this clarity helped make him the best-known artist of the postwar era.”
Balanchine Comes Home
New York City Ballet travels to St. Petersburg to perform Balanchine at the Maryinsky. Th company is a hit. “The Maryinsky has been dancing Balanchine since the beginning of the 1990’s and never once could one have suspected that it can be like this.”
Boston Curator Named Director Of Frick
Anne Little Poulet has been named the new director of the Frick Museum. “Although she has never run a museum, Ms. Poulet, 61, comes to the job with 30 years’ experience in the art world. For two decades she ran the department of European decorative arts and sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. During that time she was responsible for a number of acquisitions.”
Death Of The Single?
Is the record single a dead item? “High promotional costs mean the industry doesn’t make much money from the sale of a single. But singles attract new consumers (teenagers buy more singles than any other age group) and drive album sales. Singles also generate valuable media interest – for instance, Blur v Oasis in the 90s. Britpop aside, the singles charts have not been much fun for many years.”