As contract negotiations with its musicians were drawing to a close, the Pittsburgh Symphony also closed a deal which will bring New Jersey Symphony CEO Lawrence Tamburri to the Steel City as the new president of the PSO. Tamburri has a reputation as an administrator who places a high priority on building consensus among musicians, staff, and board members, but his skills will be severely tested in Pittsburgh, writes Andrew Druckenbrod.
Tag: 09.19.03
Theater Chain Bans Sex And Violence (in the lobby)
Regal Cinemas, the largest chain of multiplexes in the U.S., has announced that it will henceforth ban certain video games from its lobby arcades. Games which show human dismemberment, for instance, are gone. So are games which include nudity, sex, or “violence towards law enforcement officers or figures of authority.” So if you want to see any of those inappropriate things at a Regal multiplex… well, you’ll just have to buy a ticket and walk into one of the theatres.
Dismissed Bolshoi Dancer Threatens To Sue
Anastasia Volochkova, the ballerina fired this week by the Bolshoi Ballet after the company claimed she was overweight, says she may sue the company. “It’s a myth that partners refuse to dance with me. In fact, the managers are trying to discourage them from dancing with me.”
Walker To Close For A Year
Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center is closing in February for a year. “Plans call for the Walker to reopen in spring 2005, when a $90 million addition on its south side will be finished. The addition includes new galleries, a small theater, new dining facilities and other public spaces.”
A Lifetime Of Art
“Dorothy Miller, who died in July at 99, was one of the first curators hired by the Museum of Modern Art in 1934. Over the years she championed painters like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Frank Stella and Jasper Johns. The contents of her Greenwich Village apartment are to be sold in a series of auctions at Christie’s beginning Nov. 11 and are expected to bring $9 million to $12.6 million. They chronicle the 35-year career of a woman who helped shape modern art.”
Canadian Blank CD Tax Generates $19 Million For Music Industry
A Canadian tax on blank CD and audio cassette sales is expected to pay out $19 million to composers, performers, publishers and record labels in the next three months. “The payments are calculated from two measurable factors – the airplay songs get on radio, TV networks and individual music programs, and the record sales logged and reported by labels.”
The Denver Culture Tax
In 15 years, a Denver tax initiative that set aside .01 percent of sales collections for cultural groups has pumped more than $300 million into arts and culture…
Building For The Future
At a time when many theatres are struggling to keep going and having to downsize, a number of theatre companies – like Minnesota’s Guthrie Theatre – are building and opening new projects. “Today’s projects are more likely to be about gaining flexibility and space for new programs and activities than merely adding seats. Theater companies are creating ‘campuses’ that they aim to fill with a variety of artistic activity nearly round the clock. Many are producing extensive education programs’ for both children and adults.”
Of Books And Mortality
It’s easy to see old brittle books and wonder at their fragility. But encountering them later in life one wonders: “What are 20 years to a book that survived the Inquisition? I, meanwhile, am more than twice the age I was when I saw it last. I am married, I have children and I am mourning my father, who died this year. I can’t help thinking that part of the dread I felt seeing those fragile books as a teenager was unconscious anticipation of the moment when I would see them again as an adult and realize that I was the ephemeral one.”
At The NY Phil – The Maazel Question
“As he begins his second season as music director, Lorin Maazel, 73, and the New York Philharmonic’s board are grappling with some urgent issues. Naturally the proposed merger with Carnegie Hall has drawn most of the attention. But the more immediate question concerns Mr. Maazel’s future. If the merger happens as planned, the Philharmonic will relocate in the fall of 2006, by which time Mr. Maazel’s current four-year contract will have run out. Will he be reappointed? Or does the orchestra envision playing its first concert in its new home under a new conductor?”